Aisling led them out of the kitchen garden and along a hedge-enclosed walkway, then through a glass-paneled door into a long hall paved with slate. The hall opened to a large vaulted space with a staircase running up one side, the wide stones of the ground floor covered with carpet. Divans and chairs set about conveyed a sense of comfort as well as luxury.
Other Fae were moving about upstairs and down, cleaning, carrying things, and when Jaycee and Angus walked in, openly staring. Jaycee noticed that the staircase had no railing, but this did not seem to bother the agile men and women skimming up and down it.
A Fae woman who did show some age through her white hair and lined face emerged from another room, gaped in astonishment, then raced to Aisling and began scolding her.
Her mother? Jaycee wondered. No, from the imperious way Aisling gazed at her, then said something dismissive, she must be an old family retainer. A nanny or governess or housekeeper, or something. Whoever she was, the woman turned a narrow-eyed glare on Jaycee and Angus and directed the scolding at them.
“They don’t understand you,” Aisling said with tired patience, in English. “Come along, you two. The sooner I explain, the sooner we can find your friend.”
She handed the basket and shears to the retainer, then breezed up the stairs. Jaycee followed with Angus close behind her. The stone staircase bent around itself, moving upward into the shadows. A fall from the stairs to the floor below would be painful—as they wound higher, Jaycee revised the word to fatal.
Though possibly not for a leopard. Jaycee spotted a number of niches and stone carvings that would make good hand and foot gripping points on the way down. A wolf, however, would be dead. Jaycee made sure to put herself between Angus and the drop.
Aisling skimmed up the steps without worry, her stride quick and agile. At the top, she walked around a gallery, then down another hall, which ended in an open doorway that led to a beautiful room.
Jaycee considered it beautiful because it was so full of light. Windows made of many panes of glass covered most of one wall, with equally tall though narrower windows on the other walls. The ceiling lifted high, the room near the top of the house, with stone arches and corbels holding it up. Cathedrals in the human world had ceilings like this.
The wall opposite the windowed wall was covered with maps. Below these rested a long table filled with scrolls of paper and cloth, boxes, small glass cases, and canvas bags like those a person might take on a long hike. A chair had been pulled up to one end of the table, where notebooks were stacked, and a vase full of pens waited.
Aisling led them up to the table and pointed at the largest map stretched across the wall. “This, my dear, is Tuil Narath, what you call Faerie.”
The outlines of the map resembled that of Europe stretching through Russia all the way to the Pacific Ocean. At least the top half did. The bottom half was also filled with land, cut in the very south—if the bottom represented south—by a huge sea.
Jaycee studied it in some dismay. If the place depicted was the equivalent scale, Faerie was as a large as Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia combined. And that only if this was a complete map of it.
“You see my point?” Aisling asked. She picked up a slender stick and touched a dot nestled against a curve of mountains. “We are here. If your friend came in through a circle on a ley line, he could be anywhere here.” She moved the stick to encompass the entire map. “Where would you like to begin looking, dear?”
* * *
Dimitri sat on his wolf haunches as a Fae detached himself from a group and strode to where Brice and Dimitri waited. Dimitri refused to shift back to human—this Fae could just deal with talking to a wolf.
The man—Dimitri figured he was Simeon—wore the same kind of getup the guard at the gate had. His silver mail was no different, nor were the skins he wore or the supple boots. The kind of general proud to wear the uniform of the men beneath him, Dimitri supposed. I’m just one of the guys.
“A red wolf Shifter,” Simeon said, sounding impressed. “I’ve never seen one before.”
“They’re rare,” Brice told him. He looked smug, as though he’d personally been responsible for finding Dimitri. Dickbrain.
“A Collarless Shifter as well,” Simeon went on. “My lieutenant was caught off-guard by that. He’s still pissed off. He’d have killed you when you came through, but he’s under orders not to destroy Shifters.” He laughed, amused that Dimitri had torn a piece out of one of his own men.
Double dickbrain.
