Evie nodded. The woman hadn’t moved from her slumped position, but of course, she could hear every word. Evie didn’t know exactly what had happened, but it was clear the woman and the missing man had attacked Jace. That was why she’d let Jace back in her house, and allowed him to hold the woman until his alpha arrived—but that was as far as it went.
What the hell was going on? Evie fingered the quartz in her pocket. She’d been so damn worried. Each minute with Jace gone had seemed like an eternity. She’d hated that the only thing she could do was to call Adric and then wait for him to drive the fifty minutes up from Baltimore.
Jace trained his gaze on his prisoner. He appeared relaxed, long legs stretched before him and an elbow resting on the chair back, but it was the coiled energy of an animal prepared to spring.
The woman slid a look at Evie. Her pale blue eyes were flat. Not angry or cold, just flat, as if Evie were too insignificant to worry about.
Evie wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. “Well,” she said, “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m hungry.” She’d been too busy to grab more than a snack tonight.
Kyler brightened. “Works for me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Why aren’t I surprised?”
“Hey, I’m a growing boy.”
But the tension in the room dropped several notches.
Evie got out sandwich fixings and went to work. A few minutes later, she had four thick tuna sandwiches topped with slabs of melted cheddar. Jace inhaled appreciatively as she handed him a plate. “Tuna. Great.”
“I figured you’d like it.”
“Why?”
She smirked. “You’re a cat, aren’t you?”
His mouth twitched again. “A jaguar, not a house cat.”
“Here.” She handed him a plate for the red-headed woman, who was eyeing Jace’s sandwich hungrily. “I made one for her, too.”
He shook his head, but passed it on to her. When the Baltimore alpha arrived, he found the four of them eating tuna melts.
Evie opened the door at Jace’s request and Adric strode in as if he owned the place. He nodded hello to Evie and Kyler and then eyed the woman, who straightened up and set her plate on the table behind her.
“This is her?”
“Yep.” Jace rose to his feet. “Name’s Nika.”
A small woman with a shaved head slipped in after Adric, Jace’s clothes under her arm, and Adric jerked his head in her direction without taking his eyes off Nika. “This is one of my lieutenants,” he said.
The newcomer set the clothes on an empty chair and stuck out a hand. “Marjani. I’m also his sister—and you must be Evie.”
“That’s me.” Evie shook her hand. Marjani was a female version of Adric—a lithe cat of a woman with smooth butterscotch skin, large dark eyes and a perfect oval face. But her body was scarecrow-thin and her eyes had hollows beneath them so that Evie wondered if she’d been sick.
“You’re the humans who saved Jace’s life.” Marjani looked from Evie to Kyler. “Thank you. He’s like a brother to me.”
Evie moved a shoulder. “We didn’t do much.”
Marjani touched Evie’s arm, and then moved to where Adric and Jace were staring down at Nika. The redhead moistened her lips and kept her gaze on the alpha. Adric and Marjani stepped closer, and Nika shrank into herself.
Evie’s stomach tightened. She could almost see the teeth and claws come out, two predators homing in on their prey. She swallowed and glanced at Jace, who had stepped back, allowing Adric to take over. He gave a slight shake of his head, and she forced herself to remain silent. This was between the fada.
“So. Nika.” Adric set a hand on the back of her chair. “You’re new around here, aren’t you?”
She jerked her head. Yes.
“I thought so. But we’re going to get to know each other, won’t we, love?”
Nika’s throat worked. Her gaze darted from him to Marjani and then back to the floor.
“She’s not from around here,” Jace said. “I think she’s from Russia or Eastern Europe.”
“And you say she was with Corban?”
“Yeah.”
Adric shook his head. “You’re bullet bait to him,” he told her. “Someone he can throw at me to save his own ass.”
She raised her chin. “He says you lie. That you can do it without harming yourself.”
“Do you scent a lie?”
Her nostrils flared. Then she shook her head. “No,” she admitted. “But maybe I would not.”
