Iron Master

by Jennifer Ashley

  Stuart hadn’t taken back the mate claim as they’d walked Donny inside, or discussed it, or even mentioned it. Stuart had put an excited Donny to bed, reassuring him and the other boys that he was there for them, then he’d given Peigi a smile, retreated to his own bedroom, and closed the door.

  In the morning, their time had been filled with feeding the cubs and calling Shane again to babysit. Donny had of course told the other cubs about the mate claim, and they were ecstatic, asking questions about when the sun and moon ceremony would be and so forth.

  Stuart and Peigi had put them off with evasions. Peigi hadn’t accepted yet—how could she, when she hadn’t had a chance to get a word in edgewise?

  They couldn’t discuss it on the walk to Eric’s house, because Nell joined them immediately, saying she refused to let Eric interrogate Peigi without her present.

  Once they’d settled in Eric’s living room, Stuart told the entire story from the time they’d departed on Marlo’s plane to Ben’s act of dragging them out of Faerie via the ley line in Kurt’s basement. Ben still hadn’t resurfaced, and Peigi was getting worried about him.

  Present for the tale were Eric and Iona, Cassidy, Diego, and Nell, of course. Today Eric directed his questions at Stuart, but Peigi appreciated Nell being there as a buffer for her. Peigi added confirmations and more thorough explanations while the story unfolded, as Stuart’s answers could be laconic.

  “So what we have,” Eric concluded after Stuart and Peigi had finished, “Is the dokk alfar in danger of a hoch alfar invasion. The hoch alfar have an advantage because they used an agent—you suspect a Shifter, but don’t know for certain—to steal the magic talisman. Cian hopes he can locate and return this talisman, but believes he can do it only with your help.”

  “That’s the gist,” Stuart said.

  Eric, in worn jeans and sweatshirt, lounged back on the sofa, crossing his legs and pulling his bare feet under him. He rarely looked like the leader he was but more like a man ready to nap in front of the television with a beer at his side.

  “In other words, the dokk alfar want to send one of my best trackers on a seriously dangerous mission inside Faerie,” Eric said. “I’ll have to think about that.”

  “And one of my best employees.” Diego folded his arms over his black shirt with DX Security emblazoned above the pocket.

  Stuart nodded silently at them both, as though he agreed with their reasoning.

  Peigi grew impatient with the stoic male thing. “It’s Stuart’s choice. You can’t force him to stay and work for you.”

  Eric gazed at her in mild surprise. “I never said I would. Reid is a free man. I’m just assessing the situation.”

  His mate, Iona, a beautiful woman with black hair and blue eyes, rested on the arm of the sofa. “Eric likes to assess.”

  Cassidy laughed her agreement, and Nell rolled her eyes.

  “Everyone’s a critic.” Eric grinned up at Iona, the love on his face evident.

  “There’s more to consider,” Stuart broke in. “I’m of course very worried about what will happen to the dokk alfar if the karmsyern is not returned. But things have changed for me. Earlier in my life, I would have rushed at the chance to throw myself in front of a thousand attacking hoch alfar, but I have a lot more to lose now. You should all know that I made the mate claim to Peigi.”

  He tossed out the last words casually, as though his audience would be less than interested in his personal life, but the effect was electric.

  Eric came up off the couch, no longer the lazing leopard. Nell whooped, eyes alight, and sprang at Peigi, catching her in an enthusiastic embrace. Cassidy and Iona gathered around her, no less excited.

  “It’s about time,” Cassidy said to Stuart while she waited for her turn to hug.

  Eric closed on Stuart, arms open, ready to enfold him in a Shifter hug, but Diego raised his hands. “Wait a sec. Peigi, did you accept?”

  The Shifters paused, arrested in mid cheer. Nell released Peigi and studied her. “Well?”

  They all watched Peigi, eager—even Diego who’d voiced the question waited in interested anticipation. It was so clear what they wanted her answer to be.

  A few years ago, Peigi would have gone into a panic and babbled that of course she’d said yes, whether she had or not, so they’d not be displeased with her. But she’d grown wiser, less afraid of not being accepted. Or so she told herself as she drew a calming breath and prepared to give them the truth, what she wanted, not what the group expected her to do.

