Outside the sun was rising over the alley. The storm last night had cleared the air. It promised to be a bright, cloudless day, the kind that made Jace itch to run free as his cat, far away from humans and buildings and roads.
Luc was waiting in a jeep. Luc was another lieutenant, although unlike Adric and Jace, he was a wolf, with his animal’s narrow, hard-boned face and amber eyes. When Adric’s cougar uncle had been alpha, he’d appointed only other cats to top positions. But Adric was too shrewd for that. If a man was good, he was good—didn’t matter what his animal was. In fact, out of his four lieutenants, two—Luc and another man, Zuri—were wolves. And the fourth was a female, Adric’s sister Marjani.
Jace approved. The clan was the stronger for it. Diversity at the top meant everyone was represented when Adric met with his lieutenants. What they lacked were older, wiser heads. All five of them including Adric were younger than thirty-five turns of the sun, but that was because most of the elders had died during the Darktime.
Adric rode shotgun with Luc, while Jace eased himself into the backseat. He leaned against the door and stretched out his legs, trying to get comfortable. That last shift had been a bitch, and now his body, especially his injured abdomen, was protesting.
“Damn,” Adric said as Luc put the jeep in drive. “Woman’s a wildcat, isn’t she?”
“Leave it,” Jace said. “She’s part fae, remember?”
“Sure, dude.” Adric shot him a look. “She’s not for you, you know.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“All I know is there was something going on in there. Your cat was protecting her—from me.”
Jace closed his eyes. “She saved my life. I owed her. End of story.” And it wasn’t a lie—it just wasn’t the whole truth.
“What the hell happened, anyway?” Luc asked as he pulled out of the alley.
“Night fae,” Jace replied without opening his eyes. “Son of a bitch stabbed me with an iron knife.”
Luc snarled. “Tell me he’s dead.”
“He is.”
“What the fuck were you doing in Grace Harbor?” Adric asked. “I thought you were in Rising Sun, examining that new vein of quartz.”
Jace opened his eyes. It was clear the alpha wasn’t going to let him rest until he answered a few questions.
“I went to Rising Sun first.” On a normal day, Jace wouldn’t have been at the mine; he was the clan’s chief tech, not a miner. But the miners had found a new vein of high-grade quartz and he’d wanted to see it for himself. “By the way, those crystals just might work in the clan’s smartphones.”
Every fada had a Gift, and Jace’s was to work with the tiny crystals in quartz. He’d designed a quartz smartphone that had promising applications, but they were still working out the bugs.
“No shit?”
“Yeah. We’ll have to run some tests, but it looks promising. I asked the miners to send some to the Factory for testing.”
“That’s good news.” Adric permitted himself a rare smile.
Jace nodded. “Anyway, after work, I went out for a drink with a few of the guys. Some of the Rock Run men were there, too. Tiago do Rio invited us.”
That got Adric’s attention. Tiago was the youngest brother of the Rock Run alpha and a high-ranking member of the clan in his own right.
“Do Rio, hmm? Think Rock Run had anything to do with it?”
“Why the fuck would they help a night fae?”
“Because Tiago’s big brother Dion would love to stop our mining. He hates having us on his mate’s territory.” Lord Dion wasn’t just the Rock Run alpha, he was mated to Cleia, the sun fae queen.
“And he’s not happy about us mining so close to Rock Run, either,” Luc added. “They may have figured out that you’re the guy who developed the smartphone technology.”
Jace considered that, but it didn’t compute. “I don’t like him any better than you, but if Dion wanted me dead, he wouldn’t hire a fae. He’d do it himself.”
“True,” said Adric. “And we signed a contract with the Rising Sun fae. If Dion doesn’t honor it, his mate would have his balls on a platter.”
Luc snorted and Jace grinned. “She would.” Dion might be a big, dominant man but Queen Cleia was one of the most powerful fae in the world.
“Which leaves us with Lord Prick.” It was their code name for Tyrus.
“That’s my guess.”
A muscle ticked in Adric’s jaw. “God’s cat, I’d like to take him out. But the prince would wipe the floor with us if he found out we killed his only living son.”
Jace nodded. They’d discussed this before, and the answer was always the same. It wasn’t fucking worth it. The only consolation was knowing it was a stalemate. They couldn’t take out Tyrus, but the reverse was also true. Prince Langdon had kept his son in check for the past six years—although Tyrus had apparently slipped the leash.
Thankfully, Merry was protected by Langdon himself. The night fae prince had woven a protection ward deep into the crystals of her quartz. If anyone—fae or not—tried to hurt her, they would die. Instantly.
“The bastard will go too far one of these days,” Luc muttered. “And then, he’s dead.”
Adric growled in agreement.