“Corban is the one who plays with the truth. And the man’s a fucking coward, too. Look how he left you behind to take the heat.”
Nika pressed her lips together.
“You know the rules,” Adric said. “You come into my territory without permission, you’re mine. I could slit your throat right here and no one would say a word.”
Kyler moved uneasily, but Adric sliced him a look, and he kept his mouth shut.
Nika merely nodded. “As you say.”
The alpha turned toward Evie. “Can I trouble you for some clothes for Nika here?”
“Yes, of course.” She hurried from the room. The redhead was several sizes larger than her, but she found an oversized T-shirt and a pair of yoga pants that she thought would work. When she returned to the kitchen, Jace had taken the opportunity to get dressed in his own clothes as well.
Nika shed her towel and pulled on the shirt and pants, unconcerned with her audience. Evie elbowed Kyler, who had his gaze locked on the woman’s full breasts. He reddened and dropped his eyes.
Adric was holding the paper towel with Nika’s quartz. Her eyes went to it, but she didn’t say anything. The alpha unwrapped it without touching it. He cocked his head, and Evie had the odd impression he was listening to it. He gave a nod and then wrapped it up again before tucking it into his pocket.
“We’ll take care of her,” he told Jace. “You two”—he nodded at Evie and Kyler—“go with Jace.”
The two men exchanged a look.
“What do you mean?” Evie asked.
“Jace will explain. But my cousin is a coldhearted S.O.B. If he thinks he can hurt me through you, he will.”
She passed a hand over her face. None of this made sense. “Why would hurting me hurt you?”
“Jace is one of my top men—a lieutenant. And it’s clear he’s interested in you, or else he wouldn’t have been here.”
Jace was a lieutenant? But it fit; he had that air of calm, confident power.
“Come on.” Jace set a hand on her back. “We can talk upstairs. You too, Kyler.”
As they moved into the hall, Adric said to Nika, “I’ll ask you one time. Where’s Corban?”
Silence.
Evie glanced back to see the alpha dangling his quartz in front of Nika’s face. Then Jace moved to block her sight and hustled her toward the stairs.
She dug in her heels. Yes, Nika had helped attack Jace, but Evie couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for her. “What’s he going to do?” she demanded.
He propelled her forward. “Don’t worry,” he said in an undertone. “He won’t hurt her. She’ll tell him what he needs to know.”
“But—”
“Upstairs. The less she knows, the better.”
Evie nodded and led the way to the front bedroom—her mom’s. Evie still didn’t think of it as hers. The walls were still the same deep plum her mom had chosen, and she had her mom’s colorful orange, blue, and purple Boho quilt on the bed. Even the sturdy fruitwood dresser had been passed down through her mom’s family. The only furniture Evie had added was an inexpensive table which held her printer and a stack of books and papers.
Jace closed the door and turned to face her and Kyler. “I’d like you to come to Baltimore with me for a few days—hide in my den until we track down Corban.”
“But why? What’s going on?”
He scraped a hand over his short black hair. “We’re not sure,” he admitted. “But we’re afraid
Corban is behind the attack on me last week, which means he’s working with the night fae. And that’s twice now my trail has led right to your door. Until we know what’s happening, you’re not safe here.”
Evie sank down on her bed. “This is insane. I have work. And Kyler—”
“Is out of school for the summer,” her brother inserted. “Maybe we should listen to the man.”
“You want to go?” An hour ago, he’d been ready to punch Jace out, and now he was all for leaving with him.
He moved a shoulder. “You didn’t see this Corban. I did. He’s one scary motherfucker.”
Jace crouched before Evie, his hands on the mattress on either side of her. The claw marks on his face were healing rapidly, but they’d come dangerously close to his eye. “I’m sorry, Evie. Corban knows I was with you, and he scented you on me. He doesn’t play by the rules—and he likes to hurt women. Do you want to take a chance he won’t come back?”
She grimaced. “No, of course not.”
“It’s Saturday night,” Kyler said. “You don’t have to be at work until Monday evening. We could go for a couple of days at least.”
