Page 7 of Against the Veil (Endangered Fae #3)

Chapter Five

Strange Happenings

It is neither nature nor the reaction of magic within the fertile soil of the human field, but the very act of being human that causes such aberrations. —Hssetassk, from Conversations with the Wild Fae by D. Sandoval

Z ack put his feet up on the ottoman Diego shoved his way. Two weeks after the attack, his legs still ached and stairs were a challenge. But damn it, he’d been going stir crazy stuck in bed. Eithne had finally said he could go down to the offices if someone walked with him.

The file Diego had set in his lap got stranger with every page he turned.

Snippets of police reports, local newspaper articles and blog entries from reputable sites all told tales better suited to the tabloids.

Stories of spontaneous human combustion, of people floating or fading from sight.

One article even discussed a teacher who could read her students’ thoughts.

“Now that’s a scary idea,” Zack muttered. He frowned when he turned the page. The designation on this next paper was a familiar one. “Mr. S.? How’d you get hold of classified documents?”

Diego cleared his throat, one hand running back through his black curls. “Ah, well. That’s something I don’t want leaving this room. Agent Pulaski sent them to me.”

“ Gerry Pulaski?” Zack gaped at him. “Same guy who almost got us killed? Angus is gonna have a stroke.”

“That’s why Angus can’t find out. He’s finally dropped the extradition suit, but I know if Gerry’s name comes up, for any reason, he’ll be right back to screaming for blood.”

“He won’t hear it from me,” Zack said. Guilt still ate at him.

Angus’ tortured sobs as he’d held Sionnach’s shaved, unconscious body still haunted him.

He’d been doing his job, just as Agent Pulaski had, but he’d had a part in that fiasco of an operation which had nearly cost four fae their lives.

A year later, Finn still had dismemberment nightmares.

Never mind that it was all a huge misunderstanding.

Never mind that he had ultimately made the right decision, the moral decision, instead of just following orders.

Whenever he found Nathair in the garden staring out at nothing, when Finn woke up screaming, when Angus flinched from a spark or Sionnach’s beautiful eyes filled with tears for no apparent reason, the guilt gnawed at him.

He fought to concentrate on the page in front of him, his forehead crinkling in disbelief.

The documents from the bureau described attacks on East L.A.

gang members. The bodies were exsanguinated, but without any arterial wound to explain the complete absence of blood.

The only marks on the bodies, besides a few bruises, were two precise punctures at the throats, identical in each case.

“Vampires?” Zack glanced up. “This is getting just a little too X-Files , even for me.”

“I know. And you haven’t even gotten to the emails.”

Zack cocked an eyebrow at him and turned the page.

The next few pages were emails either addressed to Diego directly or sent through the embassy website.

They came from individuals and from groups with names such as ‘Rhiannon’s Heirs’ and the ‘White Council’, most of them badly written.

Grammar and typing skills aside, they all asked questions in the same vein, questions about magic.

How was this or that done? How did Diego learn?

What was the source of his power? Would he come and teach, please?

“We have a leak?”

Diego gave a dismissive wave. “We have rumors from the IER and the more recent incident at the hospital. After that, the internet takes care of the rest.”

“I don’t like the tone of some of these, Mr. S. I don’t want you leaving the island without an escort, all right?”

“But they’re probably mostly just kids,” Diego protested with a little smile. “You make it sound as if someone might kidnap me.”

“Someone might, if they’re desperate. Sounds like some of these people are messing with things they can’t control. They might kidnap you anyway. You need to start understanding that you’re an important man.”

“No, I’m not,” Diego murmured.

Zack snapped the folder shut. “These people don’t agree with you.

” And neither do I. “Just don’t go off alone.

Please. And Finn, when he’s better, doesn’t count as an escort.

He’s more ADD than most five-year-olds.” He eased over to place the file back on Diego’s desk.

“But that’s not why you wanted me to look at all this stuff. ”

“Right. It’s not.”

“You said something before about connections.”

Diego leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling.

He did that a lot when he puzzled through something, so Finn had painted ethereal, filigree designs in blue and green overhead to help him think.

“It’s just hard to say. Have these things always gone on and we’re just hearing about them now because we’re involved in the, ah, unusual?

Or are we hearing about them now because of a sharp increase in such things? And if that’s the case, why now?”

“Uh-huh. Don’t expect me to believe you haven’t already come up with your own answers.

” Zack watched the shadows gathering in Diego’s eyes and didn’t have to think hard to guess.

