Motor City Witch

By Cindy Spencer Pape

She’d left magic behind

Once upon a time, Elise Sutton had been a powerful witch and paranormal enforcer. Once she’d been madly in love with Fae lord Aidan Greene. But when Aidan had considered his duties more important than their relationship, the love affair ended badly. Shortly after, while on the hunt for a rogue demon, Elise was brutalized and almost killed. Months later she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. To protect her child—and her heart—Elise decided to live a nonmagical life.

Until she meets Aidan again, and he assumes Dina is his daughter. When Dina is kidnapped by a racial purity movement, Elise turns to Aidan for help. The icy facade she has built around herself shatters at Aidan’s touch. Together they have to hunt through the human and faery worlds to find Dina…and to discover whether or not they have any kind of chance at a happily ever after.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks so much to the team at Carina Press and Harlequin who have worked so hard to make this new enterprise a success. It has been a true delight to be part of it from the beginning. In particular, I owe a big thanks to my editor, Melissa Johnson, for being willing to spend way too much time on the phone sorting out world-building issues. Thank you as well to my critique partners Anny Cook and Regina Carlysle, and the Untitled Writers’ Group for keeping me in line and kicking me in the butt as needed, and to my husband Glenn for never failing to believe in me.

Finally, to the people of Detroit—thanks for being my home town, and my apologies for any liberties I’ve been taking. Zug Island is a real place, but that particular abandoned steel mill is fictional.

Dedication

For my sons, Chandler and Tristan. May your lives always contain magic.

Contents

Copyright

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

About the Author

Chapter One

“So were you ever planning to tell me I have a daughter?”

When Aidan Greene got upset, his not-quite-British accent became extremely clipped and right now it was sharp enough to sever limbs.

Elise sighed. She’d known this moment would come someday. As soon as her friend and client, Meagan Kelly, had turned out to be the missing cousin Aidan had been looking for all these years, Elise had known the showdown was going to come sooner rather than later. She’d been hoping, though, that it wouldn’t happen right in the middle of Meagan’s wedding reception. For some reason, the short, jade silk suit she wore didn’t seem like nearly enough armor for facing down a pissed-off Fae in his elaborately decorated Grosse Pointe garden.

She gulped the last of her champagne for courage and set the glass on the tray of a passing waiter before she looked up at Aidan. The six-foot-four Fae lord was resplendent—and way hotter than she liked to admit—in his custom-made tux, even with his human glamour securely in place. His dark brown hair was styled perfectly and she knew the reddish highlights were natural, while the touches of gray at his temples were just for show. Elves didn’t age like humans, but if they wanted to hang out in the human world, they had to at least pretend to.

It was a beautiful early October afternoon in southern Michigan. The band played on the terrace behind them, wedding guests laughed and danced, waiters mingled and smiled their way through the crowd, but all that receded into the distance for Elise as she tried to steady her nerves. Personal confrontations were not one of her strong suits. She could sell art to anyone—but having to discuss her own life and emotions was so awkward it was painful.

“Elise?” Aidan crossed his arms over his lean but well-muscled chest and glared down at her with sparks of fury shooting from his emerald green eyes. “You were about to explain why I have a five-year-old daughter I didn’t know about.”

“Four.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose to forestall the migraine she knew was coming. Looking around at the party in full swing, she sighed again. There was no getting out of this, so she might as well get it over with. “She’s only four. Her birthday isn’t until the end of this month.”

Aidan’s spine stiffened, and barely suppressed outrage made his long frame vibrate, though it was so slight most humans wouldn’t be able to see it.

Elise wasn’t most humans. As a Wyndewin witch, with a trace of elven blood of her own, she was far more sensitive to energies and vibrations, as well as magic and auras. And she’d always been tuned in to Aidan Greene—gods help her.

Stalling wasn’t going to work. Aidan was the most arrogant male she’d ever met and once he made a decision, he never backed down—he simply expected everyone else in the universe to jump to his bidding. She didn’t want to interrupt the wedding party or disturb Meagan and she particularly didn’t want to do this in front of her daughter, Adina, who was whirling on the dance floor with a handful of other children, all under the watchful eyes of Meagan’s human grandmother and a couple of her aunts. “Let’s take this inside. There’s no point in upsetting the other guests.”

“Fine.” Taking her elbow in a grip that was nearly painful, he half dragged her across the terrace, around the corner of the building, through the rose garden and into the library of his sprawling mansion.

Elise hugged her arms around her chest and glanced around the familiar, luxuriously appointed, book-lined room, even as he pulled her further inside, into a smaller private den that he clearly kept as his home office. Aidan was the CEO of Underhill Industries, a multi-faceted company that encompassed the Fae’s vast holdings in the mortal realm. Since she’d broken up with Aidan, he had also become the keeper of the Detroit area safe house for the Fae. According to information she’d received from her brother, Aidan had relocated here less than a year after their breakup, convinced that his missing cousin was somewhere in the area, and he’d moved the headquarters of Underhill with him. So while she’d visited the mansion as Aidan’s guest, she’d never seen his inner sanctum before. It was like stepping into an upscale British gentleman’s club, without any other members.

“Nice.” Suppressing a shiver, she sat in one of the leather club chairs in front of the empty fireplace while Aidan dropped into the other, gripping its arms with knuckles gone white.

“My daughter,” he grated in a voice she imagined made his employees tremble with fear. Good thing she didn’t work for him. “Were you ever going to tell me about her?”

“No.” She fought to keep her voice from cracking and stared into the cold, empty hearth rather than chance looking at him. She gathered her breath before she blurted out the salient fact. “Because you aren’t Adina’s father.” Elise’s daughter was the love of her life, the best thing that had ever happened to her—but her conception…that had been probably the worst moment of Elise’s entire life. Even five years later, it was still excruciatingly painful to think about it.

“Bullshit.”

Her gaze flew to his face before she could check it and she found him staring back at her. Damn, why did he still have to be the one man who could make her melt with nothing but a look?

Aidan’s slender, perfectly chiseled features were stark with emotion—something the eleven-hundred-year-old Fae rarely displayed. His reserve, which matched her own, was one of the things that had drawn her to him.

“Yes, we always used condoms, but gods know those can fail. I have eyes, Elise. And oddly enough, they’re almost exactly the same shade of green as your daughter’s. Granted, if she’s not quite five, she must have gone a bit post-term, but that’s not unusual for halflings.”

It didn’t surprise her that he leapt immediately to the arithmetic. Aidan’s facility with numbers was unusual for one of the Fae and a significant part of the reason he’d been chosen to head their corporate interest in the mortal realm. However, in this case, she knew the math by heart, having gone over it repeatedly during her long, difficult pregnancy. His memory was off—there’d been a time or two they were careless, but that didn’t matter. Adina had been born almost exactly ten months after the last time Elise had slept with Aidan.

Aidan wouldn’t back down until he’d heard every sordid detail, damn him. Elise was reticent at the best of times, and this subject was incredibly awkward and personal. The truth of it was, she was so shy, it was hard for her to open up, even with her family and close friends. The only person she’d ever been able to be openly affectionate with was Adina.

“Okay, if I’m going to tell this story now, I need a shot of that cognac I know you have stashed in here somewhere. It isn’t exactly a time of my life I like to think about, much less discuss.”

Aidan nodded coldly. With a flick of his fingers, a bottle of VSOP, probably older than Elise, appeared in one hand while a pair of snifters popped into the other. He poured a couple fingers of liquid into each glass and handed her one without a word. Looking at her, he raised one dark slash of an eyebrow in expectation.

She sipped slowly, composing her words with care—now that was something she was good at—putting up a good front. “So after our huge fight on Christmas Eve—the one where I wanted some kind of commitment and you were too busy with your work for Underhill Industries. and your search for your cousin…” It hadn’t been much of an argument—yelling and screaming weren’t in her nature. Elise had simply told him that since she obviously meant less to him than his business contacts, she didn’t see a future for them together. Then she’d hidden her tears and walked away, head held high.

“That’s not exactly how I remember the discussion, but go on.” His voice could have frozen Lake St. Clair, the huge body of water only a few hundred yards beyond his gardens.

“Regardless. On New Year’s Eve, there was a skirmish with some demons down by the Detroit riverfront. Since my date with you was cancelled, I went along with Des and another Wyndewin to deal with the problem.” Both Elise and her brother, Desmond, had been born to a family of human wizards and witches known as Wyndewin, or white magic wielders, and had worked for the Wyndewin League. Keeping other magical beings from making a mess of the human world was part of their job description.

“Which, the way I recall events, was part of what we were fighting about. Your gifts are in healing, Elise. You never were much use in a fight.” His voice was perfectly level, as if reducing the insult to mere fact, but she could see him swirling the amber liquid in his glass, a sure sign of tension for Aidan. If he was calm, he didn’t fidget. “I wanted you to stop taking on enforcement missions and focus on your art career.”

“Only so it wouldn’t inconvenience you.” She swallowed another mouthful of cognac. Aidan had gotten cranky when she’d missed one of his business dinners because of a battle with a rogue witch. Whatever Aidan Greene wanted, Aidan Greene was supposed to get, but Elise was nobody’s puppet. Unfortunately he’d been right about her fighting skills. “Anyway, I learned my lesson that night.” Her stomach turned at the thought of it. “One of the demons hauled me off into an alley while Des and his friend were fighting another five or six of them. By the time Des was able to get to me…”

“You were raped.” The low rasp in his tone promised death and destruction for somebody and for a change, it wasn’t Elise. After a moment, though, some of the anger turned on her, making her fight not to flinch in her chair. “And you didn’t think you could tell me about it.”

“We’d already broken up.” Tears tried to clog her throat. “There didn’t seem to be much point. You’d said not to bother calling you again.”

“After you told me you never wanted to see my face in this lifetime,” he snapped.

Aidan never snapped, so she knew he was bothered, which touched her. And he had a point, damn him. She had been the one to break things off between them and not too politely, either. But he’d been so wrapped up in his work and other obsessions that he hadn’t had time to be the boyfriend she’d wanted—or the husband she’d been hoping he’d one day be.

“Regardless—after your daughter was born, surely it became abundantly clear that she’s mine. I don’t know of any species of demon with dark brown hair, fair skin and emerald eyes. Those green eyes certainly don’t come from your family.”

Elise tipped her head. Adina had inherited her dark hair, though with russet highlights, which Elise assumed came from somewhere in her own lineage. Her mother was dainty and Chinese, her father a tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed British Canadian. She herself was average height at five feet six inches and slim, with black hair and dark eyes. Her skin was pale ivory and her features were mostly European, with a slight epicanthic fold giving her a mildly exotic appearance. She played up the exotic aspect, using it to her advantage in the art world. Adina had almond-shaped eyes, but no fold, and her skin was an even lighter shade than Elise’s. The eyes though…

Elise drew in a deep breath and exhaled it slowly through her nose. “That’s how I know she isn’t your daughter, Aidan. Dina wasn’t born with green eyes. They didn’t turn that color until a year ago.”

He slammed his empty snifter down on the end table beside him so hard the crystal cracked and brandy spilled everywhere. “What?”

Elise looked around for a napkin, but Aidan waved a hand and made the spill disappear. Damn, since she’d stopped using magic in her everyday life, she’d forgotten how effortless it could make things seem.

“Elise, tell me.”

“As soon as Dina was born, I could tell she was part demon. The midwife laid her in my arms, she looked up at me and I swear she smiled. Not gas, but a genuine smile. She had these big eyes that were the most beautiful purple I’ve ever seen. Then they changed to gold—not golden brown, but honest-to-gods metallic gold—in a heartbeat.”

“What the hell race of demons has that characteristic?” Aidan’s face paled. “I’ve never heard of it before.”

Elise shrugged. “The Wyndewin have no idea either. Des swore the demon he killed was from Gravaki, though, and there’s a lot we don’t know about that plane.”

“Besides them being powerful and generally inclined toward mayhem, neither do the Fae.” He scrubbed one hand through his hair. Demons were from a variety of planes other than earth and there were pretty much an infinite number of them. He inhaled deeply and leaned his head back against the leather of his chair. “I’m sorry, Elise. I like to think I’d have been there for you, if I’d known—about the attack or the pregnancy.”

She shrugged. There was no way she could admit she’d dreamed of having him beside her, holding her hand when the baby was born. “You were busy. And I was—pretty out of it for a while. There was a huge magical backlash when Des destroyed the thing. My powers were wiped clean for almost a year and only recovered slowly after that. I was barely even conscious that first week. Des got me on a private plane and took me to my parents’ house in Vancouver. I stayed there until Dina was three months old, when I resigned from the Wyndewin League, came back here and opened my own gallery.” Before her attack, she’d been the assistant curator of contemporary art at a major Detroit museum.

“Why come back to Detroit? I’d have thought if you wanted to avoid me, you’d have stayed in Vancouver with your family.” His lips—those lips she remembered so perfectly, even after all this time—pressed into a thin white line.

“My art contacts were all here.” It was a lame excuse at best. How could she tell him that for a month when she’d been deciding what to do, every time she’d held her infant daughter, an image of Detroit’s skyline popped into her head?

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Aidan picked up his cracked glass, mending it with a wave and pouring another splash of brandy into it. “Why does she have green eyes now, then?”

“I’d really rather not discuss that.” Elise had never been able to lie worth a damn when it came to real life. As a business woman she could bullshit with the best of them, but not when people she cared about were involved.

“Elise, right now I don’t give much of a damn about what you’d rather do or not do. I’m still not entirely convinced I shouldn’t demand a DNA test.” The look he shot her smoldered. Was it only anger, or was there a trace of the old attraction still there on his side as well?

She lifted an eyebrow. “It isn’t as if you can just take your blood or hers to the local paternity clinic, now is it, Lord Green Oak?”

“Please. We both know there are paranormal labs out there with the ability to test DNA. Why didn’t you ever take her to one?”

Because as long as she didn’t, she’d always been able to cling to that thin thread of hope that she was wrong, that her beautiful, magical daughter was really a result of love and not violence. She stared into the empty fireplace and refused to speak.

“Tell me about her eyes, Elise.” It was a command, not a question.

“On her third birthday, she found one of my old photo albums and was flipping through it.” Elise rested her elbows on the arm of the chair and leaned her chin on her hands. “She spotted a picture of you and changed her eyes to match yours. Before that, they’d been pink for a while, to match her favorite stuffed animal. She’d do that—change them up to match her outfit or something else that she liked.” She did not, would not, add that Dina had taken one look at the photo and said, “Daddy.”

When Elise had explained that no, the man in the picture wasn’t Dina’s father, the little girl had shaken her head, stuck her jaw out stubbornly and said, “He will be.” Elise had always assumed it was wishful thinking as opposed to one of her daughter’s rare premonitions. That idea scared her silly, almost as much as it made her hope.

“But since then, they haven’t changed?”

“Nope. Not once. She can be a stubborn little thing.”

Aidan grunted and what might have been a hint of a smile flitted across his lips. “That, she gets from her mother.”

Probably. “We should really get back to the reception,” she said after a moment of awkward silence. “I’m sorry, Aidan. I should have told you before you saw her and leapt to conclusions.”

He shrugged. “I only have one more question. Did you have a period between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve that year?”

Christmas Eve had been the last time they’d been together—right before their final fight.

Elise shook her head. The two dates were only a week apart, after all. “No. I told you, I wasn’t sure, not up until she was born. But her magic is stronger than mine, or even yours. That’s another indication of a Gravaki…or something like it.”

“We’ll talk more.” It wasn’t a question. Suddenly he looked less like the thoughtful, caring man she’d loved and more like the Faerie lord who’d been intimidating at best, even to a witch. He stood and held out a hand. “I’m still not entirely convinced.”

“Give it up, Aidan. She’s not your child.” And for almost five years, Elise had regretted that fact, even grieved over it.

She followed him out of the library and back into the bright September sunshine of the garden where the reception was in full swing. Without her Wyndewin’s enhanced hearing, she wouldn’t have caught his murmur. “We’ll see about that.”

***

Aidan, Lord Green Oak, or Aidan Greene, as he was known in this time and place, strolled up to the bar set up on the patio of his Grosse Pointe home and sighed. “Scotch, Toby. The good stuff, and make it a triple.” He forced his eyes away from Elise Sutton’s trim form, reminding himself he didn’t have the right to pull the jade picks from her hair and watch those silky black locks tumble down to her shoulders.

Tobias Bootle was a brownie who had been one of Aidan’s personal staff for hundreds of years. His dark eyes searched Aidan’s as one bushy eyebrow lifted. “Aye, Cap’n.” He pulled a bottle of thirty-five-year-old single malt out from under the bar and poured a tall glass more than half full of the dark gold liquid. “Everything square?”

Aidan shook his head. “Nothing for you to worry about, mate. Just a woman.” One of Toby’s first jobs for Aidan had been as first mate aboard the Faerie Queene, back when Aidan had been a privateer in the service of Queen Elizabeth—the first. Toby had never quite broken the habit of using “Cap’n” instead of “boss,” or even “my lord” when they were visiting Underhill.

“Aye, thought that might be the case.” The prized Scotch went back under the bar. “Better off without the lot of them, sometimes.”

“Got that right.” Aidan smiled as a red-headed sprite in a strapless ivory silk wedding gown ducked away from the crowd and slipped over to the bar. “With a few exceptions.”

“Toby, I need a glass of water about the size of an oil drum.” Meagan Kelly Thornhill leaned her elbows on the bar and grinned up at Aidan. “I don’t suppose the guests would notice if I snuck upstairs for a nap?”

Aidan shrugged as he reached down to cup her pointed chin in his hand and search her face for signs of fatigue. He’d come to love his young, half-human cousin dearly in the two months he’d known her. “It’s your wedding, sweeting. Do what you want, I’ll cover for you. Besides, don’t most of the guests know you’re pregnant? If you need to rest, go rest.”

Meagan shook her head, making her red curls tumble about her bare shoulders. “I’ll be okay. I just need to sit for five minutes and hydrate.” She plopped into a chair at a nearby table and guzzled about half the tumbler of ice water Toby had handed her.

Aidan grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the bar and sat down beside her. “Where’s Ric?”

“Over there dancing with one of my aunts,” she said fondly. Alaric of the Thorny Hills, a.k.a. Ric Thornhill, was a bard who’d been released from his service to the elven queen in return for helping foil a plot to dethrone her. Meagan laid her hand over Aidan’s on the table. “I saw you and Elise sneak away. How’d it go?” Her green eyes, so much like Aidan’s own, studied him with concern.

“Not particularly well. She claims I’m not the father.”

“Huh.” Meagan raised one copper eyebrow skeptically. “She involved with some other green-eyed Fae?”

“Did she never tell you about Adina’s father?” The two women were friends. Wouldn’t they have talked about such things? He was a trifle peeved at his cousin for not telling him about Elise’s daughter before today’s ceremony. The shock of seeing a child with his eyes had been a real blow. He didn’t think he’d quite caught his breath since.

“No.” Meagan’s hand, callused from her paintbrushes, squeezed his. “It was one thing she’d never discuss at all. Elise has never been exactly chatty. Mostly we only talk about art. Aidan, I’m so sorry. I guess I assumed you knew. Especially since Dina’s so obviously named after you.”

“Yeah, I noticed that.” That their names were anagrams was one more reason he’d been sure the girl was his.

“I should have asked Elise about it, or at least given you some warning.”

“Well, you were rather busy running from a killer and falling in love.” He smiled at her, the one good thing to come out of the last few months. He’d searched thirty years for the missing daughter of his cousin Emery of Rose. He was damn glad he’d finally found her and even happier that her lifespan would extend another thousand years or so since she was now life-bonded to a full Fae. Aidan was looking forward to getting to know her further.

“And finding a family—two families—I never knew I had.” She’d been orphaned at birth and known only her adopted parents, both of whom were now deceased. “Thank you so much for introducing me to my mother’s parents. Even though there’s so much I can’t tell them, it’s a thrill to have grandparents for the first time in my life.”

Aidan had tracked down her human mother’s family during his search for the missing half-Fae heiress. Watching her with them had made him feel like he’d accomplished something truly meaningful, maybe for the first time in hundreds of years. Definitely for the first time since he’d let Elise slip away from his life.

Meagan finished her water and Aidan refilled her glass. She wrinkled her nose at his cosseting, but she drank that as well. To Aidan’s delight, she stayed awhile, sitting next to him in comfortable silence until her new husband came up to claim her for a waltz. When she took Ric’s hand, their love for each other shone like a beacon. Aidan watched them go, pleased for both his cousin and his friend, but feeling lonelier than he could ever remember being. Of course, his eyes were drawn to Adina Sutton, cute as can be in a white dress with a green sash, and flowers twined through her dark brown hair. She was being whirled around the dance floor by her uncle Desmond—the Wyndewin who hated Aidan’s guts.

Did he think Aidan had run out on his sister? That would account for it. On the other hand, as far as Aidan could tell, Desmond didn’t much care for anybody except his sister—and now his niece.

Elise’s words whirled over and over again in Aidan’s mind. She’d thought the baby could be his, but hadn’t bothered to tell him. Yet even when she was certain Adina was the result of her rape, she’d named her daughter for Aidan. Her feelings for him must have run stronger than he’d realized—maybe even as strong as his own. Had she honestly cared for Aidan, but allowed her innate shyness and reserve keep her from letting him know? All these years he’d assumed his love for her had been one-sided.

There had never been anyone who’d gotten under his skin like Elise had. Over the past couple years he’d come to accept that there never would be. The Green Oak title would pass to some distant relation on Aidan’s death, because he’d never be able to bring himself to have children with anyone else.

Over Des’s shoulder, little Adina caught Aidan’s gaze and gave him a broad, happy smile in return, making something ache inside his chest. The child was as beautiful as her mother; that was certain. She looked into his eyes as if they’d known each other forever. Once again, Aidan wondered if maybe Elise had been wrong. Could Adina be his child? One way or another, he’d have to find out.

***

Late that evening, Elise tucked Dina into her canopy bed in their Birmingham condominium. The room was decorated in pink and green, with dragons, unicorns and other fairytale creatures cluttering every surface. Of course, even as young as she was, Dina was a powerful witch. She already knew that unicorns and dragons were real—they simply weren’t in the same here and now where most people lived.

“My daddy is handsome, isn’t he?” Dina clutched her favorite stuffed Pegasus and yawned as she snuggled down into her pillows.

“Honey, I’ve told you. You don’t have a daddy, not really. Mr. Greene is only a man Mommy used to know.” Elise wished it didn’t hurt so much to hear her daughter try to claim Aidan as her father.

“Don’t worry, Mommy.” Dina leaned up to kiss Elise’s cheek, her tone more adult than seemed right coming from a child of her age. “Everything will be okay.”

“Of course it will, sweetie. As long as I have you, everything will be perfect.” After one last kiss goodnight, Elise turned off the bedside lamp and made her way to her own room across the hall. She’d already set the electronic alarm system and triggered the complex magical wards that guarded their home. Their world was secure, but damn if it wasn’t lonely. Seeing Aidan again over the last two months and finally having to talk to him about Dina had brought back so many feelings…grief, loss and worst of all, the helpless love for him she’d never quite gotten over.

Her sleep was restless, interrupted several times by troubled dreams and once by one so passionate she woke up sweating. Gods, it had been like that between them—the kind of sex symphonies were written about. She hadn’t been with anyone since Aidan and clearly she needed to do something about that.

Convinced that she wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep, she drew on a pair of yoga pants along with her sleep shirt and decided to go downstairs for a cup of tea. With her parents being Chinese and British, tea had always been the remedy of choice in her family, for all ills, mental or physical. As she padded by Dina’s door, she couldn’t resist a peek inside, just to make sure that all was right with her precious daughter.

The sight that met her eyes left her too shocked to even scream.

The room had been trashed, with furniture overturned and shelves dumped onto the floor.

Elise’s world swam as she registered the impossible.

Despite her alarm system, despite the best wards four Wyndewin mages could devise, Dina was gone.

Chapter Two

The grandfather clock in Aidan’s study struck three. Aidan knew he should quit drinking and go to bed. Alcohol didn’t affect his system all that powerfully, so it had taken two bottles of aged Scotch for him to get even a mild buzz going. At this rate he was going to be out of the good stuff and into the lousy twelve-year-old single malt before dawn.

He’d lit a fire, more for comfort than warmth, and he gazed into the flames. Did he or did he not have a daughter? The uncertainty would plague him until he found out for sure. He’d already contacted a scientist friend, a half-blood Fae who’d agreed to run an off-the-books DNA test involving non-human subjects. Now he had to get Elise to agree and he knew that would be no easy task. She was adamant that her daughter wasn’t his.

He had to admit, he’d never heard of a Fae or halfling with eyes that changed color.

He was so lost in thought that he almost missed the shrill music of his cell phone on the table beside him. It was on the third bar of the song before he picked it up and checked the screen. The number registered as unknown, but he answered it anyway, mainly for the hope of distraction. As CEO of Underhill Industries, he always had some fire to put out, somewhere in the vast worldwide holdings the Fae maintained in the human realm. Right now, he’d welcome that kind of conflagration.

“Aidan.” The sobbing feminine voice on the other end instantly had him fully sober. “Aidan, you took her, didn’t you? Tell me you did it.”

“Elise, what the hell are you talking about?” Panic began to coil in his gut. Elise was cool to the point of iciness—she was never incoherent.

“You took her, even though she isn’t yours.” Sobs racked her usually even voice. “I woke up and she was g-g-gone.”

“Take a deep breath, leannan, and tell me what happened.” Even as he spoke, Aidan moved to his desk and pressed a button, calling his head of security. He apported in a pair of shoes and some jeans, changing swiftly out of the remainders of his tux while he kept the phone to his ear.

“Did you take her?”

The shouted accusation tore something deep in his chest. “Someone’s taken Adina? Of course it wasn’t me. I’m many things, Elise, but not a kidnapper.” How could she believe that of him? Did she hate him that much?

“Then who? Tell me that, Aidan. Who else would have a reason to steal my little girl?”

“I don’t know, dearling, but we’ll find out, I swear it. Have you called your brother yet?” The old endearments slipped out without conscious intent as he tried to soothe her.

“Des is halfway to Toronto right now.” She sniffed. “Assignment.”

“Shite.” He zipped up his jeans, toed on a pair of loafers and ’ported in the keys to his fastest vehicle right as Wallis Silverwood, recently promoted to head of security for Aidan and the portal house, stepped into the room.

Aidan nodded at Wallis. “Just a minute,” he said to Elise.

“My lord?” The younger Fae had clearly dressed in a rush. His normally impeccable attire was mismatched and half-fastened, much like Aidan’s own.

Aidan threw the other man the keys to the Ferrari twelve-cylinder. He was in no condition to drive himself. “Birmingham. Ignore speed laws and traffic signals.”

Wallis had only been with Aidan a decade or so, but he knew enough not to ask questions when his boss clearly wasn’t in the mood. He caught the keys, nodded and preceded Aidan at a rapid clip out the library’s French doors toward the garage.

***

Of course it hadn’t been Aidan.

She knew better, but honestly, she’d wanted it to be true. At least if he’d taken Elise’s baby, Dina would have been safe. Elise would have ripped him a new asshole, but he would never have hurt her child.

Elise stared down at the map and scrying crystal in her hand. Nothing. Damn it, that meant they’d probably taken Dina Underhill, or somewhere else where Elise’s magic couldn’t penetrate. She’d have to count on Aidan and his Fae friends to help her, a fact that made her want to scream.

She dropped the heavy quartz crystal onto her glass dining room table, wincing as she heard a crack but not caring enough to check. Needing to move, she went into the living room, where she paced back and forth with her arms wrapped around herself. Inside that tight circle, she clutched a stuffed Pegasus to her chest as she waited for Aidan to arrive. The scent of Dina’s favorite cherry-vanilla soap clung to the white plush toy. They should have taken the Pegasus too. Dina wouldn’t be able to sleep without Peggy. It was an absurd thought that left tears pricking at Elise’s eyelids.

No. It wasn’t time to cry, it was time to think, damn it. If not Aidan, then who? Why had someone kidnapped Dina? Elise wasn’t poor, but she was far from rich, especially compared to many of her neighbors. Something strange was at work here, something beyond simple human greed. She wasn’t great at reading magical trails, but even she’d detected enough of something supernatural in Dina’s room that she knew calling the local police was out of the question. She should call the local head of the Wyndewin League, but that old man had never liked her, and tolerated her even less since she’d resigned.

How had anyone breached her wards? Her parents and Des had helped set them and they were damned good. The thought of the power it would take to overcome them had her shivering. And why now? It had to have something to do with the wedding today—yesterday—whatever. But what? Her thoughts kept circling back to that. Who would want to take her baby and why? Thinking about any of those things was better than considering the possibility that Dina was already—no!

Hearing a car, she raced to the front window. Surely Aidan couldn’t be here yet and she still hadn’t been able to reach Desmond. As she watched, a low-slung sports coupe squealed to a halt right in front of her townhouse-style condo unit. Ignoring the No Parking signs, two mostly dressed men scrambled out of the unfamiliar vehicle and up to Elise’s porch. As soon as they stepped into the glow of her porch light, she relaxed a bit. These were close friends of Meagan and Ric—they were here to help.

“Aidan called.” George Novak brushed a shock of silky dark hair out of his deep brown eyes as he stepped into her living room. It was cut shorter in back, but hung past his eyes in front—very upscale and trendy. “We were at Jase’s in Royal Oak, so closer than Greg, but he’ll be here soon too.” The Novak brothers ran a nightclub and lived above it in downtown Detroit. Elise was touched that the werewolf brothers would come out in the middle of the night to help her, a relative stranger.

“I can’t do magic or change into a wolf,” said Jase Monroe in his musical Jamaican accent as the silver beads in his dreadlocks clinked. His chocolate-toned forehead wrinkled with concern as he looked at her. “But I can make coffee and sandwiches or man the phones. Whatever you need, sweetie.”

What a sweetheart. Elise smiled at the artist who was Meagan’s best friend and George’s lover. She made a spur of the moment decision to start stocking Jase’s pottery in her gallery. She’d damned well sell it, too, even if the rest of the art world didn’t think he was quite ready for the big time yet. Her mind whirred at lightning speed, jumping from one thought to another, anything to avoid falling apart.

“Can you take me to your daughter’s room?” George laid a hand on Elise’s arm to hold her still for a moment. “The quicker I try to pick up a scent the better.”

“Of course.” Elise turned toward the stairs with the werewolf on her heels.

“Making coffee,” Jase called from behind them. Bless the man for his thoughtfulness.

She heard George strip off his unbuttoned dress shirt and unzip his jeans as they walked. There were a couple clunks as his tennis shoes hit the floor, but Elise didn’t stop moving. He’d need his clothes off to shift and a werewolf’s nose was infinitely better when he was in his four-legged form.

Elise stopped at Dina’s door and let the shaggy gray-and-brown wolf, his shoulders nearly as high as her hips, pad in alone. She watched from the hallway as he sniffed his way in a tight circle around the bed, before fanning out to include the closet, windows and the door. Nose to the floor, he made his way back out to the hall and finally down to the front door. Elise followed him downstairs and sat on her leather couch when he stopped and darted back upstairs. He returned moments later on two legs, buttoning his jeans, carrying his shoes and shirt in his hands.

“Two people.” He sat in an armchair across from Elise and pulled on his shirt. “One elf, one—human—I think. They didn’t come through the door or up the stairs. Their scent is only in your daughter’s room.”

“I don’t understand.” She picked up a magazine and twisted it in her hands. “Elves can’t teleport human beings. Neither can Wyndewin.” As far as she knew, most Wyndewin couldn’t teleport anything at all—at least no one in her family could.

George shook his head. He was handsome, in a dark, gritty kind of way, but he had eyes only for Jase. “I don’t know, but it explains why they didn’t trigger your electronic alarms. I’ve no idea about magical wards, though. Wolves don’t do a lot of woo-woo stuff.”

“Coffee’s on, but I thought you might need this, ASAP.” Jase came out of the kitchen, on bare feet—apparently he’d thrown on a pair of cargo pants and an Ann Arbor Art Fair T-shirt but hadn’t taken time for shoes. He handed Elise a steaming mug and set a plate of cookies on the coffee table before perching on the arm of George’s chair. George leaned against Jase’s thigh while Jase rested his arm along George’s shoulder, tenderly toying with the werewolf’s dark hair.

Elise couldn’t help feel a pang of envy at the happy, loving relationship evident between the two men. If things hadn’t gone wrong, could she have had that with Aidan? Probably not. Neither of them was as warm or open as George or Jase. Forcing herself to drop that train of thought, she sipped the strong oolong tea Jase had brought her, noting he’d laced it heavily with honey.

Another car pulled up, and Jase moved to open the door as Aidan and one of his security team hurried inside. Aidan nodded briefly at the other men as he strode straight to Elise’s side, dropping to sit beside her on the sofa. His gaze bored into hers. “I swear, Elise, I had nothing to do with this. We’re going to get her back, I promise.”

She set her tea down and let him take her hands in his as she looked up into those wide green eyes that were so like Dina’s. He looked like—home. Finally, she fractured. All the fear she’d been holding in for the last half hour slammed into her and she fell into the comforting warmth of Aidan’s arms, sobbing for all she was worth.

***

Aidan lifted Elise’s slight weight into his lap and pressed her close against his chest. He tucked her head beneath his chin and looked over her at the other men. Her hair was as soft as he remembered. It was a fight to keep his own voice steady. “Anything?”

George shrugged. “Nobody came in or out the doors, front or back. It’s like they teleported directly into and out of the girl’s bedroom.”

“They?”

“One elf and one something else. Human, but maybe…spicier.” The werewolf frowned. “Smelled kind of like patchouli, to tell you the truth.”

“But there’s no sign of how they got in?” Aidan searched his memories for some way to teleport humans. Small objects were easy, he did that himself all the time, but living things didn’t usually survive the process—advanced technology or artwork, either, for that matter—something about the molecular disassembly and reassembly not being perfect. As far as he knew, the Wyndewin didn’t have that ability either. He stroked the slender line of Elise’s back as she sobbed into his shoulder and his stomach clenched. Gods knew he’d been longing to hold her again, but not like this.

“Nothing. There isn’t even any scent near the bedroom window.” George shook his head.

“The alarm system hasn’t been touched.” Wallis stepped away from the panel by the entrance. He moved off into the condo, presumably to check the other doors and windows.

“If they ’ported in somehow that might explain getting past the wards.” Aidan racked his brain for ideas. He’d felt the weight of the magical protection field around the house, even though it hadn’t triggered on him because Elise had invited him in. “I don’t know of anybody who wards the center of a room.” Despite their differences, he actually found himself wishing Desmond was around. The mage could be an ass, but he might have a better sense of what kind of magic was used.

Desmond was hours out of town, so they had to work with the assets they had. Wallis, one of the few Fae Aidan knew who was good with technology as well as magic, returned, shaking his head. “Magic trails and strong ones, but nothing I can place and only in the one room. Whatever it was, they definitely ’ported directly in and out. There was a silence spell, too—that one was obviously elven, but the signature isn’t from anyone I know.”

“Which explains why Elise didn’t hear anything.” Aidan continued to rub Elise’s back. Her sobs had quieted to hiccoughs, but she was still shaking. “Any idea when?”

Wallis shrugged. “Hour and a half. Two, tops.”

“H-how c-c-ould I not kn-know?” Elise wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sleep shirt. “I should have felt something, even if I couldn’t hear it.”

“Because they made quite sure that you wouldn’t, leannan.” He dropped a kiss onto her silky hair. “Whoever did this obviously knew what they were doing. They weren’t amateurs. None of this is your fault.”

“If they got past my wards, it definitely was.” Anger was starting to spark in her dark eyes, displacing some of the terror and grief. Good. Fury would help her function. She struggled against Aidan’s hold so she could turn to face the group. Reluctant to let go of her, but understanding her need to be strong, Aidan loosened his arms so she could slide off his lap. He did ’port in an oversized handkerchief, which he handed her to wipe her face and blow her nose.

“Does Dina have a nanny?” Aidan backed away to the far end of the couch. “Someone who watches her while you’re out or at work? Who might have keys or access to the room, a way past the wards?”

Elise shook her head. “Dina goes to a witch-owned daycare near the gallery,” she said. “Sylvia Jones—she’s not a Wyndewin, but she can handle kids with power. If I have an evening event, sometimes she keeps Dina overnight, but Sylvia never comes here.”

Jase left the room, returning a few minutes later with a tray of mugs and a full pot of strong, black coffee, along with fresh tea for Elise. As everyone helped themselves, the doorbell rang and Wallis admitted Greg Novak.

George’s older brother was still in the tux he’d worn as Ric’s best man at the wedding, though his tie and half his shirt studs were missing and, if Aidan wasn’t mistaken, one collar point was smeared with raspberry-colored lipstick.