Luc took the I-95 ramp south toward Baltimore. They bumped over something in the road and Jace tensed against a jolt of pain.
“Sorry, bro.” Luc eased the car onto the interstate. “Couldn’t avoid it.”
“Hang in there,” Adric added. “We’ll have you home in less than an hour.”
Jace nodded, tight-lipped. “I need you to do something for me—call my niece. Rui and Valeria should know what happened.”
“Of course.” Adric tapped his quartz. “Merry? How are you, love?”
“Uncle Ric!”
Jace’s mouth curved at her excited response. In the days after they’d first found Merry with the Rock Run fada, she’d been terrified of Adric, especially after he’d tried to steal her back from the couple she thought of as her parents. But the alpha had a soft spot for cubs, and it hadn’t taken long before she adored him like all the clan’s young.
“Don’t be worried,” Adric said, “but Uncle Jace got hurt. He’s going to be okay, though.”
“Uncle Jace?” The brightness went out of her voice, which made Jace want to kill the night fae assassin all over again. “He’s okay? You’re sure?”
“Absolutely. He’s here with me right now.”
“Why didn’t he call me then?”
“Because he’s using all his energy to heal.”
“Oh. That’s good, then. Can I talk to him? Please?”
“Of course.” Adric removed his quartz and held it over the seat so Jace could speak into it.
He leaned forward. “Yo, Merry. I’m okay, like Uncle Ric said. I won’t be able to see you tomorrow, though. But I’ll come and see you in a couple of days.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
“Okay, then.” Her relief came through the quartz. “I hope you feel better soon.”
He smiled even though she couldn’t see him. “I feel better just talking to you. Now, is your dad around?”
“Yeah, we just had breakfast.”
“Tell him Uncle Ric wants to talk to him. And Merry? Love you.”
“Love you too.”
Jace sat back. His belly was throbbing, which meant he was healing, but he’d had enough talk. He leaned his head against the seat and listened as Adric told Rui do Mar about the night fae attack.
Rui was also Dion’s second-in-command. He understood immediately that Merry could be in danger. Wards could be broken. Yes, it would be suicide to kill Merry, but that didn’t mean Tyrus wouldn’t send someone after her. If the assassin died, Tyrus would chalk it up to collateral damage.
“Thanks for the heads-up,” Rui told Adric. “I’ll let the alpha know. We’ll keep her safe.”
“I know. That’s the only reason she’s still with you.”
“Try and take her,” Rui retorted, “and you won’t live the week.”
Adric ignored that to say, “We’ll keep you informed.”
“You do that.”
“And do Mar?”
“What?”
“Give Rosana my love.” He tapped the phone, cutting off the other man’s growl.
Jace’s mouth twitched. Rosana was the youngest do Rio, a sultry black-haired beauty about twenty-two turns of the sun. Adric singled her out every chance he got: dancing with her at the sun fae’s big midsummer celebration each year, bringing her small gifts.
And Rosana encouraged him.
It drove the Rock Run men insane, especially Tiago and Dion. Jace didn’t know what Rosana’s game was, but Adric did it to tweak the older alpha.
Adric and Luc fell into a low-voiced conversation. Strategizing. Jace tried to listen, but his eyes closed, and all he heard was the healing hum of his quartz.
The next thing he knew, Luc said, “We’re here.”
Jace sat up. They’d arrived in Baltimore. Adric hopped out and opened Jace’s door, holding out his hand. Jace took it, because frankly, he needed the help.
The clan lived in small dens scattered around the city. Most of them lived underground, with a house on the surface as camouflage. Some of the dens were connected by underground tunnels, although not Jace’s.
After his parents died, the brick house on his lot had fallen into disrepair, but Jace had fixed it up and rented it out to a single mom and her kids. The mom was grateful to have a landlord who kept things in good repair, and in return, she ignored the odd hours he and his den mates kept—and the big cats, wolves and bears that could be seen in the backyard from time to time.
Adric slid an arm around Jace’s waist. When Jace tried to shrug him off, he growled, “Let me help, you idiot.”
“Asshole,” Jace returned, but gratefully accepted the alpha’s strength as he limped around back to where his den entrance was concealed in a small shed protected by a look-away spell.
Suha, the clan’s head healer, was waiting in her usual colorful tunic and capris. A slender, black-haired woman whose animal was a deer, she had a doe’s soft brown eyes and calm ways, except where it came to her patients. Then the woman could out-hardass Adric.
She greeted Jace with a careful hug and a kiss on each of his cheeks, then set her hands on her hips. “Don’t you know better than to mess with a night fae?”
“He messed with me, babe. And I’m the one who’s still walking around.”
She rolled her eyes. “Inside with you.”