  Stuart stepped next to her before she could speak. “We haven’t talked it through yet,” he said.

  Peigi gave him a grateful look. “It’s all right. I haven’t answered him,” she said to the Shifters and Diego. “Like Stuart says, there’s a lot to consider.”

  Nell watched her a moment, disappointment clear, then she shook her head. “I’m sorry, honey. We were just so excited—we want the best for you.”

  Iona said, “I know better than most what it’s like to be cornered into a sudden mate claim.” She shot Eric a glance, and he briefly studied the ceiling. “You can always refuse it—it’s your right.”

  They went quiet, three leopards—one a panther—a bear, and a human watching her. Stuart was the only one who didn’t hang breathlessly on her answer, as though they expected she’d refuse the claim right there and then.

  “I know,” Peigi said quietly. “As I said, we haven’t talked it through. This is between Stuart and me.”

  Peigi had grown to love these people who’d taken her in and given her such kindness, but at the moment, they all appeared surprised she had the backbone to tell them it was none of their business.

  Of course even a year ago, under this much pressure, Peigi would have walked out of Eric’s house, striding away rapidly, needing to be alone. She didn’t like anything that smacked of confinement or coercion—a bodily reaction set in.

  Even now, her feet willed her to run, but Peigi’s own convictions plus Stuart solidly at her side let her stand and regard Eric and Nell, both far above her in power, with a measure of calm.

  Iona had understanding in her eyes. She’d made the tough choice to leave her sort-of normal life as a half human in human society and live in Shiftertown, but she’d done it to be with Eric. Iona knew what it was to be an outsider, struggling to adjust.

  Peigi’s situation was a bit different, as Stuart wasn’t Shifter, and he too was an outsider wherever he went. Even Cian had regarded him as no longer having a place in the dokk alfar realms.

  Nell went to Peigi and gave her a light hug—which for Nell meant only slightly bone-crushing. “You take all the time you need, sweetie. I will admit, the fact that you didn’t say no outright gives me hope. You need some happiness in your life.”

  Eric grinned at Nell. “Yeah, because you raced to shack up with Cormac right away. I remember your snarls and growls all the way up until you finally accepted his mate claim. Didn’t cause any of us worry or anything.”

  “I was busy rescuing my son,” Nell said, with a trace of the growls Eric mentioned. “I can’t do everything at once.”

  Peigi appreciated how Eric had deflected the attention from Peigi and put it on Nell, who could take the teasing.

  Peigi couldn’t imagine being without Stuart, and the heat that had flared in her heart when he’d made the claim confirmed what she’d already known about her bond to him.

  But she was going to have to explain to Stuart what the mate claim, and mating, truly entailed—besides the obvious. Already frenzy stirred within her, which didn’t bode well for focusing on a mission.

  “If Stuart decides to go back to Faerie and help out,” Peigi said, breaking into the banter surrounding Nell, “how will he get there? Ben somehow dragged us out, but he’s made himself scarce and he’s not answering his phone. The only reason we got through the ley line to Faerie is because of the house in New Orleans. It wanted us to go, I think—it was trying to help.”

  Diego shivered
. “I’ve seen that place, but I still can’t get used to it.”

  “It’s powerful.” Eric’s quiet statement held respect. “A lot of magic on that ley line, I’m thinking.”

  “I haven’t said I was going back,” Stuart said, and silence fell. “I came to get your take on it, Eric—actually to hear what all of you thought. I’d like Graham’s opinion too. I don’t know Cian well. He helped Dimitri, yes, and seems honorable, but do I take his word without doubt? Or does he have his own agenda? Is he sending me into a death trap to spare himself and his own people?”

  Eric’s brows rose at the mention of Graham’s name, but he nodded. “Graham is the most suspicious Shifter on the planet. He’d ask questions I couldn’t think of. Makes him a good co-leader.”

  Peigi felt the ripple of tension despite Eric’s easy words. It was not easy for two Shifters to share leadership. They managed it by deliberately leaving each other the hell alone.

  “Tell me about Crispin,” Eric said abruptly. “Peigi, you said he looked like a Morrissey?”

