Page 24

Thankfully, Conn had shifted back to his human form by that timeandremembered his clothes. He gently slid a moaning Mulan from the driver’s seat. “She’s not injured badly but I think she smacked the windshield with that hard head of hers. There’s a red spot above her eyes and she keeps passing out on me.”

“Put Mulan in my bedroom, Conn. She can stay there until we know she’s okay. Her parents will probably want to check on her. Ya don’t need them invading yer house to do it.”

Conn glanced at the people climbing into Henry’s clever transport. “I doubt her parents would care if she’d been killed. They haven’t even asked about her or shown any concern.”

I rubbed Conn’s arm as we walked. “I noticed. When Mulan comes around, perhaps we’ll ask them to leave. We don’t need this additional stress in our lives. We have enough.”

Conn made a growling noise before responding. “No, that would bother her too much. If I have to compel them to behave while they’re here, I will do that. I thought her father was a nice person when we met. How could he not care about her at all? She was driving them. She wasted her entire day waiting for them to arrive.”

I blew out a breath. “I know ya visited their country to talk to her parents, but did they ever see ya in yer demon form? If not, maybe they were in shock. Ya looked quite fierce in yer full demon glory and I’m sure they saw ya. What you did even impressed the dragon mage. He said he understood why ya were the demon king.”

The comments I relayed didn’t seem to matter. I knew that was because he was worried about Mulan. I was worried too.But babbling and talking was how I diffused tension, whether it was mine or someone else’s.

“I did this to her,” Conn bit out. “I reinforced the wards because of the fairy being here. It’s my fault she’s hurt.”

I shook my head at his ranting. “Don’t be an idiot. Only something dangerous would have set the wards off. This was no accident. Zenos told me someone in Mulan’s family had a big secret but the bastard wouldn’t tell me more. We’ll find out what it is in time and make sure it doesn’t hurt the rest of us.”

Conn’s reply to my determination was a grunt.

I followed him inside the house and sighed at the empty foyer as he carried her to my quarters.

Once Mulan's parents were safely upstairs, Henry's people retrieved the rental van and parked it in Mulan and Conn’s driveway. Outside of the now shredded seatbelt, it looked to be mostly unscathed, even after Conn flipped it over in his giant demon hands.

I didn’t believe for one moment that the wards had failed us. The purpose of them was to disarm and detain. They had mostly accomplished their task, even though Mulan had gotten banged up.

There was only the mystery ofwhyto solve. If Zenos was right, then it was someone in Mulan’s family. I imagined whoever was responsible would be feeling relief to not have been discovered yet. If I had my way, that relief would not last long.

In the meantime, I would make sure the entire household got put on alert.

Chapter Eight

Feeling the need to bring everyone up to speed, I searched for Rasmus and Zara. I found them on the third floor of the house. The room mirrored the library except it contained no books. Instead, Henry made it look like a picture gallery. The two guardians were quietly reading books at a table set in front of a large window that peered down the driveway. That meant they had witnessed what had happened.

Both of them looked at me as I entered, but it was Rasmus who spoke. “We would have come to help but didn’t want to be one more problem for you to deal with. Is Mulan okay?”

“I hope so. Conn thinks she hit her head on the van’s windshield when the wards went off.”

Rasmus closed the book he was reading to give me his full attention. “What caused the wards to react to her vehicle? The car has been in her driveway for several days with no problems.”

I shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. Someone in Mulan’s family probably caused the problem. Watch yerselves around them. They speak no English and don’t give a flip about anyone but themselves. They paid Mulan no mind when she got hurt. If I hadn’t given my word to Mulan, I would have hexed them.”

Rasmus grinned at my irritation. “Would you like me to incapacitate them until you can discern the level of danger they present?”

I froze where I stood. "Would ya actually do that for me?" I knew I sounded shocked but I had a right to be.

Rasmus shrugged. “The magick is harmless and triggers a level of deep sleep that most find it difficult to awake from for many hours. It didn’t work as well on you but perhaps it would on them. Their jet lag might also work in your favor.”

My mouth twitched at one corner. It wasn’t funny, and yet it was. “I guess I’m just special.”

“You are certainly unique,” he said with a smile.

I looked over at Zara. I didn’t want her to feel left out. “How are ya doing today, Zara?”

She shrugged without meeting my gaze. “The books Henry provided are quite challenging to read. I seem to know the ancient language of them but I’m drawing a blank about some of the context.”

“What books?” I asked politely. Then I remembered Orlin had been the one who’d brought books for Zara. “Oh, wait... I know what books. They’re the ones my grandfather sent to me about forgotten races who practiced the ancient magick ya used to change the women into wolves.”

“Indeed,” Zara said flatly. "You have an impressive memory and an extensive knowledge of witchcraft."