by Jayne Faith
I let out a heavy sigh and stood. “I’m sorry to rush off abruptly, but I need to try to find someone who can tell me what the hell is going on. I can’t spend all my time on the bounty, but I don’t want this to slip through my fingers.”
“Yes, go. Focus your efforts, Tara. You owe it to yourself.”
I left Heloise’s and jogged back to the doorway. I needed to get in touch with Ray Artois and find out who’d told him about the bounty. Maybe I could persuade him to do some digging for me. But I couldn’t do that in Faerie, where there was no cell phone service.
I went through the doorway and got into my car, where I waited for my phone to reconnect and load the messages I’d missed.
There was a text from Mom.
Judah’s here. He’s run into some trouble and urgently needs to speak to you.
My breath died, and my heart missed a beat. Then my pulse thumped uncomfortably, speeding as if to catch up after the pause. I called Mom.
She picked up on the first ring. “Tara? Are you still on the Earthly side of the hedge?”
“I went and came back already,” I said. “Is Judah there at the house?”
“Yes,” she said. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “He wanted to wait until you came back, even though I told him it might not be until dinner. He seems . . . worried. Quite worried.”
I started my car and pulled out of my parking spot.
“Okay, I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
My hands grew clammy as I steered toward home. I couldn’t imagine what Judah McMahon had to say to me after so many years. Part of me wanted to see him. So badly. But the bitterness about how we’d left things, which I thought I’d mostly buried, reared up. What would make him show up out of the blue after nearly a decade?
Chapter 4
JUDAH LOOKED EVEN better than I could have imagined, which pissed me off because all the way home, I’d been hoping that everything that’d spurred my hopeless childhood crush on him had evaporated.
He stood when I came into the living room. I stopped, and for a long moment we just stared at each other. He’d been tall and lanky when he’d left town at the age of nineteen, unbearably handsome to my barely-eighteen-year-old eye, with the quick grin and easy, fluid grace he’d inherited from his wolf shifter father. In the years since, Judah filled out, his skinny teenage chest and shoulders now broad. He wore a dark green t-shirt under a black canvas jacket, but the clothing didn’t hide how toned he was.
Judah had been my best friend for years when we were kids. He’d lived a couple of houses down from the duplex my family and I used to rent. If not for that proximity, I doubted we ever would have been close. He’d been a year ahead of me in school and had other circles of friends I’d never quite fit in with. I’d had a ridiculous crush on him but never acted on it because I couldn’t imagine he saw me the same way.
“Tara,” Judah said, blinking at me a couple of times. He seemed to be working to process what he was seeing. “I can’t believe how big the kids are. Dominic is practically a full-grown man. I didn’t even recognize Sasha.”
It seemed an effort for him to pull his gaze from me and cast it at Sasha, who was scrunched up on one end of the sofa pretending to look at her phone but actually giving Judah a hard evaluation with her black-rimmed eyes.
“Yeah,” I said, slowly removing my jacket. “We’ve all changed a lot, I guess.”
I held my jacket in one hand, feeling a little awkward. He was looking at me so intently. He seemed surprised, maybe a little uncertain.
“Want to talk in the kitchen?” I asked.
He nodded. I turned, and I heard him follow me.
There was no real privacy in the house, but the kitchen was the best I could do.
“Coffee?” I asked.
I looked over my shoulder as he came to stand near the table. He didn’t sit, seemingly not wanting to assume he should.
“Sure. Please,” he said.
I went for a couple of mugs. “Take a seat if you want.”
I heard the scrape of chair legs on the tiles and the sound of him lowering himself onto one of the chairs.
“It’s gone cold,” I said, dumping out the last bit of coffee from the morning. “I’ll start a new pot.”
I got the coffee maker going and went to sit across from him. He seemed a little dazed, and he just kept looking at me.
“Mom said you’re in some kind of trouble. I’m not sure how you even figured out where we live now.” I gave my head a little shake. “What are you doing here, Judah?”
His gray eyes, with their sea glass-green flecks, sparked mild amusement.
“Glad to see you’re still as blunt as ever, Rainbow.”
I reached up to smooth my hair before I could stop myself, an involuntary response to the old nickname. If I left my hair its natural color, the pastel strands blended to the greenish brown of rainbow sherbet when you let it melt and then stirred it into an ice cream soup. That was how Judah had come up with “Rainbow.”
“Yeah. So . . . what’s going on?” I asked.
His amusement faded, and worry etched his face.
“My business partner’s sister has been kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped by who?”
“Fae. There’s a ransom demand,” Judah said.
“How much?”
The coffee maker had finished its cycle, so I rose and went to get two mugs. I filled each, suddenly realizing I had no idea how he took his coffee. He wasn’t a coffee drinker back when we were kids. He’d been a Pepsi man all the way.
“It’s not money. It’s a magical artifact,” he said. “A Fae sword called Balisarde.”
He pushed his fingers through his dark brown hair, the worry in his gaze deepening.
“Okay, start at the beginning. Who’s involved in this?” I asked.
I brought the mugs to the table in one hand, the bottle of creamer from the fridge tucked under my arm, and the sugar dish in my other hand. Judah reached for the mugs to help, his fingers brushing mine as he moved carefully to keep from spilling.
