Page 27 of Against the Veil (Endangered Fae #3)

Chapter Fourteen

El Jefe

Power in the hands of the amoral man is unethical on a B-movie level.

It is too obvious to be worthy of debate.

Power in the hands of the self-appointed righteous man is more dangerous.

The leader who seizes power by persuasion is far more dangerous than the one who shoots your grandmother to do it. —Appoquinimink Jones, Dangerous Paths

F inn’s anguished cry could have melted glaciers. “If he were in Los Angeles, I would still feel him! Where in all bloody hells is he?”

“I’m trying to explain, bud.” Zack reached down to stroke Finn’s feathers and received a hard nip for his efforts. “Ow, damn. That wasn’t nice.”

Lugh wrapped a blanket around his mostly naked body so he wouldn’t offend the human youngster. He settled on the edge of the bed, trying his best to shield himself from Finn’s anguish. It pounded at him in heavy waves, difficult to ignore. “Why do you believe he is there, my dear?”

Minky turned the device so they could all see the picture screen. She pointed to an image of a dry hillside overlooking a vast, sprawling city. “This is where he, um, stepped through. It looked just like this.” She ducked her head, her voice shaking. “Nate said so, too.”

“Why can’t I find my husband?” Finn shrieked, his wings threatening the nightstand as they beat the air frantically.

The girl gasped and faded from sight, taking on the appearance of the wallpaper behind her.

“What is that?” Finn snapped. He walked awkwardly across the carpet toward her, his talons snagging on threads. “Why is she transparent?”

“Fionnachd, leave her be. You have frightened her.” Lugh held out an arm and let Finn climb up to use him as a perch. “If you would give us room to speak, we will tell you the tale. But you must remain calm.”

“Tell it, then,” Finn snapped.

“Diego came to New York—” Lugh began.

“I know that!”

“Yes. And because I was not fit for a public appearance, he went to the concert for me. But there were human younglings there—”

“There were children in the concert?”

“No, waiting outside.”

“What does this have to do with my Diego?”

“I will come to that, if you would listen.”

Finn clacked his sharp raptor beak and ruffled his wings. “You are a dreadful storyteller, Lugh mac Ethnnen.”

Lugh fought back a sigh and waved to Zack to continue.

For reasons only fathomable to Finn, Zack received a more patient hearing, only punctuated by the occasional shifting of talons.

At the end of the telling, Finn hopped back to the carpet, staring at the bedroom door, his mind completely shuttered.

“Finn, bud?” Zack took a hesitant step toward him. “Maybe tell me what you’re thinking?”

Instead of answering, though, Finn began to give off the soft blue glow that heralded his shifting.

“Do we have any of his clothes here?” Lugh asked, certain Finn was reverting to his bipedal form.

“I don’t think—” Zack cut off when the shifting form solidified, not as the handsome pooka, but as a snarling panther. “Finn, don’t be stupid.”

A low growl was all Finn gave in answer, thick, black tail lashing. Zack lunged for him, a hair too slow, and Panther-Finn shot out of the bedroom on an eerie, piercing roar.

From one heartbeat to the next, Zack hurtled after him, leaving Lugh blinking stupidly on the bed. His Zachary shouldn’t have been able to move so swiftly.

“Dammit, Finn, no!”

Zack’s bellow broke his shocked trance. Lugh lunged for the door and raced to the living room.

He reached the others in time to see Finn, eyes glowing a murderous red, leap toward Brandon.

With an inhuman snarl, Zack slammed into him, and bore the panther to the ground where they growled and snapped in a furious tangle of teeth and limbs.

“Enough! You will both cease!” Lugh roared, and found himself completely ignored.

Well and fine. No more words. He waded into the fray, cuffed Zack hard on the side of his head and seized Finn by his scruff to pull him off.

Marcus assisted, getting Zack in a good headlock and dragging him back, though the sergeant still made sounds that should never have issued from a human throat.

“Fionnachd.” He gave the panther a little shake. “These are my guests. You are in danger of breaking a sacred trust.”

The panther let out a soft, distressed mewl and began to glow. His hand was soon clamped around the back of Finn’s neck, a naked, anguished Finn now kneeling at his feet.

“They’ve stolen my Diego from me,” Finn whispered. “My love, my light…”

Lugh gathered him close as he began to sob. “Zachary, are you well?” he called over his shoulder.

“Yeah.” Zack’s voice held a gravelly edge, as if he might still growl. “Mostly. Sorry. Don’t know what happened there.”

The youngsters all stared, open-mouthed, eyes as wide as autumn moons. Nate recovered first. “So it’s true.”

“What’s true?” Zack muttered as Marcus eased his hold.

