Page 48 of The Chosen Fae

"I don't want to play the game either."

"So you're bugging me."

He chuckled. "I might be saving you. Or not. I have to admit you're fun to watch. I'm curious about how you're going to deal with Vesper and save Tasha's friend."

"Well, you know if he doesn't get his way with her, then he loses," Rune said. "So it's a two-for-one plan. Save the girl, and thwart Vesper. He would be furious. I would say that's a great play, don't you?"

Stone allowed himself a small smile. They might not have learned to play like the fae who had been raised in a pack, but Rune sure was good at coming up with plans that made it seem like she'd been doing this for ages.

"So what do you think?" she asked, then bit into one of her fries.

"I think you're trouble."

She laughed.

14

Then Rune and Stone got an Uber to take them from the high school to Tasha's house, a pretty little white home with a white picket fence and lots of flowers. Tasha opened the door for them before they even knocked. When they entered the house, they realized Lolita was there too. They were surprised to see her.

Lolita smiled at them, then went down the hall after the three cats to pet them.

"Okay," Tasha said, "I picked up your competitor and brought her home with me. Lolita’s playing with my cats. They love her."

"She's actually our friend. Was she trying to befriend you?" Rune asked.

"No. I befriended her. She was just wandering the halls, looking at all the pictures of sports teams and such on bulletin boards. I was afraid one of my fae seer friends would see her and take her into custody."

"Thanks for watching out for her," Rune said.

"She's really sweet." Then Tasha whispered, "Is she the small wolf you mentioned?"

"Yes, she's the smallest wolf in one of the packs. We watch out for her when we can," Rune said.

Stone took a seat on one of the couches as if he lived there.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Tasha got a text message. "Oh, no. Some of my fae seer friends are coming over. You can hide in my bedroom."

Rune wished she could just move like the fae and transport to somewhere else, but it just wasn't an option. She moved in the direction Tasha motioned for her to go, and Stone finally followed her, acting like he didn't want to comply. They could easily deal with the fae seers if they weren't hobbled from using their abilities to vanish and reappear somewhere else out of harm’s way. But they were way too vulnerable otherwise.

Tasha hurried to send Lolita to her bedroom too. Lolita smiled brightly at them and was carrying one of Tasha's orange, fluffy cats.

"Just be quiet," Tasha said. Then she left them alone.

Rune made a disgruntled face at Stone as he entered the pink bedroom and shut the door.

"What?" he asked, appearing as though he didn’t know why she was annoyed with him.

"Could you have moved any slower?" She opened the window in the bedroom, just in case they needed to make a hasty retreat. She knew Stone was showing his alpha-ness and wouldn’t be forced to run away and hide. But they didn’t have much of a choice.

“Yeah, I could have,” Stone said, giving her one of his sly smiles.

Lolita whispered, "I can't believe you're here too."

Stone locked the bedroom door as they heard the doorbell ring.

"Hey, Tasha, did you see all those fae at the high school? They were strange. We thought we could just take them hostage because they didn't just fae travel and vanish, but damn, they ran fast, then jumped in Ubers and took off. None of us could get to our cars or trucks fast enough to chase them down. Besides, the Uber drivers would probably have called the police on us if we had chased them. We couldn’t afford to get arrested."

"I didn't see any fae. They must be doing some kind of competition with each other. Why else would a bunch be at the school? Did you catch any?" Tasha sounded interested.