“Fae men took Laine. I started a business with a woman named Blake Moriarty. Laine is her sister,” Judah said, his eyes intent on me again.
I nearly winced when he mentioned his business. I was supposed to be his business partner. At least, that was what we’d always talked about. When we were teenagers, we’d dreamed endlessly about leaving Boise, moving somewhere more exciting, and starting a company together. We were a little vague on the details of our venture. It was going to be something that used my talent for sensing magical objects and his ability to shift into a giant wolf—yeah, it didn’t make much sense now. But back then, it’d seemed completely realistic.
“Why the demand of the sword?” I asked. “What’s your connection to it?”
“Balisarde was supposed to be part of a payment to my company. But it was stolen right when it was supposed to come across the hedge from Faerie to the Earthly realm. Balisarde never made it to us.” He let out a heavy breath. “The kidnapper says he’s going to kill Laine and then come for me and Blake if we don’t come up with this sword.”
Sounded like a mess, but I wasn’t sure why Judah had sought me out.
“I’m not worried about myself,” Judah continued before I could ask more questions. “But I have to prove we don’t have Balisarde before he does something to Laine. I have a feeling he’s posturing. I don’t think he’d really kill her. But I obviously can’t take the risk.”
I was trying to focus on what he was saying, but I still felt shocked that he was there sitting in my kitchen.
I looked down into my coffee mug. “I forgot spoons.” I rose and went to the silverware drawer.
Judah had graduated high school a year ahead of me, working and waiting for me to finish school so we could move away from Boise and start our own business. But not long before my graduation, the Cataclysm struck, and my mother got sick. Even after the blood oath and the rings that saved Mom and Fel, I knew I wo
uldn’t be able to move away with him. My family needed me. I’d been under a lot of pressure, and Judah and I had our one and only blowup, at the end of which I’d stupidly blurted out that I’d been in love with him for years. We didn’t speak after the fight. Not long after, he’d packed up his Ford pickup and split.
I handed Judah a spoon. He took it automatically without looking at it. His eyes were locked on my face.
“Tara,” he said. “I’m sorry to just show up out of the blue. I know it’s not right to barge in on your life like this. And I’m really sorry about how things went when I left. I was a dumb kid, and I should have been more sensitive to your situation. I should have at least—”
I held up a hand, cutting in. “No, you were right to leave. I mean, look around. I was right. My family depended on me back then, and they still do now. Even if I’d left with you, I probably would’ve had to come home.”
He shook his head, finally dropping his gaze. “I shouldn’t have gone.”
“I told you to go.” I let out a loud breath. “Who’s the Fae?”
He blinked, his lips parting.
“The one who kidnapped the sister?” I prompted.
I could tell he didn’t want me to brush past his apology, but our past was irrelevant. He’d come to me for help, not to rehash ancient history. We might as well get back to figuring out whether or not I could actually do anything for him.
“The one I’ve been in contact with said his name was Killian.”
I frowned. “What does he look like?”
“Pale-green eyes. Redhead, close cropped beard. Short but built like he lifts.”
I let out a groan. “He’s one of Shaw’s people.”
“Yeah, I know,” Judah said. “That’s why I thought you might be able to help us.”
I’d sworn the blood oath to Shaw before Judah had left. He knew the details of the arrangement.
I frowned, wondering why Killian was going to so much effort for a sword.
“What does Balisarde do?” I asked.
“It will slice through anything like a hot knife through butter. We had it appraised for legitimacy before it disappeared, and there’s really no way to say what it’d be worth in Earthly currency, but it’s very old and apparently a rare and valuable Fae weapon.”
That sounded like exactly the sort of prize Grant Shaw would like to receive. Killian probably wanted to take it to our boss to gain favor with him.
Judah raked his fingers through his dark hair again, his face tense. He was trying to keep it together, but his face was strained. “I tried to tell him we don’t have the sword, but he won’t take no for an answer. Do you think you could talk some sense into this guy?”
I lifted my coffee to my lips and sipped, peering at Judah over the rim. I’d had no contact with him in ten years. I had no idea what kind of man he’d become, whether he was involved with anything shady, who his business partner was—or who this Laine person might be. As much as I wanted to believe Judah was still the frank, charming guy I’d grown up with, I couldn’t afford to make assumptions. Helping Judah would most likely put me in a position to cross Killian. He was high up enough in Shaw’s network that pissing him off could make things difficult for me.
“Killian’s not exactly the kind of person you can talk sense into,” I said. “But I can’t do anything until I know a hell of a lot more about your situation.”
Judah nodded, a bit of hope flickering in his expression. “Okay. What do you want to know? Ask me anything.”
“What kind of business are you in?”
“Arbitration, negotiation, and contracts between disparate groups,” he said.
I gave him a side-eye. “In plain English?”
“We help make deals between groups that don’t usually make deals with each other. Between a Faerie queen and a wolf shifter pack, for example. Or between a witch coven and a mage-owned enterprise.”
