Page 32 of Beyond the Veil (Endangered Fae #4)

Chapter Twelve

Magically sensitive humans: While all humans possess kelan structures, only a small percentage exhibit abilities, large or small, that indicate a sensitivity to magical flows.

These abilities may never manifest beyond moments of strong déjà vu or they may, in rare cases, manifest with enough strength to rival most fae.

M idafternoon, Theo woke to splashing. He jerked awake, disoriented by the gentle breeze on his naked skin and the dappled quality of the light, both things one didn’t get sleeping under a truck. Palm fronds waved above him. Right. Oasis pit stop.

A black head broke the water briefly before dunking under again.

Apparently, Limpet was going to get every moment of enjoyment out of the pool that he could.

Soon, the sun would make its way down toward the dunes.

Theo could wait another hour. He tugged his pack toward him, settled cross-legged under the palms and pulled out his needlework while he waited.

Maybe it would’ve been more sensible to leave it behind, but he couldn’t stand the thought of someone pawing through his things and carelessly damaging the work.

Maybe it was stupid to keep working on it at all. He made things to satisfy the ache in his fingers, the itch he couldn’t scratch from the things he could never make. Most of the needlework, no one ever saw. The other security personnel, most of them, made fun of him—or worse—when they had.

“Why do I have to patrol opposite that sissy fag vamp?” one of them had hissed at Kevin over the assignment board. “Does fucking embroidery like my granny.”

Of course, Kevin had reprimanded the man and he hadn’t lasted long with Fae Collective security. But Theo had heard from outside the command center. He knew most of them would have agreed even if they didn’t say it.

The split stitch for the fine dragon scales soothed him, eased the trembling that had settled into his fingers.

Something about the precision necessary for that particular stitch made it the perfect meditation exercise.

In the filtered light under the palms, the dragon’s scales seemed to shimmer and move with the shadows, as if it were alive.

The world around him vanished— until a shadow crept over the cloth and a drop of water plopped onto the edge of the mountains.

“Back up an inch,” Theo murmured. “Please don’t get it wetter.”

Limpet sat back on his butt, still clutching his sealskin to his chest. “You’re making a picture with colored skeins.

That’s awfully clever of you. Do all humans do this?

I’ve made pictures out of seaweed but it never looks like the actual thing and then it washes away.

Is this something to wear? One of the human girls at the consulate had a shirt with bright blue and green birds on it.

It was so wonderful and soft. She laughed when I asked to touch it.

Humans laugh at odd things. Is it something like that? ”

Theo carefully folded the needle into the cloth and packed everything away in the double plastic bags, waiting to see if Limpet had actually run down. “Do you care if I answer your questions?”

“Pardon? Of course I care. Why would I ask, otherwise?”

“Maybe ask them one at a time.” Theo stood to brush sand off before he started dressing. “There was a first question in there. Hell if I know what after all that.”

Limpet seemed both puzzled and entranced as he watched Theo pulling on his pants. “You have such lovely, strong thighs. I don’t recall what the question was, either.”

“Works for me. Get your things. We need to get rolling.”

Limpet nodded, head down as he folded up his sealskin and returned it to its pouch.

Damn it, I’m not good at this. Theo zipped up his pack, trying to figure out what he had said, or maybe how he had said it.

Or maybe what he hadn’t said. “Hey.” He took Limpet under the chin and forced his head up for a sweet, lingering kiss.

“I loved this day. This beautiful spot in the middle of all this misery.”

Ah, that did it. Limpet beamed at him and bounced up, hurrying into his clothes so he could race after Theo to the truck. He couldn’t help a little smile. Damn it, but he liked Limpet way too much, every hyper, loquacious, overcurious inch of him. If things had been different…

Stupid, stupid to think along those lines.

They weren’t and they wouldn’t ever be. He had to treasure the time they had because once they got home, and they would get home, Limpet’s family would claim him.

A human monster had no place with people as bright and lively as selkies. Limpet’s pod would make sure of that.

And I’ll go back to being a glorified rent-a-cop. That’s all right. If I can help get them out and back home, at least I’ve done something good.

Not that he was so simple-minded that he thought an equal number of good things would cancel out the bad ones.

He would always be a murderer, no matter how much good he did.

It wasn’t really atonement, redemption or karma.

Redemption was a fairy tale for children. Grown people just tried to do better.