Simeon had dark brown hair and gray eyes, again putting to flight the stereotype that all Fae were pale-haired, black-eyed creatures. The Fae seemed to be as different from one another as were Shifters.
This Fae also spoke perfect, and idiomatic, American English. It chilled Dimitri to wonder where he’d learned it.
“Is he housebroken?” Simeon asked Brice, a grin on his high-cheekboned face. “Should I put down papers?”
Dimitri didn’t dignify this with a growl. He merely sat, staring up at Simeon with his wolf eyes in a calm wolf face.
The Fae on the other side of the room watched Dimitri nervously, obvious about it. Simeon tried to be nonchalant, but he was tense as well. Dimitri could smell it.
“Lupines don’t have senses of humor,” Brice said, as though confiding a secret. “So be careful. They’re not like bears.”
Yeah, bears are a load of laughs.
“He is a beautiful creature,” Simeon went on. He cast a look of true admiration at Dimitri. “I will be pleased to have him fight at my side.”
I might rip out your side instead. Is this guy for real?
Brice had to know that Dimitri was not thrilled with his pet Fae. But Brice seemed oblivious to Dimitri’s body language, not catching what was in his head. Jaycee would have. Jaycee would be laughing her ass off by now.
Actually, she’d be busy shredding bits of Fae and bear between her agile paws. Watching her land on Brice’s head and begin clawing his ears had been so funny . . .
Damn it, Jaycee. I’m getting out of here and back to you. Then we’re going to say to hell with all the Shifters and tracking jobs, hole up and make love in the sunshine. We’ll stay in Jasmine’s house and tell it not to let anyone in for weeks.
Brice’s ears still bore lines of red, though the wounds had mostly closed up. “He’ll be a terrific fighter,” Brice said. “My scout spotted him at their sparring arena and reported back to me.”
Yeah, after he tried to drug me, and my mate kicked his ass.
“Good,” Simeon said. “I rely on you to bring me the best. Do you think he’d mind a little, ah—how do you say—test drive?”
Dimitri stiffened. Brice, on the other hand, relaxed. “I don’t think he would. What did you have in mind?”
Simeon smiled the chill smile of a true sociopath. Brice, you poor deluded asshole, what the hell did you get yourself into?
Simeon turned abruptly to his cluster of soldiers and said two words sharply in Fae.
Three men fell all over themselves to head out the door to obey the command, probably happy for the excuse to get out of the room and away from Dimitri.
Simeon didn’t speak while they waited, and Brice didn’t offer conversation. No, So, how’s it going? Did you catch that last episode of Shifters Who Stupidly Trust Fae? They stood in companionable silence like old friends.
Three Fae soldiers returned, but they were different men, Dimitri saw. Probably the others had said, Not going back in there. It’s your turn to put up with Simeon’s shit.
The soldiers who returned seemed less intimidated by the two Shifters in the middle of their war room. They pulled a half-conscious man between them—no, not a man, Dimitri understood when he caught his scent. A Fae, but not one like Simeon and his ilk.
And I’ve already been in Faerie too long when I’m using words like ilk.
> The man was a dokk alfar—a dark Fae—like Stuart Reid who now lived in the Las Vegas Shiftertown, a man Dimitri had come to respect. Reid looked after a Shifter bear female and about a dozen orphaned cubs. Dimitri was willing to bet that Simeon and his high Fae wouldn’t be tough enough for that job.
The soldiers pulled the dokk alfar forward. They held on to him as though worried he’d break free, but it was clear the guy was in no shape to stand up on his own. He’d been beaten and looked starved, the thin limbs that poked from his ragged clothes battered and cut, new gashes open over closed ones.
He had black hair and ropy muscles, and when he lifted his head, Dimitri saw dark eyes like Ben’s, these filled with fury and hatred. The Fae might have beaten this man until he could barely stay upright, but they hadn’t broken what was inside him.