“It seems to me,” Greg said after gulping down half a cup of coffee, “that the first question is why. Obviously it isn’t about money. Though Elise has thousands of dollars’ worth of art in her gallery, kidnapping isn’t the easiest way to get it. If they could pop in here, they could have just as easily popped into a bank vault. So what we should be thinking about is who you might have pissed off lately, gorgeous.”

“Well, leannan?” Aidan searched her face for any hint of suspicion, but she shook her head.

“I haven’t turned down anybody at the gallery and I haven’t been involved in Wyndewin business since before Dina was born. I have no idea…unless…” She turned accusing eyes on Aidan. Her nostrils flared and her lips thinned. “This is about you, isn’t it? Someone saw her today, thought she was yours and came after her to get at you. It’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

Aidan had to admit it had crossed his mind as well. The timing was too much of a coincidence otherwise—and he didn’t believe in those. Sick though the idea made him, she was probably right. “Shit, not another traitor in my household.” He turned to Greg. “Where is Fianna? Weren’t you supposed to be watching her?”

Fianna of the Meadow was a young Fae who had been Aidan’s private secretary until they’d discovered her involvement in the plot to overthrow the queen. As a punishment, she’d been stripped of all her powers and left in the human realm. Aidan had agreed to find her a menial job and keep her under surveillance. He’d turned that task over to the werewolves, who’d hired her as a waitress at their club.

“She’s with Lana.” Greg poured another mug of coffee. “I checked in on her there as I was leaving the club.” Lana was a cousin of the Novak brothers and another wolf shifter. “They’ve been together all night, first at the New Moon. Later they watched some chick flick up in Lana’s apartment.” Fianna had been set up in one of the apartments in the old hotel building above the club. Since Lana and Greg both lived in the building, they were able to keep a close eye on their charge. “Fianna was never out of sight of either me or Lana all night.”

“Has she been in contact with any Fae?” There was something odd about Greg’s phrasing, but Aidan wasn’t going to worry about that now. He didn’t think his former secretary was stupid enough to be involved in this, but he had to ask. She’d seen Ric run a sword through her uncle—surely she’d gotten the idea that she’d been on the wrong side of the elven supremacy movement.

Greg shook his head. “No. She doesn’t leave the building alone and we haven’t had any elves come into the bar except Ric once or twice.”

“Downtown Detroit is too full of iron and salt for most Fae to feel comfortable.” Aidan had felt that near-painful tingle himself whenever he had business downtown. As the central part of the city consisted largely of decaying steel-framed buildings and warehouses built over abandoned salt mines, what few Fae passed through the metropolitan region tended to hang out in the suburbs. “That’s one reason we agreed to Fianna being there. Even stripped of her powers, it can’t be pleasant for her.”

“She seems to be adjusting.” Greg stared down at his coffee. There was something about the werewolf’s expression—he wasn’t growing fond of Fianna, was he? That would make things awkward. “Once she wrapped her brain around the idea she was going to have to actually get her hands dirty for the first time in her spoiled little life, she started to settle in okay. I honestly can’t see how she could have had anything to do with this. She wasn’t even at the wedding. I don’t think she’s ever met Elise and I doubt she has a clue that Dina exists, let alone that she’s yours.” He looked up at Aidan as he spoke.

“She isn’t his,” Elise insisted.

Aidan ignored her outburst along with Greg’s skeptical snort. “I’m going upstairs,” he said. “Elise? Will you show me Dina’s bedroom?” While Wallis was better than Aidan at reading magic trails, Aidan simply needed to see the girl’s space for himself. Something deep inside his chest insisted she belonged to him.

“Go ahead,” she grumbled. “Everyone else has.” She crossed her legs beneath her and lifted her tea. “I—I just don’t want to go up there right now.” She twitched nervously though, obviously anxious to be doing something.

“Okay.” Aidan stood. Greg and Wallis both moved to come with him, but he shook his head. This was something he’d rather do alone.

He didn’t have much idea of what a four-year-old girl’s bedroom was supposed to look like, but if he’d had to guess, he supposed this would have been it. White and gold furniture filled the space, dominated by a canopy bed hung with gauzy curtains in glittery candy pink. A matching comforter lay in a heap beside the bed. The carpet was apple green and the wallpaper wainscoting had wavy stripes of both shades. Shelves were filled—or had been—with books and toys. Now most of the contents were dumped on the floor. One bed curtain was torn and the framed print of a fantasy castle hung crooked above the headboard. The pink sheets dangled to the floor.

Thank the gods there was no sign of blood, but it looked like Dina had put up quite a fight for a four-year-old. That shouldn’t make him proud, but it did.

A sparkly silver hairbrush lay on the floor beside the desk, a few long, dark strands still clinging to the bristles. Perfect. With no qualms at all, Aidan ’ported in an envelope, stuck the hairs inside and stuffed the envelope into the back pocket of his jeans before carefully replacing the brush on the desk. Later, once this was over, he’d arrange the damned DNA test. There was a framed picture there of Dina and her mother, and Aidan couldn’t help himself. He picked it up and compared the two faces, searching Dina’s for any trace of him. Were her ears slightly pointed? Was the line of her chin a bit more elven than human? Impossible to tell.

It didn’t matter anyway. She was still a young child who’d been forcibly taken from her home by enemies unknown. The only important thing right now was getting her back. If she’d been taken because of Aidan, he wasn’t sure he’d ever forgive himself, but he’d make damn sure somebody paid. Preferably in blood. He wasn’t so far removed from his pirate days as most people liked to think.

Forcing back the knot in his throat and the uncharacteristic itching of his eyeballs, he concentrated on the magic trails that Wallis had mentioned. Yes, there was definitely elven sorcery present, along with something foreign. There was a familiarity, though, to the more exotic magic, one he kept turning over and over in his mind. As head of Underhill, he dealt with people from all over the world and all varieties of non-humans as well, as long as they were willing to do business with the sidhe.

Business. Halfway down the stairway, the thought occurred to him. He’d had meetings for the last month with a particular group of investors. He looked at Wallis as he re-entered the crowded living room and said, “Djinn.”

“Fuck, how could I have missed that?” Wallis smacked himself in the forehead, right below his shock of carroty hair. “Of course.”

“Djinn?” Elise looked at Aidan as if he was on drugs. “What would a genie want with my daughter?”

“Djinn are businessmen.” Aidan resumed his seat beside her on the couch. “Most of them, at any rate. And like any group of corporate raiders, some are honest and others are not. Every race has its mercenaries, love.”

“So a djinni and an elf working together,” Greg said. “Shouldn’t be too hard to find. There aren’t too many Fae willing to mingle with other races. Still doesn’t explain how they beat the alarm system.”

“Actually, it might.” Aidan tapped his fingers on the arm of the sofa. “Something I learned in the negotiations last month is that djinn don’t need portals to move between the mortal realm and Underhill—which they call the ‘Otherworld.’ They can cross the dimensional veil anytime and anyplace. So if one got to the Otherworld equivalent of Dina’s bedroom, then, yeah, they might be able to come through directly.”

“Walk up outside the condo in this realm, pick a window and calculate the distance.” Wallis moved his hands as he calculated the possibilities. “Cross over, move that distance in and up…with a ladder, maybe, or some kind of spell, then step through again. Yeah, I can see that working.”

“Were there any djinn at the wedding today?” George asked. “I didn’t spot anyone who looked Middle Eastern.”

“Not that I knew about.” Aidan tried to visualize the crowd and pick out individual faces in his mind. “It’s possible someone came in with the caterers, or the band.” How many people had been there, guests and workers included? Two hundred? Three?

“No, I can vouch for the band.” Greg shook his head. “They play at the club a lot—nobody came in with them that I haven’t seen a hundred times before.”

“I’ve used the caterer for events before, but I didn’t vet each of their staff.” Aidan tried to think of each face he’d seen throughout the day. “Wallis, did you screen them as they came in?”

“Of course.” Wallis sniffed at the implication he’d ignored his responsibilities. “Every one of them had ID and was on the list we’d been given last week.”

“How about the co-op teachers?” Jase surprised Aidan with his insight. The Jamaican potter and Meagan were both instructors at a Royal Oak art studio, and the rest of the faculty had been invited. “I know all of them, but some brought dates who aren’t long-time companions. You want me to make some calls?”

“If you can do it without raising any hackles.” Aidan picked up his untouched coffee mug and fiddled with the handle. “We don’t want to tip off the kidnappers that we’re investigating rather than waiting for a ransom demand.”

“It may not have been the djinni at the wedding anyway,” Elise reminded them all. “You said he could be nothing more than hired magic. How much easier would it have been for an elf to sneak in? Aidan, you may be right to start looking at your staff again. Or even higher.”

Elise had never trusted the Fae, especially the members of the Seelie Court. Aidan wasn’t sure, but he thought that might have something to do with her Wyndewin training—none of that bunch had ever been overly friendly. Unfortunately, that distrust had been one of the insurmountable problems in their relationship. After the fiasco with Fianna, however, he wasn’t going to discount the possibility that someone from the court had been involved. Only a couple elven nobles had attended the wedding—though the whole court had been at the earlier ceremony held Underhill, which Elise and her daughter had not attended. Still, one of them might have managed to slip in a spy.

“Right. Wallis, let’s you and I head for home. We can round up the staff and start asking questions.” He looked around the room and let his gaze linger on the two werewolves. “Greg, you want to come with me, while George and Jase stay here with Elise?”

“Oh, no, you don’t.” Elise stood and glared at him. “I’m coming with you.”

All the men in the room looked around nervously—none of them wanting to tangle with a pissed-off mother who was also a powerful witch. Aidan couldn’t blame them.

“We’ll stay here in case the phone rings.” Jase broke the tense silence with his offer.

“I’ll ride with Novak.” Wallis spoke hurriedly, tossing Aidan the Ferrari keys.

Coward, Aidan mouthed back at his lieutenant, who smiled. Turning to Elise, Aidan sighed. “Fine. Go get dressed.”

Chapter Three

Elise kept her mouth shut on the drive from Birmingham to Grosse Pointe. The sleek sports car ate up the miles at a rapid clip, but she wasn’t worried about that. Aidan’s better-than-human reflexes and perception made him a safe driver at any speed and she was sure there was a spell on the car to keep police looking the other direction.

This close to him, she could still smell him—Scotch, expensive cologne and over both, the scent of Aidan himself, the one she remembered all too well. Touching him again made her feel like an addict falling off the wagon. Her fingers itched to slide over him, even though her brain was entirely locked on Dina. She didn’t say anything because she had no idea what to say. Her toes tapped restlessly against the floor mat.

“I’m surprised you didn’t give her the malachite,” Aidan said finally, about fifteen minutes into the silence. “That would be handy about now. Though I probably never thanked you for loaning it to Meagan. Shocked the living hell out of me when it went off. After five years, I figured you’d probably tossed it.”

Elise reached up and wrapped her hand around the green stone amulet Aidan had given her when they were dating. Sort of a magical GPS beacon, it was keyed to Aidan and she supposed she’d held onto it as one lingering way of keeping him close even after their split, though when her friend had been in danger, she’d loaned it to Meagan.

“She told me.” Elise grimaced. She didn’t want to think nice things about Aidan right now. “Dina has one of her own. It’s pink quartz and it’s keyed to me and Des. It was lying on her floor tonight. Whoever took her must have recognized the magic and taken it off.” She pulled it out of the pocket of her jeans and studied the broken necklace. The silver chain Dina wore it on had been snapped and Elise cringed to think of her baby being subjected to even that much pain and brutality. What were they doing to her now?

“Stop it.” Aidan took one hand off the gearshift for a moment to squeeze hers. “She’ll be fine. There shouldn’t be any reason to hurt a hostage. Whatever they want is from you, or more likely, me. In order to bargain, they need to keep Dina in one piece.”

“You’re right.” It had always been uncanny, how he’d known what she was thinking and feeling. Reading surface thoughts was a common Fae ability, but most of them couldn’t get past Wyndewin shields. That immunity was one of the things that made Wyndewin enforcers effective against the Fae. With her and Aidan, though, the shields hadn’t mattered. They’d been that attuned to one another.

“We’re going to get her back, Elise.” She was surprised at the rough emotion in Aidan’s normally steady tone. “I promise you that, on my life and honor. Whatever it takes.”

“She’s not yours, Aidan.” How often did she have to remind him? She couldn’t have him getting too attached, not even to the idea of Dina.

“She could have been,” he muttered in the gruffest tone she’d ever heard him use. “She should have been. Even if there’s no biological link, if you’d told me, I’d have accepted her.”

“I know.” Deep inside, she had, she realized. She simply hadn’t allowed herself to think about it. “But it still wouldn’t have worked. The problems between us—they were just too overwhelming.” She’d been telling herself that for almost five years. The mantra had helped keep her sane.

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” Aidan pulled his hand away to shift gears. “We’re still going to find her. Nobody should ever get away with abducting a child, no matter who her parents are or aren’t.”

They reached the mansion that housed the portal into Faerie, usually called Underhill by the Fae. For the second time in twenty-four hours, Elise found herself ensconced in a chair in Aidan’s library, though this time it was in the larger room, not his private den. For a pirate-turned-corporate raider, the man sure appreciated books. She’d always loved that about him—the complexity that kept him from being merely another soulless suit.

The ruthless pirate face was back in evidence, however, as he paced back and forth in front of his assembled household staff. Pictures of Dina and a description of her pajamas had been printed off and passed around the table. Wallis and Greg guarded the double doors to the rest of the house, while Toby, Aidan’s most faithful retainer, stood beside the unobtrusive wooden doorway that led to the inner sanctum where she’d chatted with Aidan earlier. That room also, she guessed, housed the portal to Underhill. Toby had a wicked-looking cutlass in his hand and a martial gleam in his brown eyes. No one would be escaping by that route.

All the live-in servants were sidhe—elven, brownie, pixie, or gnome, so there was no need for Aidan to hide his nature from any of them. He was even more imposing with his glamour dropped. Even Elise might have been intimidated if she hadn’t been too caught up with worry about Dina. She twisted her fingers, anxious to do something, anything, rather than sit here and wait.

“You’ve all heard by now that Ms. Sutton’s four-year-old daughter has been abducted and that at least one Fae was involved. First of all, let me make a one-time offer.” His voice was like icy silk. “If any of you know anything about this kidnapping, anything at all, you have thirty seconds to tell me and I’ll let you live. Starting now.” He paused and she could almost hear him mentally counting the seconds. When had he developed a tic beside his jaw?

There was no response from the dozen or so nervous sidhe sitting around the large reading table.

Exactly thirty seconds later, Aidan bared his teeth, his expression so violent, even Elise shivered. “Mercy is now off the table. Anyone involved in abducting my daughter is going to die. Slowly. Is that clear?”

There were a few gulps and a couple of nods of agreement from the assembled staff.

Aidan continued in his same smooth, frigid tone. “I’m going to go around the room. Each one of you will tell me in excruciating detail exactly what you were doing from the moment the reception ended until you were dragged in here five minutes ago. Let’s start with you, Mairead.”

The middle-aged…gnome?…pursed her lips. “I supervised the clean-up in the ballroom.” She wrinkled her brow, as if working to remember. “Kept an eye on the hired crew to be sure they didn’t walk off with anything.” The ballroom had been set up as additional reception space for those guests who preferred not to sit outdoors. With large French doors opening into the garden, it had been a natural extension of the reception area and full of people coming and going all afternoon.

“After that, I joined some of the other staff in the kitchen for leftovers and a chat,” Mairead continued. Ticking off her fingers, she listed five others who’d been there, including Toby, who nodded. “We played some cards, before I…ummm…retired.”

Elise could have sworn Mairead blushed, right to the roots of her silvery hair.

“With me,” Toby interjected, his own weathered face turning red. “She was with me all night.”

The twitch in Aidan’s chin moved up to his lips, but he didn’t quite smile. “Thank you, Toby.” His gaze moved around the table to his housekeeper. “Bronwyn?”

She’d been involved in the card game as well and had retired alone shortly after midnight. So had the butler, the cook and one of the security guards, who was apparently Toby’s nephew.

One of the two maids had spent the night with the groundskeeper, the other had gone out with a wedding guest—she’d just walked in the door when Wallis had pulled her into the library. The young elf trembled visibly, as if she knew how bad the situation looked. “I left with the band.”

“I saw her at the bar with them afterward.” Greg cast her a reassuring wink. “She was pretty busy with the guitar player and the drummer. They didn’t leave until closing time. I doubt she had time to get up to anything else.”

The other two security guards had been on duty, which accounted for everyone—not that their stories could be verified, at least the ones who’d been asleep alone when the kidnapping had occurred.

“Very well.” Aidan nodded crisply. “The house is on full lockdown until further notice. Nobody in, nobody out without my express permission. Mairead, cancel all my appointments for the next several days. Wallis, Toby, stay. Security—you know the lockdown procedure. Get to it. The rest of you go back to bed for an hour or two.” It was a good thing none of the wedding guests had stayed the night. That would have complicated matters tremendously.

“Of course, my lord.” Each of the staff murmured something to that effect as they moved toward the door. Mairead, Aidan’s secretary, came over and took Elise’s hand.

“I’m so sorry,” she said kindly. “If there’s anything you need, miss, you let me know. Anything at all.”

“Thank you,” Elise said. “I don’t know…” All she needed was to have her daughter back. It was too hard to think about anything as simple as physical needs.

“I know we never met before, but we’ve spoken, many times.” The small, wizened woman patted Elise’s hand. “I was Lord Green Oak’s secretary before he moved the corporate headquarters to Michigan and I came out of retirement after Fianna…left.”

Ah, that’s why her voice seemed so familiar. Aidan’s secretary had always been kind to Elise when she’d called on her boss’s behalf to cancel dates or reschedule weekends together. It wasn’t Mairead’s fault that Aidan should have taken care of such personal tasks himself. Despite the situation, Elise managed to smile. “Thank you, Mairead.”

The motherly gnome bustled off and Elise turned her focus back to Aidan and the other men.

“Greg, did you pick up any obvious lying?” Aidan had turned to the werewolf who’d been leaning negligently against the foot of the library table. The taut lines of his body belied his casual stance.

“No. Though I’d keep an eye on the groundskeeper—Dylan, I think his name was—and his pet maid, Jennet. There was something shifty about those two. And for all they implied, they didn’t smell of sex.”

Elise cringed. She’d forgotten how sensitive a werewolf’s nose could be.

“Thanks.” Aidan tipped his head. “I want you to wander around and see if you pick up the scent of a djinni anywhere in the house or garden.”

Greg nodded curtly and strode from the room.

“What can I do, Cap’n?” Toby’s tone was gruff and concerned.

“Toby, I need you to go gather information.” Aidan continued to pace. “You’ve still got some connections with the…less highbrow sidhe. I need to know if anyone has heard anything about a djinni working with Owain Le Faire’s movement, or one doing freelance work for any other elf. Also find out who’s running the purity faction now that Owain is dead. I assume it’s his son Oswald.”

“Got it.” Toby saluted Aidan, bowed to Elise and took off toward the portal.

Elise recognized the name Owain Le Faire as the elf who’d tried to kill Meagan last summer. Ric had killed Owain in a duel, but much like human supremacy groups, the elven one always sprung a new head when the old one was cut off.

A shudder raked through her as she remembered that Meagan had been targeted partly because of her mixed blood. Dina might not be half-Fae, but as long as anyone thought she was, she was in the same kind of danger. The only thing that kept Elise from screaming was the knowledge that if murder had been their intent, they wouldn’t have had to take Dina with them.

“Wallis, you’re monitoring phones and internal security. The wolf gets to go wherever he wants, but keep tabs on everyone else. Keep in contact with George and Jase at Elise’s apartment. Put a call through to Sir Alaric’s hotel in Paris—tell them to stay the hell put, but they’ll gut me if we keep them in the dark on this. Tell him we’re keeping him poised in case we need someone in Europe.”

Wallis nodded and left the room. Aidan approached Elise’s chair and held out a hand.

“I should go home…” She let him help her to her feet and didn’t even argue when his arm wrapped around her waist. A huge yawn split her jaws and her eyes filled with tears. How could she even think about sleeping when her daughter was in danger?

“You’re exhausted, leannan. It’s almost six in the morning and you’re in shock, whether you realize it or not. You won’t do Dina any good if you make yourself ill. I’m going to take you upstairs and we’ll both grab a power nap while Toby is working his own brand of magic Underhill.” Before she could protest again, he swept her up into his arms and carried her out of the room.

***

Aidan saw Mairead suppress an approving smile and Greg openly smirk as he moved past them in the hallway.

“There are some night things laid out in the blue bedroom.” Bronwyn, the housekeeper, stood behind Mairead in the hallway. “Can I send up anything to eat or drink?”

“No thanks,” Aidan replied. He carried Elise up the stairs. She weighed next to nothing—even less than he remembered. Had she been taking care of herself or running herself ragged with her daughter and her business?

“You told your people that Dina’s your daughter.” Elise spoke into the side of his neck. Her tone made him think she wasn’t sure whether or not to be angry. “Why?”

Aidan grimaced. She’d caught that, had she? “I didn’t want to decrease her value as a hostage, if that’s the point. If the kidnapper is targeting me for ransom, or something else, I don’t want him to think he might have made a mistake. If Dina isn’t valuable to me, she becomes worthless to them, which makes her a liability rather than an asset. Whoever this is probably doesn’t know me well enough to know it wouldn’t make any difference.”

“Then he’s an idiot.” She yawned again and snuggled into his chest.

Aidan smiled at the unintentional compliment. Even when they were together, words of praise from Elise had been infrequent. The cherry-blossom scent of her shampoo drifted into his nostrils, reminding him viscerally of all the times he’d held her close and how long it had been since the last time.

His body made a half-hearted attempt at arousal, despite his own fatigue and tension, but fortunately, Elise didn’t seem to notice. He toed open the door of the blue guestroom—right across the hall from his own suite and well away from anyone else in the house, bless Bronwyn’s romantic heart. There was a high-necked white linen nightgown on the foot of the turned-down bed, along with a terry-cloth robe and a pair of slippers.

He set Elise down on the bed and stepped back before he could do something stupid—like climb in with her. “Is there anything else you need?”

Elise looked down at the jeans and sweater she’d thrown on before leaving her house and shook her head. “No. I’ll be fine. I can put these on again when I get up.”

“Set them outside the door. Someone will make sure they’re clean.”

“I’ve only had them on for two hours. They’re fine.” She stood and moved toward the bathroom on wobbly feet, but Aidan resisted the urge to help. “Get some rest yourself, Aidan. And—thank you. For everything.”

“Thank me when Adina is safely home,” he growled. “Not before. I’m right across the hall—I’ll leave my door open a bit. Give a shout if you need anything.”

It took all his willpower to turn and make his way into his own suite. Ignoring the bed, he moved directly to the bathroom, where he stripped off his clothes and left them in an uncharacteristic heap. He turned the cold water on full blast and stepped into the oversized marble-lined shower.

Once he was in the enclosure, he sank down onto the built-in bench and let the icy water sluice over his skin from the multiple jets in the wall and ceiling. Closing his eyes, he propped his elbows on his knees and dropped his face into his hands. What was supposed to have been a day of celebration had turned into a disaster of epic proportions. First finding out about Adina, then being told she wasn’t his—that had been enough to handle for one day. Now the thought of losing her, even if she wasn’t his biological daughter, had brought all his old feelings for Elise right back to the surface. In eleven hundred years, he’d never loved another woman the way he did the tiny Wyndewin. He’d looked for her after she left Detroit, left him, until her brother had told him in no uncertain terms to stop—that she never wanted to lay eyes on him again. After that, he’d buried himself in his work, trying to forget the woman who’d claimed his heart.

Now, gods help him, another part of his heart had already been claimed by her—or maybe their—daughter. Why the hell had someone taken the girl? Because of him? It was the only thing that made any sense given the timing. He looked up into the blasting water, glad the shower would wash away the few stray tears that escaped despite his best intentions.

Finally when he got mind and body back under control, he climbed out of the shower and dried himself off. Since he’d said he’d leave his door open, he materialized a pair of silk pajama pants and pulled them on before heading back into his bedroom. The soothing dark blues and greens of the luxurious chamber did nothing for his mood tonight—this morning—but even he needed some downtime. Muffling a yawn of his own, he pulled back the thick duvet and climbed between the sheets.

Before he could turn off the light, his door, which he’d left ajar about an inch, slid further open. Aidan sat up in bed as Elise crept barefooted into the room.

“Do you need something?” Gods, she was adorable in that virginal white nightgown.

Elise shook her head. “Your staff is thorough. The bathroom was fully stocked.” She moved closer to the foot of the bed and wrung her hands together. “I—just—couldn’t sleep.”

“Elise…” He had no idea what he was about to say, so it was good that she stopped him with one hand held in front of her.

“Please. I…I can’t be alone right now.”

He was throwing back the covers even before he heard the crack in her voice. “Come here, leannan.” His arms opened wide.

“Aidan!” She launched herself around the bed and into his arms.

“I’m here, dearling.” He pulled her into his lap and dragged the covers up over them both.

“I feel like I should be doing something—anything, but I don’t know what to do.”

“I know. But right now we have to wait for information. I promise, we’re doing every single thing we can.”

“The rational part of me knows that.” She gave a suspicious sniffle. “But the emotional part isn’t happy about it.”

“You’re a mother, leannan. Of course you want to be doing something. But right now you need to rest. Taking care of yourself is important too.” He dropped a kiss on her silky black hair, inhaling her scent, as his hands coursed up and down her spine.

“I wanted to tell you.” Her words came out so softly, he barely heard them. “I debated all through my pregnancy, wondering if I should call you, praying she was yours.”

“I wish you had, dear one.” What more could he say?

“I was afraid.” Her voice dropped even lower. “I didn’t want to tie you down, when you had so much else going on.” The emotion he heard in her tone nearly broke him. He’d made it clear that being part of a couple wasn’t his first priority. Aidan knew he was as guilty as Elise for the collapse of their relationship, maybe more.

“I’ve missed this.” She nuzzled the base of his neck. “Nobody in the world smells like you do, so warm and woodsy.”

She was killing him. Worse, she had to notice the erection stabbing up into her backside. Elise didn’t say anything, only shifted against his lap, inflaming him further. She nipped the tendon on the side of his throat and reached one hand up to stroke the point of his ear. Aidan shuddered as his entire body tensed. An elf’s ears were sensitive.

“Make me forget for a while, Aidan. Make it all go away, if only for a few minutes.”

“Oh, dearling, this is not a good idea.” Every cell of his being was screaming at him to strip off the sedate nightgown and take her, make up for their years apart.

“Please, Aidan? I need you so much.”

He couldn’t deny her anything when she asked him like that. He’d have cut out his own heart if she’d begged him for it. Kissing her was far less painful. All he had to do was cup her chin in his hand and lift her face to his.

***

Kissing Aidan was the one thing powerful enough—not to make her forget, nothing could do that—but to distract her mind, just a little. It gave the adrenaline in her body something to do, gave all that terrified nervous energy an outlet, so she threw herself into the embrace, kissing him back as deeply and intensely as she’d wanted to for the last five years. Impossibly, it was every bit as good as she’d remembered.

His lips molded against hers with the perfect combination of strength and softness. His tongue probed gently, swept inside and traced all the curves and hollows of her mouth. One of his hands moved up to tangle in her hair, while the other wrapped around her waist, holding her close against his bare, sculpted chest.

Like most Fae, Aidan was lean, but well muscled in a wiry kind of way and she let her fingers trail down the ridges of his spine, while her palm caressed the taut planes of his back. The tension coiled in his body assured her that he was as affected by the kiss as she was, as did the thick ridge of his erection poking her in the butt. Instinctively, she rubbed against it, remembering how wonderful it had been to have him inside her, filling up all the empty spaces in her body and her heart.

“Easy, dearling,” he murmured, trailing kisses along her chin to her ear. She shivered as he nibbled on the lobe before swirling his tongue around the shell. “It’s been way too long for me to have that much control.”

“Don’t care.” She didn’t really believe him, anyway. Aidan had more control than any man she’d ever met, human or otherwise. She slid one of her hands up to his nape and around to toy with the pointed tips of his ears. His low groan into her ear was gratifyingly hoarse.

At last he slipped one of his hands inside the front of her nightgown. When had he opened the buttons? His long fingers cupped one of her small breasts and it was her turn to moan. Her nipples, already pebbled, hardened even further, especially the one he’d begun to roll between his finger and thumb. She didn’t protest when he rolled her off of his lap onto her back or moved over her to take that aching peak into the moist heat of his mouth.

Her back arched, pushing her tender flesh deeper into his mouth, while he slid his hand down her thigh to gather up the hem of her nightgown. The stroke of his fingers up her inner thigh made her spread her legs, opening herself to his expert touch. He continued his assault on her nipples with his mouth while one long finger traced the seam of her sex, sliding easily through her slick moisture. All Elise could do was hold on, one hand in his hair, clutching his head to her breast, the other splayed across his back.

“Aidan.” She whimpered, still only partially able to believe she was really here, in his bed, with the one man she’d ever loved.

“Come for me, leannan.” He kissed his way from one swollen peak to the other while his thumb found her clitoris and massaged it, adding another finger to the one stroking in and out of her core.

Tension coiled deep inside her and she heard herself whimper, gasping for breath. A few more plunges of his fingers and she shattered, this time screaming his name as sparks flashed in front of her eyes, which she’d squeezed shut. He gentled his movements until her tremors subsided, when he moved up for a long, tender kiss on her lips.

“Sleep now, dear one. I’ve got you.” He kissed each cheek and then her forehead, smoothing her nightgown back down her legs.

“But…you…” She felt the slight push of magic, urging her toward sleep. As a witch, she had the power to fight it, but she knew she did need to rest and it was so warm and comfortable here in his arms.

“Not tonight, though I’ve never been more tempted in my life,” he murmured.

She knew she should protest, but the fatigue hit her like a sledgehammer and she went with it, cuddling into his embrace.

Aidan settled back against the pillows, holding her close. She heard his words as if from a distance as she drifted off to sleep. “Go to sleep, Elise. I promise I won’t let you go.”

Chapter Four

Aidan did manage to sleep, if lightly, and only for an hour or so. Every time Elise shifted or whimpered in her slumber, he roused until he was sure she was all right. When his cell phone began to vibrate on his nightstand, he snatched it up before it could wake her and slipped out of bed to answer it. His suite’s sitting area was far enough from the bed that he could talk without disturbing her sleep.

“Talk to me,” he said to Wallis as he flipped open the phone.

“You’ve got company,” the security chief said. “Desmond Sutton is here, demanding to see you.”

“Shite.” Aidan scrubbed his fingers through his hair and absently scratched like every normal male humanoid did on waking. “I’ll be down in five, but tell him Elise is asleep and I’m not waking her.”

“He’s blaming you, boss.” Wallis sounded faintly amused.

“Big sodding surprise.” Desmond would find a way to blame Aidan for global warming if he could. “Tell him what we know and let me get dressed. Oh—and keep him away from Novak if you don’t want things to get really messy.” One day he’d find out what Des had against werewolves. Though maybe the wizard just flat-out hated everyone.

“Mr. Novak is outside patrolling the ground.”

“Is Toby back yet?” Aidan ducked into the bathroom.

“No.”

“Any word from the men at Elise’s condo?”

“I checked in five minutes ago,” the ever-efficient Wallis said. “There’ve been no calls, no visitors, no disturbance of any kind.”

“Send Mairead up to sit with Elise. See you in five.” Elves didn’t need a lot of sleep, but Elise was human—she’d need all she could get before this day was over. Aidan clicked his phone shut, brushed his teeth and pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt. When he reentered the bedroom, Mairead was sitting in a chair near the door, knitting in the near darkness.

“Thank you,” he whispered as he passed.

He sensed her return smile. “Go. We’ll be fine.”

He walked down the stairs buttoning his blue oxford shirt, grateful for Mairead’s understanding. The gnome/Fae hybrid had worked for him for close to a century and he’d become fond of the motherly female. How had he not known she and Toby were an item? Had he really been that wrapped up in his work and his search, so much so that he’d shut himself off from the lives of the people around him?

Perhaps Elise had been right. He had been too obsessed with his duties to be of any use as a man. Had he overlooked her feelings as well?

Well that was ending right here and now. And one of the things he needed to do was mend fences with Des. He descended the mansion’s curved grand staircase and found the Wyndewin waiting impatiently in the foyer below.

“Where’s Elise?” Des snarled.

“She’s asleep, upstairs,” Aidan answered calmly, resisting the urge to snarl back. Mending fences, he reminded himself. He nodded to the guard stationed at the front door, who turned back to watching the outside of the house. Another guard was posted right inside the library door, since the Underhill portal was off of Aidan’s private office. Aidan nodded to him as well.

“Go get her.” Des moved toward the stairs.

Still half a dozen steps from the bottom, Aidan paused in the middle of the stairway, as if blocking it with his body. “No. She’s so sodding exhausted and frantic, she’s liable to make herself ill. Let her sleep until we have some kind of news.”

“I’m right here.” Elise’s sharp voice behind him brought Aidan to a halt. He turned around to see her tying the belt on one of the terry cloth robes Bronwyn kept for guests. “And the next time you try to run off and leave me tucked up like some fragile flower, I’ll gut you with a spoon. This is my daughter we’re talking about. Not yours, mine.” She was pale and had dark shadows under her eyes, but she was functional again. Good.

Aidan tipped his head. It went against the grain to apologize for chivalry, but he did it anyway. “Sorry.”

Des paused with one foot on the bottom step and his hand on the newel post, his body so tense it practically quivered as he stared up at Aidan, his dark eyes assessing every line of Aidan’s face. “What the hell have you done, Greene?”

“Not a bloody damned thing except try to find your niece.” He took three more steps, nodding his thanks as Des backed off and let him leave the stairs. Elise slipped down behind him. When she reached the bottom of the steps, she hesitated, then allowed her brother to gather her awkwardly into a hug. Even with family, she wasn’t demonstrative—at least not in front of others. Maybe Aidan had been reading her wrong when they were together. When they’d split, he hadn’t thought her feelings were all that engaged due to her lack of open affection. When she’d pressed for commitment, he’d thought it was more for appearances’ sake than because she’d actually cared about him. Had he been wrong all this time? Perhaps he should have been honored that she was so warm and open in private, rather than feeling rebuffed because she didn’t like to touch in public.

“I’m so sorry, Lise. We’ll get her back.” Desmond’s tone softened as it only ever did for his sister. Aidan fought back an urge to rip Elise out of her brother’s arms and back into his where she belonged…oh, fuck. He had to stop thinking like that.

“I don’t know how they did it, Des.” Her voice broke. “I don’t know why. Dina never hurt a living thing in her life.”

“I know, Lise. I know. Now why don’t you go get dressed while I talk to Greene?”

“Desmond—”

“Look, I promise I won’t hit him. But it’s going to be a long day. You’re going to want some clothes on.” Des made it sound like not hitting Aidan would be an effort, but he’d manage.

Ah, well, that feeling was mutual.

Elise turned to Aidan. “Will you behave?”

Aidan gave her a brief bow. “Of course. We’ll be in the security office if that’s okay. One of the guards can take you there whenever you’re ready.”

He nodded at the security staff stationed in the foyer. Wallis had brought in more guards from Oakwood, Aidan’s Underhill estate. Good.

When Elise turned and stomped back up stairs, he turned to her brother. “Have you been by Elise’s house, or did you come straight here?”

“Straight here.” Des ran one hand through his short black hair. It was already standing straight up, a testament to his having repeated the gesture often as he drove. “She sent me a text that she wanted to be near the portal.”

Aidan nodded. “We know that Dina was taken by an elf and a djinni. The likelihood of them being somewhere Underhill is pretty damn high, so basing ourselves here seemed the wisest course of action.”

“Djinni? How the hell did the djinn get involved in this?” Des glared at Aidan, his dark eyes narrowed in suspicion. “This has to have something to do with you. In almost five years, there’ve been no problems until today.”

“You’re probably right.” Aidan held both hands, palms out, in a conciliatory gesture. “But it was none of my doing. You want to actually come in, sit down and talk, or would you rather stand here and yell at me?”

Desmond might have had his issues with Aidan, but he wasn’t a totally unreasonable bastard. With a curt nod, he stepped past Aidan toward the library. “Any chance of getting some coffee?”

“There’s probably some in the security office.” Aidan pointed toward a hallway behind the library. “I assume you’re going to want to talk to my staff anyway. We might as well go there.”

“Fine.” The mage turned to follow Aidan down the corridor toward the staff offices, several of which, including the security office, backed on to the library. “One thing before we do. Did Elise tell you that Dina isn’t yours?”

Aidan nodded sharply, his lips pressed together. “Yes.”

“Do you believe her?”

Well now, that wasn’t a question he’d expected from Des. The last thing they needed right now was a pissing match between Elise’s brother and him, so total honesty was probably called for. He lifted his shoulders a fraction of an inch. “I’m not sure. I do believe that she thinks it’s so.”

“Why the hell haven’t you been there for her before now?”

Aidan turned, half expecting a fist to the jaw. Instead, the mage simply stood with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes narrowed.