“You think this all has to do with the door between the worlds, with the Earth magic and the Otherworld magic being able to flow back and forth again.”

“The timing seems awfully coincidental, don’t you think? I open a permanent way through the Veil, and now all this.”

“Maybe. Or maybe the fae coming out in the open makes it easier for other things to come out in the open.” Zack drummed his fingers on the chair arm. “And blaming yourself won’t do anything but cost you sleep.”

Diego let out a snort. “Not blaming myself would make me someone else.”

“True. But I don’t know anything about this stuff. Not much, anyway. Ask me about stuff I know, medical questions, weapons questions, I can answer those.”

“I just want someone else besides me thinking about it. Another set of eyes, another brain.” Diego tapped the folder. “I think your attacker is part of all this, too.”

“You think maybe he was fae?”

“No, hon. I’m pretty sure he was human. I think he’s… I’m not sure.”

Zack exhaled a long breath. “Werewolf. Nobody wants to say it. You all think he was.”

“Maybe. It’s one possibility.”

“But I haven’t gone all furry or anything. Isn’t that what’s supposed to happen? It bites you, you get infected?”

Diego patted his hand. “I don’t know. We just have old stories and movie versions. I do know Eithne’s concerned that the bite on your shoulder isn’t healing, and that you’re still so…”

“Say it. Weak.”

“Lethargic.”

“Dog tired.”

“Was that a joke?” Diego choked on a snicker.

Zack spread his hands in front of him. “A guy can’t joke at his own expense?”

“I suppose it’s better than howling.”

“Oh, that was bad, Mr. S. I’m gonna call the authors’ guild and have your license revoked.”

“Are you ready?” Lugh tapped politely on Zack’s door. The man was happy to swim naked in Otherworld pools, but he nearly expired from shame if one caught him half-dressed in the human world.

While Lugh had trouble understanding, he still worked hard to respect those sensitive points.

A muffled curse and a thump from inside Zack’s bedroom made him fling etiquette aside.

The door slammed open with his hasty entrance and his heart gave a painful thud.

Zack knelt on the floor clutching his shoulder, only one arm in his shirt.

Lugh crouched beside him. “Zachary…”

“S’okay, Highness. Don’t look at me like I’m dying.” Zack pulled in a shuddering breath and eased his left arm into its sleeve. “Tried to move too fast. Pulled on the shoulder. Not as bad as it looks.”

The pain was so fierce it took you out at the knees and it’s not as bad as it looks? “If you don’t feel well enough for this, I will go and tell them so.”

“God, no. They’ve been planning this for weeks now. I can’t do that to everybody.”

Though his arms ached to gather Zack close, Lugh limited himself to lifting the unbuttoned shirt from Zack’s shoulder and running gentle fingertips over the still-angry wound. “It’s hot, my dear.”

Eyes the color of mourning dove pinions gazed up at him. Zack licked his lips. “Yeah. Hot.” Then he ducked his head, his cheeks a lovely shade of pink. “I mean, yes. A little. It’s not so bad.”

“I think my sergeant would say so even if someone had lopped his head off.” Lugh shook his head. He pressed his hand over the bite marks, concentrating a bit of his magic there to pull the heat into his own body. He was no healer, but this much he could do. “Better?”

Zack nodded and went so far as to lean his head on Lugh’s shoulder.

Oh, how he wanted this. He wanted so much more, wanted his beloved sergeant’s hard-muscled body stretched beneath him.

On top of him. Beside him. Wanted to feel his powerful thighs around his waist, his strong arms holding tight around his back.

But this tender moment of trust made all the denial worthwhile.

Yes, he wanted to pound into Zack, to make him writhe in ecstasy, shout and come like a geyser, but for spots of time like this, when Zack came to him and touched him unbidden, he was willing to wait for the rest.

“Lugh?” Zack’s trembling hand rested on his bare chest.

The ache grew to encompass Lugh’s entire being. He put a finger under Zack’s chin to lift his face. “Tonight. We will talk tonight. But first we have a feast to attend, do we not?”

Zack nodded and sat back on his heels to button his shirt.

The withdrawal was a dagger in Lugh’s heart, the terrible stab of an opportunity forever lost as Zack pulled back physically and emotionally from him again.

He made a tactical retreat to lean against the wall, waiting patiently as Zack fumbled with his buttons and climbed his way back to his feet. Human pride could be a prickly thing.