“You, wolf,” Simeon said to Dimitri. “This is a traitor to me and my army, my clan, my people. He was arrested and confessed, and is being held for execution. I can’t think of any more fitting way for him to die than to be mauled by the Shifters he betrayed. But we’ll give him to you alone, Dimitri. Show me what you can do.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Dimitri growled. The dokk alfar had the sense to look afraid, though resignation overrode his fear. He was tired of the Fae, tired of pain, ready to end this—screw them.
I hear you, friend.
Dimitri needed to speak. Heaving a wolf sigh, he morphed out of his comfortable furry state and rose to become his man shape.
The air was cold to his human body, but he wasn’t about to beg for clothing. For one thing, it bothered the Fae that Dimitri stood in nothing but his skin. For another, he wasn’t about to stay around long enough to wait for them to bring him clothes. For a third, he had no intention of putting on something a Fae had worn.
The dokk alfar watched Dimitri warily but squared his shoulders as though deciding to face death without flinching. He took on a slow, feral smile, as though welcoming it.
The high Fae encircling them regarded Dimitri expectantly. All eyes in the room were on him, something Dimitri never liked.
He gave them a slow look in return and said in an exaggerated voice, “Eh . . . What’s up, D-Doc?”
There were puzzled frowns from all, including Brice, which was truly sad. A life without Saturday-morning cartoons had to be pathetic.
The dokk alfar hadn’t understood a word, but he seemed to realize Dimitri was making fun of the Fae. A glint entered his eyes.
Dimitri didn’t know much of the Fae’s Celtic language, but he’d learned a few words in dokk alfar from Reid. He barked out a phrase that sounded to him like a cat hacking a hairball, but apparently it meant You okay?
The dokk alfar’s eyes flickered. He answered in words Dimitri didn’t know, but he caught czul, which meant bastards.
Dimitri grinned, then turned to Simeon. “You want me to k-kill him? Why? What’s he d-done?”
“Besides being a demon?” Brice answered before Simeon could. “He killed Shifters, Dimitri. Isn’t that enough?”
The dokk alfar had no idea what Brice was saying, that was clear. They probably hadn’t even told him what crime he’d been accused of. The high Fae hated the dokk alfar though, so his simply being alive had likely been enough.
If Brice didn’t lie, then the guy did deserve punishment, but Dimitri didn’t trust Brice. “Tell me what h-happened,” Dimitri said to Simeon. “Exactly.”
Brice was shaking his head, as though trying to silence Dimitri, but Simeon began without balking. “There was a battle. Shifters went in to take out the dokk alfar. Three Shifters went down. The dokk alfar dragged them away with them. This one was caught.”
Simeon waved his hand at the man, who watched without worry.
That was all Dimitri would get, he knew. He turned to the dokk alfar, wishing Ben were here. He could use a translator about now.
Dimitri conjured up another word Reid had taught him. He spit it out. Shifters?
The dokk alfar’s eyes widened slightly. He gave Dimitri a nod and said back in his language, Are okay.
Hmm. Who was telling the truth? The Fae who’d made friends with Brice and had him bringing Shifters to Faerie to be Battle Beasts once more? Or the dokk alfar thinking he was about to be gouged to death by a wolf?
“Doesn’t matter,” Dimitri said out loud. “F-forget it, Simeon. I’m not doing your dirty w-work for you.”
Simeon’s brows rose. “He killed your people, Shifter.”
“The name’s Dimitri. You’re trying to enrage me so I’ll g-go Shifter on his ass and rip his heart out. Let me put it in t-terms you’ll understand.” He folded his arms and pinned Simeon with his best alpha wolf stare. “Fuck you.”
Simeon gave Brice a patient look. “Brice.”
Brice shrugged. “He’s not used to the idea. Give him time.”
Simeon’s eyes hardened. “I don’t have time. The trouble with this red wolf is you can’t control him.”
Yeah, life’s a bitch.
The dokk alfar was giving Dimitri a worried look now. He spread his hands and looked straight at him. Kill me, he said in his language.
Dimitri replied, No, then turned back to Brice. “Hey, before we g-get into whatever Simeon wants to d-do to me, I have to ask. Where do I know you from? It’s b-bugging me.”