Evie stared at the marks on Jace’s face and went cold as she realized that both Corban and Nika must have been out there, watching Kyler come home from Ben’s. They could’ve grabbed him, torn him to pieces…and she’d never have known why.
“Please,” Jace said. “I promise, you can leave whenever you want. But this house is too hard to protect. He could come at you from either side.” He jerked his chin at the windows overlooking the street. “Even climb in through the windows. Climbing up here would be nothing for a fada.”
Evie glanced at Kyler and made up her mind. “All right.”
Because she trusted Jace. If he’d wanted, he could’ve hurt her and Kyler ten times over by now; but instead, he’d been outside the house, guarding them. He’d lost sleep to make sure they were okay, and damn it, she was touched. Yeah, she was tough, independent—and proud of it—but she wasn’t stupid enough to think she could take on a fada. If Jace believed they were in danger, then they probably were.
“Thank you,” Jace said as if she were doing him a favor and not the other way around. He stood up. “I’ll wait in the hall while you pack. Make sure you bring enough for a few nights.”
Kyler followed Jace into the hall. “I can send my friend Ben a text, right? Tell him we’re going to be in Baltimore with friends?”
“Sure. Just don’t give him any details.”
Evie took out her own phone. She’d taken the biology final last Tuesday, and her summer class didn’t start for another week. The only people she needed to contact were her bosses at the restaurant and the coffee shop. She’d been so busy the last few years that she’d lost touch with her friends from high school. Her only uncle lived in Canada, and she hadn’t seen him since her mom’s funeral. Evie could disappear for a month and no one would notice except Kyler and her boss and maybe Mrs. Linney.
Lord, that was sad.
It was rare for her to have a Sunday off, so she’d been planning to surprise Kyler with a trip to the beach two hours away in Delaware. But Monday she was due to work the evening shift at the restaurant and then Tuesday morning at the coffee shop. She texted her boss at the restaurant saying she might not make it in on Monday, but decided not to contact the coffee shop yet. Surely they’d be back home by Tuesday—because she really couldn’t afford to lose more than a day or two of work.
She pocketed her phone and went to her dresser.
16
Adric removed his quartz pendant and pulled up a chair in front of Nika.
She squared her shoulders and set her hands on her thighs. “What are you going to do?”
Her voice was calm although he knew she was afraid. Interesting. She’d been giving a good imitation of a completely cowed submissive, someone low on the dominance scale, but a fada that low would be trembling with the effort of fighting an alpha.
“You know where my cousin is,” he murmured. “Tell me, love.”
He swung his pendant in front of her face. Back and forth, slow and steady.
Nika moistened her lips. Her gaze flicked to the pendant and her right hand fisted.
She wanted his quartz, even though it wouldn’t do her any good—the tiny crystals within were aligned to his unique frequency, vibrating with him on a primal level. But with her quartz removed, her body would be craving the magical energy it was being deprived of.
He focused on his quartz. Deep within, the heart flared a fiery mix of bronze and blue that even he found mesmerizing. He dragged his gaze away and back to Nika’s face.
Back and forth.
“Tell me,” he said again. “Where’s Corban?”
On Nika’s other side, Marjani was careful to keep her gaze on the woman’s face, not the glowing quartz. At least something good had come out of this. It was the most animated he’d seen his sister in months. But then, she had even more reason to hate Corban than he did.
Back and forth.
Nika followed the movement with her eyes. The flickers in the quartz were mirrored in her pupils, twin blue flames in the black.
“Talk to me, Nika. All I want is information. Tell me what I want to know and I’ll let you live.”
Her mouth compressed, but her gaze remained on the swinging quartz.
In the Darktime, he would’ve forced the information from her and then smashed her quartz before dumping her on the streets of Baltimore—if he didn’t just slit her throat. Nika might not be the meek mouse she was pretending to be, but she was no match for a man of his strength.