Adric touched his quartz and murmured the words that dissolved the look-away spell. The den was two flights down. Jace could no longer keep up the pretense that he wasn’t in pain. He shuffled down the stairs, gripping the rail like a lifeline. Adric stayed on his other side, taking as much of his weight as he could.
By the time they reached the bottom, sweat had beaded on Jace’s forehead. He leaned against the stone wall as Adric opened the door to his den and then helped him into the small foyer.
Jace’s parents had carved the den out of the bedrock long before he was born. Both of them had been soldiers, but his dad had been an engineer at heart. In his downtime, he’d built this big, solid home for his mate, their two cubs, and assorted other members of the clan. Even in the Darktime, everyone knew they always had a bed at the Jones’ den.
He limped into the living room, a large, comfortable space with exposed stone walls and furniture that dated to his parents’ time. The floor was covered with worn throw rugs and large pillows for their animals to curl up on, and the mantelpiece held a collection of quartz that his soldier mom had brought back from her tours overseas. Other than replacing the pillows, the only thing Jace had added was the big screen TV on the wall. He’d had to rig up a solar-powered electricity system, but it was worth it.
Now the only thing that greeted him was Tigger, a testy orange tomcat who’d moved in last year and never left. That was strange. Jace glanced around, nostrils flared, testing the air for his den mates’ scents. With four men besides himself calling the den home, it was rarely empty.
“Everyone is out looking for you,” Adric said. “They should be back soon—I sent word we found you. But I had people searching in a fifty-mile radius.”
He grunted. “Call out the effing cavalry, why don’t you?”
“Shut up and get into bed.”
Suha had gone down the hall to Jace’s bedroom. She didn’t have to ask where it was. She’d patched up his wounds more than once.
With Adric’s help, he hobbled after her and lowered himself onto the edge of the mattress. Damn, he’d swear these cuts had been seared into his gut by Hades himself. This morning he’d thought they were almost healed, but now they felt worse than ever.
Suha placed a small, blunt-fingered hand on his shoulder. “Lie down before you fall down.”
He gritted his teeth and obeyed. But it was good to be home in his own bed. His muscles softened.
Suha scanned the wound with her quartz as he stared at the ceiling. His dad had left the stone walls bare in here, too. The stone was dotted with mica, giving the dark gray rock a pretty shimmer. He could almost hear the walls humming.
“Not bad,” Suha murmured. “They’re healing, especially the shallow one, but deep inside, they’re still open. And you’re spiking a high fever.”
Her voice seemed to come from far away. He dragged his gaze back to her face.
A fever. That’s why he felt so odd, as if he were floating above the bed. He dug his fingers into the sheets to ground himself.
Adric got a chair from the kitchen for Suha and set it next to the bed. “The humans cleaned the cuts out with salt water,” he told her.
“Within a half hour,” Jace added.
“Thank the gods for that.” Suha frowned at her quartz. “But the iron had already spread into your blood. That’s why you still feel—”
“Like shit,” Jace finished for her. “But I’ll heal.”
“With help.” She fixed him with a stern look. “Now relax and breathe.”
Jace scowled. “I don’t need your energy. Save it…” He trailed off as he lost his train of thought.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” the healer returned. “Close your eyes and breathe. Picture your body filling with healing energy…a warm, golden light.”
“I’ll help.” Adric moved to Jace’s other side, but Suha shook her head.
“I know you’re strong, but you’re burnt from being out searching all night. Save your energy for yourself. I’ve got this.”
Adric nodded but remained where he was. He gave Jace’s shoulder a squeeze. “You heard the woman. Close your eyes and let her do her stuff.”
He obediently closed his eyes and focused on the warmth in his belly. At first it seared, the unhealthy fire of last night, but even worse. He went hot, then cold. The humming of the walls grew louder, became an irritating buzz that made him want to clamp his hands to his ears.
He moved his legs restively. “Hot.”
“I know.” Suha murmured something to Adric and a minute later he returned with a damp cloth. Suha placed it on his forehead, and Jace gave a hiss of relief.
The burning changed, became a pleasant glow that infused his wounds with healing energy. The buzzing in his head receded as his own quartz’s crystals hummed louder in response, until his whole body was vibrating with an unearthly music that was both sound and magic.
He drew a deep breath and released it, and let himself float in the soothing sea of energy.
Time passed. Ten minutes, then another ten.
Adric touched Jace’s shoulder, ignoring Suha’s directive to add his energy to the mix.
Jace slit his eyes. His friend squeezed Jace’s shoulder, his normally sculpted, arrogant face soft with concern.
Suha shook her head at Adric, but allowed him to braid his energy through hers. They all knew that he couldn’t remain idle when any of his people were hurting. The vibrations swelled to an ocean of sound, peaceful and yet energizing.
More time passed as the energy ebbed and flowed, washing the pain away. His eyelids grew too heavy to lift.
