Bad Fae: A Snarky Paranormal Detective Story (A Cat McKenzie Novel Book 3)

by Lauren Dawes

  “After the fact, Sawyer. You told me that after Mason was in the apartment… not before. If you want to use that as an excuse, you are shit of out of luck.”

  “Why do you have to defy me all the time?”

  “Why do you always rise to the occasion?” I bit back.

  Someone cleared their throat, and we both glanced over to see Dr. Lee. He gave us a little wave. “Sorry to interrupt—”

  “It’s fine, Lee,” Sawyer said sharply, stepping away from me. His hands were balled into fists as his sides. “We’re ready for you.”

  Dr. Lee shot me a sympathetic smile and got down onto his haunches beside Zachary’s body.

  “Can you give us an estimated time of death?” I asked.

  Taking out a pen, he opened up Zachary’s mouth and took a look at his tongue. I recoiled when I realized he’d bitten it off during the attack. Lee, however, seemed unfazed by that juicy development.

  “I’d say between eight and fourteen hours… at a guess.”

  I was still surveying the scene when the photographer came in and took her shots. Sawyer directed her, even though the scene was littered with little flags noting evidence. I guess he really didn’t want to talk to me. When the photographer was done, Lee loaded up the body and said he’d have more information for us in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.

  Sawyer and I were the last to go, leaving behind the blood-soaked snow and the forest that was the only witness to Zachary’s gruesome death. Together, we walked down the main path that led to the parking lot attached to the expensive log cabin resort where the victim’s family would celebrate a somber Christmas this year.

  Grit crunched under my boots as I made my way to my truck. When I got there, I leaned against the front quarter panel and folded my arms. “I had a visitor last night,” I said.

  Sawyer drew to a stop beside his motorcycle. When he spoke, his voice was hard. “I know.”

  “Not Mason. Someone else. Someone called Blaze.”

  He spun around to face me, his eyes narrowed. “You have two guys at the same time?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Like you can talk.”

  He blanched.

  Hey, I shamed an incubus. Awesome!

  “No,” I said, continuing to celebrate my win mentally. “This guy was fae, and he said he was here at his queen’s request—Astrid’s request.”

  Sawyer placed the helmet he was holding down slowly and turned to fully face me. “What else did he say?”

  “He said Astrid needs my help with Avi, and she wants to see me in Wonderland. I tried to fob him off with an excuse that I couldn’t travel into Wonderland, but he told me that Astrid knew what I was capable of. He also said Astrid had information about my necklace and that she would tell me in exchange for helping her.”

  “Don’t agree to anything, Cat.”

  I unfolded my arms and let them dangle at my sides. “I haven’t. Blaze said he’d be back tonight for my answer.”

  Sawyer stared at me, his eyes flickered back and forth on my face. What was he searching for?

  “And look,” I began, pushing off the truck and approaching him. “I’m sorry if having Mason in the apartment last night wasn’t cool with you. I honestly thought you wouldn’t mind, and I had sent you that text to let you know.”

  Without warning, Sawyer reached out and dragged me closer, tipping me off balance. I practically fell into his embrace. I tried to pull back because we weren’t exactly in a private place. It was a parking lot, and a lot of cars were still coming and going.

  “I’m sorry I overreacted. The only thing I can blame it on is my protective instincts, which aren’t exactly reasonable when it comes to you.”

  “Why not?” I asked on a sigh, snuggling against his chest and drawing in his scent. I felt him shake his head, and he dropped his mouth to my ear. When he spoke, I shivered, then gasped when he nipped at the lobe. My whole body went liquid, and I was glad he was holding onto me, otherwise I would’ve fallen.

  “Because you’re all I want, but I’m not what you want.”

  I clutched at his shirt, wanting to blurt out that he was what I wanted but fear of ruining our working relationship and our friendship was not worth the risk.

  “You know that’s not true,” I whispered.

  “No? Why won’t you take a chance on us, then? If it’s an issue of monogamy, you don’t have to worry about that. I haven’t been able to get hard for another woman since we had sex a couple of weeks ago.”