  “Superficially,” Peigi answered, relieved at the change of subject. “He resembles Dylan and is a black-maned lion. But he’s very unlike the Morrisseys in personality, at least based on the few times I’ve met any of them.”

  “He didn’t give you his full name?” Eric asked.

  “Said very little about himself,” Peigi answered. “He wouldn’t give us his clan name, wouldn’t say why he’d decided to join the hoch alfar.”

  “He also didn’t seem very anxious to get away from us and find his Fae prince again,” Stuart added. “I couldn’t tell if he’d given up or was plotting things in his head.”

  “He didn’t seem very dominant,” Peigi said. “Or very submissive either. Like he tries hard to be insignificant.”

  “Interesting.” Eric glanced at Diego, who gave him a nod.

  “I’ll research him,” Diego said. “Reid, can you give me a good description? Crispin might not be his real name.” He frowned. “You know, if I needed to take an assumed name, I’d pick something with a little more pizazz.”

  “Like Michelangelo?” Peigi asked. When blank faces turned to her, she continued, “It’s what Miguel used to call himself. Now it’s just Michael.”

  “We’ve been keeping track of him too,” Diego said. “Had a bead on him heading out of Texas, but then he went to ground. My colleagues tracked him to St. Louis and lost him there. I’m sorry, Peigi. I didn’t have the intel that he’d gone to New Orleans, or I’d have warned you.”

  “Not your fault.” Peigi shrugged as though it didn’t matter. “The New Orleans trip was a last-minute decision. Michael said he was there because he was tracking me. He’s good at tracking.”

  “Still, it’s my job to keep my eye on assholes and stop them.” Diego’s scowl showed the determined and resourceful cop he’d been, and the determined and resourceful security expert he was. “My apologies.”

  “With any luck, he’ll be stuck in Faerie for a long time, at the mercy of a dokk alfar who doesn’t much like him,” Stuart said. “Cian doesn’t strike me as the type who’ll be bamboozled by someone like Michael. Or Crispin. My guess is he’ll interrogate the hell out of both of them before deciding what to do with them.”

  “Which gives a dokk alfar access to Shifter secrets,” Eric observed, his tone mild. “A dokk alfar you don’t trust.”

  “I didn’t mean I don’t trust him,” Stuart said. “I mean I don’t know him. And he isn’t going to trust me implicitly until he knows more about me, and how loyal I am, and to whom.”

  “All good points,” Eric said. “But so is mine.”

  “About this Crispin guy,” Diego broke in. “I know how we can find out if he’s one of the Morrissey clan.”

  “Yes?” Eric lifted his brows.

  “Ask a Morrissey.”

  Eric flashed a grin. “I love you like a brother, Diego. Since you bring it up … Dylan called this morning. He’s on his way, and he wants to talk to you two.” He pointed at Peigi and Stuart. “All right with you?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Reid didn’t share the group’s trepidation at the mention of Dylan’s name. He’d been working with Dylan for a while, off the books, and had learned how to deal with him. Dylan had a lot of power, true, but plenty of wisdom and deep-rooted kindness to go with it.

  “Let me know when he shows up,” Reid said to Peigi. “Mind if I go have a talk with Graham? I told him I would.”

  Eric nodded. “If you don’t, Graham’ll be in my face telling me to send you over. I asked him to this meeting, but he couldn’t make it. Cubs.”

  Everyone assumed expressions of amusement. Graham wasn’t happy unless he dominated everyone … except the cubs in his life. They pretty much led him around by the tail.

  Reid knew the feeling. Donny’s fear last night that he and Peigi would leave him had hit Reid hard. Soldiers, cops, firefighters—anyone who worked for the good of others went through that, he knew. The choice between helping the world and making sure your own child was safe, protected, and happy was the toughest one there was.

  Eric gently pulled Peigi into an embrace. It was the hug of a Shifter leader passing reassurance to one of his own, letting her know he was there for her, whatever choices she made.

  Reid watched Peigi loosen under Eric’s touch. She’d badly needed someone like Eric when she’d first been rescued, with his true promise that he would protect her, unconditionally. Michael, who’d been her leader, should have done that for her, but hadn’t.