Interesting. And very different from what Judah and I had talked about when we were kids. I couldn’t help wondering about Blake, his partner. I’d get to her and her sister in a minute.
“Do you deal with high-stakes negotiations? Large amounts of money? Illegal shit?”
He leveled his gaze at me, but I saw a quick clouding of reservation in his gray eyes. “The stakes are usually high due to the people involved. Most laws don’t adequately cover what we do. Faerie law doesn’t apply to this side of the hedge, and vice versa. Shifter groups have their own laws, too. It’s . . . complicated.”
That wasn’t exactly an answer. I leaned forward. “Do your deals ever involve people active in black market trade?”
His mouth tightened. “It depends on what you mean by black market.”
I narrowed my eyes, waiting a beat or two before responding.
“You sound like a lawyer.” I plunked my mug on the table. “Wait, are you a lawyer?” I demanded, my voice rising.
“Yes. Blake is, too.”
A sharp laugh burst out of me before I could shove it down.
“What?” He appeared more baffled than insulted.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “That’s literally the last profession I would have expected you to pursue.”
One of his shoulders lifted and then dropped. He gave me a lazy-lidded look. “I wouldn’t have expected you to become a professional thief.”
I quieted, and our eyes locked again for a long breath.
“You’ve been reading up on me,” I said, matching his mild tone.
“Lawyers are good at digging up info on people that interest them.”
People that interest them? How closely had he been keeping track of me all these years? I wasn’t sure I would have been happy with any answer to that question.
“What’s your role in your company?” I asked.
“I sit in on negotiations, and I use my connections in the shifter community. But protective detail is one of my main functions.”
“You’re a bodyguard for your partner?”
“I’m there to make sure no one tries to take advantage of her because she’s a woman.”
Someone who only knew him in his human form might think being a bodyguard an odd role for him. His demeanor was typically laid-back and it took a lot to ruffle him, but I’d seen him in his lupine form. Only once when we were kids, but it was unforgettable. He was an enormous wolf, for one thing. It was more than size, though. There was a ferocity that burned in his eyes, something that spoke of enormous strength, wildness, and power.
“So, the work is dangerous,” I said. I didn’t pause for his confirmation. “What does Blake do in your company?”
“She drafts the contracts and facilitates the negotiation of terms, primarily.”
“How do you know Blake didn’t intercept the sword and stage this whole thing?” I asked.
He frowned suddenly, as if what I suggested didn’t make sense. “Because I trust her and she wouldn’t do such a thing.”
“What about money?”
“Our business is doing well. Blake has no reason to do something like that.”
“Tell me about Laine,” I said.
His expression pinched into a slight wince. “Like I said, she’s Blake’s younger sister. They’re very different. Blake is ambitious, successful, and careful. Laine, not so much. But she’d been getting her life together. We even gave her a part-time job with our firm, just running errands and doing menial things.”
So maybe Killian knew Laine worked for Judah and Blake, and Killian believed the business had Balisarde in its possession or was supposed to receive it soon, and he took Laine because she was the easiest target. Maybe. It seemed extreme to me.
“I’d want to know a lot more about your partners before I’d assume they weren’t behind this, somehow,” I said, my tone not disguising any of my skepticism.
“I can give you whatever you need,” Judah said. “Is that your only hesitation?”
No.
“I don’t know yet,” I said.
He ca
st his eyes down before looking up at me again. “I know I’m asking a lot, but Killian only gave us three days to come up with the sword. We’ve already used up one of those days.”
I rested my forearms on the table. “Look, I realize you’re in a bad situation, but here’s the thing. I don’t really know you anymore, Judah. I don’t know your business partner or her sister at all. Getting involved could have very serious consequences for me, which would then cause suffering for my family. And if I did get involved and it caused blowback with Shaw, I’d be in a world of hurt.”
Judah leaned forward, too, his eyes intent and unblinking. His gaze roved over my face before it settled on my eyes. I expected him to get pissed, to challenge me, to beg for my help—something. Instead, his expression softened. His gray eyes seemed to heat from deep within.
“I understand, Rainbow,” he said, his voice pitched low. There was a subtle rumble to his tone that sent the faintest of shivers across my shoulders and down my back. “I shouldn’t have put this on you. It’s just . . . I thought you might be the one person who could help us.”
Something pinged in the center of my chest, a little flicker that wanted to soften me. I didn’t like it.
“Why, though?” I asked. “It sounds like you have Fae connections through your business. Surely some of them have pull. Why not call on people you already know?”
Judah gave a small shake of his head. “No one wants to get involved.”
I crossed my arms. “Because Killian is one of Shaw’s people.”
He nodded.
And that was the real problem—for Judah and for me.
He rose to his feet, and I stood too. He reached into an inner pocket of his black canvas jacket and pulled out a small white rectangle.
“In case you change your mind.” He placed his business card on the table. “I’ll be in town until tomorrow morning. But no pressure. Really.”
I left the card where it was.
“What are you going to do now?” I asked softly.
“Blake and I are going through our contacts again to see if there’s anyone we missed who might be able to help.”
He let me pass out of the kitchen first and then followed me through the living room toward the front door. Luna, Nolan, and Sasha watched us. I ignored them.