“It was a werewolf that attacked you. And you are one. Or becoming one.”

An uncomfortable shroud of silence settled, broken only by Finn’s sobs.

“Perhaps such thoughts are better kept to yourself,” Lugh said, his throat tight despite his calm words. “You do not know the sergeant well enough to ask such questions or make such presumptions.”

“It’s okay, Highness,” Zack said on a weary huff of breath. “Not like Emily Post ever wrote anything about how to bring up the subject of lycanthropy.” He crossed the room to put a gentle hand on Finn’s shoulder. “Don’t cry, hon, please. We’ll find him. We’ll get him back.”

A low, steady beat as of giant locust wings reached Lugh’s ears, growing louder by the second. “Max is here.”

Zack hesitated. He seemed to be considering something. When he spoke, it was in that voice that expected obedience. “All right, kids. Gather up your stuff. You’re going with His Highness in the Sikorsky.”

“And you, my love?” Lugh spoke for his ears alone. “Where are you going?”

“To L.A.”

“Not alone. I forbid it.”

“Just to get there, all right?” Zack brought a blanket to wrap around Finn. “You take the kids and our guys, get everybody safe to the island. When I get there, I’ll call you. You can zap yourself there in half a second and join me, but it’ll take me hours to fly there first.”

“I’m going with you,” Finn said on a huge sniff.

Zack stroked Finn’s tangled hair back from his eyes. “No, hon. You go back. Be safe. Who knows what we’re walking into?”

Finn drew himself straight so he looked down at Zack. “Have you been inside Diego’s mind? Would you know, by instinct, when he is near?”

“Well, no, but—”

“My mate, my husband. Do not think to shuffle me into a corner. This is my concern more than any other’s.”

It would have been a simple thing to knock Finn out and take him away.

Easy to say he was distraught and not thinking clearly.

But to see him so resolved, so deadly serious sent tendrils of sorrow through Lugh’s heart.

He had shared tender moments with Finn over the centuries, had more moments when he found him infuriating.

This, though, this was a deadly determination so unlike the carefree Finn he had always known. So much had changed…

“My dear.” He took Zack’s face between his hands. “It would ease my heart to know you are not alone.”

Zack opened his mouth as if to protest.

“Please.”

For one anxious moment more, Zack hesitated. “All right…all right, then. Finn, bud, let’s get you something to wear. Everyone else, get your asses in gear and up to the roof.”

Relieved, Lugh pulled his Zachary close in a swift, fierce embrace. “Be careful, my sergeant.”

“You, too.” Zack poked a finger at his chest. “If there’re any barriers you and your grandparents can set up around the island, do it. All his stuff is there. Chances are, he’ll try and pop in at some point.”

“It will be as you say, Sergeant.” He sketched a little salute and turned to lift the still-groggy Brandon in his arms. “Pooka’s luck go with you. Are you ready, my dears?”

The young people clustered around him, bags slung over shoulders, heartbeats a bit too fast. Kevin and Marcus led the way to the roof, where the helicopter still beat out its deafening, rhythmic song.

While he hoped they would find Diego and remedy the situation quickly, he had a terrible feeling it wouldn’t be so easy.

“Sit still, bud.” Zack put a hand on Finn’s bouncing knee. His fidgeting shook the whole row of chairs and garnered some dark looks from fellow travelers waiting at the gate.

“I’m sorry,” Finn whispered miserably. “I hate airports. I despise all the waiting .”

“I’m kinda surprised you’re all right getting on a plane at all.”

Finn rocked back and forth, chewing on his thumbnail. “I thought I could not for some time. Believed they must contain too much steel, like cars, and no one would line a plane with silk just for me. But Diego…”

His breath caught on the name, his eyes squeezed shut.

“Hey, it’s okay, bud. We don’t have to talk about it.”

“No…no…” Finn shook his head, though what he disagreed with was unclear.

“Diego said they weren’t made of steel, but other things.

Steel is too heavy. They need lighter materials.

That made sense. The bones of birds are hollow, after all.

I do not like flying in a canister, but it is faster than any wings I have. ”

Zack took Finn’s hand to keep him from chewing his thumbnail off. “Hey. I went through a lot of trouble getting you that hand back. Don’t gnaw it off again.”

“Ha! Yes. Sorry.” Finn gripped his fingers tight, his shivering telegraphing through his arm.

Should have brought catnip. Might’ve been stoned for most of the flight but at least he would’ve been calm . “We’re gonna get him back. We will.”

Soon enough, boarding began. Finn was an old hand at procedures by now, his ticket in hand as he approached the gate, but Zack found it worrisome that he barely thanked the pretty girl who checked him in and strode on without so much as a flirtatious smile.