AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Connor wore his uniform again today: jeans, boots, and a snug T-shirt under a fitted motorcycle jacket. There was dark stubble on his face, which made his eyes glow brighter. And he carried his dark motorcycle helmet.
He headed straight for me, and I wasn’t entirely surprised by the quick flash of emotion in Miranda’s eyes. Suspicion, anger, and maybe some hurt. So Miranda had feelings for Connor, the man she wanted to best for control of the Pack. Or maybesharecontrol of the Pack.
I could sympathize, and shifted my gaze back to Connor. He looked like a model in a cologne ad. Sexy and seductive and arrogant. These were not comfortable feelings for me, especially in my father’s office.
He put his helmet on the coffee table and looked down at me, expression unfathomable. “You keep taking on the fairies.”
“Not by choice. What’s wrong?”
He sat down on the opposite couch. “With what?”
“With you. You look tired, and you sound grouchy.”
“It’s been a long night.” He ran a hand through his hair, which shifted muscles in his arms. “Riley’s managing, but that’s putting a shine on it. It’s not a great situation.”
“I think we’re getting closer. We just need a little more time.” And a little more luck wouldn’t hurt.
Gabriel walked to the sitting area, stirred his coffee with the familiarclinkof spoon against ceramic. “Facing down fairies on network television?”
“Wrong place, wrong time,” I said.
“Or right place, right time,” Yuen said, smiling as he walked toward us. He glanced at my parents. “You have a very thoughtful and capable daughter.”
“And she’s a very good fighter,” Theo added with a grin.
“Agreed on all counts,” my father said, then nodded at Yuen. “We’re here to support your efforts, so we’re ready when you are.”
“We’re ready,” Yuen said. Then he nodded at Theo, passing the figurative torch.
“I’ll go,” Theo said. He verbally reviewed our visit to the castle, the fight in Grant Park, and what we’d seen on the surveillance video.
“We need to find Claudia,” Connor said, and Yuen nodded.
“We suspect this might be Ruadan’s reaction to the fairies’ diminishing magic,” Yuen said. “Maybe he isn’t satisfied with how Claudia’s managed the fairies since the Egregore, and thinks they should be doing more to increase their power, not let it slip away.”
Gabriel looked at the photograph of the chained fairy queen Petra had uploaded to the monitor. “And he’s shoved her aside so he can do what he wants.”
“That’s the current theory,” Yuen said.
“It’s logical,” my mother said. “But why the ley line conjunction? Why do they need that much power? What are they planning to use it for?”
“A weapon?” Connor suggested. “A spell?”
“Whatever it is,” Yuen said, “it’s big. Something that requires a lot of power, and something it appears they haven’t yet managed to pull off. They do appear to have figured out how to move along the ley lines—to appear and disappear by accessing the lines’ power.”
“That’s a new skill,” my father agreed. “I’ve never seen it. I presume you haven’t been able to narrow down their location?”
“Not yet,” Yuen said. “The castle and tower are empty. Officers have traversed the city above the ley lines several times, but the fairies haven’t been spotted inside the city limits, or outside it in the jurisdictions we’ve convinced to check.”
“They have to be somewhere,” Connor said. “They can’t just disappear.”
“They’ll go back to Grant Park,” Gabriel said. “If they need the conjunction, the power, to pull off whatever they’re planning for, they’ll try again.”
Yuen nodded. “Anticipating that, we’ve posted guards.”
“Guards may not be enough,” my father said. “Notwithstanding their disappearing act, they have no compunction about violence. They would have only backed off tonight because they chose to do so—because they decided that’s what was in their best interest. Not because they were afraid of a fight.”
“Precautions will be taken,” Yuen said. “But we can’t simply concede the ground and let them make their magic, especially when we don’t know what magic it is. That puts humans, supernaturals, and the city itself at risk.”
