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Shayne leapt to his feet, but his leg gave out instantly. He tumbled to a knee as three fairies surrounded him, their blades raised toward his chest and head. He went still.

“Ten.”

Blasts erupted through the woods as three bullets were fired. Fairies fell to the ground, and Shayne jumped to his feet, putting the weight on his good leg as he swung at the last fairy. The fairy moved too fast, smacking Shayne’s fairsaber out of his hand and brushingpasthim. Shayne tried to grab him as he rushed at Lily who was reloading. The fairy swatted the gun from her fingers, and she scrambled backward against a tree.

In a heartbeat, Shayne picked up the gun, shoved the cartridge in, and aimed it at the back of the fairy’s head.

A rather satisfying blast filled the woods.

And there was Lily, gripping the tree at her back, her chest rising and falling. Not broken. Not at all.

Shayne smiled. He whispered to her, “Survivor.”

He fainted.

32

Lily Baker and the Fox’s Big Juicy Secret

The woods went quiet. There’d been so much shouting and so many growls only a second ago. Lily felt stuck against the tree, her hands shaking as she held tight to the juts in the bark. Her mind was a mix of blanking and flashing, and she was sure she could hear the sirens for an emergency situation going off in her head.

Shayne was passed out. Reason told her to start performing first aid. But she stared at the three fairies on the ground; the ones she’d taken out with her own bullets. Up until the moment she’d raised her gun, she wasn’t sure she could still protect herself anymore, or protect Shayne. It had been instinct, and it had kicked in just like it was supposed to. She thought she would cower, or scream, or run. But she didn’t.

She’d fired.

She’d fought back, and she’d endured.

Her attention dropped to where Shayne lay, his face relaxed and his body sprawled. It hit her all at once that Shayne was bleeding out on the grass, that the creepy fairies of the Riothin House would probably send more people to try and find her, and that—

She shrieked as the huge beast they’d ridden here on wandered past her and began helping itself to the fairy bodies on the ground. She slapped a hand over her mouth, and she rushed to Shayne’s side, afraid the grotesque creature might consider Shayne to be free meat along with the others.

“Shayne!” She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Shayne, wake up!”

His body lurched along with her movements, but he didn’t open his eyes. There was so much blood everywhere; his clothes were mostly dark purple.

“Shayne,” she begged. “I can’t protect you if you don’t wake up!” She looked around at the dark forest, not seeing a path or a clear direction to head in. She wasn’t sure she could even carry someone of Shayne’s size. She definitely couldn’t outrun more fairies if they came.

Lily grabbed the sides of her head. Even though she’d started to think straight after whatever potion Shayne made her drink, she knew she was deprived of nutrition and likely on the verge of passing out herself. She gasped as the beastly creature turned and began heading in Shayne’s direction.

“Seriously, what do I do?!” she whispered to herself. She used to be good at problem solving, but she wasn’t sure of anything anymore, except that she needed someone stronger, someone who wasn’t a malnourished human on the verge of losing her mind.

It was crazy, but it was her last shot. She started screaming.

“Mor!” She shouted it into the darkness, her dry voice cracking over his name. She knew Mor couldn’t hear her. She knew she was grasping at straws. But she begged him to come anyway. “Mor!” It echoed through the trees, and critters she couldn’t see stirred in the branches overhead. “M—”

Someone appeared in front of her, and she gasped. The hem of his long black Dracula coat fluttered in the wind. Luc folded his arms as he looked her over. His silver gaze lifted to the hungry beast heading in her direction, then dropped to where Shayne lay in the grass.

“You called?” he asked, doing nothing about any of it.

Lily blinked. She really hadn’t expected someone to hear her screams. “I wasn’t calling you,” she said from a strained voice—though, she wasn’t sure why she said it.

Luc nodded. “Ah. Then I’ll leave.” He turned and Lily grabbed the hem of his coat.

“Wait!” she begged. “Luc…”

When Luc twisted back, he was clearly trying to hide a smile. He stared down at her, and Lily wondered if this was the first time she’d ever been alone with Luc. She swallowed and glanced over at the beast.

Luc sighed and tugged his coat out of her grip. When he turned himself toward the beast, something came over his eyes; a darkness that sent a shiver through the woods. The leaves rustled overhead. Lily smelled smoke.