  I blinked. Stunned. Speechless, even, and that was a big feat for me to achieve. “But you’ve been feeding on other women for two weeks now. I’ve seen you go out. I’ve seen you come back with their lipstick on your mouth and the side of your neck.”

  And didn’t all those times hurt like hell.

  He shook his head, brushing his mouth against the shell of my ear. “All I could do was give them oral and a great orgasm, which I fed off, but that was it. I haven’t fed fully since you.”

  I jerked away from him, hating that his mouth had been on another woman’s pussy. The outrage I felt was unjustified, though. His mouth had been on countless women before me—countless.

  “They weren’t you, Cat,” he murmured, pressing his forehead to mine.

  I may have melted a little at that. My resolve and outrage weakened. “I am pretty great, right?”

  He pulled away and smiled, brushing the hair from my face. “Nobody is like you.”

  Weakened. “Damn straight they aren’t.” I rubbed at my arms. We’d been out here long enough that the cold was starting to seep past my jacket.

  “Let’s go file this report, then we can go home,” he said.

  I kinda liked how that sounded.

  Home.

  “Can we get takeout tonight?” I asked Sawyer as I emerged from my bedroom, rubbing a towel through my damp hair.

  He arched a brow. “It’s your turn to cook. Also, what about therapy this week?”

  “Joanna’s on vacation with her family for two weeks, and I suck at cooking. You know this. If I had my way, I’d just serve coffee for dinner and be done with it.”

  “Now, why doesn’t that surprise me,” he murmured with real affection in his voice.

  Leaning up against the counter, I asked, “Have you seriously not been able to get hard for another woman?”

  In an instant, all the humor trickled from his expression, and he glanced away, pulling open the fridge.

  “Sawyer?”

  “Yes.” He shut the fridge door. “But I didn’t tell you that to guilt you into anything. I’ve never heard of this happening to another incubus. I even started doing some research online to see if I could find anything about this, but the net is filled with wild conspiracy theories from crackpot humans. I was forced to look in my own records, which aren’t much better given they were written by crackpot humans before the invention of the Internet.”

  Consort.

  The word came to me.

  “Can incubi have consorts?” At his raised brows, I pushed on. “I mean, Faline said she’d figured out a way to only feed off one person, but Faline was also a lying, backstabbing bitch.”

  Sawyer eased up to the other side of the counter, staring down at me. I shifted from foot to foot, uncomfortable with the scrutiny.

  “I’ve found some mention of consorts before, yes.” His eyes blazed.

  With heat.

  With hunger.

  “And how would all that work?”

  “From what I’ve read, an incubi’s consort calms the desire to feed off every single female they see. They calm it so much that the incubus can no longer feed off anyone but that consort.”

  “What if the consort isn’t interested in being with an incubus?”

  I asked the question not because it was true of me, but because I needed to know the details. When it came to the supernatural world, I was so in the dark. I was living under a boulder at the end of a cave.

  “I read of one such instance whe
re the incubus and consort were sworn enemies. Suffice it to say, things didn’t end well for that incubus.”

  “Why?”

  “He was forced to feed off lust only. On a nutritional level, it’s like supplementing a candy bar for a head of broccoli. There’s no way sustained consumption of lust will keep an incubus well-fed and strong. Eventually, he died.”

  “His consort was also supernatural?”

  “Yes, as they always are.”

  I didn’t realize I was shaking my head until the ends of my damp hair flicked me on the face. “You think I’m your consort?”

  “What other explanation is there, Cat? I fed from you and now I don’t desire anyone else. My body only wants yours, to sink into your heat every day.”

  A flush of warmth went through me—an ache formed between my legs. Sucking in a breath, I said, “But I’m not supernatural. I’m just me. I have the lifespan of a human so even if I was your consort… and I’m not saying I am… I’ll be dead in another sixty years, and then where would you be?”