The truck coughed and sputtered, irritated at having to leave, but it rolled off without complaint once they were moving.

The trail had grown colder but the feeling of an end point approaching had intensified.

Theo drove carefully around or over each dune.

The last thing he wanted was to have the prison suddenly appear in front of them and the two of them go down in a hail of gunfire from the walls.

A couple of hours after full dark, Limpet tugged on his sleeve. “Over there. I don’t think that’s normal.”

Theo followed where he pointed. The top of one of the dunes to the right was glowing, not so much the top of the dune itself but behind it. “That’s it. Has to be.”

Unless it’s a refinery. Can’t be anything else out here en casa del culo.

Theo parked the truck at the bottom of the dune, took his binoculars and hiked up.

He didn’t bother to tell Limpet to stay in the truck, but he did pull the selkie down as they reached the summit, showing him how to low crawl the last few feet.

More than happy to squirm along in the sand, Limpet’s eyes shone as if this were some wonderful game.

“No noise,” Theo whispered. “Stay still.”

Limpet wriggled close, head on his hands as they peered over the crest of the dune.

Spotlights lit the ground around an almost featureless rectangular building.

That was no refinery. Through the binoculars, Theo scanned for movement, for entrances, for something to tell him how to proceed.

There were armed guards on the roof, pacing off short distances, their attentions focused outside the walls.

Clearly, they weren’t concerned over what happened inside, but they were ready to shoot anything that made it out.

“Three guards visible from here. Probably that many more on the other side.”

Limpet only nodded, taking Theo’s admonishment to be quiet seriously. Theo scanned the building itself, the walls unbroken by doors or windows. What kind of a prison is this? Do they lower prisoners in through the roof?

“Stay here with the truck, little bit. I need to scout around, see the whole building.”

Limpet grabbed his arm before he could go. “This is the prison, then? This horrid place?”

“Has to be.” This was where the trail led. All his instincts screamed toward this one point. “I’ll be back. Stay put and stay down.”

Theo slipped the binoculars into his jacket and raced off into the dark. The desert might not have been his element, but the night sure as hell was. I am the night and all that shit. Maybe Batman was really a vampire.

“Then the helicopter flew off again.” Finn’s grin grew wider with each sentence. “I’m sorry I worried you, but I had to stay and watch a bit.”

“No, I’m glad you did. It’s frustrating not being able to hear your thoughts, so I can’t help being concerned.

” Diego took Finn’s hand, gripping those long fingers tight.

Damn right, he’d been sick with worry. Finn had been gone for hours and now his shit-eating grin was threatening to swallow his face. “So what aren’t you telling us?”

“I haven’t been able to keep a secret from you in so long. Can’t I enjoy it a moment longer?” Finn wheedled.

“If you want to give me an aneurysm on top of the stroke you nearly gave me this afternoon, certainly.”

Finn shot Nusair a sidelong look and said in a conspiratorial whisper, “Sometimes humans are no fun at all.”

“There’s always divorce.” Nusair gave him a nudge with one clawed foot. “Spill, pooka, or you’ll have us both trying to rip it out of you.”

“So violent.” Finn nestled closer to rest his head on Diego’s shoulder. “Theo’s here.”

Diego startled, accidentally bumping Finn’s chin. “Sorry. What do you mean Theo’s here ?”

“I mean he’s here. Nearby. I caught his scent.”

“Huh.” Diego tried to process that. A rescue squad? But what could they hope to accomplish if they couldn’t get inside? “Who’s with him? How many of our folks?”

Finn sat up, rubbing at his face, as his smile evaporated. “That’s the odd thing. I smelled no other humans or altered humans. There was only one other scent and it was selkie.”

“Really? Oh…dear. Limpet?”

“That was my thought, yes.”

“ Dios . What was Theo thinking?” Since he was still trying to piece together something sensible out of Finn’s reconnaissance, this new development threw all of Diego’s thoughts askew.

He believed it might be possible, with all the prisoners working together, to open the doors to the outside. If they— “Damn it.”

“What?” Nusair sat forward, chin on his knees, his unsettling golden eyes unguarded in a moment of anguished hope.

“Cameras. I’ve forgotten about cameras. They must be watching everything we do.”

Nusair’s cagey smirk returned. “Oh, not quite everything.”

“Which means what, exactly?”