“It’s good to be back,” she said and managed to smile.
“I’ve never been so glad to see anyone in my life,” Murray admitted, then came around the bar to give her a hug. He wasn’t demonstrative, but he’d been so worried about her. “She let you go. I can’t believe she let you go.”
“You should be more skeptical, Murray,” Mel said, her tone wry. “She has all her magick back, so anything’s possible.”
Murray understood. “She released you because you’re doomed.”
Mel nodded. “We all are. And she wants to watch. It’s part of the game. One last spectacle.” She put a crumpled sheet of paper on the bar and smoothed it out. “This is from her book. It’s the werewolves, specifically those in the Alaska pack. Look, Murray. She’s wiped them out, except for the alpha’s sister, Wynter.”
“All of them?” Murray couldn’t believe it.
“All of them. Tonight.” Mel shook her head. “And this is only one page. I didn’t see it all, but it was bad.”
It wasn’t the most reassuring news she could have brought from Fae.
“It’s Sunday,” Murray told her and saw her eyes widen. He knew that it was easy to lose track of time in Fae. “I’ll help you get home so you’re there before dawn.”
“Raymond’s here,” she protested, referring to the ghost of her dead husband.
“And since when has he been any help?” Murray demanded, knowing that Mel couldn’t argue with that. “I’ll call a cab, and we’ll be at your place in a couple of minutes. Come on. I’ll talk to you through the bathroom door, if you don’t mind. We need to make a plan and it can’t wait until Monday.”
Alasdair, Hadrian and Thorolf had disappeared by the time Kristofer reached the main room of his house. Chandra stood at the window, rocking a dozing Raynor. Kristofer felt himself shimmer on the cusp of change but tried to hold back until he knew more. Quinn was staring out into the night and he could hear Sara urging the boys to go back to sleep. Kristofer’s mate, Bree, was right behind him and he knew that any suggestion he might make about her staying back to remain safe would be ignored.
She might not be a Valkyrie anymore, but she’d never lose her fearlessness.
“Alasdair shouted that they were coming,” Chandra explained. “Then he shifted shape and took off. He tried to warn us.”
“Of what?” Bree asked from behind him.
“Who are they?” Kristofer asked.
“I don’t know. He sounded frightened.” Chandra frowned. “I wonder whether it was the Fae. It would stand to reason that he’d be sensitive to their presence after his experience.”
Kristofer exchanged a grim glance with Bree. Alasdair had been tortured by Maeve, the Dark Queen of the Fae and his mind was a mess as a result. Rhys and his mate, Lila, appeared, looking as if they’d been sleeping soundly. Arach and Balthasar stepped onto the patio, appearing out of the darkness. The two of them had been bunking in the barn and there were strands of straw in Balthasar’s man-bun.
“Should we go after them?” Arach asked. He was almost bouncing, ready to fight. Vivid blue light shimmered around him.
“Divide forces?” Balthasar suggested, also on the cusp of change.
“There are too many mates and kids,” Quinn said. “Most of us should stay here.” He inhaled deeply. “At least the dragonsmoke barrier is secure.”
“That’s not any defense against Fae warriors,” Rhys noted just as a bolt of silver light flashed in the middle of the room.
Kristofer shifted immediately to defend Bree and his lair, becoming a dragon of peridot and gold that nearly filled the room. He bared his teeth at the flash, which elongated into a vertical slit. He braced himself for a Fae warrior to emerge through the portal, but the light blinked as a single limp figure was shoved through the gap. Then the portal between realms closed, as surely as if it had never been.
The man who lay unconscious on the floor moaned and shuddered.
“Theo!” Rhys exclaimed and fell to his knees beside their fallen comrade. Theo, a fellow Pyr, had been lost in Fae for over a month. He’d been cursed, too, and had attacked Arach when they both had been in that realm.
Theo was bleeding heavily and Lila, with her healing skills, was quick to join Rhys. Kristofer couldn’t even see Theo’s wounds for all the blood on his skin. There was a burn on his left wrist, as if a string had been tied too tightly there, and his fingers twitched convulsively. His skin was pale and Kristofer feared that he had been tortured by the Fae before release, like Alasdair.
“Dragon bait,” Chandra warned and took a wary step back.
“She’s right,” Arach said, coming in from the patio “It could be a trap.”
“But we can’t not help him,” Lila protested.
“He could be infected with something fatal to us,” Quinn said.
“He could have been forcibly turned against the Pyr,” Arach added. “I saw how potent the Dark queen’s spells can be.”
But there was no red light around Theo’s fallen figure. He looked so broken that Kristofer couldn’t ignore his need. “I think we have to help him,” he said and Bree nodded agreement.
“His aura is heavily damaged, but its color is true,” Lila said, dropping to her knees beside Theo. “I think he’s badly injured but he’s himself.”
“Then why did she release him?” Chandra demanded, holding her son closer. “It has to be a trick.”
Lila considered Theo’s injuries. “He might have told her everything he knew.”
“He might not be useful anymore,” Bree agreed, her tone hard.
“He might be a spy, and not by choice,” Chandra said, her suspicion undiminished. “I think we should be cautious.”
“I’ll take custody of him,” Lila said. “With Rhys. We’ll take him back to the city and Niall can Dreamwalk to help him, just the way he helped Alasdair.” She looked up at Rhys. “He can’t lie to Niall in his dreams, can he?”
Rhys shook his head. “No, he can’t.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “I think that’s a good plan.”
Bree shook her head. “I wonder what price he had to pay to gain his freedom.” She clearly didn’t expect a reply. Kristofer hoped Theo could tell them.
Thorolf and Hadrian returned then in a flurry of dragon wings: Hadrian carried an unconscious Alasdair. Alasdair was in his human form and murmuring incoherently.
“He just passed out,” Thorolf said with disgust, after shifting shape. “Good thing we were there because he would have fallen right out of the sky. It would have been curtains.”
“He dropped like a rock,” Hadrian confirmed, setting his cousin down on the couch. His English accent was stronger, as it often was when he was agitated. He was close to Alasdair and even more worried about that Pyr than the others.
Thorolf stepped forward, evidently noticing the body on the floor for the first time. “Hey, is that Theo?”
“They threw him back,” Chandra said. “I think he should be isolated, maybe even confined.”