I don’t move from where I’m sitting on the bed. Maybe they’ll go away if I pretend no one’s in.
‘We know you’re in there, Locke,’ calls a low voice from the other side. ‘We can see the light. Open the fucking door.’
Locke? I glance at the sleeping fae. Is that his name?
The door is banged on much more loudly this time and I wince at the sound. They’ll draw attention and that’s the lastthing I need. I cross the room and make sure I still look like a fae. I try to stop my quick breaths before I pull the bolt back and crack it open just enough.
It’s the two fae from the street. One is much bigger than I realized. They glance at each other, something passing between them.
‘Is Locke here?’ the large one asks in a gentle tone.
I relax marginally, trusting my disguise. He and the other one would just burst in if they knew I was human, and I wouldn’t be spoken to with care.
‘He’s… He slumbers,’ I say quietly, though it comes out a breathy whisper that makes me cringe.
They give each other another look.
‘Can you wake him? It’s…urgent.’
I don’t take my eyes off them.
‘You’re the two who stopped me in the street,’ I accuse. ‘What do you want of me? Of…Locke?’
‘We’re sorry if we scared you,’ the smaller one begins and I scoff, cutting off his words.
‘Why would I be scared?’ I practically snarl, not liking the turn of this conversation, not liking the heat that’s creeping up my body, making my nipples tighten, making my thighs clench.
What is happening to me?
The larger one looks at his friend in question. The smaller one gives the barest nod. And the huge one lunges forward before I can shut the door. He pushes his way in and I can do nothing but let go and skitter backward. I grab the poker from the fire and wield it in front of me like a sword.
‘Get out!’ I snarl.
‘Bryn, we aren’t going to hurt you.’
‘How do you know my name?’ I gasp, grasping the poker more tightly and clawing at the neck of my shirt with my other hand.
I feel as if I can’t breathe.
‘We mean you no harm. We know you, Bryn, and you know us,’ the smaller one says to me and then turns to his friend. ‘We should never have approached her on the street when we saw her. We should have just come straight here to the safe house as we planned.’
‘What’s done is done,’ the larger one practically growls, setting me even more on edge.
‘I don’t know you!’ I say adamantly. ‘No tricks and I want you both to leave. Now!’
‘We can’t do that,’ the huge one says. ‘Locke made you forget, but you know us.’ He taps his chest. ‘Morgan, remember?’ He points at his friend. ‘And that’s Jak.’
I shake my head, beginning to panic. ‘I don’t know you.’
They’re trying to deceive me.
My eyes narrow. ‘And you don’t know me!’
‘We do,’ the smaller one insists, ‘and you might as well take off the bracelet. We know you’re human.’
My eyes widen, flying from one to the other. ‘Who are you?’
I sound close to tears. The larger one steps forward and I flinch back.