Dimitri was rewarded with a warm, sad, nostalgic smile. “Dimitri, my old friend,” Brice said. “You don’t remember? I rescued you.”
Something flickered on the edges of Dimitri’s memory. “Rescued me from what? When?”
“You were just a cub. There was a fire. I know you really don’t remember—I don’t see the knowledge in your eyes. Your parents were killed. I heard you crying out—you were in a trailer deep in the woods. I tore my way in and carried you out. I couldn’t rescue them. I’m sorry.”
Dimitri stood still. Flames, bright with heat, rose up before him, and he heard his own howls. Tiny, terrified, calling for his mom and dad.
Dimitri’s breath left him. He felt the fire in his lungs, the burning, choking smoke. He was alone, surrounded by flame, trapped, trapped . . . Jaycee.
Into the picture swam an image of Brice. Younger, just past his Transition, but with much the same bulk he had now, the same intense dark eyes.
But the picture wouldn’t complete. Dimitri reached for memories, for the feeling of being carried out by the scruff into clean air. Nope, wouldn’t come. He could see only fire, Brice, the walls collapsing, and feel the despair and grief in his heart.
Jaycee. Dimitri closed his eyes.
He pictured her vividly, Jaycee with her tawny hair falling in a thick wave down her back, her sexy smile, her beautiful eyes watching him, unafraid. He brought back the sensations of making love to her in the crazy house, her body under his, her softness wrapped around him.
Thoughts of Jaycee made the flames clear, and Dimitri could once again draw a breath.
He opened his eyes. “What happened after that?” he asked Brice. “If you rescued me, why d-didn’t I stay with you? Why was I sitting in the woods for D-David and Anna to find me?”
“You ran away,” Brice said regretfully. “I looked for you everywhere, but you’d gone.”
Must have been a reason, Dimitri thought but didn’t say. Cubs had the instinct to go to those who would keep them safe, even if they didn’t like that person. What about Brice had made cub Dimitri run off?
“Now I’ve found you again,” Brice said. “I’ve been watching you, glad you were able to grow up safe and sound.”
Dimitri folded his arms and regarded him stonily. “You were so glad that you dragged me to Faerie to be used by the Fae. Interesting.”
“It’s not what you think.” Brice’s good-natured patience became tinged with anger, a flash of rage that didn’t look healthy. “I brought you home.”
“No
,” Dimitri said, letting his own anger surface. “Home is on Kendrick’s ranch, in the shack I built with my own hands and am fixing up for my mate. Home is with my friends and the people who have come to be my family. Not here. Not with you.”
Brice, if anything, looked hurt, though the dangerous fury lurked behind it.
Simeon, all business, broke in. “He had a chance. No, Brice, you tried, and your way is done.” He snapped his fingers at one of the soldiers who’d dragged in the dokk alfar, and shot him a command.
The soldier, without changing expression, stepped forward. He pulled something out of his pocket as he did so and dropped it into Simeon’s hand.
Dimitri’s chest constricted and the flames returned to dance in his brain.
Simeon held up a chain of silver laced with gold, which ended in a Celtic knot pendant. “Bring him forward,” Simeon told Brice, then bent a hard gaze on Dimitri. “It’s time for you to take the Collar.”
* * *
Ben watched the three large Shifters he’d admitted to the house stand in front of the open door in the sitting room and gaze into the darkness.
One was Dylan. His dark hair was just going gray, his deep blue eyes that had seen so many things peering warily through the opening. Next to him was the hulking bear Shifter called Zander Moncrieff, a healer, a complete nutcase, and the most caring person Ben had ever met.
Filling out the threesome was Tiger.
Tiger had no other name. He stood still, his large fists curled to his sides, the overhead light glinting on his red and black hair as he looked through the doorway. He growled softly—that is, softly for Tiger. The rumble of it filled the room.
“Why’d you let her go?” Dylan asked Ben sternly. His words were accented, the three hundred years in Ireland tingeing them. “You could have stopped her.”