  “That, I don’t know. All I know is that after you, I haven’t wanted anyone else. With everything I’ve read, I’ve managed to piece together this… you’re my consort. And I have to tell you that seeing you with another man makes me savage with jealousy.”

  “Noted,” I replied absently, staring down at the black marble slab between us. The material was so glossy, I could see both our reflections in it.

  “How do you feel about that?”

  How did I feel? I felt like I wanted to high-five everyone in this building. I felt like I wanted to crawl into bed, pull my unicorn comforter over my head and cry. I felt like stripping off all my clothes and letting Sawyer do what he wanted to do to me because the thought of him with someone else drove me to savage jealousy.

  “It could ruin everything,” I whispered. “We have an amazing working relationship. I actually like you, but having more than that… having sex daily… would change it all. Right?”

  I needed his agreement on this one. I had to know he saw the flaw in the consort plan.

  “Yes, it could,” he conceded. “But I’m not going to let that happen. Here’s the thing with relationships… the only way it could get fucked up is if the two people involved in it choose to fuck it up. If our jobs and partnership are so important to you, you will make sure nothing changes there.”

  “What if it does, though?” I asked in a cautious whisper. Sawyer was telling me things I wanted to hear, but my trust in the supernatural had never been that great.

  “I guess we won’t know until we try.” He shrugged his broad shoulders and gave me a soft smile. “So, what do you feel like for dinner?”

  I opened my mouth to reply when there was a knock on the door. Glancing over at the clock, I saw that it was six o’clock on the dot. My gaze flickered to Sawyer, and he was instantly on alert.

  “Don’t open the door yet,” he warned.

  “It’s just Blaze,” I tried to reason, but Sawyer had already darted into his bedroom, emerging with our Glocks he kept locked up in his gun safe. He gave me mine then held his own sidearm against his thigh, his finger outside the trigger guard.

  “This is a bit of overkill, right?” I asked, gesturing to my gun. “It’s just Blaze.”

  Sawyer’s jaw bulged. “And you should know better than anyone to assume anything about the fae. He could have been sent back with orders to take you by force. Ever thought of that?”

  I folded my arms awkwardly. “No,” I replied mulishly. But I should have. I should’ve thought about that because Sawyer was right. The fae weren’t exactly known for being fair. Sure, they could tell their truth until the cows came home, but whether that was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth was another story. The fae loved a loophole—any way to twist it to suit themselves.

  Nodding at the door, he commanded, “Open it.”

  Letting out a breath, I did open the door, recoiling a little when I saw Blaze standing there once more. I knew he was going to be the one standing there, but nightmares had a way of shocking you still.

  He bowed low and long until I had to tell the guy to straighten.

  “My mistress sends you fond and warm greetings,” he began.

  “Super. Look, Blaze, let’s not do this out in the hallway, ‘kay?” I waved him in and closed the door behind him. Blaze looked up to find Sawyer with his Glock trained on his chest.

  “Blaze, Sawyer. Sawyer, this is Blaze… Astrid’s right hand… UPS guy?”

  The fae frowned. “Herold,” Blaze corrected.

  “That,” I shot back. Blaze was wearing a dark blue double-breasted frock coat over a buff waistcoat. Light gray breeches and shiny dress boots completed his snappy ensemble. “Is the queen looking for her answer?” I asked.

  “Yes, she desires to know what you will say. She also told me to tell you that Avi has made an attempt on her life already in the time she has waited. She fears what else her sister would do.”

  “Wow, these sisters don’t mess around with sororicide. Have you fae ever heard of just talking it out instead of resorting to murder? No, don’t answer that.” I heaved a sigh, wondering whether I’d ever get a case that didn’t involve murderous plots to usurp a throne.

  But then I thought about my run-in with Willis. He could give me the information I needed about the opal and Rogue Faction, so I didn’t need Astrid’s dangling carrot anymore. Thank you very much.

  “Look, I’m sorry, but Astrid is just going to have to sort this out herself. I can’t be the person everyone runs to when they have a problem.”

  Blaze’s face fell. “Astrid will be most disappointed to hear that.”