Mending fences, not breaking faces. “Until Meagan showed me the card for her gallery, I didn’t even know Elise was back in Detroit. I never knew she’d been…hurt and I damn sure never knew she was pregnant. Imagine my shock when I saw a girl with green eyes show up at my fucking house yesterday morning. Seems like someone might have told me about that five years ago, doesn’t it?” He was aware of the fact that his voice had risen to rarely used levels.

Desmond had made a point of letting Aidan know Elise had moved back to Vancouver with their parents. He’d never said why. Now he shrugged. “You’d hurt her. Why the hell would I have told you anything? Especially since she didn’t want you to know. It’s not like you ever had time for her anyway.”

Aidan took the shot, though the words hurt like a physical blow. He deserved it. After a moment spent getting his own anger under control, he tipped his chin. “Glad to know where you stand, but none of this is going to help us find Adina. If you want to hit me, get it over with now so we can get on with the important things.”

The corner of Desmond’s lips quirked for a moment before his expression hardened again. “Agreed. I’ll take a raincheck on that. What are your people doing to find my niece?”

There was a thump of bare feet on the marble floor and Greg appeared in the hallway, pulling a black T-shirt on over his head. He’d gotten a pair of jeans from somewhere.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Des demanded.

“Helping.” Aidan closed his eyes and counted to five. “Look, I don’t know what your deal is with werewolves but get the hell over it or get out of my house.”

Tension vibrated in the atmosphere, until Des shook his head and held out his hand to Greg, though his nostrils flared. “Sorry. Long story and not relevant. What’s important now is Dina. Thanks for your help.”

Greg shook the mage’s hand, though his lips twitched into what might have been a snarl. “No sweat.” He turned to Aidan. “I didn’t find any trace of anything like djinn anywhere on the grounds. I can’t tell if the same elf was here and at the condo or not—too many similar scents overlain and too long ago.”

Aidan swore again.

“Any news on this end?” Greg followed them as they continued to move down the hallway.

“No ransom calls, no disturbance at Elise’s condo and Toby isn’t back from Underhill yet. We’re heading in now to see if Wallis knows anything more.” Aidan opened the door to the security room and stepped inside.

“Morning, boss.” Wallis looked up from a monitor screen, his face haggard with fatigue and strain. “I’m sorry. I’ve gone over every single surveillance photo of the wedding and can’t find anyone who wasn’t supposed to be here. Either our guy walked in as the date of an invited guest, or he was an invited guest, or staff. Jase emailed a list of the artists and their dates. No one leaps out as suspicious.”

“Which guests came via the portal?” Aidan asked. “Or staff?”

“The extra security I pulled in from Oakwood,” Wallis responded immediately, needing no time to stop and think. Good. “Along with extra cleaning and waitstaff from both Oakwood and Rosemeade. I’ve recalled all of them and you’ll find most of them waiting for you in the kitchen, though half the guards are patrolling the grounds. Guests, we’ve got a handful. Lord and Lady Willow, a few of Lady Rose’s personal staff and three invited by Sir Alaric. Looks like two other council members and their families showed up.”

Aidan turned to Desmond and translated. “We pulled in extra staff from both my estate and Meagan’s to help out. Ric’s guests were Lady Night Sky, the guardian of the Chicago portal, her husband and her sister, a healer who saved Ric’s life after an attack. Lady Willow is a human married to a council member, who took Meagan under her wing at Court. I can absolutely guarantee they are not involved in the purity movement, if that is what this is about. In fact,” he tipped his head at Wallis, “get a message to Lord Willow, asking him to contact me as soon as possible. He needs to be warned.”

“What makes you think this has anything to do with your elven purity bullshit?” Desmond helped himself to a cup of coffee from an urn in the corner.

“No ransom note, for one thing.” At least not yet. “And the timing, for another. It had to be a spur-of-the-moment thing. Somebody saw her at the wedding, jumped to the same conclusions I did and snatched her. The only question is why. What do they want from me? Money would be just too gods-damned easy.”

“Maybe they want to eliminate half-bloods,” Desmond suggested darkly. “Your people aren’t known for being fond of mongrels.”

Aidan’s stomach lurched, but he swallowed hard and managed to make it stop even as he shook his head. “I don’t think so. They could have killed her while she slept. Taking her was far riskier, so they have to have a different motive.” At least he hoped so.

Desmond mulled that over for a bit then grunted his agreement.

“Have you contacted Her Majesty?” Wallis asked tentatively.

“No and I need to.” Aidan nodded at Desmond and Greg. “Give me a minute, would you?” He didn’t want to get chewed out by the queen in front of the other men.

“Go on.” Greg pushed him toward the door. “Wallis and I will fill him in on what we know so far.”

Aidan turned and opened a door on the back side of the room. This one led directly into the library. From this side, it was simply a door, but from the library, it was completely disguised as one more section of paneled wall. A similar arrangement connected his private office with his secretary’s, which was the next room over from security headquarters. After nodding to the guard in the library, Aidan moved through into his office and flipped open his cell phone.

For the most part, modern technology and Fae magic didn’t work together well. Underhill Industries, however, had come up with a few gadgets that managed to blend the two successfully. Aidan’s phone was one of those. He and each of the other hundred or so portal-house guardians scattered around the world had direct contact with the queen—or at least her personal staff.

“Lord Green Oak.” The voice on the other end of the device belonged to Baldric of the Fjords, Lord Chamberlain. He was Queen Llyris’s first cousin and essentially her chief of staff and personal assistant. Baldric was a sneaky bastard, who was always looking out for himself, but Aidan was relatively certain the man was loyal to the queen, maybe even above and beyond his own interests.

“I need to know if any of the council members have had family members go missing in the last few days,” Aidan said. “Particularly those who sided with the queen in the recent vote.”

The Seelie Council was composed of the heads of the twenty-one noble houses of the Seelie Court. Aidan was one of those, Meagan another. From among the twenty-one, a ruler was elected, who usually maintained his or her office for life. For the first time in millennia, though, another faction had nearly gained enough votes in the council to unseat a ruler, a plot which Meagan and Ric had foiled a few months earlier.

“Yes.” Baldric didn’t hesitate. “One of Willow’s teenage grandsons, though his parents fear the lad simply ran away. Lady Northwood’s husband is also missing. The assumption is that he ran off with one of his human employees, who is also unaccounted for. Why?”

If they thought he’d taken off with a human, that meant the missing man was probably abducted Overhill, if he had been at all. “Was the boy Underhill or in the mortal realm?” Aidan squeezed the bridge of his nose.

“Overhill.” The older Fae practically spat the words. Baldric had little use for the mortal realm. “New York. Why?”

Much as he hated to reveal his own uncertainty, it wouldn’t do to leave the queen’s people uninformed. “Because tonight, a child who may or may not be my heir was taken from her mother’s home.” The Fae didn’t really have a concept of legitimate or otherwise when it came to children. For elven nobles, the title always went to the oldest offspring of the oldest offspring, male or female, regardless of legitimacy, or who or even what the other parent was. If Dina was Aidan’s daughter, she was his heir, despite her half-human state, or her mother’s opinion on the subject.

“Bugger it,” Baldric grunted. “I’ll inform Her Majesty and start contacting the other houses and warning them. Let me know if you hear anything more.” He hung up before Aidan could say another word.

Next, Aidan dialed the New York portal house, where he spoke with Lord Willow’s son, Clive, who was understandably frantic as well. When Aidan explained the situation, the poor man didn’t seem to know whether to be relieved or even more concerned.

As Aidan was assuring Clive that he’d be in touch if he learned anything, a wall sconce flashed on above another concealed door—this one leading to the portal linking the Grosse Pointe house with the Faerie Court.

“Finn,” he called to the guard out in the library. “Someone’s activated the portal.”

The younger elf moved into the office at the same time as Wallis stepped into the library. Both were armed with automatic weapons, though Wallis said, “It’s probably Toby.”

“Most likely.” With the other two covering him, Aidan opened the door into the small, windowless room that housed the portal. The space appeared empty except for an archway filled with a silver mist. As they watched, two figures stepped through the arch, hand-in-hand.

“We came as soon as we could.” Meagan released her husband’s hand to come hug Aidan. “Is Elise okay?”

Aidan scowled at Ric over Meagan’s coppery head. “I thought I told you two to stay in Paris.”

“As if.” Meagan punched Aidan in the arm.

Ric snorted. “Let’s see—a ten-minute trip to the Paris portal, in one and out the other in the palace, and we’re here. Did you really think we wouldn’t?”

Aidan shrugged. He’d hoped. Having Ric at his side would help him breathe easier, but he didn’t like the idea that Meagan might be at risk if it was about the council.

“Look, if somebody’s targeting mixed couples on the council, I was already at risk.” Meagan’s tone was even and reasonable. She let go of Aidan and stepped back to Ric, who automatically tucked his arm around her waist. The adoration in the bard’s eyes further reassured Aidan that his cousin had married the right Fae. “At least here, I’ll be surrounded by people who know me, instead of a hotel staff.”

“Your telepathy skills have gotten better, cousin.” Aidan shook his head. Meagan had only recently gained access to her Fae powers, but she was learning to control them with unexpected speed and skill for a halfling.

“Greg may have mentioned the possibility of a purity plot when he called me,” Ric admitted with a wry grin. “But she’s right. At least this way, we’ve got some strength in numbers.”

“Besides, someone needs to be here for Elise.” Meagan looked up and made a face. “Oh—hi, Des. Well, another female to talk to never hurts.”

Ric nudged his wife toward a chair. “Anyway, we’re here. Now tell us everything.”

“That’s going to take more coffee.” Aidan’s temples throbbed. “And a bigger headquarters than the security office. Wallis, let’s set up the library as a war room. Bring in some extra phones, a couple of computers, some scrying materials and get somebody to send up breakfast.”

“Bronwyn and the cook are taking turns making sure somebody’s in the kitchen around the clock.” Wallis was already moving back into the security room as he spoke over his shoulder. “Standard crisis procedure, my lord.”

Of course it was. Aidan had set up the rules himself when he’d taken over the Detroit portal four years earlier. A well-fed force was essential in any battle.

Elise appeared in the doorway, dressed in her jeans and sweater from the night before, her black hair still damp and hanging down her back. Her expression was fierce, angry and determined. Aidan had to look closely to see the carefully banked terror behind the bravado. All she needs is a sword to be a perfect avenging angel.

“Elise!” Meagan was out of her chair and running to hug her. “Oh, honey, I’m so, so sorry this happened!”

“What are you doing here?” Elise tentatively returned the hug and shook her head. “Never mind. Of course you came.” She sat down between Meagan and her brother and turned to Aidan. “What news?”

They all gathered around the library table and Aidan caught everyone up to speed while they waited for food and Wallis’s staff set up equipment. Right after breakfast arrived, the portal light blinked on again, this time heralding Toby’s return. The brownie slumped into a chair, accepted a scone and began to talk.

“’Twas as ye feared, Cap’n.” The thickness of his brogue always increased with the amount of whisky he’d consumed and by the sound, Toby had downed several glasses while seeking out information. “There’s been a djinn seen hanging about the palace. Attached himself to the new Lord Le Faire, he has. Rumor has it, the snot-nosed lordling was offering a good bit of gold to anyone willing to come work for him who didn’t have much in the way of scruples. Built himself a small army of Unseelie sidhe—some trolls, an orc or two, a passel of goblins.”

“So Oswald Le Faire is continuing in his father’s footsteps, is he? No great surprise. If he’s kidnapping people, I assume he’s holding them in the dungeons at his family estate.” Most of the elven lordly manors boasted working dungeons—even Oakwood.

“Nae.” Toby hung his head morosely. “Spent the last two hours chatting up one of his housemaids. Oswald hasn’t even been back to his estate in a week or two. Wherever he has his captives stowed, ’tisn’t at his home.”

“Damn it.” Aidan paced back and forth at one end of the table. “Where?”

Mairead stood at the library doorway and ducked her head deferentially. “What can I do for you now, my lord?”

Aidan saw the relief on the woman’s face when she spotted Toby. Bollocks, how had he missed the attachment between the two? “Get some sleep. Toby, you too.” Neither of the two had had more than an hour or so before hell had broken loose. “I may need you to be well rested later.”

It was Elise who turned to her brother. “Des, have you contacted the League? What do they have to say?”

“I found out my call to Toronto was fake,” he growled. “Somebody wanted to make sure I was out of town and knew who to contact to make it happen. There’s no record of that request prior to the moment I was called—a couple of hours after the reception.”

Aidan leaned both hands on the table and glared at Des. “And you couldn’t have mentioned that earlier?”

Des shrugged. “It didn’t come up. But yeah, apparently the bastard has a contact among the Wyndewin. This purity thing may go deeper than you thought.”

“I wonder…” Greg drummed his fingers on the table. “There’ve been some weird rumblings in the shifter world, too—loners who think we should stop keeping ourselves secret from the humans.”

“But the whole point of the Wyndewin League is to keep paranormals from messing with humans,” Elise argued. “I can’t see anyone in the league working against humanity. And certainly not helping kidnap a Wyndewin child.”

“I hope not,” Des countered. “But I got that call from the director in Toronto. As soon as we find Dina, I’m going to go up there, find out what the hell is going on and kick some ass.”

“Fine. Right now we need to find out where the hell Oswald is keeping his prisoners.” Aidan smacked his hand down on the table. “It may or may not be Underhill. If he has a djinn working for him, there’s no way to tell. Ric, since you’re here, I’d like you to go see what you can find out at Court, liaise with Baldric and check in with Willow. Greg, you are Meagan’s shadow and personal bodyguard while Ric is gone, Desmond, you keep an eye on your sister.”

***

Elise’s blood boiled. How dare he take command and relegate her to nothing more than sitting and waiting? That was not happening, not when it was her child, her baby, who was missing.

“Ummm, not exactly helpless here.” Meagan laid a hand on Elise’s arm right before Elise leapt to her feet. “I mean, yeah, I’m not going to go looking for a fight right now, but I’m computer savvy enough to take the place of one of your security officers so he can be out in the field. Elise is even better than I am. And we sure as hell don’t need both Des and Greg out of the action to babysit us if we’re right here in the house.”

“Of course. I should have thought of that. Wallis, meet your two new recruits.” Aidan rubbed his temples as if his head was throbbing and Elise’s anger softened a touch. Had he gotten any sleep? Elise checked the clock for the first time since she’d risen—she’d only managed a couple hours—he’d had even less.

Wallis nodded. “Where do you want me to send the extra men?”

“With Sir Alaric,” Aidan decided. “Lord Rose, rather.”

“Just call me Ric. It’s easier.”

Elise didn’t think the bard was quite used to being a lord yet.

“As the mate of a council member, he may already have a target on his back as well.” Aidan’s hands fiddled with a pen he’d popped in from somewhere.

Meagan bit her lower lip, as if that notion hadn’t occurred to her. When Ric absently laid his hand over hers on Meagan’s tummy, Elise’s eyes watered. She hoped Meagan appreciated how lucky she was to be going through her pregnancy with the man she loved beside her.

“Desmond, if you don’t mind, why don’t you and Elise go back to her house? She can pick up anything she needs and you can see if there’s anything you recognize in the residual magic.”

A light flashed on the phone in front of Wallis and he held up a hand for silence as he clicked on the speakerphone. “Greene residence.”

“Lord Green Oak,” came a snarling voice. The accent wasn’t the near-British Elise had come to expect from the Fae. Instead it had an almost Middle Eastern cadence. Could this be the djinni everyone was talking about? “Now.”

“One moment please.” Wallis clicked the hold button on, nodded to Aidan and switched it back.

“Green Oak here.” Aidan’s voice was icy enough to remind Elise that he hadn’t made much of a leap from pirate to corporate raider. “Who’s this?”

“You don’t need to know that. All you need to know is that we have the girl.”

Elise bit her lip until it bled to cover a gasp.

Aidan’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the phone. “What do you want?”

“Actually, Lord Green Oak, what we want is you.”

“Explain.” The sheer menace in his tone should have had whoever was on the other end shaking in his boots.

Instead he chuckled. “It’s quite simple. We’re willing to trade the halfling for someone much more useful. You turn yourself over to us and we’ll return the brat.”

“I want to hear her voice right now,” Aidan barked. “If I’m assured that she’s unharmed, I’m willing to make the switch.”

There was a scuffling sound on the other end of the phone and Elise held her breath, praying to every god she’d ever heard of. Please, please let Dina be okay.

“Hello?” Her light, high-pitched voice was strong and firm, thank the gods. “Mommy? Don’t cry.”

Meagan’s arm wrapped around Elise and kept her from lunging for the phone, even as a choked sob escaped from between her bloody lips.

“Adina, are you all right?” Aidan gentled his tone which was as unsteady as Elise had ever heard it. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay, but I want to come home. This place is dark and cold.”

After another scuffle, a man grunted and Dina yelled, “Let me go!” This time it took Meagan and Des to hold Elise in her seat and Aidan’s fingers were stark white where they gripped the table.

“Convinced, my lord?” The man’s oily voice was back.

“When and where?” Aidan’s dark brows furrowed together.

“Sunset. There’s an old burial henge south of Edinburgh called Bald Tor. You can bring the girl’s mother. No one else.”

“One other to guard them on the way back,” Aidan bargained. “Someone who can operate the old portal.”

“Bring anyone else and they can each take back a part of the girl.”

That time Elise did scream the word no out loud and lunge halfway out of her seat.

The bastard laughed. “You. The woman. Unarmed. And you come through the henge portal—not from anywhere in Elfhame.” Interesting that he used the older name for Underhill. Great—a traditionalist kidnapper.

Elise knew the old Celtic mounds and monuments were often early portals between worlds. But how were they supposed to get there from here? She’d only been Underhill with Aidan once and that had been to the palace. She had no idea where anything there was in relation to anything in this realm.

“Done,” Aidan snapped. “We’ll be there at sunset. And if there’s so much as a scratch on that girl’s skin, you’ll be able to count the minutes you’ve left to breathe on the fingers of one hand.”

“Your precious little witch is unharmed. Do as you’re told and she’ll remain that way.”

There was a click as the other man hung up.

Elise dragged in several deep breaths while Wallis’s fingers flew across the keyboard. Aidan hadn’t even hesitated to offer himself in trade for Dina. Her head swirled.

“Sunset in Edinburgh is roughly 6:30 p.m. local, which is 1:30 here,” the security chief said. “That gives us five hours. The drive from the Edinburgh portal to Bald Tor is about 30 minutes.”

Five hours? Was it really only eight-thirty? Time seemed to be crawling at an unnaturally slow pace, like in a bad stop-action film.

“Elise and I will have to drive from the Edinburgh portal,” Aidan agreed. “I’ll call and arrange to have a car waiting there. I want a team to move in from somewhere Underhill and go overland to the circle. Wallis, pull up a map of Underhill Britain. See what estates are nearby.”

“Closest friendlies look to be the Night Sky family, but that’s out on the Isle of Skye.” Wallis typed rapidly on a laptop. “There’s the queen’s hunting lodge in Edinburgh, though.”

Ric whistled. “The Wild Hunt. Most of the regular members aren’t exactly dependable allies. But Her Majesty still owes me a favor or two. I can probably arrange for you to borrow horses from there.”

“Thanks.” Aidan rubbed his hands through his hair, making it stick out sideways. “As I recall, there’s a small wood not too far from Bald Tor. If Ric can arrange horses, Toby can lead a group from the hunting lodge to the henge. They may not expect a wolf, so Greg might have more mobility than any of the rest of you. Wallis, you’ll come with Elise and me as far as Edinburgh. Ric and Meagan, you can be our ears at the palace.”

Part of Elise thought she should object to him taking charge, but everything he’d said made too much sense—including putting Ric and Meagan under the direct eyes of the queen and her guards, rather than leaving Meagan here on a computer.

Ric stood. “We’ll leave now, get things set up with Her Majesty and meet the rest of you there.”

“Take a couple guards,” Aidan added. “Remember, you’re likely to be a target as well.”

Ric nodded and helped Meagan to her feet. “We’ll start by contacting the Willows.”

Meagan leaned over to kiss Elise on the cheek as she darted a look at her cousin. “Hang in there, honey. We’re going to get her back. Without sacrificing Aidan to do it.” She left the room on her husband’s arm. Elise watched them go, wishing their happiness didn’t serve to underscore her own misery.

“Elise, can you manage without anything from your house?” Did Aidan’s expression gentle when he looked at her? How could he be so kind after all that had gone wrong between them?

“My passport’s in my safe, if we’re going to Scotland. Otherwise, I’m fine.”

“We’re not going in any official capacity, but if you want it, we’ll have George and Jase run it over. There’s no reason for them to wait at your place now that we’ve been contacted. Greg, what about you?”

“Have George stop and pick up mine along the way, in case we get stuck on this side of a portal. Afterward, he and Jase should get some sleep before they open the bar tonight.” Greg paused and thought for a moment. “Unless you need some extra wolves? The club will be okay without George or Lana for a night or two. And Jase may be human, but he can handle a gun and hand-to-hand. I’ve seen him sparring with George—he’s not half bad. Apparently he did a stint in the military before he became an artist.”

Elise nodded. “He was born in Jamaica, but went to high school here. Going into the Navy helped him get his citizenship.”

“Couldn’t hurt,” Aidan agreed. “We could use both the fangs and the firepower. Some of the higher-tech weapons don’t work Underhill, but simple revolvers and rifles do fine. Get them over here and Wallis can bring you through the portal, along with Toby and Elise. Meet me at my apartment. I’m going to head through now and start getting things set up.”

Elise took one look at his pale, drawn-out features and shook her head. “Not by yourself, you’re not. Des and Greg can follow with the others, but I’m coming with you.”

Chapter Five

Over five years had passed since the one and only time Elise had crossed the portal into Faerie, Elfhame, or Underhill. She remembered stepping through the archway into the silvery mist and the slight sensation of falling that followed before finding her feet firmly on the marble floor of the octagonal portal hall in the Faerie palace. Now, still holding Aidan’s arm, she stepped out into the room and blinked at the two guards who flanked the wood-inlaid double doors opposite the portal. Smooth marble walls and fluted pillars soared up to a plasterwork ceiling that was a bit overdone in Elise’s artistic opinion. Too much gilt, too many clashing colors in the tapestries that covered the walls. Baroque had never been her favorite style.

“Lord Green Oak,” one of the guards said, as both of them bowed. Their swords didn’t even clank on the floor or pillars, attesting to the men being used to wearing their weapons.

The other said, “Welcome.” They cast faintly curious eyes at Elise, but they were too well trained to show any real surprise at the sight of a human on Aidan’s arm.

“If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my apartment,” Aidan said. “Some of my staff and more guests will be following in an hour or so. Please see that they’re not held up.”

“Of course.” They stepped back and each opened a door, holding it for Aidan and Elise.

The corridors of the palace were even more elaborately decorated than the portal chamber, but Elise didn’t take time to look around in any great detail as they passed through. She was too busy trying to keep up with Aidan’s long strides. A few passing Fae stopped to greet him as they walked, but Aidan simply nodded in response and kept moving, until at last they reached a polished oak door inset with a jade oak tree—the Green Oak apartment. Aidan manifested a key and let them both inside.

They’d gotten no farther than the foyer when Aidan’s cell phone chirped.

“It’s Ric.” He flipped it open. “Yes?” After a moment’s pause he said, “We’ll be right there.” He clicked his phone shut and turned to Elise. “Ready to meet the queen?”

Elise looked down at her jeans, black ballet flats and ivory cotton sweater. “Like this?” Everything she’d heard about Llyris Astrella, Queen of the Seelie Court, suggested that formal was the way to go.

Aidan shrugged. “I don’t keep women’s court clothes lying around. If you want to take the time, we can stop by a dressmaker and get you something, but Her Majesty requested us now.” Before she could ask the question on her lips, he replied. “Yes, there are shops here in the palace, for exactly that sort of reason. Besides, people do live here full time. The palace is really a self-sufficient town.”

“You know, I always hated it when you read me without permission. It’s rude.” She did pull a brush out of her purse and give her hair a quick swipe before turning away from the door. “Let’s go.”

“No mind-reading involved, leannan.” He chuckled. “I remember all too well the way your convoluted brain works. Trying to keep up with you was a full-time job.”

She took his arm as they sped through a maze of hallways, wondering if that had been a compliment.

The corridors became more and more ostentatious, until they reached one that ended in a set of what appeared to be solid silver double doors, easily ten feet tall and six feet wide each. Liveried guards—their uniforms more embellished with lace and silver than the ones at the portal, stood to either side of the seam between the doors, with two more posted by the hinges. When Aidan approached, the two in the middle tipped their heads in a semblance of a bow, but their eyes never looked down at the floor—they continued to watch the hallway.

“My lord,” said one of the two in the middle. “Her Majesty is expecting you. Please proceed to her morning receiving room.”

Aidan dipped his chin in return. “Thank you.”

The two guards opened the doors, allowing Aidan and Elise to step through into a wide entrance hall, scattered with plush seating and priceless artwork. A few clusters of Fae chatted or played cards, and a set of French doors on the left-hand wall led to a courtyard terrace where a handful of others gathered. Several sets of eyes swiveled to study Aidan and Elise as they passed through the room to another set of doors on the right, which were again flanked by a pair of armed guards. Directly across from the entrance was another set of the enormous doors, with two more guards.

“This isn’t the ballroom you brought me to before.” She followed Aidan across the room, ignoring the watchful gazes. The one time she’d been Underhill, the queen hadn’t been involved.

“No, these rooms are only used by the queen. The gathering you attended was much less official—merely the birthday party of a friend—in what was essentially a rented ballroom. Those doors there lead to the actual court, or throne room, if you prefer. We’re lucky she’s not in there. When she’s holding court, things get really ceremonial. In her small receiving room, at least we’ll be able to have a conversation, rather than an audience.”

“Huh. If that was informal, I’m even more underdressed than I thought.” They passed through the smaller doors into another hallway before they finally entered a chamber roughly the size of a high-school gymnasium. “This is the small room?”

“Oh, yes. Instead of several hundred nosy sycophants, there’s only a dozen or so.”

True enough. A harpist played softly in one corner of the room and small groups were gathered here and there conversing in quiet tones. Ric and Meagan, also in modern, casual dress, thank goodness, smiled from the far side of the room. Elise barely had eyes for any of them, though. The focal point of the room was a low dais that filled the center third of the back wall. The only object on it was a blue and silver brocade chaise longue, holding the most arrestingly beautiful woman Elise had ever seen. Hair so blond it was almost true platinum was piled high in elaborate coils studded with pale blue diamonds and pearls, matching the tiara that was worked into the arrangement and the necklace that circled her impossibly slender throat. Her gown was an Empire-waist Regency style made of a watered silk that perfectly matched the diamonds. The bodice dipped low, and the Regency theme was carried out with short puffed sleeves. Eyes of that same pale blue fixed on Aidan and Elise the moment they entered the room, making Elise feel like an insect under a magnifying glass. She suppressed a shiver and dipped into a curtsey as they approached the queen.

“Lord Green Oak. Do rise and introduce me to your guest.” The queen’s voice was as icy as her gaze.

Aidan took Elise’s hand as she rose. “Your Majesty, allow me to present Miss Elise Sutton, art gallery proprietor and retired Wyndewin witch.”

“And, as I understand it, the mother of your heir.” Now the ice was even sharper, the words like daggers.

Elise opened her mouth to correct the mistake, but Aidan squeezed her hand sharply. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

That’s right. Dina might lose her value if the kidnappers knew she wasn’t Aidan’s, and spies could be anywhere. Elise lifted her chin and nodded her corroboration. Her embarrassment was nothing compared to Dina’s safety.

“And why wasn’t I informed of this development before?” The queen’s eyes narrowed.

Aidan shrugged. “Interpersonal relationships are complicated at best. Add in the interspecies aspect and it becomes a long story—one with which I do not wish to bore Your Majesty.”

The queen paused a minute, then clapped her hands loudly. Instantly, the music and all conversation in the room stopped. “Everyone out, except for the Roses and my guard. Now.”

Once the room was cleared, she spoke more softly. “Very well. The bard tells me the child has been taken?”

Ric and Meagan had moved closer to the dais, taking up positions on either side of Aidan and Elise. Meagan wrapped a supportive arm around Elise’s waist. In the last few months, Elise had almost grown used to Meagan’s fondness for touching her friends. Usually it made Elise slightly uncomfortable. Today it felt good.

“Yes,” Aidan answered. “They’ve set the ransom meeting at Bald Tor, not too far from the Wild Hunt lodge.”

“I see. So you wish to borrow some of the Wild Hunt horses?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Aidan bowed his head slightly again. “As well as your personal portal between this palace and the lodge.” He’d mentioned to Elise that there was a secret entrance to the lodge, through the queen’s apartments.

“Acceptable. I understand you have reason to believe this is connected with Lord Willow’s missing grandson and Lady Northwood’s errant husband?”

“We do. Our theory is that Lord Le Faire’s purity movement is regrouping and making another move to control the court.”

“That is most unacceptable,” she murmured. “Do you wish any of my guardsmen to accompany you?”

“I think Kieran and Sean should go with us as far as the lodge,” Ric suggested. “That way we’ll have someone we trust at our backs as we ride out.” Elise recognized the names as guardsmen who had helped protect Meagan during her earlier dangers.

“You’re not going.” Aidan turned to glare at his friend. “You and Meagan have life-bonded. If anything happens to you, she dies as well.”

Elise was familiar with that term. That’s what had happened to Meagan’s parents. After her father’s murder, her mother had only survived long enough to give birth. Right before Meagan was born, her mother had begged one of the nurses to adopt her baby. Elise had no idea how Meagan had found the courage to make that same commitment to Ric, even knowing what the cost could be.

“Aidan, we can’t sit here on our butts.” Meagan poked him in the chest. “I’ve agreed to stay here and coordinate with Her Majesty, but Ric’s a master swordsman. You may need him.”

Conflicted, Elise looked up into Aidan’s eyes and saw his shoulders lift a fraction of an inch. He didn’t want to put Ric at risk, but he couldn’t say no. She couldn’t help but be touched that Meagan and her husband would literally risk their lives to rescue Dina.

“Fine.” Aidan said with a sigh. He turned to Meagan. “You promise to stay right here in the full view of the court and the guard at all times, right?”

“I’m pregnant, not stupid.” Meagan shook her head in disgust. “I’m not going to let myself get kidnapped again. Once was quite enough. I’ve got Sinead and Liam here to keep an eye on me as well.” Those were more names Elise thought she recognized from Meagan’s description of her adventures last August.

Aidan turned back to the queen. “Thank you for your assistance, Your Majesty.” He bowed again. “We’ll be in touch as soon as we have any further information.”

“Good. I’ll have the two guardsmen you requested waiting for you at my private portal. Go assemble your team, Lord Green Oak, and may the gods go with you.”

Meagan stepped around Elise to hug her husband. “Be careful. We need you back.”

He leaned down and kissed her so passionately Elise had to look away. “No worries, love. I’ll be back before you know it. Don’t forget to rest if you can.”

Her eyes stinging, Elise curtseyed again and slowly backed from the room, flanked by Aidan and Ric. She could feel the weight of Meagan’s anxious gaze as the other woman watched them all depart. Once they left the chamber, the courtiers, who had been hanging out in the hallway, went back inside.

“Time to go collect the team.” Ric rubbed his hands as they walked back toward Aidan’s apartment. “The other advantage to sending me along is that I’ve ridden with the Hunt a time or two, at Her Majesty’s insistence. I’m familiar with the area around the lodge and Bald Tor and I know the Master of the Hunt.”

“Good.” Aidan ran his hand through his hair. None of them spoke as they walked through the occupied entry hall, but once they were back out into the main corridors. “But if you get yourself killed, I’m going to call up your ghost and kill you all over again. Repeatedly.”

“Same goes.” Even when it was strained, the bard’s voice was a lyrical baritone. Aidan might be the more handsome of the two Fae men, but Elise could see how Ric’s voice had seduced her friend. Then that voice hardened. “And remember your promise. If anything does happen to me and Meagan, you’ll raise our son as if he were your own.”

“Of course.” Aidan took a few more steps before he paused. “A boy, is it? Congratulations.”

Ric shrugged. “Not that it matters, but thank you. I’m just pleased the healers say he and Meagan are both healthy.”

“See that they stay that way,” Aidan replied. “There’s so much that can go wrong.”

“Is it true that elves have problems with fertility?” It was probably the wrong time to blurt out the question, but Elise was curious. That was something she and Aidan hadn’t talked about when they’d been together, and Wyndewin knowledge was unclear about some aspects of Fae physiology.

“Probably a genetic check-and-balance to counter the long lifespan.” Raw concern for his cousin laced Aidan’s tone. “Lots of couples try for literally centuries without ever conceiving. Even when they do, it can be dicey during the gestation period. It’s rare for a couple to have more than one or two children.”

“We were kind of shocked when it happened so soon,” Ric agreed. “But Meagan has been fully cleared by Maeve Black to be up and about. Maeve is one of our best midwives and healers.”

“Being half-human works to Meagan’s advantage.” Aidan kept walking. “One theory is that our race is a bit too inbred and that adding outside blood improves the gene pool.”

These were things she might have wanted to know, back when she was so horribly sick during her own pregnancy and she felt a moment of regret for not telling Aidan at least so she could ask if there were things she should know. Of course her baby hadn’t turned out to be half-Fae, but she hadn’t known that at the time, as she was fainting every few hours or puking her guts out. Even though she’d been living with her mother, another powerful Wyndewin healer, she’d nearly miscarried a couple of times. It had only served to make Dina even more precious once she’d arrived. And I can’t lose her now!

They arrived at Aidan’s apartment to find a crowd waiting for them. Toby and Mairead, Desmond, Greg, George and Jase, Wallis, two of his guardsmen and two women. One was a lushly built brunette, whose resemblance to the Novaks was unmistakable. The other, a tall, slender blonde, elegant even in jeans and a baby blue polo shirt, was handcuffed and sitting silently on a chair in the corner between the two guards. Elise would have pegged her as Fae by her slanted aqua eyes and delicate bone structure, but there was no aura of magic about her at all.

“What the hell is she doing here?” Aidan growled as he followed Elise in the door. “Novak?”

Greg shrugged. “She insisted.”

“I have offered myself into custody until this is finished.” The woman spoke primly, her spine rigid and her expression stoic. “While I may not believe that those of mixed blood should be allowed to sit on the council, I do not condone killing people over it as my uncle did and I most certainly do not make war on children or assist those who do. I request that you have me locked away until my cousin Oswald and his henchmen are apprehended, so that you may be sure I had nothing to do with any of this.”

Elise exhaled a silent whistle. This must be Aidan’s former secretary, Fianna Meadows—the traitor inside Aidan’s household who had almost gotten Aidan, Ric and Meagan killed in a booby-trapped portal. Elise had heard that the woman had been stripped of her powers and was working as a waitress for the Novak brothers, but they’d never met.

Aidan had paused to deliberate the woman’s offer before he nodded. “Wallis, escort our guest to the guards’ detention cells.”

One of the guards reached out to grab Fianna and haul her to her feet, but Greg intervened, zipping between the guard and the prisoner so fast Elise barely saw him move. “Hey. Remember she came in on her own.”

“True.” Aidan raised one dark eyebrow at the snarling werewolf. “The queen has some detention rooms she reserves for high-level prisoners. They’re quite comfortable. See that she’s placed in one of those and given plenty to eat and drink.”

Wallis shrugged. “If you wish, my lord.”

Fianna nodded and stood, her head bowed. “Thank you, Lord Green Oak.” She didn’t even glance at Greg, but her fair skin flushed as her body leaned toward his. He reached up a hand toward Fianna then pulled it back just before he touched her.

“Before you go, Fianna, can you think of where your cousin might be keeping his hostages? We know they’re not at the Le Faire estate.” Aidan smiled politely at the woman.

The blonde lifted her head and pressed her lips together. “Any of his followers might have offered up a home with a dungeon.” She listed a handful of possible names. “But if he’s truly working with a djinni, the prison could be anywhere, in either realm. I’m sorry.”

Aidan nodded his thanks.

“One more thing.” Fianna paused midstep. “It wasn’t my uncle who used blood magic to foul the portal. I don’t know who did. My uncle isn’t strong enough in that kind of magic, and he brought in his accomplice cloaked so I never saw his face. I believe it may have been Oswald, but it could have been anyone, even someone here at court. Any portals they direct you to may prove deadly.”

“Thank you for the reminder.” Aidan’s tone was almost gentle. “Wallis? Please be sure she’s comfortable before you leave her.”

“Yes, sir.” Wallis pointed at the two guards. “Let’s go, boys.”

“Lord Rose will meet you at the queen’s portal,” Aidan told the guards. “Wallis, I need you back here in three hours. Meanwhile, stop and chat with some of the guardsmen, see if you can learn anything new.”

“Understood, my lord.” Wallis saluted and ushered the others out of the apartment.

Aidan turned to the rest of his team. “You’re all sure you want to do this? It is likely to be dangerous.”

