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Chapter 22
Ren
Several monthslater
“It won’t hurtthem at all, right?” I said, standing at the edge of the boundary the fae woman had just laid down. Her magic shimmered faintly against the earth between the trees—and then faded from my sight completely. It left the slightest scent in the cool spring breeze, something faintly sweet under the crisp green scents of the forest just waking up from thewinter.
The fae shook her head. “The humans won’t even feel it. They’ll simply find themselves completely uninterested in continuing in this direction.” She gave me a small but bright smile. “And you shifters won’t be affected atall.”
A couple of her companions farther away raised their hands to us to indicate they were finished with their parts. The effort was one step in a plan the alphas and I had come up with after discussions with the fae leaders, to expand the shifter territories without encroaching on the fae. New settlements could be formed in areas of wilderness where we’d no longer need to worry about random hikers or curious tourists happeningby.
“Thank you for helping us with this,” I said. “I’m really hoping having more room to spread out in will make it easier for us all to get along.” There’d still been a few spats between shifters and fae since we’d conquered the vampire threat, but at least they’d been minimal, nothing harmed but egos andfeelings.
“I’d like to see us happily sharing more ground again someday,” the fae said. “But it’s hard to enjoy sharing when you’re forced into it. I believe this will benefit both our people. Will we set down the next one near the avian estate nextweek?”
“That’s the plan.” I waved to them before heading across the boundary to where the car I’d come in wasparked.
Kylie and Felix were waiting there, enjoying a little picnic in the meadow beside the road. The fae’s magicwouldaffect my best friend, but she didn’t have any need to visit the smaller settlements anyway. These days she split her time pretty evenly between the dragon shifter estate and Felix’s post in NewYork.
She jumped up when she saw me coming over. “It’s done? That didn’t take so long atall.”
“Fae magic is powerful stuff,” Isaid.
Felix stood too, gathering the remains of their meal into the basket. He shot me a grin. “The vampire king will be happy to hear about the progress we’ve been making. More precautions to stop humans from catching wind of us. They’re still pretty paranoid about the whole keeping supernaturals secretthing.”
The fox shifter was now our ambassador of sorts among the vampire community. Not that he lived right with the bloodsuckers or anything—I could only imagine what he’d say about that suggestion—but they’d given permission for one shifter to live right within New York City so that any disputes between vampires and shifters could be settledquickly.
And also so he could simply keep an eye on things. The new king might not be as eager for carnage as the last one, but I didn’t think any of us trusted the vamps farther than we couldspit.
“You can tell him all about it at that big party tonight,” Kylie said, wrapping her hand around her boyfriend’s elbow. Her face lit up almost as bright as her neon hair whenever she looked at Felix these days. I’d been a little worried that moving in together so soon after they’d met might bring out the clashing sides of their personalities again, but I’d never seen herhappier.
“You’ve got to head back right now?” I said as we piled into thecar.
“After we drop you off at the estate,” Felix said. “Unless there’s something else you neededfirst.”
My heart pinched. It would have been nice if Kylie could have stuck around to hear my news right away… but this was definitely one case where my mates, not my bestie, should be the first to know. But I wouldn’t have to wait verylong.
“No, that’s fine,” Isaid.
Kylie gave me a playfully suspicious look. “Is there something going on that you’re not tellingme?”
I smiled back at her. “You’ll just have to wait andsee.”
She waggled a finger at me. “I’m due back in a couple days, remember. I’ll pry all your secrets out of youthen.”
When we reached my estate, one new car was already parked by the house. Marco was lounging on the front step. He leapt up with his easy grace as we pulledin.
I went to greet him, feeling my own face light up. I’d gotten used to spending days and sometimes even weeks apart from one or more of my mates, but I never felt quite as centered as when they were withme.
“Hello there, princess,” Marco drawled. He brushed a strand of hair back from my cheek and leaned in to press his lips of mine. I gave myself over to the heat of the kiss for as long as I felt I could get away with when we hadcompany.
“I’ve just got to say good-bye to Kylie,” I said. “Then I’ll be right back withyou.”
“Take your time,” the feline alpha said. “I get to have you for the whole rest of theday.”
I headed back to the car and gave Kylie a tight hug. “I expect you back in two days,” I said. “Be ontime.”
She laughed. “I always am. Like I’d want to miss out on whatever adventures you get yourself mixed up innext.”