  Eric led unselfishly while Michael had only wanted to dominate. Eric had sacrificed himself for others—Michael sacrificed others for himself. This was the difference between a good and bad leader, Stuart had learned, and why he trusted Eric with his life.

  Nell and the ladies insisted on hugging Peigi after Eric moved off. Diego bent an eye on Reid.

  “Not gonna hug you,” he said. “But don’t worry about coming in to work until you get this sorted out. Your desk will still be there.”

  “Xavier that happy working my case load, is he?” Reid asked.

  “Xavier needs more to do.” Diego spoke with the sternness of an older brother for a younger. “It’s good for him.”

  “I’m sure he’s thinking that,” Reid said without cracking a smile. “Tell him I’ll be back as soon as I can. I like my job.”

  This had surprised him at first, but Reid had discovered he was a good police officer and enjoyed detective work. Finding a bad guy and stopping him had been satisfying, making his lonely exile more bearable.

  Diego, who had started the DX Security firm when he’d quit the police force to mate with Cassidy, had given Reid a way to continue stopping bad guys, for which Reid would be ever grateful. The bad guys had learned to fear Reid, Xav, and Diego, and the words DX Security could send a tremble to the most hardened drug dealer’s heart.

  Reid and Peigi finally left the house—with all the Shifters still hopeful Peigi would accept the mate claim. They’d ceased saying so, but Reid knew it, their excitement barely dampened as they said their good-byes.

  “Ready to face Graham?” Reid asked Peigi as they walked down the long street in the direction of the Lupine section of town.

  “Sure. I’m interested in his opinion too.” Peigi’s hand hung stiffly at her side, near but not touching Reid’s. “Will you tell me something honestly?” she asked. “If it weren’t for me and the cubs, would you be running through a gate to find Cian and take on the hoch alfar?”

  Reid swallowed, knowing the answer. “Yes.”

  “Thought so.”

  Stuart took her rigid hand and pulled her to a halt. Peigi turned reluctantly, but she faced him.

  They’d stopped at the edge of another Shifter’s yard. Reid knew the Shifters inside the house would be watching out the window—no one minded their own business in Shiftertown—but this was too important.

  “Let me tell you why.” Reid stood close to her, toe to toe, sneaker to sneaker
, and let his voice go quiet. “Because if you and the cubs weren’t here, or didn’t like me around, I’d have nothing to lose.”

  Peigi’s dark blue eyes flickered with competing emotions. “I never want to stop you.”

  “You don’t.” Reid lifted their twined hands to his lips and kissed her fingers. “You’ve given me something to live for—you. I don’t want to lose what I’ve found. I know you believe I stay in Shiftertown and help you and the cubs because I have nothing better to do, but that’s not why.”

  Peigi flushed. “I did think that,” she said softly. “That you’d leap at the chance to go back home.”

  “No leaping.” Stuart kissed her fingers again, then leaned to her and pressed a swift kiss to her lips. He imagined the Shifters—a family of Felines—in their living room, watching avidly, maybe passing around popcorn. “It’s killing me that everyone expected I’d want to go, to leave you like it was nothing to me.”

  “Is that why you made the mate claim?” Peigi’s question held trepidation.

  Stuart felt his smile come. “No. I made it because you’re seriously hot.”

  Peigi didn’t laugh as he intended, remaining worried. “You shouldn’t joke about that. Do you know what a mate claim does to a Shifter?”

  “Makes their friends want to throw a party? With hugging. Lots and lots of hugging.”

  “It triggers the mate frenzy.” Peigi’s breath touched his lips. “You’ve never experienced Shifter mating frenzy.”

  “I’ve seen Shifter mates barely able to keep their hands off each other. Is that what you mean?”

  “Do dokk alfar have mating frenzy?”

  Stuart drew closer. “If you mean deep, all-consuming need, then yes. I’m kind of feeling that right now.”

  Peigi’s eyes darkened. “Trust me, it’s nothing like mating frenzy.” She rose on tiptoe and licked his ear. “I’m very strong.”

  Heat shot through Reid’s body, and his heart banged. “So am I.”

  “Uh-oh.”