“We’re sure.” The dark-haired woman wore a black leather jacket, motorcycle boots and a scarlet T-shirt over a pair of ragged jeans. Her grin was feral. “The boys and I haven’t had a chance to run and hunt as a pack in…a while.”

“My cousin Lana Novak.” Greg smiled fondly at the woman. “She’s a force of nature in her own right. Lana, meet Aidan Greene and Elise Sutton. You know Ric.”

Lana held out her hand to Elise. Her heavily made up brown eyes were kind as they shook hands. “I am so, so sorry. I promise, we’re going to get your daughter back.”

She shook hands with Aidan as well, giving him a wicked grin and a wink. “Damn, honey, why didn’t Thornhill ever bring you into the club?” Her cousins and Ric laughed, breaking up some of the tension.

Aidan and Elise took seats, then Toby spoke up. “We brought flak vests for everyone who can’t change into a wolf or conjure chain mail. Swords and revolvers. The mage over there says he can silence our mounts and our weapons, give us the element of surprise.”

“Good,” Aidan replied. “Jase, Des, can you ride a horse?”

Both men nodded.

“Ric knows the lodge and the way to Bald Tor, so he’s in charge. Get to the mound as quickly as possible and secure it. Ric, try sending a flower through the gate. If there’s a mangled or burnt bit of heather in the circle on our end, we’ll know there’s a trap.” He looked around, catching the eye of everyone in the room, one at a time. “Now listen. Your first mission, above and beyond everything else, is protecting Adina. Absolutely nothing else until she’s safe. Is that perfectly clear, everyone?”

“Crystal, my lord.” Toby snapped a salute. The others all nodded.

“Priority two is Adina’s mother.” Aidan shot a look at Elise, waiting for their nods of agreement. “Saving my hide can be number three, but only if none of the other players on our side are present and in danger. Also clear?”

Toby clearly wasn’t happy about it, but he dipped his head in obedience. “Aye, Cap’n. Don’t like it, but we understand.”

“Watch each other as well.” Aidan’s tone grew gruff as he looked around at each of them. “I’d prefer to see every one of you safely back in Detroit when this is over. Drinks are on me when we’re done.”

Goodbyes were said and Elise hugged her brother one last time before he walked out the door. “I might have been wrong about Greene,” Desmond murmured in her ear. “Stay safe, little sister, and keep your hopes up. We’re going to do this thing.”

“I know,” she whispered. As she watched them all leave the room, she almost believed it.

“Now all we have to do is wait,” Aidan said grimly. “And that might be the most difficult task of all.”

Elise nodded her agreement and took a moment to finally look around at the spacious living room. Here the level of ostentation was much more subtle than anywhere else she’d seen in the palace. The décor was simple—almost modern, but every piece was exquisitely made. Bookshelves lined one side-wall, while the wall opposite the foyer was covered in mullioned windows overlooking a garden. The dark woods and hunter green leather upholstery on the sofas suited Aidan’s personal style perfectly. A portrait over the fireplace showed a couple who could only be Aidan’s parents. The male elf’s face was nearly identical in structure to Aidan’s, though his hair was almost black and his eyes were dark, while the female was smaller and finer featured, but boasted Aidan’s reddish brown hair and vivid green eyes. Both were dressed in High Renaissance fashion.

“I don’t remember that from when I was here before.” She walked over to study it. “It’s lovely.”

“My parents, Ivy and Alleyne.” Aidan moved up beside her. “That painting was actually done by Meagan’s grandmother, Morag, Lady Rose. I moved it here from the estate, as I don’t spend much time there these days. I’d take it to Detroit, but the pointed ears would raise questions I’d rather not answer.”

“So your mother was the one related to Meagan’s father, I see.” The eyes were a dead giveaway. “How did they both end up with titles?”

Aidan smiled fondly at the portrait. “My mother was Ivy O’Dale and she married Lord Green Oak. Her brother Edwin—Meagan’s grandfather—married Lady Rose. Just like Ric was granted the masculine equivalent of Meagan’s title, my mother took on my father’s and her brother gained his wife’s. As the only children of either couple, Emery and I both inherited.”

Elise knew part of the story. Emery had been Meagan’s biological father, killed for marrying a human. “What happened to your parents? How old would they be right now?”

“About eighteen hundred for Da and sixteen for Mum. They were killed during a visit to the human realm.” The look on Aidan’s face told her he still missed them—even centuries later. “Meagan’s grandparents with them. Ever hear of the Great Fire of London?”

“Wasn’t that in the sixteen hundreds?”

Aidan nodded. “In 1666. One of the council members was throwing a party in the old medieval part of the city when it happened. Dozens of Fae died along with far more humans than the six officially recorded. No one bothered to catalog the missing among the poor or middle class.”

“That’s terrible.” Elise couldn’t resist wrapping her arm around his waist, surprising even herself with the instinctive gesture. “I’m sorry for your loss. Then Emery died, too, just before Meagan was born. I know you two were close.”

“One disadvantage of a long lifespan.” He leaned into her for a moment. “You outlive a lot of people you care about.”

Including her. Wyndewin tended to live a long time for humans—her great grandfather was one hundred and six. But they were still human and a century would be nothing to someone like Aidan, who was over a thousand years old now and just approaching middle age. Would he even remember her a couple hundred years from now? And if Dina had been his daughter, would he have had to watch her age and die as well? Elise wasn’t exactly sure about the longevity of halflings. Maybe they were all better off the way things stood now.

Time to change the subject. “When do we have to leave for Scotland?” Having nothing to do was difficult, as Aidan had said. She really wanted something, or better yet someone, to smash.

“Not for a few hours, I’m afraid.” His eyes and mouth were rimmed with lines she didn’t normally see there and she’d never seen him look so worn down.

“Which means you have time for a nap.” Elise sent a frisson of healing energy through her hand on his waist. “You need some rest before you go take on the kidnappers.”

“I don’t think I can sleep.” He grimaced. “But you should grab another hour or two if you can. And stop that. You’ll need all your energy too. Don’t waste it on me.”

She turned him to face her and lifted her hand to his cheek. “Let’s both go lay down. Maybe we can both relax enough to rest for a bit.”

The corner of his full, sensual lips quirked upward. “That might be a dangerous idea, leannan. My willpower isn’t everything it should be right now.”

The thought that he still wanted her sent a thrill down her spine. After all they’d been through, all they’d done to one another, the physical attraction was still there, as powerful as ever. She knew their differences were too great for them to ever think about a permanent relationship, but right now, that didn’t matter. The only thing she wanted was someone who cared, who could help keep her sane until she had Dina back in her arms.

She looked up into his eyes, letting him see the passion that she knew seethed in her own as well as the terror and strain. “I’m okay with dangerous. Let’s go to bed, Aidan. And no quitting on me this time.”

“Are you sure?” He brushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear. “No matter our past, I do care for you, Elise. I couldn’t live with taking advantage of you at a time like this.”

She laid her hands on either side of his waist and slid them up his ribcage, feeling the warmth of his body through the fine cotton of his shirt. “It’s not taking advantage if I’m asking you straight out. I need something, someone to hold onto right now, so I don’t go screaming insane. If anything, I’m taking advantage of you, of your inability to refuse a damsel in distress.”

“You may be the strongest woman I’ve ever known.” He cupped her cheek in his long, slender fingers. “And now that you’ve met the queen, you know what my standard for that is. I can’t help but wish things had gone differently between us.”

“I know. We met at the wrong place, or the wrong time and we’ve both got responsibilities that will always get in the way of our having a relationship.” She slid her hands around to his back as she stepped closer, until her breasts brushed against his ribcage. “But right now, we can be here for each other. Because whether you admit it or not, you’re almost as shredded by this as I am.” And that fact still amazed her.

“Whether she’s my daughter or not, it’s no picnic knowing a four-year-old girl is paying the price because someone is out for my blood.” He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “And it doesn’t help that I was so angry with you at the reception. I can’t help feeling it’s my fault, that I should have somehow been able to prevent this.”

“It’s not.” She laid a finger over his lips. “I should have told Meagan no when she asked me to bring Dina to the wedding. If I hadn’t been afraid to tell her why…Had I been honest with you from the beginning, things might have been completely different.”

“That’s a bit of an understatement, dear one, but it doesn’t mean they still wouldn’t have used her to get at me. Even as plain Aidan Greene, I could be a target in the human realm. I can understand you not wanting to live with that.”

She went up on her toes and kissed his chin, the only part of his face she could reach. “Maybe. But I don’t want to talk about it now. I don’t want to talk about anything, think about anything. Make me forget for a few minutes and maybe fall asleep for an hour or two. Can you do that, Aidan?”

“If that’s what you want, what you need, of course.” He feathered a kiss across her forehead. “I never stopped wanting you, Elise. That’s a simple fact.”

Her skin tingled from head to toe at the touch of his hand on her cheek and his lips on her forehead, and the sensation increased as she remembered the shuddering pleasure he’d brought her to last night. Today though, would be for him as well. “So where’s the bedroom in this place?”

“Right this way.” He swept her up into his arms and carried her down a short hallway. “Before we start—are you protected? I don’t keep condoms lying around here any more.”

She felt her face warm in a blush. “Yes. After what happened to me before, I quit taking chances. I get shots every three months now.”

At the end of the hallway, he made a small gesture with his fingers and a door swung open, revealing a bedroom similar to the one she’d woken in this morning. She had a glimpse of simple, luxurious furnishings, dark linens and gleaming wood, but that was all in the background as she only had eyes for Aidan.

He walked up to the side of the bed and set her on her feet. With one gesture of his hand, the door swung shut behind them, with another, the curtains on the window across from the bed dropped shut and with a third, a lamp began to glow softly beside the bed, casting a golden illumination over the room.

“My turn,” she said. She leaned down and folded the covers back, toed off her shoes and kicked them away from the bed. With her hands, she reached out and began to unbutton Aidan’s shirt.

“You still wear the same cologne.” She opened another button, revealing his sculpted, hairless chest. “I noticed that last night—this morning. You still smell like cedar and rosemary.”

“And you still smell like cherry blossoms and Elise.” He shrugged his shirt off his shoulders and onto the floor. Taking the hem of her sweater in both hands, he lifted it over her head. Once it was gone, he brought both hands down onto her shoulders, holding her at arms’ length and studying her as if she were a work of art.

“I can see the changes now. You’re a wee bit fuller here.” He traced a finger along the upper edge of her simple beige cotton bra and trailed it down to the waistband of her jeans that rode right above the curve of her hip. “And here. You’re even more beautiful than you were at twenty-seven.”

“My mother healed the stretch marks.” She wondered if he’d been looking for them. “Along with the scars from the attack—the ones on the outside, anyway. She thought it might cheer me up a bit.”

“We all have scars, leannan. Some more visible than others. And it wouldn’t matter to me if yours showed. You’re still the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever known.”

“And you’re still the smoothest talker.” She took a step forward and looped her arms around his neck. “Now stop talking and kiss me.” She couldn’t believe she’d gotten so bold.

“As my lady commands.” He bent his head and took her lips in a kiss so passionate, she wanted to climb him like a tree. She opened her mouth to let him in, loving the sweep of his tongue against her lips and cheeks. In the back of her mind, she registered his fumbling with the snap and zipper of her jeans and she wriggled her hips to help him push them down to her ankles before he shucked his own denims as well. He must have pushed his boxers down with them—assuming he’d worn any. She felt his erection like a smoldering brand, pressing against the flesh of her stomach, even as her own body softened in readiness for him. No one had ever made her melt like Aidan could.

She wasn’t sure if he used magic to remove her bra and panties, or if she’d lost track of his hands—she was that caught up in his kiss. The next thing she knew, he was easing her down into the sheets, their mouths still fused. Aidan braced himself above her on his elbows, his legs pressing hers apart. Elise bent her knees to make more space for him and the move tilted her hips, bringing his thick shaft into contact with her mound, which made her moan into his mouth.

“Ah, dearling, this isn’t going to last nearly as long as I’d like.” He left her mouth to trail kisses down her throat and across her collarbones.

She opened her mouth to tell him it didn’t matter, but all that emerged was another moan as he shifted lower and took one of her nipples between his lips. Her spine bowed upward and she wound one hand into his hair while the other caressed the pointed tip of his ear. It was amazing how quickly her body remembered what he liked, just as he apparently remembered exactly how to make her writhe.

Despite his claim of urgency, he took his time on each of her breasts, until both peaks were stiff and swollen. Eventually, he kissed his way down her belly, which wasn’t as flat as it had been before childbirth, back when she was an active Wyndewin. She was still slim—that was thanks to genetics—but she wasn’t as toned as she’d kept herself once. Aidan didn’t seem to care. He caressed her skin with his lips and tongue before continuing down to the juncture of her legs.

Hooking his elbows under her knees, he opened her wide, humming his approval as he gazed at her wet and aching flesh. “So lovely.” He leaned in to lick the length of her cleft before drawing back to admire his handiwork.

“Aidan, don’t tease.” Watching him kneel between her thighs was pure torment. “I need you.”

“I’m right here, leannan.” Using his fingers to gently part her, he leaned down again to draw her clit between his lips, suckling with exactly enough pressure to make her moan. Just when she couldn’t stand it anymore, he slid one long finger inside her. “Goddess, you still feel like hot, slick silk.” Moving his mouth back down to her clit, he added a second finger and a third, stretching her almost, but not quite, to the point of pain.

“Aidan!” She shrieked his name as she convulsed around his hand. Sparks flashed in front of her eyes and seemed to skitter through her body, radiating out from her core to her skin, all the way down to her fingers and toes.

Aidan kept up his ministrations, drawing out her climax until she was panting and building again, the tension renewing its coil in her belly. He withdrew his fingers, licked them clean and slowly, purposefully crawled up her body to brace himself on his elbows above her.

She felt her breath catch, and for a moment, she froze. “Elise,” he murmured. “Are you sure?”

She looked up into his deep green eyes and any doubts she might have felt melted away. For a second as he’d moved over her, she’d almost panicked—she hadn’t even tried to have sex since the rape—but as soon as she’d locked gazes with Aidan, her fears had vanished. It was as though every cell in her body recognized the rightness of being here with him.

Aidan seemed to understand. He maintained the eye contact, gently cupping her cheek with one hand while he positioned himself with the other and finally slid his cock into her. He held himself perfectly still as she adjusted to his size, to the sensation of being filled, until Elise reached up and clutched at his shoulders. “Yes. I’m sure.”

***

Part of Aidan wanted to hold back, to savor the overwhelming rush of emotion and pure physical pleasure of being inside Elise once more. It was a moment that he hadn’t expected to experience ever again, except in his dreams—the pornographic ones. But here she was, beneath him, holding him, her taut inner muscles gripping him like a fist. He was amazed he’d managed to last long enough to make sure she came first.

Looking into her dark brown eyes was more magical than all the sorcery the Fae could command. When she dug her sharp nails into the skin of his shoulders and said she was sure, Aidan started to move, his own eyes rolling back in his head. A groan escaped his throat. Given her history, he’d been determined to stay in control, to make sure he didn’t frighten her, but he knew he couldn’t hold on much longer. So he did the only thing he could do. He put her in charge. Burying his throbbing shaft deep in her heat, he gripped her by the waist and rolled to his back, bringing Elise above him. Her eyes flew open and she grinned down at him. How had he forgotten how much she liked being on top? He slid his hands up from her waist to cup her breasts as she began to move. Her silky channel was unbelievably snug as she rocked up and down, swiftly picking up speed. Her enthusiastic response allowed him to break free and he bucked up into her, hard and fast. Elise met him with every stroke, grinding down as another climax shuddered through her. The ripples of her orgasm triggered his and he arched his spine, thrusting up until he was as deep as he could be, and let go. Over and over, his bollocks convulsed as he poured himself into her welcoming sheath.

Long moments later, she collapsed down onto his chest, her soft lips caressing the sensitive point of his ear. “Thank you, Aidan. That was…beautiful.”

“No. You’re beautiful. And at this moment in time, I’m the luckiest man in this world or yours. Now sleep, dear one.” Which a gesture, he moved the covers up around them both and with a sated sigh, Elise shifted off of him to lie tucked in the curve of his arm. He added a tiny magical nudge to help her rest and buried his face in her hair, inhaling her scent. Now all he had to do was make sure he never let her down again.

Chapter Six

The alarm on Aidan’s cell phone chirped and he woke, slightly surprised to note he’d actually gotten two hours of sleep. He sat up in bed while beside him, Elise stirred sleepily.

He brushed her hair out of her face and kissed her cheek. “Time to wake up, dearling. We need to get ready to go.”

“What? Oh—” Her eyes flew open. She clearly remembered exactly what they were about to do. “It’s time?”

“Soon. We’ve time for a shower and a bite if you think you can eat something.”

She pushed herself into a seated position and made a face at the thought of food, but her stomach growled and she grimaced. “Probably should. I only hope I can keep it down.”

Aidan kissed her briefly but deeply, wishing he had time to do more. This one taste of Elise might have to last him for centuries and it hadn’t been nearly enough. But other priorities beckoned. “You can have first shower. Jase brought you a bag with some clean clothing. I’ll find us something light to eat.”

She put her hand on his cheek and kissed him back lightly. “Thank you. For everything, Aidan. It means a lot that you and your friends dropped everything to help. I won’t forget that.”

“Don’t thank me until Dina’s safely home,” he growled, his self-control wearing thin. He pointed at a door off the bedroom. “Bathroom is there. Your bag’s inside.”

He watched the swing of her pert backside as she climbed out of bed and scampered to the bathroom. Just looking at her made him so hard he had to force his body back into submission so he could pull on his jeans without amputating his cock. When he walked out into the parlor, he was glad he had. Wallis sat there, reading a newspaper. As it was today’s, he’d obviously popped through the portal and back while Aidan slept.

“Any news?”

Wallis shook his head. “Nothing more relevant than the Lions losing again.” He’d shaved and was dressed in fresh clothing—cargo pants, combat boots and a heavy twill shirt. Before coming to work for Aidan he’d done a stint in the U.S. military, serving in the Middle East. “Mairead’s manning the kitchen here, in case you’re hungry. Would be good to fuel up before we go. Also, I’m supposed to let you know Lord Willow and his son will meet us in Edinburgh. I know they can’t go with you to the meeting, but they can be close and it’ll be good to have someone at your backs.”

“Good.” Aidan crossed the room toward the service hallway which led to the kitchen, while Wallis got up and followed him. “Thank you. You’ve arranged for communicators and tracking devices, right?”

“Of course.” GPS and electronic communicators might or might not work Underhill, but they would if any of the team ended up on the mortal realm side of a portal. Hopefully between Wallis and Desmond, they’d magicked the devices enough to keep them working in either world. “I’ll be working from Scotland, while Lady Rose is at the palace. We’ll have Mairead and a couple of the guards running as go-betweens.”

“I assume you have someone back at the house watching Jennet and Dylan?” He named the groundskeeper and maid Greg had mentioned as being suspicious. “Any activity from them?”

“Not a peep.” Wallis loped along beside Aidan. “Bronwyn’s keeping them both busy with wedding clean-up, under her direct supervision, and she’s got Morgan working with them.”

Morgan, one of the guardsmen, was Toby’s nephew and as loyal as they came. Aidan nodded his approval. “Any word from the hunting lodge?” The advance team had included Ric, Desmond and the three wolves—a small enough group to be relatively unnoticed—with Toby, Jase and two guardsmen following a mile or so behind for backup.

“Just that they collected horses and left on schedule. No messages since that one via the scrying balls, and their communicators won’t reach this far. Anything by phone?” Ric also had a cell phone that worked Underhill, so Aidan would have gotten that call directly. Scrying balls were the Underhill mode of communication—sort of like magical camera phones.

“No, which is good. They were only supposed to contact us in case of trouble.” Aidan couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that they’d overlooked something. It had been way too long since he’d planned any campaign other than a hostile takeover. “And Fianna is safely locked away somewhere?”

“Secure under the watchful eyes of the queen’s personal guard. I checked in with the guardsmen too. Nobody knows anything more than that Oswald has been recruiting.”

“Good.” Once in the kitchen, Aidan turned his attention to his secretary, who was apparently doubling as a cook at the moment. “Miss Sutton will be here in a minute. Is there something light she can eat? She doesn’t care for a lot of meat and her stomach’s understandably touchy this afternoon.”

“Of course.”

After a short discussion, they decided on a menu. Aidan went off to a guest bathroom to clean up and dress for the meeting. His own stomach was less steady than he’d have liked as he donned clean jeans and a fisherman’s sweater with a pair of sturdy hiking boots—perfect for a drive in the Scottish countryside. The combat knife he strapped to his ankle was a bit less legal, as was the automatic pistol hidden in a belt holster beneath the baggy sweater. By the time he returned to the kitchen, Elise was already there, sipping a fruit smoothie under Mairead’s watchful eye. Like him, she was dressed in fresh jeans and a pullover, but in her case both were black, as were her knee-high riding boots. Her hair was pulled back into a sleek ponytail that hung to the middle of her shoulder blades. Her only jewelry was a leather-strapped watch and the malachite amulet on a black silk cord he’d given her years earlier. Goddess, but she was beautiful.

“Are you armed?” While Aidan could ’port in additional weapons if he needed them, Elise wouldn’t be able to. Of course that meant she also couldn’t make them disappear if they were accidentally stopped by the police.

She nodded and helped herself to a mini-croissant. Mairead had come through with a tray full of delicate food and another of heartier fare. “My collapsible hanbo sticks are in my purse and I’ve got throwing stars in the pouches on my belt.” She lifted the hem of her sweater enough to reveal a small leather bag on each hip.

“They make collapsible hanbo sticks?” Wallis paused with a thick sandwich halfway to his mouth.

Elise’s lips twisted up in a ghost of a grin. “They make collapsible police batons. They’re a little short for hanbo, but since I’m not all that tall, they work for me. I haven’t used them much in the last five years, but Des still makes me practice once in a while, to make sure I keep in shape.”

“Good for Des.” Aidan agreed with the mage for a change. No woman, no one should ever be helpless. “How about a gun?”

Elise shook her head. “No. I haven’t touched one since before Dina was born—and I won’t keep one in the same house as a child. Besides, I was never that good with them anyway. And stars don’t need to be silenced.”

“Fair enough.” Aidan grabbed half a club sandwich and sat down between Wallis and Elise. He turned to Wallis. “What kind of car do we have waiting?”

“Armored sedan,” Wallis answered. “Top of the line. You’ll appear to be a couple of the gentry out for a picnic in the autumn sunset.”

Aidan winced at the intentional pun. “The Gentry” was an old folk term for the Fae in some parts of Britain. The plan was good, though, so he nodded. “Excellent.”

They finished the rest of their meal in silence.

***

Elise took ten minutes to meditate after eating and it went a long way toward settling her stomach and firming her resolve. Now adrenaline was starting to kick in. It had been a long time since she’d been in a life-or-death situation, but thankfully all her old instincts seemed to still be in place. She held Aidan’s hand as she stepped through the portal in the queen’s office. Wallis had gone through first, then returned to tell them it was clear.

Stepping out of the portal into a lovely sitting room, they were greeted by four Fae, all wearing their human glamours. One of the gifts of the Wyndewin was the ability to detect species, at least most of the time, despite the illusions Fae and others could cast to mask their inhumanity. What her eyes actually saw behind the auras, however, were three men and one woman, all looking worried.

“Lord Willow,” Aidan said to the oldest of the gentlemen. His human guise was that of a fit man in late middle age, tall and lean, like most elves, with a lightly lined face, graying hair and tired hazel eyes.

He reached out his hand to Aidan. “Green Oak. You know my son Clive and the Braeburns, of course.”

“Of course.” Aidan shook hands with each of the three. “Meet Elise Sutton, healer. Elise, this is Clive and Cynric of Willow. Clive’s fifteen-year-old son, Colin, is also missing. Ian and Darla of Braeburn are the guardians here in Edinburgh.”

“Thank you all so much for helping us,” Elise said. She shook their hands, pretending not to notice the faint looks of disapproval from the Braeburns. Why would someone who disliked humans be charged with guarding a portal house? She turned back to Clive, a halfling like Meagan, took his hand again and squeezed it, a rare gesture for her with a stranger. “I promise, if we can do anything to help find the other missing people, we will.”

“Thank you,” Clive said. “My wife is home with my mother and sister—they’re all worried sick.”

Elise grimaced. “Believe me, I understand.”

Lord Willow frowned. “I wish I understood why they want Green Oak and yet none of the rest of us have heard a word. I’d gladly have traded myself for my grandson.”

Aidan shook his head. “I can’t fathom either what it is they want from me. But if giving myself up is what it takes to put a stop to this, that’s what I’ll do.”

“The car is fueled and waiting,” Braeburn offered. “Do you know how to reach Bald Tor from here?”

Wallis handed Aidan a sheaf of printer paper. “I found directions online.”

Mrs. Braeburn checked them over and nodded. “Yes, this is the best route.” She blinked in a pen and scribbled a phone number on the top sheet. “Call us if you need anything.”

“We will.” Aidan took Elise by the arm as they followed the older couple through the stately home to the circle drive, where a sleek black sedan waited. He accepted the keys from Braeburn and walked around to the driver’s side while Wallis held the passenger door open for Elise. Minutes later they were driving across town.

Edinburgh was a beautiful city. Elise stared out the tinted windows at the vibrant blend of ancient and new and sighed. “I always wanted to see Scotland some day. Not like this though. Now all I want is to be at the meeting place as quickly as possible.”

“Perhaps one day I can bring you and Dina back for a visit,” Aidan said. “I don’t know the Braeburns all that well, but there’s another portal in Glasgow. Gordon, the guardian there, used to sail with me on the Faerie Queene. You’d like him, I think.”

“Aidan…” Why did he persist in pretending that they’d see each other after this was all over. Yes, they’d had comfort sex—damned good comfort sex—but it didn’t change anything. He was still a workaholic and after all this she was even less enamored of trying to fit in with the Fae aristocracy. At the party she’d attended with Aidan five years earlier, she’d been snubbed and overtly derided in the ladies’ room by a few snooty elven bitches, though they’d been polite enough in Aidan’s presence. It had been made clear that she wouldn’t be accepted socially on a long-term basis. That had been one of the factors leading to their argument a few weeks later on Christmas Eve.

Soon they’d left the city behind for the suburbs and finally the idyllic Scottish countryside. Gods, it was stunning. Rolling green hills were dotted with brown cattle or cream-colored sheep. The leaves were a colorful blend of reds and golds with touches of leftover green. There were a few other cars on the main road, but once they turned off onto a little side lane, they didn’t pass any—though they did have to make one stop while Aidan coaxed a cow out of the road. The setting sun began to paint the sky in water-color hues.

Finally, they rounded a curve, and a small hill loomed in front of them, the top of it oddly, starkly white. An irregular ring of waist-high boulders circled the base of the hill, which she now noticed was too regular to be natural.

“Chipped limestone.” Aidan stopped the car. “I’ve never been here, so I did some reading while you meditated. It’s not at all typical for a Celtic burial mound, but for some reason this particular cairn was graveled with a thick enough layer that nothing grows—hence the name Bald Tor. The portal is under the actual hill, inside the tomb itself.”

“In with the bodies?” Elise shivered. She was a touch claustrophobic to start with and dead bodies, even ancient ones, weren’t her favorite things.

“Above them, actually. They’re buried beneath the floor.”

Well, that’s a little better.

Aidan eased the car forward to the base of the hill. The narrow lane curved around in both directions, making Elise think it circled the monument. “Well, do you think we should drive around?”

“Yes.” Elise was amazed he’d actually asked her opinion.

“Keep an eye out for the entrance and for any of Oswald’s henchmen.” Aidan’s voice had grown clipped and curt again, revealing a stress level that had to be approaching her own. He slid a compact black pistol out from the small of his back and rested it carefully on his thigh, driving with his left hand.

Elise unzipped her purse and made sure her hands were on her police batons. Gods, she hoped she didn’t need to use them.

“There’s the entrance.” He’d spotted it a second before she did, when they’d curved about a quarter of the way around the hill. A stone lintel was set into the hillside with an opening beneath. “Should we stop here or circle all the way around?”

“Around.”

He nodded and maneuvered the vehicle until halfway around the hill, a black SUV blocked their way.

“Bugger it. I was really hoping they were on the other side of the portal.” He handed his cell phone to Elise. “Try to reach Ric. See what’s up on their side.”

Aidan stopped the car and got out, his gun still clenched in his hand. Two men, one Fae, one djinni, climbed out of the other vehicle. Both carried guns much bigger than Aidan’s. Elise kept her eyes on Aidan as he laid his weapon on the hood of the limo and she pressed the speed dial button on his phone.

No answer. That could mean any number of things, but it worried her. When the line switched to voicemail, she disconnected and tried again.

Outside the limo, Aidan nodded, before he opened the door again and spoke to Elise. “They want you to get out.”

She shoved Aidan’s phone in the front pocket of her jeans and slid across the seat. Her other hand rested on the open zipper of her oversized shoulder bag.

“Welcome, Miss Sutton.” The Fae who confronted them was so blond his hair was almost white, much like the queen’s. His expression was every bit as icy, but there was a glint of zealotry in his pale blue eyes that was even more frightening than the queen’s impassionate glare. “Please keep your hands where we can see them. In fact, both of you, lace your fingers on the tops of your heads, please. Then you may proceed into the cairn.”

“Move.” The djinni grunted, waving his assault rifle in their direction. Elise had never met one in the flesh before, but Des had told her about the distinct purple cast to their magical aura. A man with that aura and clearly Middle Eastern features really couldn’t be anything else. While the elf wore a black suit with a blue dress shirt open at the collar, the djinni wore jeans, a hoodie and combat boots.

Elise was forced to take the lead, walking into the cairn first, with Aidan right behind her. Blocking her if bullets started flying, she suspected. The man was chivalrous to the bone. As she stepped through the rough-hewn stone doorway, she blinked to allow her eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. The sun had started to drop and the doorway was on the eastern slope of the hill, so only a trickle of light made its way into the tomb. She followed a short hallway into the heart of the hill.

The cairn wasn’t simply a mound of packed earth as she’d expected. Stone walls had been erected and rough timbers, which looked surprisingly undamaged by rot or insects given their age, supported the dome of a chamber perhaps twenty feet in diameter. Three piles of basketball-sized rocks marked the compass points other than the door to the east. Each mound was the right size to be a human—or elven—grave. In the center, smaller stones marked a circle about four feet across. A third man, another elf, waited inside, right by the ring of stones, but Dina was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is my daughter?” The question burst out of her mouth before she could stop to consider the wisdom of antagonizing their captors.

“Oh, you’ll see her soon enough.” The djinni gave a nasty laugh. He and the elf, who seemed to be in charge, filed in behind Aidan and kept their weapons pointed at Elise. “Just step into the circle, Miss Sutton. Piers there will take you to your daughter.” The man waiting by the ring stepped inside it.

“There’s something wrong,” Aidan whispered. “No heather in the ring. Ric and the others didn’t make it to the other side of the portal.” He raised his voice. “Le Faire, where’s the girl?”

So this was Oswald Le Faire. Shit, shit, shit! Elise opened her mouth to say something when she heard Dina’s voice.

“Mommy, come get me!” It seemed to be coming from the circle in front of her feet, but there was so much magic swirling in the air, she couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a trick.

“You heard the girl,” Le Faire said. “You, witch, stand in the circle. Once you’ve gone through, Piers will activate it again, so you can bring the girl back and leave. Everybody wins.” The second elf stepped into the circle and smirked.

“No,” Elise said. “You said she’d be here. I want to see her.”

“If she’s going to be difficult, shoot her.” Le Faire shrugged and turned to the djinni, who raised his weapon and sighted down the barrel.

“No,” Aidan yelled, stepping between Elise and the djinni. His movement pushed her into the circle, just as she felt the portal activate. There was that falling sensation, at the same time as a burst of gunfire rang in her ears. Frantic, she reached out a hand to Aidan, but he slipped like mist through her grasp. He’d been outside the stones. She pulled back her hand which was sticky with hot, thick blood.

No. Don’t let him be dead. In that moment, she realized that she’d never stopped loving Aidan—and she never would.

The mist of the portal cleared, leaving them in a spot that looked exactly the same as where they’d left, but the cairn was empty.

The elf raised his gun. “Well, lady, it’s been fun, but you’re staying here.”

“Where the hell is my daughter, you bastard?” Elise slid her hands up under her sweater to one of the pouches and palmed a throwing star.

“Oh, please, you didn’t really believe they’d give her back, did you?” He took a moment to sneer before sighting down the barrel of the gun.

That gave Elise enough time to bring up her hand and throw the star.

His eyes bugged out as the sharpened steel lodged in his throat, heavy arterial blood spraying everywhere. His finger tightened reflexively around the trigger, but the bullet bounced off the ceiling.

“Elise!” Desmond ran into the tunnel and caught her by the waist. “Not safe here, go back if you can.” There were sounds of gunfire from outside.

As Elise picked up the fallen elf’s gun, another man—or creature—stood silhouetted against the dying daylight at the mouth of the cairn. “Too late. Time to blow this place.” His chuckle was low and hoarse, not elf and not human. The nastiness of it made Elise twitch. “Hope you had a nice trip. It’s a long walk home.” With casual ease, he tossed a baseball-sized object into the ring of stones. With one last laugh, he fled the tunnel.

“Grenade! Run!” Des pushed Elise ahead of him and they ran toward the exit. The moment she emerged from the tunnel, the cairn exploded behind her.

“Desmond!” She fell forward, one cheek hitting the hard, graveled earth. Sharp shards of gravel cut through her jeans into her knees and lacerated the palms of her hands. Rocks landed on her legs and back, and blood seeped from her cheekbone and temple into the gravel. The blast had deafened her—she couldn’t hear anything but a dull roar and the throb of her own racing heart. Forcing herself to overcome the pain, she pushed up onto her elbows and turned her head. “Desmond?” she croaked.

“Oh, he’s dead,” said the ugly, blue-skinned creature, who was still pointing a gun at her. His voice came to her as if he was underwater, but at least her hearing had begun to return. She turned her head to look at him as he shrugged. “Or he will be soon. Now it’s your turn.” He raised his pistol.

The gun she’d taken was still in her hand. She levered her arm up a few inches and fired, striking him in the knee. He went down, but his weapon was still aimed at her as he hurled curses in both English and another, guttural language.

Before he could fire, a large, snarling wolf leapt out of the yew hedge that encircled the hill. The wolf landed with all four paws on his target and knocked the bastard off his feet. His pistol skittered uselessly off into the bushes.

This had to be Greg—he was darker hued and even bigger than George. Patches of his fur were bloody and singed, but he bore the screaming creature to the ground and without further ado, bared his fangs and ripped out its throat.

Once the creature stopped moving, the wolf staggered off his victim to spit out the blood and skin with a wretching cough. Moments later, his shape seemed to swirl and blur, then it was a battered and naked Greg kneeling on the jagged limestone chips, still gagging and spitting blood.

“Fucking orcs,” he choked out. “You okay? Aidan?”

“Aidan’s on the other side of the portal.” She blinked back tears and wheezed as she pushed herself to her knees. “Desmond…” she gestured back at the collapsed entry as she wiggled to shift the rubble off her back and legs.

“I’m on it.” Lana, wearing her jeans and red T-shirt, dragged herself from between a gap in the bushes, breathing raggedly. “Sorry I was too slow to help. Fucking explosives actually knocked me out.” Falling heavily to her knees by the rubble, she dug out a limp hand. “He’s got a pulse—fairly steady. Greg, can you get some pants on and give me a hand?”

“Yeah, just give me a second.” Greg wiped his mouth with his forearm. “If Elise can dig that last piece of silver shrapnel out of my shoulder, I should be able to change once more and heal myself.”

“Silver?” Elise didn’t bother getting to her feet—she simply crawled over to the kneeling werewolf. “How’d you get silver in there?”

“Like I said.” Lana began tossing aside rocks from the pile atop Des. “Fucking explosives. The area was littered with dirty bombs, masked by magic and triggered by that asshole over there. They sprayed silver and cold iron scraps everywhere.”

Greg growled his agreement. “One of Aidan’s guards is dead, can’t find the other one, or Toby. George is doing as much first aid as he can. Jase is unconscious and bleeding pretty heavily. Ric…Oh, honey, I don’t know if even you can save him.”

“What about you and George?”

Greg shrugged. “Don’t worry about us. We can heal ourselves when we shift, though the silver slows it down. Sorry I couldn’t get to that asshole before he threw the grenade.”

Elise reached Greg’s side and saw the jagged shard of metal sticking out of his left shoulder blade. That would be painful, even for someone who wasn’t allergic to the stuff. Since werewolves were, Greg had to be in agony. “This is going to sting.”

“Just yank the sucker out,” he muttered. “I’ll heal. Do it.”

“Okay.” She pushed down with one hand and yanked with the other. The four-inch-long, serrated triangle pulled free of his flesh with a sickening squelch.