“There,” Suha said. “That should do it. You’re going to have a couple of scars, but that can’t be helped.” She touched his cheek. “How do you feel?”
He forced his lids to open. Suha’s pretty oval face hovered above him, her large doe-eyes narrowed with concentration.
“Great,” he murmured. “Sleepy, but great. Thank you.”
“Good. I want you to stay in bed for a few days, got it?”
He nodded.
“He’ll be fine,” Suha said to Adric.
He briefly closed his eyes, and Jace realized how worried he’d been. “Thank you,” he told the healer.
“You’ll stay with him?”
“Only until his den mates arrive, and then I have to get home to Marjani. But I’ll check back later.”
“How is she?”
Adric shrugged. A year ago last spring, Marjani had been kidnapped and raped by a den of feral water fada. All the ferals were dead, and Marjani’s body was healed, but it was going to take a long time before her mind was whole again. It clawed at all of them, but Adric had taken it extra hard—because how do you get over your sister being hurt like that?
Jace knew the answer: you didn’t. It was always part of you. The regrets, the what-ifs, the fucking helplessness. Because if you’d only known your sister was in danger…
“About the same,” Adric said at last.
Suha pressed her lips together. “I’ll come by to see her later.”
“Thank you.” The alpha’s face was naked with the love and hurt he felt for his sister. “I thought she was getting better, but she hasn’t been outside in over a week. I can’t—” He spread his hands.
Jace roused himself to say, “Tell her…I need a visitor.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Suha said. “Tomorrow, maybe.” She squeezed Jace’s hand. “You be good now, you hear? When I say stay in bed, I mean it. You don’t want a relapse.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
A slim black brow winged up. “And don’t think I don’t know when someone’s being evasive. Say the words.”
He scowled, but she simply gazed back until he muttered, “All right. I’ll stay in bed. For the rest of the day.”
He caught Adric’s smirk and scowled at him as well, but his friend returned, “Listen to the healer, Jace. I need you at full strength to help get the bastard that did this. Now, are you hungry?”
And Jace realized he was. Starving, in fact.
“Just liquids today,” Suha said. “Broth, a yogurt smoothie. We don’t want to stress his digestive system yet.” She gave them both a kiss and let herself out.
With her gone, Jace took a nap while Adric went out to a diner to pick up some food. Yogurt wasn’t his usual fare, but it was about all he could handle right now. At least it was strawberry. He sipped the smoothie and watched enviously as Adric wolfed down his own two ham-and-egg sandwiches in rapid succession.
Jace’s den mates returned. They wandered in and out of the room to see how he was doing. Sam, a burly redhead whose animal was a Bengal tiger, was first. He was followed by Beau, a slow-moving, slow-talking bear, and Horace, a cougar who was one of the clan’s best trackers. They stood over Jace, shaking their heads and needling him about being caught off-guard by a fae until Adric told them to get the hell out and let him rest.
The last to arrive was Zuri, who’d been directing the cleanup in Grace Harbor. A fellow lieutenant, Zuri was a tall, dark and charismatic wolf who pretty much had to beat women off with a stick. Along with Adric, he was Jace’s closest friend.
Zuri got a second chair from the kitchen and set it next to the bed. “Everything’s calm.” He propped his long legs on the foot of the mattress. “I followed Jace’s trail myself from the bar to the human’s house, and I couldn’t scent a thing.”
“And the woman and her brother?” asked Adric.
“I have Kara watching the house.” Zuri named a young female who had recently arrived from their sister clan in Jamaica. “She’s good at blending in with humans. Even if they see her, they won’t know she’s one of us.”
“Excellent,” Adric replied.
Jace nodded, relieved. He’d been going to ask that Adric see to Evie’s protection. “The woman—Evie—she’s good people. I’d hate to see her and her brother get hurt because they stuck their necks out for me.”
Adric and Zuri exchanged a look.
“You don’t usually go for human women,” said Zuri.
He growled. “Who the fuck says I’m going for her?”
His friend raised his hands, palm out. “Nobody.”
Adric snorted and got to his feet. “Look, I have to go. I could use a shower—bad—and I told Marjani I’d bring her some breakfast.” He lifted the takeout bag. “She doesn’t remember to eat sometimes. Feel better, okay?”
He squeezed Jace’s shoulder and with a nod to Zuri, left.
Zuri stayed another few minutes and then started yawning until Jace told him to go to bed, he’d be fine. The other men were either in bed or in the living room watching TV.
Jace looked at Tigger, who had stretched out between his open legs. “Looks like it’s just the two of us.”
Tigger yawned and kneaded the sheet, narrowly missing Jace’s balls with his claws, and then settled his head on his paws. A minute later he was snoring.