  “Astrid will get over it,” I shot back. “I’m sorry, but this is my final answer.” I turned my back on the fae, intending to walk down the hallway to my room when something clutched at my ankle. I stiffened and spun around to find Blaze prostrate on the floor, his fingers wrapped tightly around my leg.

  “Please,” he begged, tears streaming down his face. “Please, I beg of you. Do this for my queen. Do this so that our lands are once again filled with warmth and light.”

  Desperately, I looked over at Sawyer, shooting him a glare that said, what the hell should I do here? He said nothing. He did nothing—simply stared at me and waited for my decision. And right now, I decided that Blaze needed to get up.

  Bending down, I pried Blaze’s fingers from my ankle and helped him to his feet. “Stop embarrassing yourself,” I mumbled. “Please.” When his fingers still didn’t loosen, I relented. “I’ll speak with her, okay? That doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily be able to help her,” I said forcefully. “But I will speak with her and find out what she would like to do. When does she want to meet?”

  The tears on Blaze’s face were glistening like snowflakes in the overhead lights. “Oh, thank you. Thank you, thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” I grouched, hating that I’d been guilted into something I’d rather not do.

  “She will meet you tomorrow evening in your human time. Inside the entrance to Wonderland.”

  “Great.”

  And just like that, I was helping the fae.

  Eleven

  I never thought I’d say this, but I missed my therapy session with Joanna. When I woke up on Saturday morning, I felt restless and unsteady. Things with Blaze hadn’t exactly worked out how I wanted them to, and things between Sawyer and I still weren’t exactly resolved. I’d spent most of the night thinking about what he’d said, about the whole you-are-my-consort thing. Could I be that for him? Physiologically speaking, I guess that I could be.

  I picked up my phone and dialed Sasha’s number. My girl could give me the clarity I needed.

  “Hey, babe,” Sasha said by way of greeting when she picked up.

  “Hey, you. How are you? How’s Vermont treating you?”

  Brad—the personal trainer and closet billionaire—had swept Sasha off to a pretentious ski resort to spend Christmas wit
h him and his family last weekend.

  The bitch.

  “Oh, you know, skiing all day, hot sex on the rug by the fire, in the hot tub, and on any available surface we can find.”

  I could just picture her waving her hand in the air like it was NBD.

  “I think he might be a keeper.”

  “I think so, too,” Sasha replied softly, affection in her voice. “Man, what’s wrong with me. I always said I wouldn’t settle down with just one man, that I was a free spirit.

  “You got hypnotized by the D. Dicks will always win your heart.”

  She laughed. “True and Brad’s is p-e-r-f-e-c-t, perfect.”

  “I’m really happy for you.” And I was. I was happy that she was happy. After all the men she’d dated, she deserved some happiness.

  “How are things with you? You working over Christmas?”

  “Maybe. It depends if supes want to be dicks or not. I really hope nobody commits murder on Christmas Day. I’d be pissed.”

  “I hope for your sake, they don’t. How’s Sawyer?”

  “Good.” I nibbled on my bottom lip, wondering how much more to say. Sasha knew that we’d finally had sex in order for Sawyer to feed, but that was it. “Bad,” I added. “I don’t know.”

  “Okay, let’s start from the top. Good because…” she fished.

  “We’re cool. After the sex, we’ve been cool. I mean, I want to gouge my own heart out every time he goes to feed on someone, but other than that…”

  Sasha hmm-mmmed. “And the bad?”

  “The bad is that he dropped some truth on me last night… some truth I probably wasn’t ready to hear.”

  “Uh-oh.”

  “He said he hasn’t fed properly or fully for the last two weeks. He’s only been feeding on lust and that he hasn’t been able to get hard for anyone else.”

  “Why not? That guy is a walking bottle of Viagra.”

  I shifted on the bed, squirming. “He said he can only get hard for me now.”

  Silence descended on our call.

  “Sash? You there?”

  “Yeah, I’m here.” She blew out a breath. “He can only get hard for you?”