Greg howled and instantly shifted to wolf form beneath her hand. A heartbeat later, he was human again, the gaping bloody wound now reduced to a shallow cut. He jerked his head toward the bushes. “I’ll help Lana with your brother. You get back there and see if you can save Ric.”

“On it.” Why the hell had Meagan insisted on life-bonding with her elf? She could have at least waited until after the baby was born before risking her life. Elise wiped her blood-soaked hands on her jeans and struggled to her feet. She took a quick look at her palms as she hobbled toward the gap in the hedgerow and decided the cuts weren’t bad enough to worry about. Her healing magic wasn’t unlimited and saving lives was far more important.

Her heart plummeted at the sight and smells that met her eyes as she rounded the end of the hedge. One of the horses lay in the middle of the nearby field, missing its two front legs. Clearly it was already dead. Another lay still, its neck bent at an impossible angle. Closer to the hedge, three men had been laid out in a row. One of them, in a chain mail tunic, had Greg’s sweatshirt draped over his face. Next to him, Jase lay still, but breathing, with Ric beside him.

“That’s Daffyd.” George, wearing nothing but a pair of bloody and torn jeans, knelt between the two patients, applying pressure to a wound on Ric’s chest. “We have no idea where Eamon or Toby are.”

They’d left the enemies where they lay, obviously. Elise saw at least three dead elves and maybe four or five bodies that were…various other species. Goblins, the smaller ones, maybe. A couple were orcs, if that’s what Greg had just killed. The others, possibly trolls or ogres.

“Who’s closest to critical?” Her mind and body automatically kicked into triage mode. One of her occasional duties as a Wyndewin had been disaster response. She was a trained paramedic as well as a witch, even if she hadn’t worked on this scale in years.

“Ric. Jase has some heavy bleeding from the thigh, but it’s not the femoral artery,” George didn’t look up. His tone was thick with pain of his own. “What I’m worried about with him is the head injury, but his condition isn’t deteriorating. Ric’s got a punctured lung and gods know what else. His horse took the full brunt of the first bomb.”

Ouch—probably the legless horse lying out in the field. Not good. Elise knelt on the other side of Ric and laid her hands on his chest. One of the werewolves had torn Ric’s chain mail shirt open down the front, so she could get at the wound. Willing her consciousness into his inert form—he was barely breathing—she searched out the damage.

“Spleen,” she muttered. “Vertebral fractures. Crushed ribcage. Liver lacerations. Goddess, did his horse land on top of him?”

“Yeah.”

“Has he been conscious at all?”

“On and off. When he was, he was lucid.”

“No skull fractures or brain injury.” She said as she finished her inventory and pulled a cold iron roofing nail out of his calf and another from his forearm—those would have seriously impeded healing for an elf. The pain of his injuries soaked into her own body, making it hard for her to stay vertical. Empathic healing wasn’t without its cost on the healer. “It’s going to be close.” Please, Goddess, don’t let me fail my own brother.

She started by sending him into a deep, almost coma-like sleep, so he wouldn’t wake and jerk while she tried to heal him. Instead of the punctured lung, she concentrated first on the elf’s crushed ribs. Once she’d knitted those back into place, she could work on the damage beneath without the shards causing fresh injuries. Warmth spread out from her fingertips into his skin as she visualized each fragment of bone reforming into its natural position and fusing together, piece by piece. Once that was done, she inhaled deeply and channeled the pain that had been gripping her own chest down into the earth beneath her feet and drew what power she could from the ley lines, the magical arteries that laced the planet. Next she found the puncture in Ric’s right lung and healed that, again grounding herself out when she was done. In the same manner, she repaired his liver, his spleen, followed by the spinal fractures, the severed veins, nerves and arteries that crisscrossed his torso.

After grounding out a final time, she checked to see that the chest wound was free of debris—she didn’t want to heal it with foreign matter inside. Assured that it was clean, she used one last push of energy to take care of tendons, ligaments, muscles and finally the skin over his chest wound. He still had a broken arm and a zillion bruises and cuts, but those could wait for later.

Exhausted, Elise fell back onto her butt on the gravel, barely remembering to wake him from his magically induced slumber.

“Ow!” Immediately on waking, Ric tried to push himself up, but had used his broken wrist to do it. “Fuck.”

“Stay still, dude. She’s not done fixing you yet.” George laid a gentle hand on Ric’s shoulder, holding him in place.

“Your left wrist is broken in two places. Lots of bruises. You can get up, but be careful.” Elise dragged in several deep breaths and placed both hands on the earth. This hill was a magical place, in either world, a juncture of two ley lines, and she drew a bit more of that magic into herself, recharging her energies. “Let me work on Jase now.”

“Elise?” Ric asked. “How’d you get here?”

“Through the damned cairn,” she answered. “Just me.” She couldn’t think about Aidan now, or the hot gush of blood on her hand as she’d transported. He has to be alive.

Moving more cautiously this time, Ric sat up, drawing his legs under him, so Elise didn’t have to go over him to get to Jase. She scooted up beside the artist and shook her head as Greg put Jase’s limp hand down and started to move away. “Keep holding on to him. Love’s a powerful positive force. I can channel some of that into his healing.”

George flashed her a grateful grin and tenderly reclaimed his lover’s hand. Jase’s flak vest didn’t look damaged, so Elise laid her hands on his muscular thigh—for an artist, he was in seriously good shape—and sent her thoughts down into his damaged body. Cuts, bruises, sprains—not worth bothering with yet. The injury on his thigh had nicked a secondary artery—George’s compression bandage had undoubtedly saved Jase’s life. She healed the leg wound before moving her consciousness up to his head.

When she reached his skull, her breath whooshed out. There was a massive skull fracture, on the back of his head, causing rapid swelling of his brain. Head injuries were tricky, even for magical healing, but all Elise’s old confidence had come roaring back. She meticulously lowered the swelling, healed the bruising on his brain and repaired the broken blood vessels and finally the bones of the skull. Damn, she was that good.

When she finished with that, she grounded out again and gasped for breath. Yeah, she was good, but it was taking a hell of a lot out of her to do it and hopefully, there would still be Desmond to heal.

“Hey, baby,” George said next to her. She looked over to see Jase’s deep chocolate eyes flutter open. “About time you woke up.”

Jase reached up and pulled George down into an embrace. Their lips tangled so tenderly as George smoothed back Jase’s blood-streaked dreadlocks that both Elise and Ric had to look away.

“Thanks.” Ric scrambled to his feet and held out his good hand, while he cradled his injured wrist close to his chest.

“Don’t mention it,” Elise replied, rising unsteadily and ignoring his offer of help. “I need to go check on Des. But next time, remember it’s Meagan’s life you’re risking as well as your own.”

“You might be able to pull some power from me to help.” The elf ignored her admonition, though from the emotional pain in his aura, she could tell he’d heard her. “My connection to the ley lines in this realm is stronger than yours.”

She and Ric picked their way back through the gap in the hedgerow, to find Lana and Greg had managed to dig Des out from under the collapsed cairn entrance.

“He’s still breathing,” Greg told her as she approached. “Barely.” He tossed one last rock aside from Desmond’s feet.

“I’ve got him.” Elise averted her eyes from the werewolf’s naked form. “You might want to go find some clothes.” He was shorter than Aidan and much more heavily built, with a thick swatch of dark hair on his broad, muscular chest. Nice, if you liked dark and dangerous, but he didn’t do it for her—not the way Aidan did.

“Can’t. Mine were in Toby’s saddlebags,” he said. “We haven’t found a trace of him or Eamon so far.” Of course—the Novaks had been traveling in wolf form, so their clothes had been stowed on the horses.

Ric snapped his fingers and held up a pair of knit leggings—the kind she’d seen on the elves at court. “I know they’re not your style, but they’ll fit pretty much anyone.” He tossed them to Greg as Elise began to examine her brother for injuries.

Poor Des was in worse shape than Ric and Jase put together. The first thing she had to do was keep his heart beating as it tried to stutter to a halt. Once again, she rebuilt ribs and pelvis before she went to work on his internal organs. She tried to forget this was her big brother she might not be able to save.

Even grounding and recharging twice, she’d barely gotten the life-threatening injuries taken care of when she felt her magic begin to ebb. “Ric,” she gasped. “Help.”

He laid his hands atop hers on Desmond’s body. “Take whatever you need.”

Pulling energy from Ric, she channeled enough into Des to get him up and moving—a man with a broken arm like Ric could still travel, but not with two broken legs or a fractured pelvis. By the time she had him mostly healed, both she and the bard were swaying weakly.

“There are some protein bars in my purse,” she whispered. “Please.”

Lana moved and was back in a heartbeat with Elise’s shoulder bag. “I’ve some bottled water in the saddle bags. Be right back.”

Apparently the werewolves were fully healed. Power bars and water were passed around as George and Jase joined the group.

Des sat up—his head probably still aching from the concussion she hadn’t quite been able to fix. “Hell. We’re alive. Nice work, sis. Thought for sure I’d bought it that time.” He accepted a bottle of water from Lana, giving the she-wolf a look that Elise couldn’t interpret.

“Yeah,” Elise said shakily. She tore into her protein bar and gulped it down. “We’re alive. The question is what do we do now?”

Chapter Seven

Aidan was quite certain he’d died. When he’d jumped between Elise and the bullet, he’d felt it enter his chest and known his time was up.

Odd, though. He hadn’t expected it to be cold in the Summerlands.

And whatever he was lying on was hard as well. No green, grassy meadow here.

“Wake up, Daddy. Please wake up.” A soft, small hand stroked his brow. Now that was more like it.

Daddy?

His eyes flew open—or they would have if they hadn’t been glued shut. He kept trying and eventually they cracked open, letting in a dim, murky light. He rubbed his eyes and saw a mix of dried blood and grime on his hands. That was what his eyes had been caked with. Lovely.

A small pale face with bright green eyes looked down into his own and smiled, though it too was streaked with dirt. “Finally. You took a long time to wake up.”

“Adina?” What the sodding hell was going on?

“Of course. Silly Daddy. Who else would it be?” She patted his cheek with one small hand, which was, to his horror, covered in sticky half-dried blood. His? Her pink unicorn pajamas were spattered with it too.

“Where are we, Dina?” God, she had to be freezing in those thin cotton pajamas, with her tiny feet bare.

Her pert little face twisted into a scowl. “In jail.”

“Jail?”

Dina shrugged. “It looks like jail. I don’t like it here and I want to go home.”

Aidan suppressed a laugh. One moment she seemed so adult, the next she was merely another four-year-old girl. Groaning, he levered himself up into a seated position. Sure enough, they were in a cinderblock cell, with concrete floors and black iron bars. There was a ledge with a thin blanket along one end, but whoever had tossed him in here had thrown him on the floor. Another corner held a prison-style steel toilet bowl. What limited light there was came from a couple of bare, low-wattage bulbs in the corridor.

“Do you feel better now?” Dina bit her lower lip. “You were hurt real bad.”

Aidan looked down at his chest. His cream-colored sweater was soaked in blood and there was a hole to the left of his sternum. Fuck—the bullet had gone in. He sent a mental probe into the wound and found it completely healed—there wouldn’t even be a scar. He looked at his daughter—no, Elise’s daughter, and nodded. “I feel much better. Who healed me?”

“I did.” Her large, slanted eyes grew wide and filled with tears. “I know I’m not s’posed to unless it’s a ’mergency, but it looked real bad.”

“That’s okay, sweeting. You did the right thing.” She sniffled and Aidan couldn’t help himself. Despite knowing that he should keep his emotional distance, he lifted her onto his lap and cradled her close to his chest. Gods, she was so tiny, so fragile and yet she’d wielded enough magic to heal a mortal wound. No wonder Elise had worked carefully to protect her.

And now it was up to him to get her the hell out of this prison.

“Have you seen any other people since you’ve been in here?”

Dina snuggled into his chest and didn’t say a word. A soft sniffle escaped as she curled closer into his blood-stained sweater. Damn, she was asleep. Healers—at least the ones he’d known—usually needed to rest after an intensive session. Dina was so young—she couldn’t have built up much endurance. She was probably physically and magically exhausted. He kissed the top of her head and held her close. Somewhere, deep in his chest, the pirate he’d once been stirred and woke.

Fuck genetics, fuck demons and double-fuck elven heredity law.

Regardless of who or what had provided half her DNA, this child was his. Elise was going to have to learn to cope with that fact. The rest of the world—worlds—could go take a flying leap.

And it was still up to him to get her out of this hellhole.

Rising slowly with Dina cradled in his arms, he studied his environment. The cell was about twelve feet wide and eight feet deep. The barred grate covered most of the front wall, so there would be no way to hide from a guard and bash him over the head as he opened the door, which was the middle three feet or so of the grate. Both bars and lock mechanism were cold iron which was immune to Fae magic. Aidan wouldn’t be able to telekinetically manipulate it.

Not wanting to set her down on the rough stone ledge, he tried to ’port the heavy sweater off his body to act as a mattress. It took two tries—there must be a hell of a lot of iron in this prison to cause problems with that simple magic. ’Porting objects was one of the first things a Fae child learned to do. Once he’d succeeded, he laid her down on the improvised cushion and painstakingly used his magic to clean them both up the best he could. Finally, he ’ported off his own thick wool socks and pulled them onto her feet—and nearly up to her knees, then covered her with the thin poly-fleece blanket they’d provided.

There wasn’t even food or water in here, though there was a small plastic plate and an empty lunchbox-sized water bottle next to the sleeping ledge, to show they’d been providing enough to keep her alive at least. That was something, but not enough. She was cold and terrified and way too young to be left alone. Someone was going to die for treating her this way. Slowly.

Reaching out with his magic, he tried to ’port the down comforter off his own bed. It would be as good a test as any to see if his magic could get through his prison. If that worked, he’d go for his sword. Nothing. That sucked, but it was no great surprise. Whoever built this cell definitely had caging a Fae in mind. Just in case it hadn’t worked because they were Underhill, he tried to bring the one from his room at the palace. That didn’t work either.

Across from the cell there was nothing but another cinderblock wall, as far as he could see in either direction. He couldn’t get a view down this side of the hall to see if there were other cells, or guards watching from either end.

As another experiment, he tried blinking the empty water bottle out through the bars of the cell. It didn’t work. Apparently magic wouldn’t penetrate from the cell even out into the corridor. Next, he picked up the bottle and tossed it between the bars. Ah, that seemed to work. There was no physical barrier there—the bottle bounced and rolled on the floor of the hallway, but it made no sound. Good to know. Objects could pass but sound or magic couldn’t. It went both ways, too, he discovered, as he tried to blink it back in. The small bottle lay against the far wall where it had rolled and didn’t budge.

Next test. Knowing full well this might hurt, he eased one hand between two of the iron bars, set about three inches apart. The iron stung—it was like pushing his hand through a bucket of thick acid, but he could do it. He got his arm out up to the elbow before he pulled it back in.

While he debated what to do next, a yellow plastic plate, identical to the one in this cell, came flying into his field of vision, sailing like a Frisbee along the floor of the corridor before it bounced off the opposite wall and landed right in front of the bars of Aidan’s cell. He reached through the bars and pulled the plate inside. Someone had written on it in black crayon or wax pencil, Colin Willow. 911?

Aidan searched his jeans pockets for something to write with and came up with a small pencil he kept tucked in his passport case. He wrote on the plate. Aidan Green Oak. Trying. Anyone else? He moved to the far side of his cell, calculated the angles and sent the plate sailing back to carom off the far wall to the next cell.

A few minutes later it was returned with a list of three more names. Aidan recognized the first, Michael, Lord Northwood, the human spouse of a council member. The other individuals, Kayla Beech Grove and Lachlan of the Isles, were only vaguely familiar, though presumably they were related to other members of the council who’d been loyal to Queen Llyris.

Aidan took the fresh plate from the corner and wrote, Any ideas? 411? before sailing it back to Colin. He wished he was more up on teenage text message shorthand.

Food @ 5 am. 3 grds. Goblins. Guns.

Goblins? Fan-fucking-tastic. Thinking, Aidan wrote back. Taking a chance, he tried something new. Guessing at the distance between cells, he tried ’porting the plate to Colin, in case the magical barrier was only on the outside of the block of cells and not between them.

His magic was still awkward and sluggish, but it worked. A few minutes later the plate came back. Outa I-linr. The last of it was a faint scratch of the black waxy substance.

Eyeliner? That’s what the kid had been using to write with? Aidan laughed despite the situation and sent the pencil along with the plate this time, after writing, Any weapons? A goth kid might very well have chains or other interesting accoutrements on his person that the guards might or might not have been smart enough to take.

Plate and pencil returned. Also on the plate were a heavy silver bracelet and a leather dog collar with a dozen aluminum studs. This is it. Even took boots & chains off pants.

Aidan looked down. His hiking boots were still there, as were his jeans. Probably because they’d figured he’d be dead by now. Unless—why had they put him in with Dina unless they’d wanted her to heal him?

So he had shoelaces, a leather belt and steel-toed boots. Possible weapons. The knife he’d strapped to his ankle was gone, though, damn it. He checked his watch. Only 9:30 p.m. He had most of the night to figure out a way out of this place.

***

They’d buried Daffyd under the collapsed cairn. That is, Ric had teleported the body into the soil beneath the henge. In keeping with Fae tradition, the two dead horses had been buried as well. The elves, goblins and troll had been stripped of their weapons and buried under the earth of the nearby field—no mound of stones to mark their bones.

Now it seemed, their ragtag group had to walk back to the queen’s hunting lodge. Greg and Lana were in wolf form, allowing them to use scent to scout ahead for danger, while George walked on two legs, probably so he didn’t have to let go of Jase’s hand. He did, however, carry one set of saddlebags slung over his shoulder, while Ric carried the other.

It was the first time Elise had ever been outside in the Faerie realm. Before, she’d gone straight from the Grosse Pointe house to the palace and once there, they’d gone directly to the ballroom. Even though she’d known she was in another dimension, it hadn’t quite felt real—more as if the whole palace was a secret back room attached to the mansion. Earlier today she’d seen more of the palace and gone through the portal to Edinburgh, so the only place she’d seen Underhill was still the palace, with its overwrought décor and crowds of overdressed Fae.

Being outside was…different. Here, she could see the things that set this world apart from hers, feel the magical vibrations of the land and even smell the lack of mechanical pollution in the air. “We’re not in Kansas anymore,” she muttered under her breath. Magic fairly hummed through the blades of grass and the swaying of the leaves in the soft autumnal breeze. Even though the leaves were turning—she’d spotted that before darkness had fallen—heather bloomed all over the ground lending its fragrance to the air, and birds still sung in the trees. It was warmer here, though cooler now that night had fallen. Brilliant stars littered the night sky, seeming somehow closer than they did at home.

“I wonder.” Des pulled something out of a pocket on the side of his cargo pants. He and Ric had used their magic to clean and mend their clothing to some extent and to heal a few more of their cuts and bruises. Elise had regained enough magic after half an hour of walking to be able to repair Ric’s arm, so though they were all sweaty, sore and tired, they were covered and more or less healthy. Ric had even managed to ’port in some bread and fruit and cheese from the kitchen at Rosemeade, Meagan’s family home. He’d also gotten some torches from somewhere and Des had lit them with magical flame, so they could see where they were hiking.

“Nope.” Desmond sighed in disgust. “Eamon’s tracking device has been shut down. Either it blew up, or he deactivated it. Bastard could be anywhere.”

“You think he was in on this?” Elise asked.

Her brother shrugged. “I hope not—but he did rather conveniently disappear without a trace.”

“So did Toby,” Elise pointed out.

“His device shows him back at the lodge,” Des told her.

Ric snorted. “Besides, if Toby ever turned against Aidan, I’d eat my own sword. Those two go way, way back.”

They trudged on another half mile or so, until they’d crossed a stream. Greg and Lana both yipped sharply and ran back to the group.

“I hear them,” George told his brother. He turned to the group. “Horses coming—lots of them. Hide in those trees down by the stream.” He pointed to the stream behind them which was lined with stands of willows.

They all extinguished their torches and scurried for the cover of the trees. After a few moments of breathless waiting, Elise saw a sight that made her mouth go dry. The Wild Hunt.

She’d heard of it, of course—glittering Fae lords and ladies, running wildly through the night. Old legends had it that sometimes humans were caught up and taken Underhill, never to be seen in the mortal realm again. Other stories claimed that for a human to lay eyes on the Hunt meant death. The sight was certainly beautiful enough to be mesmerizing. There were easily two dozen horses, their hooves and tack gleaming with silver. At the lead was a Fae even taller than usual, with an enormous rack of antlers sticking out of either side of his head. Another ten or twelve armored Fae followed, some with drawn swords that seemed to glow blue or red or green. Several of the horses were without riders, or even saddles, but they moved in perfect concert with the others. The only thing missing were the baying hounds. Somehow, Elise had always thought there would be dogs.

When the leader reached the bridge, across from their hiding place, he stopped and all the other horses drew to a halt as well, as if they were psychically linked. The horned leader raised one hand.

“Come out. I promise safe passage back to the lodge.”

“Aye, ’tis safe.” Toby sat on a pony beside the Huntsman, and Elise almost cried with relief.

“Thank you.” Ric immediately stood and stepped away from his tree, lowering his guns. He bowed as he spoke to the leader. After a moment, he turned back toward Elise. “It’s okay. These are the good guys.”

Greg and Jase stepped out, holstering their weapons, so Elise and Desmond followed.

“Mount up.” The antlered man’s voice was too deep to be human. Instantly, four of the empty horses sported silver-studded saddles.

As Elise crossed the bridge and stepped toward the hunt, one of the horses, a small, white mare, moved toward her and stood patiently while Elise mounted. She hadn’t ridden in years, but with these horses, she suspected that wouldn’t be a problem.

Jase, Des and Ric mounted as well, while George stripped and handed his clothing to Jase. “They don’t mind running with wolves, but they don’t like to carry us.” He shifted into wolf form and moved away from the horses.

Elise turned to Ric. “How did he know that?”

“We found out on the way here.” He gave the wolves a friendly smirk. “Greg tried and wound up on his ass in the dirt.”

Without any visible or audible commands, the horses began to move.

Faster and faster the scenery whizzed by, glinting in the moonlight, until it was all a silvery blur. Elise realized this speed was a powerful enchantment. In what seemed like only a couple minutes, they slowed to a halt between a massive Tudor-style house and an almost equally impressive thatch-roofed building with wide barn doors. Of course, the horses of the Wild Hunt would have a stable the size of a palace.

Desmond hopped down and reached up to give her a hand. “We haven’t given up yet,” he reminded her. “Aidan had tracking devices on him too.”

Elise nodded and followed the others into the house.

“When Toby’s horse brought him back here unconscious and you hadn’t returned, or contacted us,” an elf dressed in the queen’s livery said to Ric, “we convinced the Lord of the Hunt that you were in trouble.”

“Thanks, Sean.” Ric shook the other man’s hand. “That’s another one I owe you and your dad.”

“No worries.” Kieran was the older of the pair, though he didn’t look old enough to be Sean’s father. Elise shook her head as she tried to sort out who was who. This overlapping generations thing would take some getting used to. “We stopped keeping track before this one was born, remember?”

“I do.” Ric clasped hands with Kieran as well. “And now, if you don’t mind watching our backs a bit longer, we’ve got to head back to the palace.”

“One thing, before you go.” The Lord of the Hunt’s impossibly deep voice made Elise shiver. “Four horses returned while you were gone, but six were taken. Two are dead?”

“Yes.” Ric said. “We buried them with honor beneath the cairn at Bald Tor.”

The great rack of antlers dipped. “My thanks.”

Ric accepted the acknowledgement, then his face turned pensive. “Was there a guardsman—living or dead—on one of the mounts that returned?”

The Huntsman shook his head. “Just the brownie. The others were empty saddles, all three.”

Ric snorted. “So Eamon is either dead, lost or with the conspirators. Her Majesty is not going to be pleased.”

A rumbled bark that might have been laughter emerged from the Huntsman. “When is she ever?” With no further conversation, he turned and led the horses into the stable.

Ric led their group into the house, winding through dimly lit corridors filled with hunting scenes and trophies—yuck. There were no humanoids, she noticed gratefully. But—was that a dragon head mounted over the fireplace in the large room they passed? Holy crap! She didn’t want to think about the power required to kill a dragon, even if it was a fairly small one. It was also kind of sad. Dragons were sentient creatures, not necessarily evil and even Underhill, they were an endangered species. But the Wild Hunt would take anything that got in its way—or so the stories went, at least. Elise decided she really didn’t want to find out for sure.

Eventually they reached a sitting room with a portal in one corner. Ric gestured toward the portal. “Well, boys and girls, time to head back to the palace.”

***

Aidan looked around his cell one more time, studying it for weaknesses. He leaned his head against the back wall and listened. Yes, those were traffic noises. Whatever the hell building they were in, he now knew three things. This wall was not blocked for sound as the corridor was. Secondly, they were in the mortal realm—Underhill didn’t have semis or honking horns. And thirdly, this was an exterior wall, which meant that if Aidan could get through the damn thing, he could escape.

He tried pushing at the wall with magic.

Nothing. It was well warded. But, in the same way that physical objects could go through the cell bars, maybe he could get through the wall with sheer brute force, especially if he could create a weak spot.

Hmm. Maybe it depended on where the wards were in the wall. He focused on one single cinderblock, about waist high on the center of the back wall and ’ported it away from the wall, into the center of the room. It worked. Sure enough, all that remained in its space were two cold iron reinforcing bars, about six inches apart. Ouch. Well, he probably couldn’t squeeze through that, but Dina might be able to. Behind it was nothing but the brick exterior wall, the old mortar chipped away in places. Perfect.

Before he continued, he tore a page out of his passport and scribbled a note to Colin, instructing him to create a similar hole in his own cell. While his number one priority was getting Dina out, he couldn’t in good conscience leave another man’s child here either. The other prisoners were all adults. He’d come back for them once the children were safe. One by one, he removed enough blocks to create a hole he could crawl through.

He tried blinking away a brick from the exterior wall and found out for certain that the magical reinforcement was there, fused with the bricks themselves. So he couldn’t magick the bricks or the iron bars, but maybe…

He took off his undershirt, ripped it in half and wrapped his hands. Wedging his hands and feet between two of the bars, he shoved, boosting his strength with all the magic he could muster. The bars bent, but not enough. Then he felt a tiny hand on his shoulder and his strength spiked. The bars bent easily, creating a three-foot-diameter hole. Aidan pulled back and kissed Dina on the cheek. He’d take time to be amazed by the sheer magnitude of her power later. “Good girl. Now stand back.”

While his strength was still boosted, he kicked out the bricks behind his hole. Once they were clear, he and Dina scrambled out into the night.

He tucked Dina up against the wall and pulled his sweater over her head.

“Don’t move, sweeting.” Aidan stuck his head back into the cell and blinked a note to Colin, telling him to try to kick aside a single brick. Meanwhile, Aidan scrambled around this side of the building, looking for a tool.

Their prison was clearly an abandoned factory or mill of some sort—the brick building looked to date from the 1920s or even earlier. A river gleamed black and silver in the faint moonlight on three sides of them. An island? There were other buildings in the distance that didn’t look quite so abandoned. One or two even had a light burning inside. His elven senses detected a lot of pollution and environmental contamination, and there were huge mounds of some kind of metallic ore in the distance, along with train tracks and blacktopped roads. It was also…uncannily familiar. He found a garbage heap that held what he’d been hoping for—a shovel with a broken blade, but a sturdy wooden handle.

While his brain pieced together bits of sensory information, he returned to the side of the building and saw one brick pushed out an inch or so from the others. Good lad, Colin. Using his shovel, Aidan pried it the rest of the way out. A pale hand reached through the gap, clasped his and pressed a note into it.

In the light trickling from inside the cell, Aidan read, Hurry up. Only have 2 hrs left.

“Shite.” He’d forgotten his watch was on Scottish time. Hurriedly, he started chipping bricks away with the shovel, while Colin shoved from the inside. Once the hole was big enough, he used the shovel handle, plus some extra magic from Dina, to bend the bars enough for the slender youth in baggy black pants and a hooded sweatshirt to slip outside. “Okay, let’s get out of here.” He picked Dina up and held her close against his chest.

“Colin, can you blink yourself some shoes?” The boy was three-quarters Fae, but that didn’t mean he had a pair of shoes in the mortal realm he could access.

“I’ll try.” A pair of black canvas sneakers appeared on his feet.

“Good.” Aidan blinked himself a light jacket from his home. Now that they were clear of their cells, his magic worked better, though it was still hampered slightly by all the iron nearby. He tried for his cell phone, but that attempt failed. Damn, Elise must still be Underhill—or at least the phone was. “It looks like we’re on an island—that bridge over there leads to a city. Can you run?” Aidan pointed to one of the automotive bridges, even though there was a railroad one closer. The car bridge seemed a safer bet.

“Yeah.” Colin stood to his full height of maybe five feet eleven inches and tilted his chin up to look Aidan in the eyes. “But what about the others? We can’t leave them in there.”

“I know.” Aidan looked the boy in the eyes. “But I’m not taking on goblins and who knows what else with a four-year-old present. Once I get you two clear, I’ll call for reinforcements and tear this place to the ground. That okay with you?”

Colin nodded and held out his hand to Dina. “Hey there. I’m Colin.”

“I’m Dina.” She lifted her chin as regally as a princess and shook his hand. “And this is Aidan, my daddy. Can we go home now? I want my mom.”

“Yeah.” Colin spoke as they began to jog toward the bridge on the other side of the factory. “Strangely enough, I do too, though you can never tell anyone I said that.”

They reached the bridge and Aidan took in the skyline before them. It couldn’t be—could it? It looked remarkably familiar. “We’re in bloody Detroit,” he whispered. “Why the hell…?”

“No idea, dude.” Despite Aidan’s longer stride, Colin was keeping up nicely and without wheezing. “The only intel I picked up was that somebody or something has plans for this city, and getting rid of the safehouse was part of the big picture.”

Damn, this was Zug Island—basically a slag heap at the junction of the Rouge and Detroit Rivers, covered in half-abandoned industrial sites, most of them former steel mills for the auto industry. No wonder it was scrambling his Fae senses—the place was a giant toxic waste dump filled with rusting iron.

“How did you hear this?” Crouching low, in case there were lookouts, they crept across the bridge.

“I’m a kid, they always underestimate the kid.” Colin shook his head in disgust.

When they made it to the end of the bridge, they both stood and scurried toward the nearest street corner. About two blocks away, Aidan spotted an all-night liquor and lottery market. Perfect.

“The goblin guards like to talk. When they brought me my food, I let them taunt me. Once they had all the prisoners in place, I think they were going to blow the building and take us all out at once.”

“But why?”

“One each from all the mixed families on the Council, dude. Your cousin was on the list to be snatched too.”

“But I’m not married or a halfling, so why me?” Aidan used a slight magical push to make sure a couple local thugs ignored them as they passed.

“Dude, even I heard the stories in the last couple months. Your cousin and your buddy, the bard, kicked Owain’s ass. You helped. That set you up as a target for his heir. This Oswald dude hates your guts. The kid surprised all of them though—they called her an ‘unexpected bonus.’ They’d been trying to figure out a way to get a hold of you.”

“You’re pretty smart, kid.” Aidan turned over the pieces of information in his mind. It was all starting to fit into place. “Okay, stay close behind me when we go inside, okay? And here.” He handed Dina over into Colin’s arms. “If I say run, run like hell. Please keep her safe until you find a way to call for help.”

“Got it,” Colin promised. He cradled Dina carefully and followed Aidan into the dingy little shop. Odors of spilled beer, tobacco and sweat fought for dominance as Aidan approached the attendant, who stood behind a pane of bullet-proof glass.

Aidan’s wallet was gone, so he blinked in some cash from his emergency stash at the house and held up the bill in front of the glass. “One crisp new Benjamin if you let me borrow a phone.”

Chapter Eight

Elise swallowed her impatience as she and Ric waited to see the queen. The rest of their group had gone back to Aidan’s apartment and some were even heading back to Grosse Pointe to check for word of Aidan and Dina, but she and Ric had to report to Her Majesty—and collect Meagan. Unfortunately, Queen Llyris was in the middle of a midnight supper and not receiving visitors. Just as Elise was trying to decide which of the two of them would go postal first, Meagan slipped out the door of the queen’s private dining room and grinned at the two guards, who bowed and let her pass into the corridor.

“I can’t believe that bitch won’t let you in.” She went up on her toes to kiss Ric, their lips tangling with passion and joy at seeing one another. “Thank God you’re okay. Did you find Dina? What about Aidan?”

As quickly as possible, they filled her in. Meagan’s grin faltered and was replaced by a scowl of sheer Irish-girl stubbornness. “Okay, I’m going to go back inside and see what I can do. Be right back, I promise. Don’t move.”

A few minutes later, she returned with one of the queen’s footmen and bared her teeth in a feral grin. “We’re to meet Her Majesty in her office.”

This proved to be a spacious suite, where the queen waited behind a broad gilded desk. Three unpadded white and gilt chairs sat across from her. After making their bows and curtseys, Elise, Ric and Meagan sat, under the watchful eyes of a pair of guards.

While Ric did the talking, Elise let her eyes roam the room. It was as ornately decorated as the rest of the palace, but there were a few touches that seemed more personal. Perhaps the queen actually did use this space for her day-to-day…work? Elise had never thought about how much effort a queen had to put in to the actual governing, though she knew Llyris was too much of a control freak to be a mere figurehead. Interesting.

Off to one side of the desk was a portrait of a girl. The style and simple white chiton suggested Roman or Greek origins and the girl was white-haired with the same high cheekbones and aquiline features as the queen. Could Llyris really be that old? Elise’s art curatorial knowledge put the piece at nearly two thousand years of age—which was within the possible lifespan for the Fae. Eventually, she noticed a detail that indicated the subject was someone other than the queen. Instead of glacial blue eyes, the girl in the portrait had a deep violet gaze that was stunning, but contained far more warmth than Elise imagined the queen was capable of expressing.

“I see you have an eye for art, Miss Sutton. You like my childhood portrait?”

Elise jumped in her seat as Llyris addressed her. “Y-yes, Your Majesty. It’s lovely.” Flattery, that was the ticket, Aidan had assured her.

“Yes.” The queen arched one perfect brow. “Isn’t it?” She turned back to Ric, ordering him to leave and get on with finding Aidan.

At that, the three of them stood, made their bows and filed out of the room. On the way back to Aidan’s apartment, Elise had a thought and turned to Ric. “Wasn’t Eamon one of the guards who put Fianna in a cell?”

“Yeah.” Ric paused. “Thinking we might want to check on her?”

Elise nodded. “Something’s fishy there and oddly enough, I don’t think it’s her. She came in on her own, remember? We might be better off to keep her close, see what she knows. At this point, any information could be valuable.”

“Yeah. And Oswald might want revenge on her since she survived and Owain didn’t. I think you’re right. She’s stuck here with no powers—let’s hope she isn’t already dead.”

Elise followed Ric and Meagan. She did hope Fianna was okay, but she hated wasting any time when they needed to be searching for Aidan. She couldn’t help remembering the blood that had filled her hand as she’d fallen through the portal.

When she saw the cell Fianna had been left in, though, she felt a wash of guilt at her urgency. The woman had come voluntarily. She shouldn’t have been shoved in a filthy hole like this. Meagan immediately blinked in some water and blinked off the handcuffs, while Ric questioned the guards.

Fianna just stood silent, filthy and bruised.

“Eamon,” Ric said grimly as they continued toward the main portal. “He waited until Wallis had left, then ducked back and changed the orders. He was planning to come back and get her himself, later.”

“Asshole.” Meagan didn’t mince words—Elise sometimes wished she could speak her mind as openly as her friend. “Fianna, are you okay?”

“I will be fine. Do not worry about me. Not while Lord Green Oak and the girl are still missing.”

They hurried down the corridor and through the portal to Grosse Pointe. Wallis had arrived before them, and his smile was starkly joyful as he greeted them. Behind him stood the two men she recognized as Lord Willow and his son, each with a woman by his side—mother and grandmother of the missing boy. Elise’s heart went out to them, until she realized they were grinning ear to ear as well.

Wallis addressed the group of new arrivals. “Lord Green Oak just called. He’s safe and he has Adina and Colin Willow with him. We’re heading out now to pick them up.”

Elise’s knees nearly went out from under her. Even Desmond had a smile on his face as he steadied her and kept her from falling.

“Come on, Lise. Let’s go get Dina.”

And Aidan. Fate had just given her back the two people she loved most in the world. She ran behind Wallis to the garage, not even caring that tears ran down her cheeks.

***

Aidan and the children waited inside the shop until the limo arrived with Colin’s parents, Elise and Meagan. Another hundred dollar bill had gone into the clerk’s pocket to allow them to stay in out of the weather with the sign flipped to Closed, and they’d all fueled up on chips and sodas and candy bars while they waited. Dina was sound asleep on Aidan’s shoulder when Elise ran in the door, Morwynna Willow close at her heels. Clive managed to maintain a stoic façade as he followed at a more leisurely pace, but Aidan could see the relief and joy in the other man’s eyes.