But the Darktime was over, and he had little taste for hurting a woman, even one working with Corban. Of course, raiding her mind for information against her will wasn’t much better. But the clan came first.
His first question was simple. Get her to answer one question, and the next one was easier. “Where did you meet Corban?”
Her jaw clenched tight. Dislike and fear came off her in waves, a bitter, unpleasant scent. He didn’t think all that fear was for him, either. No, she was afraid of Corban, too.
Back and forth.
He repeated the question. “Where did you meet Corban?”
When she still didn’t answer, he drew deeply on his Gift. Hypnotism: his dirty little secret. Most earth fada could hypnotize others if given enough time and opportunity, but he could do it so quickly and thoroughly that it was akin to compulsion. He was sure other people suspected, but only his top people knew for sure, because if his Gift ever became general knowledge, he could lose the clan’s trust. How could his clanmates know what was true and what he’d planted in their minds?
Panic flared within Nika. He kept up the dark, steady pressure—and felt the moment her will collapsed in on itself.
Something deep inside her howled in fury, but her mouth opened. “In Iceland.” The words were slow, a little blurred.
Adric raised a brow. Iceland was the ice fae’s home territory.
“What were you doing in Iceland?”
“My alpha, he sent me to the ice fae.”
“Why?”
She shrugged, her gaze on the moving quartz. He drew more energy from it. The flickers coalesced into a vivid cobalt fire.
“Tell me, Nika.”
“I am to work for them. The ice fae, they pay the clan good money.”
“And Corban? Why was he in Iceland?”
“He works for them too.”
“Who? Who is he working for?”
She swallowed and then whispered, “The king.”
Adric considered that. He hadn’t heard from Corban since he’d disappeared soon after leaving for the Himalayas to track Sindre’s rogue female. For the first three months, Adric had kept tabs on his cousin; as alpha, his quartz was linked to everyone in the clan. But then the link had been abruptly cut. As far as everyone knew Corban had died, but Adric suspected he’d smashed his own quartz so that he could go into hiding.
&nb
sp; It had been left to Adric to explain to King Sindre why the Baltimore fada hadn’t completed the job they’d been hired to do. The ice fae king was a tall, striking man with long blond hair and the ice-gray eyes of a predator. He’d been waiting at the entrance to Adric’s den. A clear message: the king could find him anytime, anywhere.
Adric had apologized and offered to send another tracker, but Sindre had simply scrutinized him with those frosty eyes. Adric’s hand had gone to his quartz. Ice fae fed on the energy of motion. A powerful fae like Sindre could suck the energy out of your very molecules. The only way to resist was to shield yourself—either with iron, or by putting up an energy barrier.
“Very well,” the king said at last. “I’ll find the woman myself. It seems she is too clever for even a fada tracker.”
Now Adric realized his cousin must have struck a deal with Sindre. He narrowed his eyes at Nika. “Where is Corban now?”
“He ran away.”
“Yes, but where is he staying?”
“Nowhere. We flew in last week. By now he’s already gone.” Nika surfaced enough to shoot Adric a triumphant look. “You must travel to Iceland to find him.”
Adric swore under his breath.
“Sounds like him,” Marjani muttered. “Strike and run.”
Adric shook his head. He tried to get more information from Nika, but she didn’t know much else. She did tell him which flight they’d been booked on, but Corban wasn’t stupid—he’d take another flight under a different name. Adric would send a man to check the airport anyway, but he knew it was a waste of time.
Like hell, he’d chase Corban to Iceland. That was exactly what his cousin wanted. Adric’s fingers tightened on his quartz.
Nika twitched and he focused on her again. He was going to have to bring her out of the trance soon. His own energy was being drained at a rapid rate, and if he pushed Nika any harder, he risked damaging her brain.
But first, he had another question. “What about the night fae? Why are they working with Corban?”
“The night fae?” But her eyes flickered.
“Tell me.” He threw everything he had into extracting that last bit of information, but he’d lost her. She’d thrown up a barrier he couldn’t penetrate.
Saving Jace Page 13