Even the clerk, whose English was spotty, seemed to be fighting tears at the reunion. Elise didn’t bother pulling Dina out of Aidan’s arms, she simply wrapped both of them in a hug so tight it nearly hurt.

“Mommy!” Dina cried happily, throwing her arms, which looked like elephant trunks in Aidan’s oversized pullover, around her mother’s neck. “Mommy, they were mean and it was cold and I want to go home. But Daddy saved me.”

“I know he did, baby.” Elise sniffled.

“He’s the best daddy in the world.”

Aidan blinked back what must have been a speck of dust under his eyelid.

“Tonight, I really think he is.” Elise hugged her daughter close and looked up at Aidan, tears streaming down her lovely face. “How can I ever thank you?”

“You don’t.” His voice was hoarse. “You just don’t.”

He glanced over to see Clive Willow slapping his son on the back. After a moment, Clive gave in and embraced the boy awkwardly. To Colin’s credit, the kid didn’t pull away at first—he actually hugged his father back. For a fifteen-year-old boy, that took guts. Aidan hadn’t spent too much time around teenagers—and it had been many centuries since he’d been one—but he knew enough to recognize a damn good kid.

Several other vehicles pulled up behind the limo—Wallis’s SUV, Greg’s truck, Ric’s vintage British sports car, Desmond’s newer, American model and an Underhill Industries supply van along with a couple of the cars Aidan kept at the portal house for guest or staff use. The troops had arrived. Aidan herded the others out to the waiting vehicles and paused by the cashier’s window. Slipping the man another bill, he said, “None of this ever happened.” He boosted the suggestion with a solid magical push. The man wouldn’t forget—Aidan didn’t have that kind of power—but between the magic and the money, the clerk would probably decide it didn’t really matter and wasn’t worth talking about.

Flipping the sign back to Open as he left, Aidan followed his friends and family—goddess, family!—out to the row of cars. After the women and kids drove away, Aidan turned to Ric. “So what’s the plan?”

“The plan’s a simple one,” Ric said with a grin. “We go take apart a factory, brick by brick. Do you know where the other prisoners are inside?”

“Yeah.” Aidan had gotten a crude layout from Colin while they waited at the shop. He laid the paper down on Ric’s hood and pointed. “There’s three—here, here and here. One cell on the far side of the one I was in, the other two between Colin’s and wherever it was the goblin guards entered from.” The others had crowded around and Aidan explained the factory set up, as well as the fact that in about an hour, the guards would notice the empty cells.

“Let’s ride,” Greg said. “Saddle up, boys.” George and Jase whooped and piled into the pickup with Greg.

Desmond shook his head in distaste, but gestured to Cynric and Clive to join him in his car. Wallis’s SUV was full of Aidan’s security teams. Hell, even Nigel, Aidan’s excruciatingly proper Fae butler, was in there. Kieran and Sean O’Shea from the queen’s guard rode with some of Meagan’s Underhill employees and the keyboardist from the Novaks’ band. As he climbed into the passenger seat of Ric’s Jag, Aidan felt a migraine gnawing at the base of his neck, even though he’d have sworn he didn’t get those. With this crew, subtle wasn’t going to be an option. All they needed were pitchforks and torches.

***

Elise rode all the way back to Aidan’s in the limo with a soundly sleeping Dina clutched in her lap. While she’d have loved being part of the strike team, she knew it was more important for her to be here with Dina. Nobody else was getting to her, not while Elise was still breathing. She buried her face in her baby’s matted hair and cried like a lunatic. Meagan sat beside her, smiling, while on her other side, Lana sulked about being left behind. Across from them, in the limo’s rear-facing seat, a red-faced Colin Willow scowled from where he was sandwiched between his mother and grandmother.

“I don’t see why I had to go home with the women,” he muttered. “I’m the one who knows the layout.”

Lana bared her teeth, showing a hint of fang. “Watch who you compare yourself to, cub. Being female doesn’t equate to helpless. Some of us are on guard duty for the non-combatants.”

The pale teen with dyed black hair, chipped black nail polish and skulls all over his hoodie looked impressed. “Are you a vampire?”

Elise shot out one arm in time to keep Lana from lunging across the gap between the seats. She didn’t know why, but most werewolves hated being confused with vampires. Current teen movie crazes hadn’t helped matters any. Glorifying the blood-sucking undead wasn’t a way to make yourself popular among the more civilized supernatural cultures—and the wolves could barely be considered civilized.

“Is that blood on your knuckles, Colin?” Elise murmured over Dina’s head. “I can take care of that for you.”

“It’s fine.” He pulled his hands in and stuffed them in the pocket of his hoodie. He nodded at Dina. “She’s a good kid. She never cried, not through the whole thing. And I think she boosted her dad’s magic. For a rugrat, she’s pretty cool.”

Elise sighed. She was too damn tired of trying to explain that Aidan wasn’t Dina’s father—especially since he’d been running around telling everyone he was. “Thank you,” she said instead. “I think she’s pretty special.”

“You know, I was in that place for three days and it never crossed my mind to blink the blocks out of the wall. Her dad—he’s one pretty sharp dude.” He turned to his mom. “I did remember to say thank you, Mom. I promise. And now I see why you’re always nagging at me to practice my magic. He looked almost dead when they threw him in there, but he came up with a way out in like an hour.” Clearly the teen had developed a serious case of hero worship for Aidan. Elise rolled her eyes but kept her mouth shut. Despite her own feelings and her tangled past with Aidan, she knew a boy could do a lot worse for a role model.

“Glad to hear it,” said Belinda, Lady Willow. The human woman smiled at Elise with a rueful shrug. “Raising halflings and quarterlings has its rough patches, but sometimes they turn out okay.” She ruffled her grandson’s inky hair. “Of course you have an advantage, since you have magic as well. I started out on a decidedly unlevel playing field until I learned a few tricks of my own.”

“You learned magic?” Meagan asked the older woman. Elise knew Lady Willow had been something of a mentor to Meagan at the Seelie Court.

Belinda shook her head. “No. But I learned a few nasty pranks when Clive and his sister were young. And their father made me an amulet that rendered me immune to the power of anyone related to him by blood. That helped a lot.”

Her daughter-in-law chuckled. “Heck, that would be handy for me and I’m the full-blooded elf.”

“That, my dear, is between you and Clive.” Belinda laughed. “I’m staying out of this.”

Colin rolled his eyes and sighed, while the women all laughed. A few moments later, Meagan broached a more serious topic. “You know, even if they get the prisoners out, the odds aren’t good that Oswald and his upper-level cronies are going to be there. None of us will really be safe until he’s stopped for good.”

Morwynna nodded. “And even then, another leader will likely pop up in his place. We need to do something to squash this purity thing altogether.”

“I’m not sure that’s really it.” Lana leaned her chin on her hand. “Not if your guy is working with djinn and goblins. I’ve heard some rumors among the wolves. Seems like there might be another group—no one seems to know who—that wants all the power for themselves, and might be trying to get rid of any supernaturals who don’t work for them. I don’t know why or how they got hooked up with your elven purity movement, or whether it’s just in Detroit, or throughout the world, but somebody big is up to something.”

“Good gods.” Elise’s mind boggled.

Meagan winced. “Talk about a clusterfuck.”

The others nodded their agreement.

“What can we do, though?” Meagan asked what they’d all been thinking. “It’s like one of those hydra things—if you chop off one head, two more spring up.”

“I don’t know.” Belinda pursed her lips. “But ladies, it would be a very good idea for us to think of something.”

***

They stopped on the far side of the bridge while Wallis and Desmond worked together to cast an illusion of darkness and silence over the vehicles. While they wouldn’t truly be invisible, they’d be hard to notice if no one was looking. Hopefully the goblins wouldn’t be watching for trouble and any guards in the buildings still occupied nearby wouldn’t notice them either.

Once the spell was cast, they inched across the bridge and circled the steel mill, so the cars were all pointed back toward the city before their force—nearly two dozen in all, werewolf, human and sidhe of several persuasions—climbed out and gathered up their weapons, everything from axes to assault rifles, with more than a few enchanted swords between them. Aidan conjured his own bronze sword in its belt sheath, but led the way to the edge of the building holding nothing more than three pieces of paper. After checking the hole into his cell and seeing no activity, he climbed in and blinked one of the notes into the next chamber, on the side opposite from Colin’s, then estimated the distances to the other two occupied cells and ’ported those letters as well. Just in case the prisoners were sleeping, he added a flash and pop spell, to go off when the paper hit the floor. He put a pencil with each note and told the prisoners to place the paper back on the floor where it had fallen, as he wasn’t sure which of them, if any, had any magic.

A few moments later, he had his responses, though it took him two tries to get the third one from the right spot in the furthest. All three prisoners were alive. Aidan instructed each of them to move as far as possible from the wall and to cover their faces before he climbed back out through the wall and told Wallis where to set the explosives.

Five long, nerve-wracking minutes later, Desmond’s magic muffled the sound of three small explosions. Each had breached enough of a hole that the men on the outside were able to use tools to enlarge them for the prisoners to crawl out. Ric blinked in shoes and coats for each of the rescued prisoners and the two men and one woman were hustled to one of the SUVs and plied with water and food.

None of them knew any more than Colin had about the guards or their plans, but after a few moments’ rest, each demanded a weapon and to be allowed to help clean out the building. Even Kayla, who proved to be fully elven and the niece of a council member, ’ported in an enchanted bow and a quiver of arrows along with a leather jerkin and jeans to replace her skimpy purple dress. Michael Northwoods accepted an assault rifle and bullet-proof vest, while Lachlan of the Isles ’ported in a gleaming bronze claymore and a set of chainmail.

The werewolves had scouted the outside of the factory and determined there were only two entrances still functional. A third, the old loading dock door, had long since rusted shut. Aidan and Desmond each took half of their group to one of the doorways.

Aidan pressed the small chunk of plastic explosive on the door handle and stepped back, drawing his cutlass and blinking on his supple leather cuirass. It didn’t look like it would stop a bullet, but the enchantments on it were ancient and powerful. He waited for Desmond’s command over their headsets before he pressed the remote for the detonator.

There was a flash and a whoosh, and the door, now hanging awkwardly on its hinges, swung open. With Greg on his heels and another ten men close behind them, Aidan stepped into the abandoned steel mill.

The entryway was empty. Shattered chunks of wood and plaster separated the small vacant foyer from the main floor of the old building. Aidan stepped through into the cavernous chamber. While most of the industrial contents had been stripped, there were still a few chunks and scraps of rusting machinery here and there. A newer, cinderblock wall had been erected sectioning off maybe a third of the space, creating the cell corridor.

A burst of automatic weapon fire greeted them from behind a pile of busted wooden shipping crates. Aidan and his allies fanned out against the wall, returning fire. Aidan had no compunction about shooting back. These thugs had planned to kill innocent children and mortal law couldn’t touch them. Meanwhile, Desmond’s team had entered from the far end of the mill and was engaging another group, tucked behind some old assembly-line equipment.

When Desmond yelled, “Now,” everyone on Aidan’s team knew to shut their eyes. Their goblin enemies didn’t. Through slitted eyelids, Aidan saw the brilliant burst of white light that filled the factory and heard a dozen or so high-pitched screams. One small humanoid with greenish skin, pointed teeth and even bigger pointy ears than an elf dashed out from behind one of the crates and started spraying wildly with a submachine gun before he was cut down by bullets from Desmond’s side of the room. Goblins typically dwelt underground, or at least deep in the forests of Faerie. Their eyes were burnt by bright light. Right now they should all be blinded.

A pair of snarling shapes leapt out of a doorway on the side of the building where the cells had been. The two pale silver werewolves were met in the middle of the floor by the Novak brothers and a tangle of snarling fur and fangs ensued, while the humans and Fae rounded up the blinded goblins and clasped them in iron chains Wallis had picked up from the Queen’s guard. To Aidan’s surprise, there were two larger goblinlike creatures as well, with heavy brow ridges and bluish skin rather than green. Orcs. Thankfully, they were even more light-sensitive than goblins, so they’d probably been knocked out by Desmond’s flash spell. Well, wasn’t that an interesting addition to this mess? Orcs and elves were natural enemies in Faerie. What the hell had convinced them to work together?

When one pair of wolves split apart, Desmond cast a spell. Suddenly the paler wolf found itself enmeshed in a glittering net. Greg scrambled up onto a crate and leapt onto the entangled wolf, pinning it in place while Desmond used a crowbar to knock it unconscious. Once the wolf lay still, Desmond slapped a set of silver-plated shackles onto it, which Aidan knew would lock it in wolf form and prevent the regenerative healing it would get from shifting. Meanwhile, Greg went to help his brother. The two soon had the second wolf pinned, with Greg lying across its body and George holding its throat in his powerful jaws until Desmond could get another set of shackles on that one as well.

***

Despite Aidan’s instructions for all of them to stay gathered in his den, Elise insisted on taking Dina upstairs for a bath and to sleep in a real bed. The room Aidan had assigned her shared a bath with the room on the other side, but Colin desperately needed a shower, so Elise took it on herself to send him into the guest suite while she took Dina into Aidan’s plush bathroom. Once both kids were clean, they could sack out in the adjoining rooms, while the adults gathered in Aidan’s sitting area across the hall, or even right out in the hallway, on guard. Mind you, Elise figured she’d be sitting up beside Dina all night and she suspected Morwynna would sneak into Colin’s room as soon as the boy was asleep. Even if he thought he was grown, Elise knew that his mother still considered him her baby. She’d only been a mom for four years, but she knew that sense of protectiveness never quite went away. She could see it even in the way Belinda worried over Clive, who was over a hundred years old.

In fact, as they all trooped up the stairs like a herd of sheep, she could see deep, caring concern in the aura of every single person in their strange little group. Even Colin wanted to be back on Zug Island to make sure his father and grandfather were safe. Lana wanted to back up her cousins and Meagan, of course, was worried sick about Ric. Mairead fretted over Toby and probably Aidan too, as she’d taken on the role of mother to him years ago. The housekeeper and the butler were almost a couple. Even Fianna showed the strain, though Elise had no idea who she was so concerned about. Maybe her fear was for herself, about what would happen to her depending on the outcome, but something in her eyes said otherwise. Had she fallen for Aidan? Elise didn’t like that idea one bit. Wallis, maybe? A more acceptable option. Elise reaffirmed her intention to spend some time talking to the former Fae.

“Here are some more feminine toiletries.” Bronwyn, the housekeeper, blinked in a basket of tiny pink bottles outside Aidan’s door. “I don’t think the master’s scent would suit the little lass. There’s a nightgown in there too, that should fit well enough. I try to keep a few in all sorts of sizes for guests who lose their luggage.”

“Thank you.” Elise gave her a grateful smile. She tried to juggle Dina in her arms, but Meagan reached out and took the basket instead.

“I’ve got my own, thanks.” Colin blinked in a bottle of a popular teen bodywash and shampoo, along with a pair of black sweats and a T-shirt featuring a death-metal band. “Mom, trust me—I can shower all on my own.”

All the women laughed and let the poor boy make his own way into the bathroom.

“We’ll be in the kitchen if you need us,” Mairead said as she and Bronwyn turned back toward the stairs. “Just push zero on the bedside phone and it will ring in there.”

***

“I’ll take the hall.” Lana leaned against a wall beside Aidan’s bedroom door and crossed her arms over her chest. “Fee can stay out here with me. The rest of you can hang out in the bedrooms—maybe get some sleep.”

Meagan followed Elise into Aidan’s room, giving a soft whistle as they passed through toward the bathroom. Subtle touches marked it as the master suite—including a framed picture of Emery of Rose—Meagan’s birth father. There was also an exquisitely detailed wooden model of a sloop called the Faerie Queene. Elise wondered if Meagan knew about that part of Aidan’s past. Might be fun to be there when she heard about it.

Meagan hummed as she looked around. “Nice. Hadn’t seen this room before. Makes me wonder when you did.”

Elise felt her skin heat. She was nowhere near ready to talk about her tangled-up relationship—or non-relationship—with Aidan, especially to his cousin, even though Meagan had been her friend before the cousin thing had been discovered.

“Okay, okay, I’m backing off.” With a wry chuckle Meagan set the basket down beside the tub and dropped into a wicker chair in another corner. “But you know I’m going to find out sooner or later.”

Elise shook her head at the comment and at the opulence around her—even though she’d used this bathroom this morning. Or was it yesterday? Her family wasn’t exactly poor—the Wyndewin League had paid well for many generations—but she’d never had a bathroom big enough to boast its own seating area.

“Hand me the kiddo while you get the water ready.” Meagan seemed willing to allow the subject to change.

“Thanks.” Elise reluctantly set her daughter down into Meagan’s lap, and tried not to be hurt when Dina didn’t complain, just snuggled into Meagan’s arms. Meanwhile, Elise adjusted the taps and poured in a generous dollop of strawberry-scented bubble bath.

Once the tub was nearly full, Meagan used her powers to ’port off Aidan’s grungy fisherman’s sweater and Dina’s tattered pajamas so Elise could help Dina into the tub.

“God, this magic stuff is still so cool. I don’t know how you all manage to keep it a secret. It’s so tempting to use it all the time.” Meagan spoke softly as Elise began to gently wash Dina’s tender skin, healing small bruises and scrapes as she went. “So why didn’t I ever know you were a witch?”

Elise shook her head. “After Dina was born, I didn’t want anything to do with it any more.” She glanced down at the top of her daughter’s head. “I can’t go into it now. But I basically turned my back on magic altogether, except for protection and a tiny bit of emergency healing. Oh—and suppressing Dina’s powers in public. That, my friend, is a trick you’re going to need within the year, if you plan to spend any time this side of the portal. Little ones don’t know enough not to show their magic in front of strangers. It takes a fair bit of the parents’ power to keep them under control without suffocating their abilities.” Though there were times she had been tempted to tamp down Dina’s altogether.

“Belinda warned me about that too.” Meagan made a face. “And Sinead. She—umm—works for me, I guess, though she likes to pretend she’s the boss. You didn’t meet her Underhill and consider yourself lucky. Give her a habit and she’d be scarier than any of the nuns at St. Francis High School.”

“She isn’t one of the elves who doesn’t like humans, is she? Or halflings?” It was so easy to forget that Meagan was really half Fae, after being raised with her powers completely blocked until a few months ago.

“No, she doesn’t approve of anybody.” Meagan grinned. “When it came down to it, though, she put herself between me and the bad guys. She’s loyal as all hell to my family, just your classic grumpy schoolmarm with pointy ears.”

“Okay, I believe you.”

Dina yawned and blinked as Elise gently rinsed her skin. She even obediently dipped her head into the water to wet her hair, something she normally didn’t like. “Is Daddy home?”

“Dina, honey, you’ve got to quit calling him that,” Elise said. “I’ve told you before…”

Dina shook her head, sending shampoo suds flying. “It’s okay, Mommy. He doesn’t mind.”

“No, but…” Elise looked over her shoulder and saw Meagan watching with a frankly curious tilt of her coppery head. “Never mind. We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

***

The dead goblins had vanished—so had one orc. One of the most powerful spells ever cast by a joint team of various races was that dead sidhe immediately disappeared from this realm and reappeared in the morgue—or some kind of equivalent—of their respective race. The advent of modern forensics meant that non-humans couldn’t risk their DNA being documented by a human medical examiner. Even their spilled blood disappeared. Unfortunately, it only worked for the dead ones, not the injured. Desmond and Cynric Willow now moved quietly around the factory, removing all traces of the battle, while Wallis and Toby supervised the loading of goblin, orc and lupine prisoners into the van.

Aidan and the other former captives moved over to investigate the prison area. The cell block would hold any answers they were likely to find—along with Aidan’s wallet and all the other possessions his captors had stolen from the prisoners.

The arrangement was simple—a long straight corridor with eight cells off to one side. Where a ninth and tenth could have been at the front was an open space, holding some cheap plastic chairs and an old stainless steel desk. There was a battered avocado refrigerator from the seventies and a small microwave, with a stack of the yellow plastic plates beside it on a card table. The fridge proved to have a selection of cheap frozen entrees and some eight-ounce bottles of water, as well as a dozen or so whole raw chickens. Bones were scattered about the floor, but at least they looked like chicken legs and animal ribs—probably from half a dozen sides of beef, judging by the gnawed-on partial one in another corner. Not human or elven, at any rate. The cloud of flies buzzing about didn’t seem to mind, making Aidan wish he hadn’t eaten at the convenience store.

Kayla and Lachlan walked the length of the hallway, checking the cells, while Michael stood watch with his rifle and Aidan began to search the desk. In the top drawer he found four wallets and a small silvery evening bag. He flipped through his own. Cash was gone, but everything else was intact. He stuffed Colin’s—the chains and silver studs gave it away—into his pocket and set the others on the desktop.

“Cells are all empty. No signs that any but ours have been occupied.” Kayla sauntered up to the desk and picked up her purse after rifling through the contents. “Huh. Good thing I only had about twenty bucks in cash. I’m surprised they didn’t take the credit cards.” Afterward, she scooped a pair of silver high-heeled sandals out from a pile under the desk.

Michael and Lachlan took turns reclaiming their wallets and their shoes while Aidan searched the other drawers. All he found was a list of names, with five checked off and four, including Meagan’s, remaining. A sticky note on the wall, however, did yield a couple of phone numbers. One was prefaced with an O—for Oswald?—and the other an A. The third had no label at all. Aidan pocketed both the note and the list of names. “Make sure we check any of the remaining prisoners for cell phones,” he said. Since there was no land line in this room, that had to be their means of communication. Of course any that had been on any of the dead bodies had vanished along with them.

“Out here,” Ric called from the other room right when Aidan had completely given up finding anything in the so-called office. “We found the werewolves’ clothes. There’s a phone in each of their pockets. Guys say none on any of the goblins. No wallets or IDs either, though there are some small bits of cash.”

Aidan tipped his head at his fellow captives and they all rejoined the group in the warehouse. Ric held up two smart phones and two wallets. “I’m guessing the werewolves were in charge. Orcs aren’t smart enough.”

“Agreed. We’ll see what Wallis can do with the phones.” Aidan smiled grimly. “Well, folks, it’s been fun, but let’s get the hell out of this place.”

***

Dina had refused to go across the hall to sleep in the room assigned to Elise, so Elise gave in and tucked the sleepy child into Aidan’s bed, leaving the extra room for Belinda and Morwynna, so they could stay close to Colin. Meagan fetched the stuffed Pegasus from the other room and Dina squealed happily when Meagan leaned over the bed to hand it over.

“Peggy!” She reached up and threw her arms around Meagan’s neck. “Thank you, Aunt Meagan. Love you.”

Elise managed not to chuckle at the bewildered expression on Meagan’s face. Dina had only met the other woman once or twice before the wedding—but once Dina decided someone was part of her family, the idea was stuck. Elise shrugged and shook her head.

“Love you too, sweetie.” Meagan grinned, taking her new “aunt” status in stride.

Dina smiled. “I can’t wait to play with my new cousin.”

Meagan’s eyes flew wide, but after a moment they started to dance with suppressed laughter. “I bet he’ll like that too, Dina. But you might as well go to sleep now. He’s not going to be here until next spring.”

“Summer,” Dina corrected with a yawn. “Good night.” She turned to Elise, who had stretched out above the covers on the other half of the bed. “Good night, Mommy. Don’t worry. Daddy’s okay. He’ll be home in a while.”

Her certainty was convincing enough that Elise believed her. “How about Uncle Ric?” she asked, phrasing it that way to tease Meagan a bit. It felt good to loosen up a little with her friend. She’d been avoiding personal connections her whole life. Had she missed out on how rewarding friendship could be?

“He’s fine too. And Uncle Des. They’re all okay and on their way home.” She leaned over and gave Elise a hug and a kiss. “Love you.” She snuggled down into her pillow with her toy in her arms and was almost instantly asleep.

Meagan stood across the room shaking her head. “Wow. Scary kid. But cute—and sweet. I’m so glad we got her back okay.”

“Yeah, me too.” Elise grinned at her friend. “Just wait until you have your own little magical—and I mean that literally in our cases—bundle of joy. They keep you on your toes, believe me.”

“Yeah, looking forward to that—not.” Meagan settled into a chair and patted her tummy, which wasn’t even starting to show yet. “But I am kind of excited about meeting him face to face. With everything happening so fast in the last two months, it hasn’t really sunk in yet.”

Elise didn’t reply, she simply gazed down at Adina, sleeping so peacefully after all the horror of the last twenty-four hours. Elise would probably have nightmares about this for the rest of her life—she hoped Dina wouldn’t.

She’d killed a living being today and injured another. Yes, both had been intent on killing her and no, it wasn’t the first time. She’d never gotten used to it, though, even when she was an active enforcer, which was one of the reasons she’d retired. Today, though, all she had to do was look over at her daughter and all the guilt vanished. They’d kidnapped Dina, planning to kill her and frame Aidan, from what Colin had told them after Dina fell asleep in the limo. No, she didn’t feel guilty about killing them at all, which was rather unsettling in its own right.

Then there was Aidan. Goddess, what was she going to do about him? Whatever Elise had felt for him before, now it was even more complicated by the tenderness he’d shown Dina and the lengths he’d gone to in order to save her, even though he knew she wasn’t his. Honestly, Elise was about ready to quit trying to make him accept that fact. Maybe it would be good for Dina to have a father like Aidan, even if they weren’t biologically related. Goddess knew, Elise would never marry. One thing she had realized today was that Aidan was the one and only love of her life. There would never be anyone else, not for her. She had no idea how the hell she was supposed to deal with that realization. She leaned back against the headboard and sighed.

Chapter Nine

Elise didn’t know how long she’d been lounging there, zoning out and worrying, when she heard a sharp sound from the doorway, which had been left partially open so their ersatz guards could keep an eye on things.

“Psst.” The hiss came again.

Elise looked up to see Fianna Meadows poking her head around the door.

The former elf worried her lower lip between her teeth and cast Elise a look of supplication. “Can I speak to you for a moment?”

“Go ahead.” Meagan waved a hand toward the door when Elise glanced over to where she lounged in the chair. “I’ll stay with the munchkin. I’m not going to be able to sleep until I see Ric with my own eyes anyway.”

Elise knew the feeling. She hoped Dina knew what she was talking about, but until Aidan returned, she wouldn’t truly believe that he was all right. Love could certainly be a pain in the butt.

“Worth it, though,” Meagan replied idly as Elise stood and walked toward the door.

Had she spoken out loud? Or had she dropped her mental shields without realizing it? One way or another, Elise’s brain was most certainly not firing on all cylinders, which probably made this a bad time for a tête-à-tête with one of Owain Le Faire’s followers. Nonetheless, she slipped out the gap in the doorway and moved a few feet down the hall toward Fianna, who stood in the space between the two doors of the Willows’ suite, shifting her weight from side to side. Lana waved from her position at the stair landing, a few yards down the hall.

Elise had never met Aidan’s former secretary before she’d been punished by being turned human. Fianna wore no glamour now that she’d been turned into a mortal. Though her features were still almost inhumanly delicate and her ears had a tiny hint of a point if you looked carefully, she was definitely a mortal, if an incredibly beautiful one. She was exhausted like the rest of them, though, with dark shadows under her aquamarine eyes and her pale blond hair streaked with dust and hanging limply about her shoulders. Someone had given her a black cardigan sweater, which she wore over top her light blue New Moon Bar polo shirt. The visible strip of the shirt was smudged with greasy dirt like her hair. The cell they’d rescued her from had been none too clean, but Fianna, to her credit, hadn’t complained a bit.

“I wanted to speak with you personally.” Fianna’s blue-green eyes stared down at the scuffed toe of her black boot. She glanced up and firmed her chin. “I wanted to apologize to you for ever having been part of my uncle’s plans. When he sent me here to spy on Lord Green Oak, he promised me no one would get hurt. He used me to gain access to the portal.”

“And he put a magical trap on it that killed Gunter.” Elise knew the story of what had happened before Meagan and Ric had stopped Owain. Wallis had been Aidan’s number two security man until the death of his friend and employee, Gunter, in the damaged portal. Elise remembered the troll who’d acted as driver for Aidan as well as bodyguard five years earlier.

Fianna nodded. “That’s when I knew he was wrong. My mother died when I was born and my father chose to leave me in her brother’s household—he wasn’t particularly interested in raising a child. So I grew up with Oswald and I was taught to honor my uncle as a lord among our people. He was very proud to be a cousin of the queen herself. The superiority of the Fae, particularly the true-blooded elf, was drummed into my head. Even though I have spent time now with other races, ingrained prejudice is hard to overcome.”

“I understand.” Elise did in a way. The Wyndewin League tended to disapprove of non-humans in general, as if expecting them to break the law at any opportunity. Desmond still bought into that. It had taken Elise a while to realize that non-humans were simply people too—some good, some bad, most somewhere in between.

“I swear to you, though, that I never would have gone along with my uncle had I known it meant killing. Even though I agreed with his belief, I would not have aided him in that. And Oswald—well, my cousin is a different man entirely.” She shuddered. “I don’t think his motives are as pure as his father’s. Uncle Le Faire wanted power, but because he believed it was right. Oswald—he just wants to be in charge. He has no moral code at all. Be careful. Whatever plan he is up to, it will be of benefit to no one but himself.”

“Thank you for the warning.” Elise held out a hand to the other woman. “And I believe you. You have learned a lot in the last six weeks, haven’t you?”

Fianna actually grinned. “Besides how to wash dishes and avoid getting my ass pinched by lecherous drunks? Yes. The wolves—they are a bit uncouth, but they are good people underneath it all. I could have been given a far harsher sentence than to have to work for them.” Her translucent skin pinkened as she mentioned the wolves and her aura did as well.

Elise bit back a gasp. Had Fianna fallen for Greg? George was taken and Fianna didn’t seem to swing toward women. Oh, wow, that was an interesting development. She filed it away for future reference. “Is there anything more you can tell us about Oswald? Where he might be hiding? Who he might be working with?”

Fianna shook her head. “I know he is extremely powerful. He’s the only one of my generation who had the same level of power as the queen, which is part of the reason for his delusions of grandeur. His father told him over and over as a child that his changeable eyes were the mark of a future ruler and Oswald believed it completely.”

That stopped Elise in her tracks with a gasp. “What?”

“Owain constantly reinforced that Oswald was destined to rule,” Fianna rephrased. “Until Oswald became obsessed—”

It was all Elise could do not to grab the other woman and shake her until her teeth rattled. “Not that. The part about the eyes.”

Fianna’s pale brows scrunched together as she tried to understand. “What about them? They are a mark of great power. Oswald has always believed they mark him as the next destined ruler and his father encouraged that belief.”

“His eyes—they change color? Is that what you mean?” Elise’s heart was pounding in her chest so hard she was surprised it wasn’t vibrating the floor. Surely, if that were the case, Aidan would have said something to her when she’d told him about Dina.

“Well, yes.” Fianna stared at Elise for a moment until something seemed to dawn on her. “I’m sorry, I forgot for a moment that no one outside the royal family is supposed to know about that.”

“And Oswald is one-hundred-percent Fae, right? Not a hybrid? No human in the mix—or demon?” Elise’s mind reeled. The portrait! That’s what it was. The artist hadn’t gotten the hue wrong—the queen had changed her eye color sometime after it was done.

“Of course,” Fianna replied. “That mark has only ever appeared in pureblooded Fae—and only among the nobility—only within our close kin, as far as I know. Oswald is the only one I’ve ever heard of except for Llyris. As children, their eye color can change, until they settle on a shade that seems right for them. Llyris chose ice blue, while Oswald’s are the color of dark sapphires.”

“And good goddess, Dina chose green,” Elise whispered, stricken. “Aidan is her father!”

“What? Your daughter is a potential queen?” Fianna’s hand flew to her throat. “A halfling? Goddess, if they found out about that, she’d be in even greater danger. It violates everything they believe in.”

There was a thump a few feet down the hallway, as a maid dropped a stack of towels she’d been carrying. Her jaw was hanging low, her almond-shaped eyes round with horror. Then they narrowed. “No. A part-blood who could become queen? Never!”

Neither Lana at the main stairwell nor Elise had paid any attention to the maid who’d strolled casually up the servants’ stair with a load of linens in her arms. Fianna’s back was toward the servant. Now, Elise noted with terror that the woman stepped in front of Aidan’s bedroom door and she’d blinked in a lethal-looking snub-nosed revolver, which she raised and pointed into the room at the bed where Dina slept.

“Noooo!” Elise screamed as she leapt toward the woman. Lana snarled and began to run toward them, but she was too far away.

Fianna had spun around and she was closer. The former Fae launched herself at the maid, putting her body between the gun and the open door right as the other woman pulled the trigger.

The gunshot boomed in their ears. Elise struck the maid—she couldn’t remember the bitch’s name—as Fianna crumpled to the floor, a bright red stain spreading out from the hole above her breast. Elise bore the woman down and in a heartbeat, Lana was there, a wicked knife in her hand. Without hesitation, she slit the traitor’s throat. The body, blood and all, instantly vanished.

“One less prisoner to interrogate, but I didn’t want to take the time to subdue her,” Lana said, wiping her blade on her T-shirt. “Is Fee okay?”

Elise rolled, laying her hands on Fianna, who coughed, bringing up a bloody foam. “Nobody.” Cough. “Should.” She choked and gasped. “Hurt.” Another, weaker cough. “Children.”

Elise didn’t respond, she was too busy trying to heal the woman. Damn, the bullet was cold iron and it had passed through a lung to lodge at the edge of the heart.

“Meagan, tweezers—long skinny ones,” she yelled, knowing the commotion would have brought her friend running to the door. “Lana, slice open her shirt.”

Lana bent down and used her knife to cut Fianna’s polo shirt from neckline to hem, before turning her back to them, standing guard. Colin, Morwynna and Belinda appeared at their various doorways, Morwynna with a wicked-looking blade in her hand, Colin with a hockey stick. Good.

“Here.” Meagan blinked in a pair of long pointed tweezers. “But would it be easier if I just blinked out the bullet?”

“Hell, yes.”

Elise maintained a mental connection with the wound, stopping the bleeding as best she could. Then Meagan knelt and laid her hands on Fianna as well. Elise felt the additional power flow in as Meagan poured her magic into Fianna to stabilize the patient. A moment later, Meagan held the bullet in her hand.

Elise integrated the additional power, instantly starting to mend the gap left by the bullet. “You’re getting good at this, but don’t overtax yourself and hurt the baby.”

“I won’t,” Meagan promised. True to her word, she pulled back as soon as the bullet was clear of Fianna. Immediately, Morwynna knelt and took Meagan’s place, while Belinda helped Meagan to her feet.

Elise paused for breath before repairing ribs, muscle and other tissues. She’d used her power more today than any other time in her life and she was damned near out. Exhausted, she sank back on her ass on the floor as Fianna’s eyes fluttered open.

***

“We’ve got gunfire on the second floor!” Aidan heard the words as he stepped into the house through the security entrance, their motley team trailing behind them, some carrying or prodding the prisoners.

The guard yelling was Toby’s nephew, Morgan, who was running down the hall toward the stairs, headset on and weapon in hand. Forgetting the prisoners for a moment, Aidan ran right behind him, Ric and several others close at his heels.

“Wallis, mind the prisoners,” Aidan called back over his shoulder as he raced up the service stair. “Toby, see our guests through the portal so they can go home.”

His bedroom was directly above the library, allowing for a secret passage between his walk-in closet and the portal chamber. Had someone tried to use it? As he reached the top of the stairs, two steps behind Morgan, he saw Elise and Morwynna on the floor in his bedroom doorway, along with Fianna, all of them covered in blood. Meagan, her hands bloody, leaned against Belinda’s shoulder.

His heart started beating again when he saw Elise and Meagan both turn and wave at their approach. “What did that bitch do now?” He ’ported in his cutlass. This was the last straw—he was ending Fianna once and for all.

Elise got shakily to her feet and stood in his way, laying both of her hands on his shoulders. He’d never seen her so pale—or so bloody. “She saved Dina’s life. Almost died doing it. Leave…her…alone.” Her voice was little more than a whisper and she swayed against him, her knees giving out.

Aidan dropped his cutlass and caught her in his arms before she could hit the floor. Desmond had stepped forward to catch her too, but Aidan was quicker and ignored the sharp look her brother cast his way.

Meanwhile, Greg shoved past Aidan to crouch beside Fianna, whose shirt front was torn away, revealing a white bra stained red with blood. He ran his hand across her skin and then buttoned her sweater.

“Seriously.” Meagan launched herself into Ric’s arms. “This maid pulled a gun…” She pointed to the weapon now in Lana’s hand. “She seemed pretty freaked out about something.”

“Jennet?” Aidan asked. All the women shrugged, even Elise, whose shoulders rubbed against his chest.

“It’s the same bitch who was sleeping with the gardener.” Greg snarled as he stood and eased Fianna up beside him, his arm wrapped possessively around her waist. “Her scent is all over the place.”

“Where is she now?” Aidan asked.

“Dead.” Lana bared her teeth. “But I wouldn’t have gotten to her in time. Fee threw herself in front of the bullet. Honest.” She traced an X across her chest. “Elise healed her, but I think it was pretty close.”

Meagan nodded. “Get Elise cleaned up and put to bed, Aidan. And go talk to Dina—she’s hiding under the covers hoping everything’s going to be okay.”

“I think we could do with showers and sleep all around,” Ric agreed. “You have someplace to lock up the prisoners?”

Morgan the guard nodded. “There are a couple hidden cells in the basement. We can throw them in there until morning.”

“Bring in more guards from Rosemeade if you need them,” Meagan said. “I left instructions that they’re to answer to Wallis or Toby if need be. I want eyes on those bastards every minute.”

Aidan nodded his agreement. “And don’t forget Dylan, the groundskeeper. Round him up and throw him in the cell as well.”

“You got it, boss.” Morgan and the other guards turned and headed back down the stairs. “You want me to send a couple guards up here?”

Desmond shook his head “We can take shifts. You guys cover the prisoners.”

Off to one side of the hall, Aidan saw Cynric and Clive hugging their wives who’d come out into the hallway, and Colin, who stood in the adjoining bedroom door. Good thing this was a damn big house.

George exchanged a look with Jase and turned to Aidan. “Jase and I can take first watch. Neither of us took any damage at the steel mill.”

Des swallowed hard and held out his hand to Greg. “You and I can take the second shift, Novak?” It was a peace offering, considering Des’s long-standing grudge against wolves, and Aidan wondered what the hell had triggered that change.

Greg accepted the gesture with the hand not wrapped around Fianna and nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” He turned to Aidan. “So where are the showers and beds?”

Unable to gesture with his arms full of Elise, Aidan tipped his head at the hallway. “Pick a room. Dial zero on the house phone if you need anything. Wake me up when it’s my turn to stand watch.” He strode into his room and sat Elise on the bed beside Dina, who poked her head out from under the covers.

“Daddy!” She launched into his arms and hugged him.

“Hey, sweetheart. Everything’s okay. We had a spot of trouble out in the hallway, that’s all, but it’s over now.”

Dina nodded. “Mommy’s all bloody.”

“Yeah, now it’s Mommy’s turn for a bath.” Elise made a trembling attempt at a laugh. “Can you go back to sleep, baby?”

The child looked anxiously from one parent to another. “You’ll both be here when I wake up, right?”

“You got it, princess.” Aidan kissed the top of Dina’s head. “We’ll be right there in that bathroom. When we’re all cleaned up, we’ll come back in here and we can all sleep together. How’s that?”

“Okay.” She curled back up on the pillows and closed her eyes.

“Time to get clean, Mommy.” Aidan picked Elise up again, even as she moved to stand on her own.

Too tired to struggle and enjoying being held too much to try, she wrapped her arms around his neck for the short trip to the bathroom. Aidan bypassed the enormous tub in favor of the even more decadent marble-lined shower. Elise rolled her eyes—he could fit an entire hockey team in this thing with room left over. There were jets in the ceiling, up and down all four walls and a built-in bench on one wall, long enough to sleep on.

As Aidan approached the enclosure, he spoke a brief word and the water started up. Little flicks of his fingers caused first Elise’s, then his clothing to vanish with every step closer to the shower. By the time he reached the glass door, it was steamed up from the hot spray and he murmured one last command to make the door swing open as he stepped inside, Elise still held securely in his arms as he kicked it shut.

In the center of the marble-tiled space, he shifted his grip, allowing her to slide down along his body to stand on her own feet—well, toes at least. He still supported most of her weight, both from his arms wrapped around her back and the fact that she leaned heavily against his chest. The hot spray prickled against her skin and she sighed at the luxury of it, even as she buried her face in the dent between his pecs and inhaled his spicy, musky scent.

Everything that had happened in the last two days came crashing back and she leaned into him, wrapped her arms around his waist and hung on until the shivering stopped.

“Gods, Elise,” he muttered thickly into her hair. “Do you have any idea how much you scared me? They said there’d been gunfire and I saw you on the floor, all covered in blood…”

“N-n-not my own.” She shuddered as Fianna’s blood rinsed away and swirled down the drain. Her palm rubbed his stiff back. He was so tense his spine felt like a drawn bow, ready to snap.

“I know. Not yours. Thank the gods.” He dropped kisses all over her head and squeezed her so tightly she could barely breathe.

She wasn’t about to complain. It felt wonderful. Even as tired and stressed as she was, her body was softening and relaxing in response to his closeness. She drew in a couple more ragged breaths and got her voice under control. “I felt the same, you know. When that asshole pulled me through that portal and I felt your blood all over my hand. I was sure you were dead…” Her voice cracked and she sniffled against his warm, strong chest.

“Ah, leannan. It was close, I’ll admit. But our little girl is one hell of a healer. And now I’m fine and so are you and here we are together.” He nudged her with his hips, pressing the firm evidence of his own arousal against her stomach.

“Dina?” She’d healed Aidan? “Thank the gods.” Suddenly, she remembered what she needed to tell him—the things she’d learned from Fianna. Even as she subconsciously rubbed her breasts against his ribcage, her own arousal surging, she tried to keep her mind clear for this conversation they needed to have. “Aidan, there’s something I have to tell you.”

“Later,” he decreed huskily as he nipped her ear. “Right now, I need you. I need this. We’re both alive and whole and together. Dina is safe in the next room and can’t hear us over the shower. That’s all that matters for now. The rest can wait.” His hands skimmed down her back to cup the cheeks of her butt.

“But…” Her traitorous body was clearly on his side. Without realizing she was doing it, she’d widened her stance and her own hands were sliding up his chest to loop around his neck. He was right. After the day they’d had, the urge to reaffirm and celebrate life was a powerful one. She lifted her face for his kiss, glad that the floor of the shower was a rougher tile than the smooth marble walls, providing traction so she didn’t slip.

Yes! The touch of his lips on hers sent a jolt of awareness zinging through her, to the tips of her fingers and toes. Aidan! It seemed that something deep inside her stirred to life, recognizing its mate. Goddess, how she loved this man.

Their tongues tangled. His darted, retreated and claimed her again and again. One of his hands slid down the crevice of her backside and between her legs to stroke and play, while he brought the other around and up between them to cup her breast. She moaned into his kiss. Not content to let him do all the work, she tangled one hand in his short dark hair and used the other to cup the side of his head, rubbing the pointed tip of his ear between thumb and forefinger. His already rigid erection stirred and lengthened at the touch and this time it was he who moaned.

“Need you,” he murmured, pulling his mouth from hers. Rather than bend over further to run his lips down her neck, he simply wrapped his arms around her waist again and lifted her up to him. “Now.”

She didn’t need any more preliminaries either. Elise wrapped her legs around his waist and tipped her head to give him access as he nibbled his way down her throat. When he shifted her a bit, bringing the head of his cock into alignment with her core, she sighed happily and dug her fingernails into his shoulders.

“Mine,” he grunted as he impaled her in one slow but determined thrust of his hips.

“Yours,” she agreed, too lost in the moment to know what she was saying, or to care. She pulsed her hips against his, trying to take him deeper but their tenuous position didn’t give her any leeway. “Wall.”

“You okay with that?” Obviously he remembered that she’d been reluctant at first when he’d loomed over her—was it only earlier that same day? It didn’t matter. This was Aidan and after that one moment of panic, she’d known to the deepest reaches of her soul that he’d never, ever hurt her—at least physically. Right now she wanted him to take her, deep and hard.

“Wall,” she repeated. “Yes. Now.”

He moved toward the wall, speaking to her in a language that resembled Gaelic and Welsh but was older than either. She couldn’t understand the words, but her heart thrilled at the guttural intensity with which he uttered them. When he pressed her back into the cool marble tile, she shivered with pleasure and used the support to tilt her hips, drawing him deeper inside.

“Yes,” she moaned again. He recaptured her lips, so she couldn’t speak as he began to slide slowly out of her channel before thrusting back in with just enough controlled force to make her tremble.

His chest pressed her into the wall, his hands supporting her hips, so he couldn’t caress her with those long, clever fingers, but she didn’t care. All that mattered was the steady rhythm of his body pounding into hers, the frantic mating of their lips and tongues. She gripped him hard with hands and nails, and sucked on his tongue when he thrust it into her mouth. Aidan retaliated by swiveling his hips as he thrust, hitting spots inside her she hadn’t even known she had. He did it twice more, shoving himself deep enough that she could have sworn he touched her spine. On the third, she shattered, climaxing with a cry that came straight from her soul. Her womb clenched, her inner muscles clamped down on Aidan’s cock and held him deep as she shuddered around him.

Even as he swallowed her shriek, he groaned into their kiss and pushed deeper still as his body shook with release. She felt the hot splash deep in her channel and the tremors that raked him as he poured himself into her.

“Mine,” he whispered again, followed by more words in the elven language of his birth.

“Mine.” She buried her face in the crook of his neck as the aftershocks rippled through her belly. The dampness on her face might have been all from the shower or some of it might have been tears. She loved him so much—and this moment was far too perfect to last.

Still holding her, he backed over to the adjacent wall and sat down on the bench. His penis was still semi-erect inside her, so she straddled his lap and rested her head on his shoulder, enjoying the moment as he ran his hands through the wet length of her hair and cradled her close.

Long moments later, she felt herself start to nod off and jerked her head up. The water had begun to turn cool. Considering the dozen or so people who’d needed showers, she was amazed the hot water had lasted this long.

“Time to get clean, leannan,” He gave her a cheerful pat on the butt and lifted her off him before he stood as well.

She reached for a bottle of shampoo—the same one she’d used that morning—or was it yesterday? Anyway, she took the travel-sized bottle and dumped some into her hand and started lathering her hair.

“I was looking forward to doing that for you, but I don’t think we have time.” His slightly crooked grin made her smile back at him. Sometimes, when he forgot to be the arrogant tycoon or the mighty pirate, he was such a…guy. They both finished washing in record time as the water turned from cool to cold.

“Since we’re all sharing the bed, you’ll need this.” He blinked in the nightgown she’d worn the night before, or one a lot like it. He handed it to her as soon as she finished toweling off, blinking in a pair of silk pajamas for himself.

All sharing? She hadn’t thought about that, but she was too sated and tired to argue.

“Let me do this. It’s quicker.” He ran his hands through her hair, muttering a quick spell to dry the thick, straight strands.

“Cheater.” She poked him in the chest. “But thanks.” Fatigue was crashing in fast.

“Your magic is a part of you—denying it does no one any good. But we’ll talk about that another time. Now, it’s time for bed.” He led her out of the bathroom, turning lights off behind them as they went. At the edge of his king-sized bed, he lifted the covers and motioned her in before him. “You get the middle.”

Dina was sleeping peacefully, curled up with Peggy on the far edge of the bed. Elise crawled in to the middle and tucked one arm around her daughter, who snuggled back into her with a contented sigh.

Aidan spooned up against Elise’s back and wrapped one long arm around them both. “Both my girls, safe and warm,” he whispered into Elise’s ear. “It’s a good night, love. Sleep tight.”

Cocooned between the two people she loved more than anything else in the world, how could she do anything else?

Chapter Ten

Monday morning came far too early in Aidan’s opinion.

He cracked one eye open to look at the bedside clock while he reached for the phone that was buzzing. Make that Monday afternoon. He hadn’t gotten to sleep until nearly dawn. Now it was ten past twelve.

“Boss, you want me to cancel your conference call with the regional directors for one o’clock, or do you want to go ahead with it?” Mairead’s cheerful voice greeted him. Why was she so perky? It wasn’t as if she’d gotten any more sleep than the rest of them. “Also, Wallis wants to know if you want to be part of interrogating the prisoners. He’s getting sort of anxious about that.”

Right.

Aidan looked at the rumpled bed beside him, to discover that Elise was still asleep, but Dina wasn’t there. Panic rose in his throat for a moment, until he heard the toilet flush in the adjacent bathroom.

“Cancel all business meetings until further notice. The regional directors can earn their pay for a change without me. Claim it’s a family emergency, tell them I’m sick, whatever you want. Let Wallis know I’ll be down in half an hour. And how do you feel about babysitting for a bit?”

“Done and done.” Mairead chuckled. “Boss, if you want me to watch that adorable child, I’d be delighted. Quite honestly, I’d be willing to take it on full time as soon as you find yourself a new secretary.” She’d only filled in as his assistant out of need. Though she was good at it, Aidan knew it wasn’t her first choice of occupations.

“Good to know—I’ll mention that to her mother after the confusion has died down.”

Dina came back into the bedroom and grinned at Aidan who held his finger to his lips and pointed to Elise.

Dina nodded, walked over and without any further sound climbed onto the bed next to Aidan and hugged him. He squeezed back, ignoring the dull ache in his chest. No, he wasn’t giving her up. No way, no how.

“We’ll be down for breakfast in a few minutes,” he murmured to Mairead. “Make those calls, please.” He turned to Dina and whispered, “Do you know how to blink yourself some clothes from your house?”

Dina bit her lip, and her smooth brow furrowed for a second before she smiled and nodded. A few minutes later, a pair of jeans embroidered with pink butterflies appeared in her hands, followed by a green long-sleeved T-shirt.

“Good girl,” he praised. “Underthings?” Hell, he wasn’t even sure what a girl that age would wear under her clothing.

She concentrated again and came up with a pair of cotton panties. Aidan supposed that was all she’d need.

“Okay. I’m going into the bathroom, so you can get dressed in here,” he told her. “Quietly, so you don’t wake Mommy, all right?”

Dina nodded.

Aidan ruffled her hair, kissed her cheek and headed toward the bathroom, a happy smile on his face. When he came out a few minutes later, shaved and dressed in clean jeans and a hunter green silk shirt, he saw her sitting cross-legged on the floor, wrestling with a hairbrush.

“Come on, let’s do this out there.” He jerked his thumb at the hallway. At the last moment, Aidan remembered Elise threatening to gut him with a spoon if he left her to sleep again, so he leaned over and woke her with a kiss.

“Dina and I are going down for breakfast. You want to come with us or catch some more sleep?”

“Sleep.” She grinned up at him. “Thanks for checking.”

Dina gave her mother a kiss and followed Aidan out into the hallway where she handed him the brush and a pair of plastic barrettes shaped like pink butterflies.

“Wasn’t I supposed to take a shift?” Aidan asked Cynric and Clive who were standing guard, one on each end of the corridor.

Cynric shrugged. “Would’ve woken you eventually, but figured you and your ladies could use some sleep.”

“Thanks.” Aidan led Dina down to the stair landing, which opened into a small sitting area. Plopping on a chair, he pulled her to stand between his knees. Painstakingly he used the brush—and maybe a touch of magic—to smooth all the tangles from her shiny dark hair. It was as thick and straight as her mother’s and almost as dark, but there was the occasional glint of copper that might, just might have come from him.

“What you did with your clothes?” he said. “You know you can’t do that in front of other people, right?”

“I know. People who can’t do magic might get angry if they knew other people can.” She recited the words as though they’d been drilled into her from day one—which they probably had. “Mommy doesn’t like me to do magic at all. She’s scared of it.”

Scared? Interesting. He eased a tangle out with his magic. “You’re very smart, aren’t you?”

“Mommy says so,” she replied, yelping only once when he pulled her hair with the brush. When Aidan apologized, she shrugged. “It’s okay. Mommy does that too.”

Once every snarl was gone, he turned her to look at him, used the barrettes to clip the sides back from her face and held her at arms length to check.

“Well, it’s kind of lopsided, but I think it’ll stay long enough for us to get to the kitchen. What do you say, sweeting? Waffles or French toast?”

She grinned back at him. “Waffles with strawberries?”

“Sounds good to me.” Taking her hand, he led her down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Mairead, Bronwyn and Tara, the cook, all fussed over her endlessly—and of course provided Belgian waffles with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Aidan ate a more balanced brunch of an omelet with ham and a fruit salad, but he paid no attention to the food as he was too busy laughing and talking to Dina.

***

Maybe twenty minutes after Aidan and Dina left, Elise stirred from the warm, comfy bed. She found her clothing from the day before, fresh and clean on a chair in the bathroom. After she quickly washed and dressed, she called the gallery and had a chat with her manager, making sure he could handle things for another day or even two if necessary. Finally, she placed another call, letting Sylvia, Dina’s babysitter, know that Dina wouldn’t be in. After that was taken care of, she pulled on her boots and made the trip downstairs.

The sight that met her eyes at the kitchen door stopped her in her tracks. Aidan and Dina weren’t eating in the formal dining room, they were at the worktable in the kitchen. Several of his staff was in there as well and a couple of the other overnight guests had gathered—she didn’t miss the fact that Morgan and another armed guard stood watch in two corners of the room. A few of the assembled group were still eating, but Aidan and Dina had obviously finished. Their chairs were pulled up right next to each others’ and both glossy dark heads were bent over a coloring book. Aidan worked on the left hand page, while Dina colored on the right.

“I still say the unicorn can be any color you want him to be,” Aidan said. “It’s only a drawing. Who says they have to be white or black like real horses? Have you ever seen a unicorn? How do you know they don’t come in blue?”

Several of the others around the wide oak table laughed.

“I saw one once.” Colin looked fully recovered in his chain-covered pants and rock band T-shirt. “It was black, but that doesn’t mean all of them are.”

“This one is white.” Dina gripped the white crayon tightly. “Daddy, your dragon is supposed to be green, not purple.”

Aidan obediently switched crayons.

I can never separate them now. Elise knew that as well as she knew her own name. And sometime today, she had to tell Aidan that there was a good chance Dina really was his biological daughter. Her heart broke at the years the two of them would never get back—all because of her. Still, the camaraderie between them made her smile, despite her misgivings.

He looked up and saw her, and his face brightened. “Good morning—well, afternoon. You look rested.”

“I am, thanks.” She moved into the room and all the males stood. Colin instantly shifted over, leaving the seat on Dina’s other side empty. Elise smiled to thank him. “Tara, I’d kill for a cup of tea if you can manage. Hope I didn’t miss brunch. I had to call in to my gallery and let them know I was going to be out today.”

“Actually, your timing is perfect.” Aidan handed over the box of crayons. “You can take over the dragon. Wallis is waiting for me in the basement. I’ll be up in a while to let you all know how things went.”

He stood, kissed the top of Dina’s head, gave Elise a more grown-up kiss on the mouth and whistled a cheery tune as he left the room.

Des cleared his throat from across the table and raised one eyebrow, making Elise flush and shake her head. “I think I’ll go see what’s going on in the basement.” He smiled around the table. “The League is going to need to know about this too. Excuse me, please.” As he passed Elise’s chair, he leaned down to whisper, “I’ll talk to you later.”

Yeah, she’d look forward to that—like a root canal.

***

Aidan met up with Wallis in the security office, unsurprised to find Greg with him, swilling coffee.

Desmond, who’d caught up with Aidan in the hallway, scowled at the werewolf as he came in. “Should have known you’d be in here.”

Greg raised one bushy eyebrow. “One of these days, Sutton, we’re going to have it out. But not today. Whatever the hell is going on here effects my people as well as yours, so we’ll put the pissing match on hold. That work for you?”

“As long as you think you can keep from lifting your leg to mark your territory, yeah.” Des leaned against the doorframe, ignoring Greg’s glower. “So, have we learned anything from the goblins yet?”

“Most of them are barely smart enough to know their own names, let alone spell them.” Wallis shook his head in disgust. “The orc is even dumber. Just knows he’s supposed to not let anyone into the building or out of the cells and honestly, I think that much was a geas spell. We’re going to question the wolves next. Figured the boss would want to be there for that. Odds are, they were in charge.”

“Have you traced any ownership on the Zug Island property?” Aidan looked over Wallis’s shoulder at the computer screen. “Any way we can link Oswald to that?”

“No, the whole area belongs to a steel company. About half of it is still in operation, making parts for what’s left of the auto industry.” Wallis typed away on his keyboard. “If Oswald had an arrangement to use the place, it was strictly off the books. More likely, he simply took over the building and masked their presence with enough magic to make the guards look the other way.”

Aidan grunted. “Anything on the phone numbers?” He’d handed Wallis the sticky note the night before, on the way back from the island.

“They’re all disposable cell phones. No help there. The phones on the wolves were too. Only calls dialed were the ones on that sheet and I didn’t get answers from any of those numbers when I tried.” Wallis shut down his computer screen. “Shall we go talk to the wolves?”

“Care to let me take point?” Greg tipped his head at Aidan.

Aidan shrugged. “Works for me.”

“Good. Give me a pair of gloves and something silver.”

Desmond scowled. “No torture. They’re scum, but we can’t sink to their level.”

“I know.” Greg winked at him. “But they don’t know that.”

Wallis handed the wolf a pair of leather work gloves, while Aidan ported in a silver signet ring. “Will this work?” He handed the ring to Greg, who slid it on over the glove.

The werewolf’s smile was wicked. “Perfect.” Along with the others, he followed Aidan toward the stairway.

At the bottom of the basement stairs, Aidan worked another secret door. This one led to an underground area that wasn’t beneath the actual house and didn’t show on any blueprints or city assessment forms.

The holding area wasn’t large—three cells, each ten by twelve feet, were equipped similarly to the one where Aidan and Dina had been kept. The differences were significant, though. There were at least thin mattresses on the bunks, the prisoners had access to water for drinking or washing and Aidan had never shoved innocent children in there. The cells filled three corners of the space, with a guard post and the exit in the fourth. Another door stood open, revealing a concrete room about six by six, with a single light bulb in the ceiling and runes carved into the walls. It was meant to contain serious magical threats, but sometime in the night, Wallis must have turned it into an interrogation room. The stainless steel table and two metal chairs were new, making it look a lot like something off a TV cop show.

The orc and five of the goblins shared one cell, the other six goblins were in another. In the center, the two werewolves paced in wolf form, though divested of their silver shackles.

“One at a time?” Aidan asked, letting Greg take charge.

Greg showed a hint of fang as he grinned. “Yep. Got a Taser in this place, Wallis?”

Wallis opened a drawer in the guard’s console and pulled one out.

“Good.” Greg bared his fangs at the wolves in the cell. “Little known fact—though wizard-boy here has probably heard about it.” They all ignored Desmond’s low snarl. “Electricity shocks shifters into changing—and knocks them for a loop. Stun ’em both and haul one in there with your silver handcuffs.”

Without a word of protest, Wallis walked up to the bars.

“No!” One of the wolves changed into a naked—and filthy—human and gripped the bars of the cell door. “Please don’t—we’ll come out on our own.”

Greg showed some more fang and growled low in his chest. “Just you. Walk out that door and into the other room. Try anything and my friend here will shoot you with his toy. Then I’ll have you for lunch.” He glared at the other wolf, still on four legs and cowering in the corner. “You. Stay. Good dog.” He snorted and stepped back so Aidan could unlock the cell.

Wallis kept the Taser trained on the werewolf as he walked out of the cell, fingers laced on top of his head. Aidan relocked the cell behind him, as Greg prodded him into the questioning room and pushed him none too gently into one of the chairs.

Des closed the door to the small chamber behind them and leaned against it, blocking any attempt the wolf might make to escape. Wallis and Aidan stepped back to either side of the door, watching Greg establish his dominance over the other wolf.

“Make a move and the silver cuffs come back.” Greg’s voice was low and menacing. He loomed over the other werewolf at his full height of perhaps six feet, legs splayed and hands on hips, all alpha wolf. He growled softly and spit on the floor beside the chair. “Poor little omega wolf cub. Tell us who you work for and we might spare your miserable life.” The term cub was pure insult—based on the gray streaks in his hair and his lined face, this wolf looked quite a bit older than Greg.

The other wolf found some spine and hissed, spitting back directly into Greg’s face.

“Oh, yeah, I’m glad you did that, you pathetic pissant.” Greg grinned and held up his gloved hand, with the bulk of the silver signet ring turned inward toward the palm. He drew his hand back for a strike.

Aidan thought about reminding Greg they’d agreed on no torture, but he trusted Greg not to cross the line—not by too much anyway. All Aidan had to do was remember Dina in that tiny, grungy cell and his scruples pretty much disappeared.

The wolf cringed and lowered his head, exposing his neck to Greg. “No. Please don’t. What do you want to know?”

“Take away all my fun,” Greg grumbled. “Fine. Let’s start with your name and where you’re from. I’ve never seen you in the Detroit area before.”

“Stanislaw Wosnicki. I live in Hamtramck, but I moved here from New York a few months ago to work with my cousin Pete. He owns a Polish bakery.” Hamtramck, a small city completely enclosed by Detroit, was a mostly Polish community and a lot of werewolves had Eastern European ancestry, so of course there’d be some overlap.

“Yeah, I’ve heard of a wolf named Wosnicki. Didn’t think he was an asshole, but I might have to reconsider. So, Stanny-boy, how’d you end up working for Oswald Le Faire?”

“Le Fairy, who? Oh, you mean that elf dude? Never heard his name. Only saw him a couple times. Turns out you make shit money working for a bakery. Frank—that’s another cousin, in there.” He jerked a thumb out to indicate the cell. “He said he knew a guy wanted some muscle. Wasn’t the elf, though. At the time I figured he was just some Arabic dude.”

“So the Arabic dude—and he’s a djinni, you moron—comes up to your cousin looking to hire some lupine muscle. When?”

Stan shrugged. “’Bout a week ago, I guess.”

“And you didn’t bother asking what you’d be doing?”

The prisoner shrugged. “Didn’t much care.”

“Not even when you saw children in those cells?” The words spilled from Aidan’s mouth before he could stop them.

Stan shook his head. “Not really. Wasn’t any of my business.”

Aidan would have blinked in his cutlass if the wards in this room would have allowed it. Greg slammed his gloved hand, wearing the silver ring, down on the other wolf’s hand, making him yelp in pain. “Wrong answer, omega. Now, if you don’t want that burned into the skin of your dick, tell us everything you can about the elf, the djinni and the whole operation.”

“Okay, okay!” He sucked at the slight red mark on his hand, which was gone in seconds anyway. What a useless wimp, Aidan thought. “All we were ever told was to guard the prisoners, feed them at certain times and not ask questions. If anything happened, we were supposed to call Abed, the djinni. If we couldn’t get him, we could call the elf and if shit really hit the fan, there was another number—the big cheese, I think—but we never got a name for him.”

“What makes you think the elf wasn’t in charge?” Greg stepped back, giving Stan some space. “Or the djinni, for that matter.”

“I heard them argue.” Stan relaxed a bit and dragged in a breath. “When the elf brought that one in…” He pointed at Aidan. “He wanted to go ahead and kill everyone right away. The other guy wanted to wait until they had the rest. When elf-boy bitched, the umm—djinni—threatened to tell someone named ‘Nightshade’ on them, and pointy-ears came right around.”

“Nightshade?” Wallis and Aidan mouthed at each other, before each turned to Desmond, with blank looks and shakes of the head. It backed up the idea that there was more going on here than Oswald wanting control of the council.

“So how did the djinni find your cousin?” Greg demanded, leaning over the table. “It’s not like magic types and wolves usually hang around together.”

“He used a name,” Stan admitted slowly. “Beowulf is apparently working for Nightshade, and he gave the djinni a list of names. None of us were willing to say no to him.”

Greg sucked in a breath and sat back on the table. “Beowulf? You’re sure?”

Stan nodded. “Once I heard that name, I sure as hell wasn’t going to argue.”

“And you have no idea who might have hired him, or the elf and djinni?”

The prisoner shook his head frantically. “Not a fucking clue. All I know is Abed said something about taking advantage of the elf’s own craziness. I don’t think the people we had were the primary targets, not for the big boss. I think they were just using the elf to stir things up for his people—so the Fae would have too much trouble of their own to deal with, and they’d get the hell out of Detroit.”

“Shite, this goes deeper than we thought.” Aidan shared a glance with Des.

The wolf kept babbling. “Anyway, after screwing this up, I’ll be lucky if I live long enough to get the hell out of the country before Beowulf finds me.” His skin had gone pale.

“Oh, I think we can help with that,” Aidan drawled. “You’re about to spend some time as a guest of the faerie queen.”

The werewolf swallowed hard. “Faerie…queen?” He slumped into his chair. “Fine. Maybe Beowulf won’t find me wherever that is.”

“So do we transport all the prisoners to the palace?” Wallis asked after they sent Stan back into his cell and climbed the stairs. “Or do we let the goblins and the orc go?”

After a short hesitation, Aidan said, “All of them, for now, anyway. At the best, we’ve reduced their forces considerably, in case we have to fight them again. Also, based on what I heard this morning from the palace, it may actually extend their lifespans. Eamon turned up in the morgue last night with his throat ripped out. And if he popped up in the morgue, that means he was killed in this realm. They may well be taking out all the witnesses, even their allies once they’re done with them.”

“Sounds like Beowulf.” Greg shook his head. “Damn it, I was hoping Stanislaw was full of shit. We so didn’t need that complication.”

“Who—or what—the fuck is Beowulf?” Aidan was sick to death of not knowing what was going on. “Other than an old story?”

“Werewolf assassin of legendary status.” Greg’s voice was grim.

“The Wyndewin believe he is a legend.” Desmond slumped into a chair in the security office. “Story’s been around way too long—wolves don’t have two-hundred-year lifespans.”

Greg plopped onto the top of a file cabinet, while Aidan paced and Wallis booted up his computer. “No—we only live ninety to a hundred or so if we don’t get ourselves killed—which a lot of us manage to do. Beowulf, however, isn’t a single person—not historically at any rate. Belief within the clans and packs is that he’s actually different generations from the same bloodline. Each Beowulf picks the most suitable descendant and trains him so there’s a replacement when the old one retires or dies.”

“And none of the wolves have ever put a stop to him?” Aidan found that hard to believe.

Greg’s shrug was eloquent. “We don’t have an organized government like the Fae or even the Wyndewin. It’s pretty much every pack for itself. A lot of the packs have been involved in organized crime—hell, my grandfather worked with the Purple Gang in Detroit during Prohibition and never thought anything of it. The only thing all packs agree on is that keeping our secret means not preying on humans. There’s a treaty to that effect and sometimes packs will band together to take out a rogue. But Beowulf? Whoever he is, he’s way above the level of rogue, though he’ll take on a target from any race. From what I understand, his price tag is a million a hit. But witnesses are free.”

Aidan whistled. “So whoever our mysterious boss is, he’s got deep pockets and he’s willing to work with members of almost any race to accomplish his goals.”

Des shrugged. “Someone wants to own all the magic in Detroit. Sounds like typical turf wars to me. But what group is organized and powerful enough to take on both the Fae and the Wyndewin?”

Aidan shook his head. “Not the wolves. None of the other shifter groups have a big enough population here. The djinn in Dearborn seem happy to work with us above board, aside from this Abed. And why?”

Elise took a step inside and added her support to his statement. “Lana mentioned something last night that you probably need to know. Apparently there are a few in the werewolf community who’ve been hearing rumors of a ‘takeover’ in the supernatural community. Someone wants Detroit as their stronghold. Obviously they’ve got a mole in the League, or Des wouldn’t have been called to Toronto. Whoever is at the root of this, it goes way deeper than Oswald, but they’re not above using his grudge as a starting point.”

The men all nodded. What she said made a hell of a lot of sense. He wished the sight of her didn’t make him smile—it was damn undignified.

“Anyway, I came by to tell you that the Willows are going back Underhill. They’re going to gather their kids and grandkids at their estate for a while, so they can all keep an eye on each other. Meagan and Ric are talking about heading back to Paris, unless you need them for something else. Also, Jase wants to know if he should cancel his pottery class tonight, or if you think you’re okay with him and George taking off.”

“Do any of us think Oswald is stupid enough to try another snatch-and-grab?” Aidan looked around at the other men.

Greg, Wallis and Desmond all shook their heads. Greg spoke for them all. “I think at this point, he’s going to have to regroup and consider plan B.”

“In that case, everybody might as well go back to their lives.” Aidan stood and crossed to Elise. “Though I’d really rather you and Dina stay here for a couple more days.”

“I’m staying too.” Des got to his feet. “You can use more magical backup and Dina knows me. But you’re right—the others should probably go. This could stretch on for months.”

“Okay.” Greg stood too. “I’ll get Lana and Fee and go open the bar. But call if you need us for anything. Meanwhile, we’ll see what we can find out from our pack and a few other contacts, particularly about Beowulf.”

“Fee?” Aidan tried to imagine his snobbish former secretary allowing the nickname and couldn’t. Shaking his head, he turned back to Elise. “I need to go talk to the queen when we deliver the prisoners. Will you and Dina stay here?”

Elise shook her head. “Des can stay here with Dina. I’m coming with you.”

He knew he should argue—the palace might not be safe—but he couldn’t. She’d earned the right to stand by his side, especially since he wanted to keep her there for the rest of their lives. “Okay.” He smiled and took her hand, ignoring her hesitation and blush. “Let’s go ruin someone else’s day.”

Chapter Eleven

Once again, Elise found herself seriously underdressed for an audience with the queen.

“One of these times, I’m going to have to take you up on stopping for appropriate clothing.” She and Aidan waited in the queen’s office for Llyris to appear. “Although those gowns look uncomfortable as hell.” Many of the elves in this part of the palace wore full medieval, Elizabethan, or Victorian regalia, though as slim as they all were, she was sure they didn’t need to bother with corsets.

“Oh, I’m sure you’d find something you could live with,” Aidan said. “How about traditional Chinese? That would raise a few eyebrows and you’d look stunning.”

“Yeah, like I’d bind my feet for anyone.” Otherwise, though, that could work and it might irritate a few of the high-and-mighty Euro-centric elves, which would be an added bonus.

He sighed. “One of these days, you’re going to have to explain your grudge against the court, you know. I know you had it before you met me, so it’s none of my doing.”

“The portal guardian in Vancouver when I was young—he really hated the Wyndewin and went out of his way to humiliate my parents whenever possible. His teenage daughter did the same to me all through high school.” Elise had attended a private school like most Wyndewin, but that same school had also catered to other not-quite-humans, including the young Fae.

“Ouch. Sorry. But I like to think we’re just like any other group of individuals. Some good, some bad, some in between.”

The words were so close to the ones she’d said to Des about werewolves that she winced in chagrin. Had she subconsciously been holding that against Aidan all this time? Letting old feelings color her perceptions of his actions and character? Damn, there was another apology she owed him.

“That’s one explanation down. How about telling me why you won’t use your magic anymore? Dina said you were afraid of it, but that doesn’t sound like the Elise I’ve known.”

Elise stared at the ground. If she wanted to try to rebuild her relationship with him, she had to tear down her barriers and tell the truth. “I claim it’s because magic is just lazy when it comes to day-to-day life, but that’s just an excuse. The truth is, when I was attacked by the demon, my own magic turned against me.”

“How?” He gathered her close to his side, warm concern washing over her from his voice and his aura.

“I tried a new spell I’d been working on—one to reverse my healing ability and suck the life force out of an enemy. But it backfired. When I tried it, it weakened me and strengthened him. After the attack, while I was recovering, my magic failed every time I tried to use it. Once it even ended up hurting my mom. I was terrified, so after that I limited myself to protective spells.”

“Is that all, or was there more?” Aidan seemed to know she’d only told him part of the story. He did know her better than she’d ever given him credit for.

“Isn’t that enough?” She glanced up and shook her head. “No, there’s a little more. My retirement from the League wasn’t…pleasant. They didn’t want me to quit. By the time I was through arguing with them, I was so disgusted with witches in general that I didn’t want any part of the lifestyle for me or my daughter. I wanted to live in the non-magical world, so I thought we needed to act as ‘normal’ as possible.”

“I’ll never press you to do more magic than you’re comfortable with.” He leaned down and kissed her head. “But remember that it is part of who you are. Quit hating yourself, Elise. You’re far too good a person to deserve it.”

Before she could take the conversation any further, the guard announced Her Majesty. Aidan and Elise stood, bowing as she entered and took her seat on the other side of the desk.

As succinctly as possible, they filled her in on all the details of the last few days, including the probability that Oswald was working in conjunction with a much greater conspiracy.

“Unfortunately, we can only prove his crimes against the Fae.” Llyris frowned after she’d heard them out. “With your testimony, along with the other victims, there will be no problem convicting him. His crimes are serious enough that he’ll forfeit his position as Lord Le Faire and lose his seat on the council. That will quash his pretensions toward the throne once and for all.”

“And this new threat?” Aidan’s strong features were hard as he looked the queen in the eyes and made sure she couldn’t ignore the bigger picture. “A multi-pronged attempt to cast the Fae and other races out of Detroit? I think it would be in the council’s best interest to work with the Wyndewin League and even possibly the shifters to make sure this doesn’t happen.”

“Do you? And you, Miss Sutton? As a Wyndewin, are you in agreement with this?” The queen’s icy gaze turned onto Elise.

Elise sat up straight and forced herself to meet the monarch’s stare. “I’m no longer an official member of the League, but I do think this is a problem that warrants cooperation and I believe they will too.”

“Very well. Lord Green Oak, you may consider yourself my liaison in this matter with the Wyndewin League and, if it becomes absolutely necessary, with the shifters as well, as you seem to have formed some…connections among them.” She made a moue of distaste. “My guards will be informed to apprehend Oswald Le Faire on sight. Is there anything else?”

Aidan shook his head. “No, Your Majesty. And of course, I’ll be happy to work with the League on this matter.”

The man could lie like a pro. Elise had to fight a grin. Aidan would enjoy interacting with the League about as much as he’d like having his legs waxed. But he’d do it, she knew, because duty and keeping promises mattered to him. Yes, he was still an arrogant bastard at times, but she’d finally figured out he wasn’t so much a workaholic as he was completely and utterly responsible. That had sort of sucked in a boyfriend, but it probably wasn’t a bad trait for a father—or even a—what? Lover? Husband? Her head was whirling as she tried to sort out where they were headed, and they really needed to be focusing on more important issues than their own screwed-up relationship—like the future of the world as she knew it.

Elise was still lost in thought as they left the queen’s section of the palace, but she did notice when Aidan led her past the portal hall and toward his apartments.

“There’s someplace I’d like to show you—if you think we can spare an hour or two. Dina should be all right with Mairead and your brother, right?”

“Yeah.” She smiled up at him. “I think after all we’ve been through in the past few days, we deserve an hour or two off, don’t you?”

“But you still want to check in, don’t you?” He handed her his cell phone. “Speed dial one will ring the house.”

Busted. She grinned and dialed the house, pleased when Wallis immediately put her through to Des, who assured her he was having fun with Dina and in no great rush to leave. She spoke to her daughter for a moment, hiding her surprise when Dina insisted on talking to Aidan as well. Her only consolation was that the conversation left him looking dazed when he said, “Love you, too, sweeting. We’ll see you in a couple hours.” He blinked rapidly as he flipped his phone shut and slipped it back in the pocket of his jeans.

Elise laughed at his bemused expression. “She already has you totally wrapped around her finger, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah.” He shook his head as they continued walking. “I believe she does. How do you ever manage to say no to her? It’s suddenly occurred to me that enforcing any sort of discipline must be one of the hardest parts about being a parent.”

“It’s tough.” Elise looped her arm around his and squeezed lightly. “You have to remember that it’s usually for her own good. Well, and sometimes it’s to maintain your own sanity, but that’s important too.”

They’d reached the entrance to his apartment and he ushered her inside, raising her curiosity. What was here that he hadn’t shown her?

When he led her to a small, understated portal, she began to understand.

“I wanted you to see my home,” he said as he held her hand and stepped into the inky mist. “The house in Grosse Pointe belongs to Underhill. This apartment is a stopping-off place when I have to be at court, or a way station between my two worlds. But my real home—the place I was raised—is Oakwood and I wanted to show it to you.”

Elise was touched. She squeezed his hand and when her feet touched solid ground, she walked out of the portal and looked around appreciatively. The stone walls of the room were whitewashed and two were hung with medieval tapestries depicting unicorns, dragons and other Underhill animals. The bright jeweled colors hadn’t faded, though Elise knew instinctively they were old. The wall across from the portal held an elegant French provincial writing desk, making the armored guard who sat in front of it look out of place.

“My lord!” The guard, whom Elise recognized, but didn’t know by name, leapt to his feet and bowed. “Miss Sutton. Welcome to Oakwood.”

“Thank you, Philip.” Aidan nodded to the guard. “We’ll be here for an hour or two, in case any messages come in.”

“Of course.” Philip smiled and held open the arched door made of heavy oak planks banded by bronze. “Should I let the kitchen know you’ll want luncheon?”

“No, thanks.” Aidan took Elise’s arm and led her out into what could only be the great hall of a medieval castle. “We’ll stop there on our tour.”

Elise paused and looked around the hall. High timbered ceilings soared over whitewashed stone walls and a smooth flagstone floor. A long table sat on a high dais at one end of the room, while wide double doors forming a pointed arch sealed off the opposite end, flanked by leaded glass windows. Twin staircases rose on either side of the window to open onto wide galleries that ran the length of the great hall. The room they’d come out of was beneath the staircase on one side, and an enormous stone hearth sat in an alcove on the other. Several comfortable-looking leather chairs were clustered around a Persian carpet in front of the fire and Elise giggled as she realized there was a plasma screen TV off to one side. The juxtaposition of modern and medieval was just so…Aidan.

“Well?” Aidan’s voice was soft and sexy as he watched her spin in a circle, taking in the elegant furnishings and the priceless artwork scattered throughout the space. They’d walked to the center of the room and stood beneath an enormous bronze chandelier—the kind that held real candles, not electric lights.

“Wow.” Elise smiled up at him and pointed to the TV. “You get cable here?”

His easy laugh warmed her heart. “No, but you can rig up some appliances to run on magic instead of electricity and sometimes we do watch DVDs.”

She couldn’t resist teasing him some more, because she loved seeing him smile. “So this is home, huh? Just your average, run-of-the-mill castle? Of course in your world, there’ve probably only been a couple generations since this was considered normal.”

“Actually, my grandparents built most of the place. Before them, it was only this hall and nothing more.” His arm slid around her waist as he started walking again, easing her up the room toward the high table. “They added the rest of the castle around it. My parents liked it and never bothered to do more than redecorate a bit here and there, which is what I’ve done as well.”

“Well, I can see why.” She gave in to her body’s urging and leaned into him while they walked, her own arm circling his waist as well. “It’s lovely. Though I think I’d add some sculptures in those corners.” She pointed to the back of the dais. “Maybe some flowers on the tables and on either side of the door.”

“We do have a garden,” he said. “It isn’t as extensive or grand as Meagan’s at Rosemeade, but if you’d like to see it, maybe you can point out which flowers you’d suggest.”

“Sure.” A walk in an actual faerie garden? With a handsome elven lord, no less? What girl could resist that offer?

“Come on, we’ll cut through the kitchens.” He led her up the steps to the platform and through a small archway in the side wall that hadn’t been visible from the floor. Servants’ entrance, she realized, so they could serve the high table without attracting too much attention. A short corridor led to a huge, sunny kitchen that managed to be welcoming and cheerful, even with its stone and heavy-beam construction. Mullioned windows on the back wall let in the bright autumn sunshine, illuminating three women who worked briskly at various tasks—some using magic to accomplish them, such as the one minding something on the black enamel cook stove, and others not, such as another woman kneading dough by hand at a wooden work table.

All activity stopped when Aidan walked into the room.

“My lord!” The woman up to her elbows in bread dough looked up in shock. “We weren’t expecting you.”

“I know you weren’t. We’re only here for a passing visit. If there’s enough, though, we’ll eat the midday meal with the staff.”

“Of course.” She bowed over the dough, her hands never stopping, though she cast Elise a speculative glance.

“Thanks, Gladwys.” As he guided Elise around the table, he paused to snatch a couple of apples from a bowl and winked at the cook. “We’ll be in the gardens if anyone is looking for us.”

They exited through a small door in the back wall, into what was clearly the kitchen garden. Fragrant herbs grew in lush beds beneath fruiting apple, pear and cherry trees. Off to one side, neat rows of vegetables grew on either side of the cobblestone path. Aidan handed her one of the purloined apples and she grinned.

“Aren’t there stories warning humans against eating anything in Faerie? This won’t trap me here forever, will it?” They’d walked farther, to where a stone bench sat beneath a grapevine arbor.

“Only if you want it to.” There was an odd hitch in his voice. “But since you ate at the palace yesterday and made it home, I’d guess you’re safe.”

“Ah, so I did.” She took a bite, unsurprised to find it crisp, tart and juicy. “Aidan, there’s something I’ve really been needing to talk to you about.”

“Do you think Dina would like it here?” He ignored her statement and kept walking. They passed through a small, decorative wooden gate that separated the cooking garden from the more formal flower gardens that made up the castle’s yard. Sweeping lawns were framed by beds of colorful and abundant flowers, down to a creek that circled the castle—make that a moat. Beyond the moat, the castle was surrounded by rolling hills covered with towering forest—virgin growth, she guessed and given the name of the estate, they were probably mostly oak.

Aidan led her to another bench, this one in the shade of an ancient, gnarled oak tree, its leaves beginning to turn red. He eased her down and paced back and forth in front of her.

“Where are we?” she asked, stalling for time from a conversation she didn’t know how to begin. “I mean, if we were in the human realm, where would we be on the map?”

“Southern Ireland. Not too far from Cork.”

“Is this what Ireland looks like in the human realm? I’ve never been there.”

“It did once. Now this part is pretty built up—towns and farms instead of forest.” He stopped pacing to stand in front of her. “Look, Elise, I’ve had a good bit of time to think about this in the last few days. I know there’s a possibility—maybe even a probability—that Dina isn’t my biological daughter.”

She opened her mouth to contradict him, to tell him what she’d learned, but he held up a hand to stop her.

“And I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t bloody well care.” He grimaced and shoved his hands through his hair, pacing again. “That didn’t come out right. I do care. But it doesn’t matter to me if she’s not of my blood. One way or the other, Elise, she’s mine. I can’t explain why, I can’t tell you how it happened, but I love her and I want to be her father. She already seems to think it’s a grand idea.”

“Aidan—”

“I’m not done.” All his pirate arrogance was back as he turned to face her, legs splayed, hands on hips. “I love Dina and not only because I’m in love with her mother, though that’s part of it. I always have been. If we hadn’t argued, I’d have been there for you when you were attacked. I’d have been by your side through your pregnancy, through childbirth and I’d have claimed her as my own, right from the beginning.”

Elise had stopped breathing. She felt her jaw drop, knew her eyes were round as dinner plates. Aidan loved her? He always had?

She dragged in a breath, or tried to at any rate, but before she could get her lips to form the words, a shot rang out from behind a trellised rose bush.

“Elise, down.” Aidan leapt across the few feet between them and tackled her to the ground on the far side of the bench. The sharp tang of blood filled her nostrils even as she felt the impact of the earth beneath her and his weight on her chest.

“Fuck.”

Well, if he was swearing, he couldn’t be dead. That was good. She couldn’t heal him if he’d already died.

“I am getting bloody well tired of being shot.”

Okay, he wasn’t even badly injured; his voice was too steady. Elise pushed herself out from underneath him and eased to her knees behind the bench. Two men with guns advanced steadily toward them.

“Made it too damn easy, didn’t you, Green Oak? I thought I’d have to get into your house and use your private portal to come find you. Instead, you came right to me. How convenient is that?”

Oswald—she recognized him from the cairn—lifted his handgun and sighted down the barrel.

Behind Elise, Aidan leapt to his feet and blinked in a gleaming bronze cutlass. Pushing Elise down below the stone bench with one hand, he jumped over it to face his opponent.

She had no doubts about his ability to defeat Oswald. As soon as Aidan closed with the other elf, Oswald dropped his gun and ’ported in his own sword, a sharp-edged Roman-styled gladius, also in bronze. Elise might have let them finish it if she hadn’t seen the djinni, standing off to the side of Oswald, raise a lethal-looking revolver with the longest barrel she’d ever seen on a handgun. He aimed directly at Aidan, ignoring her.

She looked around for a rock, a stick, anything, but couldn’t find a single weapon. Even her shoes were too soft to be of any use. Fortunately, Aidan managed to maneuver Oswald between himself and the djinni.

“You ruined everything, you stupid mortal-loving sod,” Oswald bellowed as their swords clanged. “You were supposed to be dead.” The clanging and bashing of swords and grunts from their impact created gaps in his tirade, but he kept on going.

“You’re a sniveling coward and an ass, Le Faire.” Aidan parried a vicious thrust and sent a bolt of force that made Oswald stagger back a step. “At least this time you’re doing your own dirty work instead of preying on children.”

“Oh, your halfling brat is going to die too, count on it,” Oswald sneered. With his off hand he lobbed a small ball of energy that Aidan easily ducked. Aidan’s blade nicked his shoulder, but he managed to put a gash in Aidan’s side at the same time. “And the others, one by one. With Abed over there, I can go anywhere in either realm. The Willows, the Northwoods—” he grunted as Aidan got him with an elbow to the gut, “—all the contaminated families.”

Elise crept from behind the bench to behind the giant oak. If she could get close enough to touch the djinni, she might be able to do something…

Fear coiled in her stomach, forcing her to swallow back bile. Magic had failed her when she’d needed it most, so she’d rejected it. In order to save Aidan, though, she’d face down the damn Gravaki demon again. Or try the same dreadful spell. She was steadier now, calmer, and had more on the line. This time, she’d make it work—she had to. Steeling her nerves, she eased around the trunk of the tree and gauged the distance between her and the djinni.

Aidan and Oswald continued trading blows and magical blasts, though now both were breathing too raggedly for speech—both were bleeding pretty heavily too. Aidan caught Oswald in a clinch, but Oswald broke his grip with a blow to Aidan’s chin that sent him staggering back. Elise watched the djinni raise his weapon now that there was a gap.

She jumped.

Springing forward with all the strength her legs could muster—thank the gods for her spinning class—she tackled the djinni, knocking him to his side on the ground. His gun flew from his hand, though not before he’d squeezed off a shot. Wood chips sprayed her back as the bullet buried itself in the trunk of the old oak.

He tried to throw her off, but she scissored her legs around his and clamped down, holding tight. Gritting her teeth against the revulsion, she pushed her hands up under his shirt. That shocked him into pausing for a moment, which was all she needed.

Focusing all of her power, Elise did the one thing a healer was never supposed to do. She reversed the energy of her healing magic, draining his life force.

***

Aidan felt every wound Oswald had inflicted, but he refused to let them slow him down. Where were his damned guards when he needed them? Right—he’d wanted to talk to Elise alone, so he hadn’t told any to follow them to the garden. Damn it. Well, one way or another, this would be over soon. Either he or Oswald would be dead. He hoped like hell Elise had made it to the house, where his staff could keep her safe.

While Aidan was tiring, he could see that Oswald was too, maybe even more so. Aidan had made a point of keeping fit, whereas Oswald believed all his abilities were his by right and probably didn’t do anything to stay in shape or practice his swordsmanship. Aidan feinted with his cutlass and fought off Oswald’s attempt to ’port the sword from Aidan’s hand—a beginner’s trick. When Oswald blocked the strike that wasn’t there, Aidan got a wicked slash in against his opponent’s hip, drawing a fair bit of blood and knocking the rotter off-balance in the process. He ducked in close with his cutlass raised almost to Oswald’s neck, but Oswald brought up his off hand and landed a jab into Aidan’s chin that sent him reeling back.

Oh, shite. Aidan saw the djinni point the long-barreled revolver.

Before the bastard could shoot, Elise erupted in a blur from behind the ancient, holy oak tree that had given his family their name. The djinni fired as she bore him to the ground and Aidan barely missed being beheaded by a swipe from Oswald’s sword.

Forced to focus his attention on his own opponent, he rode the adrenaline spike caused by his fear for Elise. With rage fueling his sword arm, he beat Oswald back toward the tree until his knees bumped the bench. When he wavered for a second, Aidan struck. His cutlass blade slammed into the side of Oswald’s neck, cleanly severing the man’s head from his shoulders.

His head rolled off behind the bench, while his body stood for a second, blood fountaining from the neck, before it crumpled to the ground.

Aidan had already started moving toward Elise. She lay on the ground, her limbs tangled up with the djinni’s, and neither of them were moving. Aidan started breathing again when he saw her chest expand and contract as she hauled in a breath. He stepped closer until he could see what was going on.

Un-fucking-believable. Elise had her hands on the djinni’s skin, which was rapidly turning from swarthy to ashen. He gasped for breath, barely still alive, while Elise was pale and shaking herself. Aidan could feel the trails of magic swirling about the pair. This wasn’t Elise’s normal white, healing magic. This was something dark, corrupt and wrong, though in this case, it had probably been necessary. Abusing her power this way must have hurt, magically and emotionally.

The djinni’s gasping stopped as his body went still. Aidan took Elise’s trembling shoulders into his hands and said, “Leannan. Stop.”

At first she didn’t hear him. Two huge tears rolled down her face.

He shook her slightly. “Elise, he’s down. You won. You can stop now.” Grasping her wrists, he pulled her hands from the djinni’s abdomen.

“Aidan?” She let go of the djinni and looked up at him, her eyes wide and blank. “You’re hurt?”

“Only a little. I’ll be okay, but it would be nice if you could fix a couple of the deepest wounds.” And maybe turning her magic back to healing, where it was meant to be, would help her come out of the shell-shock she was in now.

“But the djinni…”

“Is almost dead.” Aidan checked quickly to verify the almost. Yeah, there was a trace of a heartbeat—slender but that was enough. “He won’t be conscious any time soon, sweeting. Come over here and you can help me out, hmmm?” He held her hands while she rose to her feet, and he guided her toward the keep.

Now, two guards came running around the side of the castle. He jerked his head toward the body and the djinni, receiving nods in response. He had a good team; they knew what he needed them to do.

By the time they reached the kitchen garden, Elise had come out of her fog. “Is Oswald dead?”

Aidan nodded. “He is. I’d be sorry about that if he hadn’t tried to kill us both one too many times.”

A ghost of a smile flickered across her lips. “I’m not. It had to be done. Did I kill the djinni?”

“Not quite. I imagine he’ll survive to be questioned by Llyris.” Aidan paused by the door to the kitchen and lifted one hand to her cheek, turning her face up to him. She was still pale, but the glazed look had gone from her eyes.

“Good,” she sucked in a couple of deep breaths and followed him into the keep, growing steadier with each step she took. Clearly the need to care for him was keeping her upright despite the drain on her magic.

When they got inside, Aidan felt the adrenaline rush leave him and suddenly all the pain and blood loss overwhelmed him. He swayed slightly, right before Elise shoved him into a chair.

“Let’s get that shirt off you,” she said and began to examine him with a critical eye. Without turning to the cooks, she held out her hand, “I need a wet cloth, please.”

When it was placed in her hand, she dabbed at a gouge on his upper arm, making sure there were no bits of cloth stuck in the wound. Once she was satisfied, she lay two fingers over the cut and healed it.

When it was done, she sighed and met his eyes. “Whew. I wasn’t sure it was going to work after what I did outside. Glad to know I didn’t screw up my powers for good.”

“You didn’t do anything but save your life and mine—and probably a whole lot of others, if they’d gotten away to carry out their plans.” He lifted her hand and kissed it, heedless of the fact that it was stained with his blood. “We’d both be dead right now if you hadn’t, and Dina would be alone. Don’t feel guilty about that, leannan.”

“I’ll try not to,” she said. She bent over to clean a cut on his ribs. After a pause, she said, “No, that’s not right. I won’t feel guilty, any more than I do about the elf I killed yesterday with a gun. Magic is simply another tool and I’d use it again if I had to. I’ve learned that much about myself. When it comes down to it, I’ll do whatever it takes to protect the people I love.”

Aidan looked up at her. In the background, he heard the kitchen staff all stop what they were doing to listen, but he didn’t care that they had an audience. They’d wasted too damned much time already. “Say that again, Elise.”

She finished the cut on his ribs and moved to tend the bullet wound on his left forearm. “I said I love you, you dolt. I’m not sure why, but I do. Always have. Always will.” Without pausing to look at his face, she finished repairing the graze and switched to another cut.

“Well.” This was where he was supposed to sweep her into his arms and carry her off to bed, or get down on one knee and propose. Neither of those seemed likely with her picking bits of silk out of his shoulder. “I love you too.”

“So you mentioned,” she said. “Just before they started shooting at us.”

“I guess I did.” He looked around and realized the cooks had tactfully left the room. They’d be getting bonuses in their paychecks this month. When Elise finished with the slash on his shoulder, he caught her hands in his before she could move to find another. “Look at me, sweeting.”

She stopped fussing and gazed into his eyes.

“I love you, Elise Mei-Xing Sutton. Will you marry me? Lifebond with me, even though it means spending the next several centuries dealing with the rest of the Seelie Council? I know it’s a lot to ask, but darling, I don’t want to live all those years without you.”

Chapter Twelve

Elise felt her eyes well up with tears. Her lips worked but no sound emerged. The first words that did weren’t what she meant to say. “I can’t believe you remembered my middle name.”

“It means ‘beautiful star.’ How could I forget something that suits you so perfectly?” He feathered his thumb across her lower lip.

Could he be any more wonderful? “Dina’s middle name is Lien, for my mother. It means ‘lotus,’ but you know I chose her first name to honor you. In my heart, you were always her father, even if my rational mind believed differently.”

“What’s important is that we’ll both love her, no matter what,” Aidan said, so tenderly that her eyes filled up again. “I give you my solemn oath that she’ll always be my daughter, in every way that counts, for the rest of our lives. I love her, Elise, almost as much as I love her mother.”

“Aidan, I need to tell you something.” Drained from both the fight and healing Aidan, she slumped on the bench beside him and waited until he turned to face her. “Last night, when Fianna jumped in front of that bullet meant for Dina? You need to hear what she told me that upset the maid to the point of murder.”

“Tell me, sweeting. Let’s have no more secrets between us. Whatever it is, we can deal with it together.”

“Did you notice that portrait of the queen as a girl in her office? The one on the swing?”

“Yes.” He tilted his head. “What does that have to do with us?”

“Did you notice the color of her eyes in the portrait?”

“No, why?” His brows knit together in puzzlement. “Her eyes are a pale blue—always have been.”

“No.” Elise clasped his hands tightly. “They haven’t always been. In that portrait, they were purple and the artist didn’t make a mistake. According to Fianna, who is a distant relative of the queen, I gather, certain exceptionally powerful Fae are sometimes born with eyes that change color. Somewhere in early childhood, they settle on a shade that suits them best. Llyris chose ice blue. Oswald, apparently, chose a darker sapphire. That’s why he believed it was his destiny to rule.” She paused as she watched the realization sink in. “And yes, my love, our daughter chose green. Just like her father’s.”

“But…” he opened and closed his mouth like a fish. “She’s so much more powerful than me—and there’s no one in my family like that…”

“I have a theory I’ve been working on.” She leaned up to kiss his chin, because she couldn’t resist. “When Desmond killed the demon that was attacking—raping—me, the magical explosion was—nuclear in scale. Like I said, I was completely burned out and pretty much unconscious for a long, long time. It was that massive. If I was already pregnant and Dina somehow got the best of both of our abilities, maybe she was able to absorb some of that stray magic and keep it, rather than being harmed by it. It could have kicked her powers up to a new level.”

“It’s possible, I suppose.” His voice was soft with awe. “But, oh, goddess, we’re going to have to keep a close watch on her at court. The queen won’t like it at all if she ever finds out.”

“You’re making assumptions, love.” She wrinkled her nose at him and grinned. “I haven’t said yes, yet.”

His face paled and his grip on her hands tightened to the point of pain. His eyes went wide with panic. “You have to say yes. I love you. You said you love me. You have to marry me. Please!”

“Okay.” She laughed and sniffled at the same time—her heart was overflowing with that much joy. Wait, had she responded to his proposal with the word okay? How utterly lame. “I mean yes, Aidan. I’ll marry you. And lifebond. I’ll even take on the damned Seelie Court. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you—hopefully, a really long one, to help make up for all the time we’ve wasted.”

“Thank the gods!” He dragged her into his lap and crushed his lips down on hers. Long moments later he spoke again. “I love you. I can hardly believe we’ve finally sorted that out.”

“Well, we’re a bit slow.” She gazed up at him, happier than she’d ever been. “But we get it right eventually.”

Before he could kiss her again, or she could kiss him, a discreet cough from the doorway interrupted their moment.

“My lord? We’ve transported the prisoner to the queen’s dungeon. Her Majesty would like to see you as soon as possible. We told her you were being healed and might be a while.”

Elise felt her face heat, even as Aidan chuckled.

“Thank you, Philip.” Aidan stood, tugging Elise to her feet with him. “And the other?”

“Sent to the morgue, my lord. Both parts.”

Okay, Elise didn’t even want to think about that statement.

“Good. In that case, I think my healer and I will retire to my chamber for a nice long rest. After which, we’ll have a meal. Then we’ll report to the queen. Please don’t interrupt us unless the keep is burning down. Understood?”

The guardsman smothered a laugh. “Of course, my lord.” As Aidan dragged her past, Philip tipped his head. “My lord. My lady.”

“Well put.” Aidan towed her toward the stairs. Halfway up the steps, he paused and looked down to where a crowd of servants had gathered in the great hall. “Allow me to present the future Lady Green Oak.”

Cheers and applause followed them all the way to Aidan’s bedroom.

***

All Aidan wanted to do was drag Elise over to the bed and tear her clothes off. It wasn’t polite, it wasn’t civilized and he didn’t care. His body and soul were craving her that badly. She’d said yes, and now he intended to claim her as well as celebrate the fact that they’d escaped being killed—again.

“Stop.” She let him lead her halfway to the bed, then halted. “I wasn’t done healing you yet. And we both need to clean up. I assume you have something close to a modern bathroom in this place?”

“Of course. Just because the bed is an ancestral monstrosity, doesn’t mean I haven’t kept up when it comes to comfort.” The bed was ancient. Tall and elaborately carved with velvet curtains, it was the same one his parents and grandparents had used. He wondered what she’d think of the oak tree carved into the headboard. Silver acorns topped each sturdy post. The mattress, though, that was a top-of-the-line number from the same store that supplied the house in Grosse Pointe. And it was new enough that he’d never shared it with a woman. He liked that Elise would be the first.

“Shower.” She tapped him on the chest to bring his thoughts back to earth. “I need to finish healing you and I really don’t want to make love to you covered in blood.”

“Of course not.” She deserved better than that. “Bathroom’s through here.”

His suite was in what had once been the solar of the old keep—meaning it had windows. The glass in the diamond-shaped panes was so old it was rippled, distorting images but letting in a great deal of sunlight—perfect for a bathroom. Blinking away his jeans, boxers and boots, he sat on the edge of the tub—a large, marble affair with steps leading up to the rim. He gave the taps a magical nudge to start the water running. “I think you already got all the major wounds though.” At least he wasn’t feeling any pain. Just euphoria that Elise was going to marry him.

“Shut up and let me look.” Her hands trailed down his arms, finding small nicks and instantly repairing them. None that were left were serious enough to have bits of cloth stuck in them.

“Do you think Dina will approve of us getting married?” He focused his eyes on her feet to try to distract himself from the touch of her hands on his skin. Making it more difficult, she leaned over him and rubbed her breasts against his shoulders.

“I think Dina will be thrilled. She’s considered you hers since the first time she saw your picture. Why do you think she chose green for her eyes? She took one look at your picture and said, ‘Daddy.’” Elise cupped his chin in her hand and mended the bruise from Oswald’s fist, finishing with a quick brush of her lips over the spot. “There. Everything’s all fixed.”

She stepped over to the sink and washed the blood off her hands while Aidan adjusted the temperature of the tub, turned off the taps and added a touch of almond oil to the water before turning on the jets. It also gave him a moment to swallow the lump in his throat. He was moved beyond belief that Dina wanted him for her father.

When he turned back, Elise stood before him with a washcloth in her hand. She’d also shed all her clothes except her bra and panties. “No blood in the tub.” She wiped the areas where his wounds had been. Her touch this time was every bit as tender, but her gaze was hot. When she was done, she tossed the washcloth back into the sink and stood between his splayed thighs, her hands on his shoulders. “I love you.”

“Goddess, Elise.” There was more to say, but kissing her was as important as his next breath. He pulled her down onto his lap.

She pressed her breasts into his chest and her thigh grazed his erection. It only took him a thought to dispense with her underwear, since he wanted no barriers between them. His tongue explored the contours of her mouth, tasting, caressing. She flicked hers against it and sucked lightly. He cupped one of her breasts in his hand and kneaded it, swallowing her moan. Elise tangled one hand in his hair and kissed him harder, this time pushing her tongue into his mouth and taking control. Her free hand dropped between his legs to stroke him and this time the moan was his.

This was it—everything he’d ever wanted, ever dreamed, right here in his arms. When she shifted off his knee, he started to protest, until he realized she’d knelt on the step between his knees, her hand wrapping around his cock, her lips trailing kisses from his throat and down the centerline of his chest to his navel.

“Oh, gods, Elise.” He threw his head back in ecstasy as her tongue flicked across his tip, lapping up the droplet of fluid that had already beaded there.

With a pleased hum, she continued kissing her way down the ridge to his testicles, swirling her tongue around each. Aidan’s eyes rolled back in his head and he gripped the edge of the tub. This wasn’t what he’d had in mind, but damned if he was going to tell her that. Her long hair tickled the insides of his thighs as she moved, licking her way back up his shaft to take his crown into her mouth.

Every muscle in his body tensed. She swirled her tongue around the rim, then drew him to the back of her throat and sucked. One hand circled his length while the other cupped his balls, squeezing gently. Getting shot—again—had been worth it if this was his reward.

His body tightened, straining toward completion, but this wasn’t how he wanted it to end, not this time, their first since they’d spoken of love. He flexed his fingers to release his death grip on the marble, then cupped her face in his hands. “Enough, sweeting.”

She dropped one last kiss on his cock, then lifted her head and smiled, licking her lips.

“It’s my turn.” Aidan stood, pulling her to her feet as well. He stepped down into the tub, going to his knees on the bench inside and guided Elise up over the edge until she stood straddling his thighs. Once her feet were in the water, he had her sit down on the side of the tub, opening herself to his gaze.

“You’re so beautiful.” He leaned in to trace a finger along her crease. His tongue followed as he tasted her. He made love to her with his mouth and hands until he brought her to a shuddering climax.

***

“Sit back, Aidan.” As soon as she could gather enough breath to speak, Elise got to her feet. Would it always be like this between them? A year from now? Ten? A hundred? Goddess, she hoped so. She stepped down onto the bench beside him as he turned. Kneeling above him, she lowered herself onto his erection. Being filled by him felt wonderful—exciting and yet somehow comfortably right at the same time. She leaned in to kiss him and began to move, which meant thinking ceased to be a possibility. The warm, scented water swirling around them from the waist down added another layer of sensation, enclosing the two of them in their own private world.

Aidan claimed her mouth in a kiss, his hands sliding between them to toy with her breasts. It wasn’t long before she shattered again, clenching around him with their mouths fused together. He reached around to clamp his hands down on her butt, holding her against him when his own climax hit. After a while, they each pulled back to gasp for breath, leaning their foreheads against each other’s.

Eventually they eased down into the tub, side by side. Aidan smoothed her hair away from her face and chuckled. “I really hope Dina doesn’t plan on sleeping with us every night.”

***

Adjusting to being Aidan’s fiancée had been easy, Elise mused two weeks later. Even moving her and Dina into his house, and making plans to open a second branch of her gallery here in Grosse Pointe hadn’t been difficult. Getting used to being Lady Green Oak was going to take a lot more doing. She swore Aidan’s staff insisted on using the title just to aggravate her—especially since their life-bonding ceremony at Oakwood wasn’t for another week. The mortal wedding here in Grosse Pointe was a while off yet—getting all the details sorted out was tricky since she was still a Canadian citizen and Aidan’s passport said he was Irish, but they both wanted the wedding to be here. Christmastime was looking like a real possibility. Dina was utterly delighted that her parents were finally together.

“Greg and I still haven’t found out any more about Beowulf.” George helped himself to a slice of pizza off the kitchen table. For some reason, they all congregated here rather than in the formal dining room whenever their friends came over. It was a Monday night, the one day of the week the Novaks all took off from the New Moon. “He checked with the pack in Chicago, and I talked to some friends in L.A. Nothing.”

“I can’t find a trace of the leak in the Wyndewin League, either.” Even Des had relaxed to some extent around the elves and the wolves, though he’d still glowered when Lana had walked in wearing painted-on jeans and a skimpy cami. Elise was beginning to think Lana dressed like that purely to piss Des off. Either way, it was entertaining to watch someone manage to unsettle Elise’s usually stolid brother.

“The djinni suicided before the queen’s guard could get him to talk,” Elise told the others in disgust. Aidan had been livid when he’d come back from Court with that news.

“We’ll keep at it,” Ric promised. He sipped from a long-necked beer bottle. “Moving on to happier news, they accepted our offer on the house in Grosse Pointe Shores. Which means Jase and George, you can sign the papers on Meagan’s place in Royal Oak anytime you want.” They’d decided Meagan’s tiny bungalow wasn’t big enough for her painting and a family. It was perfect, however, for George and Jase, who had no plans to add kids to the mix anytime soon.

“I love our new house.” Meagan waved a breadstick as she talked and beamed at Elise. “Wait until you see it. It’s close to the portal so we can hop back and forth to Rosemeade, plus we can visit you in the process.”

Elise reached over and squeezed her hand. “And we’re thrilled that you’re going to be so close. Really.”

A knock sounded at the kitchen door, and somebody yelled, “Come in,” which would have probably horrified any of Aidan’s security staff if they’d been in the room. To no one’s great surprise, Greg stood at the door, but what did shock Elise, was when instead of entering, he held the door open for Fianna, who was dressed casually in jeans and a sweater.

Elise immediately leapt from her seat to hug the other woman. “I’m so glad you came.” Elise had come a long way toward being able to express her emotions—at least around this group, who were as much family as friends.

“Told you.” Greg smiled at Fianna before he turned to stare down Des, who’d opened his mouth, but wisely popped it shut.

“Aidan’s upstairs putting Dina to bed.” Elise crossed to the refrigerator to fetch drinks. “Greg, you’ll want a beer. Fianna, we have wine, soda—whatever you’d like.”

“Beer is fine.” Fianna sent Elise a shy smile. “Thank you. I can’t—it’s hard to believe I’m welcome in this house again.”

“You saved our daughter’s life.” Aidan entered the room at that point and held a chair for Fianna at the table. “I’m sorry the queen didn’t overturn your sentence, but you’ll always be welcome here.”

“Her Majesty doesn’t like to change her mind. Thank you for suggesting it, though.” Fianna accepted a slice of pizza and picked it up with no trace of the snootiness she’d supposedly had before she’d been turned human. “I’ll be…okay.” She sent a furtive smile through her lashes at Greg.

Aidan and Elise shared a grin as Elise handed over the beers and returned to her seat. It would be interesting to see how this played out.

“Speaking of the queen.” Aidan rubbed the bridge of his nose in a manner that meant he was troubled. “She called tonight and demanded to meet Dina. I’d really hoped to put that off for a while.”

“Is she going to ask for a DNA test?” Elise asked. “I mean, we’re pretty sure, but we may never be one-hundred-percent certain. Will the queen do anything to her if she’s part demon?”

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Greg asked. “Not sure about what?”

Oh, crap, they hadn’t told the wolves about the demon. Elise squeezed her eyes shut and prepared to explain.

“Any idiot with a nose could tell you she’s Aidan’s child.” Greg shook his head in disgust.

“Her scent is damn near a perfect blend of the two of you.” George took a swallow of beer. “No mistaking the Fae in that girl.”

“Duh. Demon? You’re kidding me.” Lana shook her head and snagged another slice of pizza. “You people are nuts if you thought that for a second.”

Aidan and Elise gaped and stared, first at the Novaks, then at each other. Was it really that simple? How had they overlooked the fact that some of their friends could scent the difference? After a long pause, they both started laughing.

Des rolled his eyes. “I need another beer.” He got up and walked to the fridge.

“No, what you need is to get the stick out of your ass,” Lana muttered under her breath.

Chuckling, Elise lifted her wineglass and touched the neck of Aidan’s beer bottle. “Life is good.”

His smile was the sweetest, sexiest thing she’d ever seen. He glanced around at friends, at family, and flicked his eyes upward to encompass their daughter asleep upstairs. “Yes,” he said. “Even with a maniac out there trying to take over our city, if not the world, right here, right now, life is damn close to perfect.”

About the Author

Cindy Spencer Pape is an avid reader of romance, fantasy, mystery, and even more romance. According to The Romance Studio, her plots are “full of twists and turns that keep the reader poised at the edge of their seat.” Joyfully Reviewed said her “colorful characters and plot building surprises kept me spellbound,” and RT Book Reviews says her “characters are appealing, and passionate sex leads to a satisfying romance.”

Cindy firmly believes in happily-ever-after. Married for more than twenty years to her own, sometimes-kilted, hero, she lives in southern Michigan with him and two teenage sons, along with an ever-changing menagerie of pets. Cindy has been, among other things, a banker, a teacher and an elected politician, but mostly an environmental educator, though now she is lucky enough to write full-time. Her degrees in zoology and animal behavior almost help her comprehend the three male humans who share her household.

Cindy loves to hear from readers. To contact her, or for more about Cindy and her books, you can find her on her website, www.cindyspencerpape.com, or her blog, www.cindyspencerpape.blogspot.com.

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ISBN: 978-1-4268-9062-8

Copyright © 2010 by Cindy Spencer Pape

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