Page 42 of Beyond the Veil (Endangered Fae #4)

Limpet pulled away, stood up and walked toward the ocean, letting the waves play across his feet. “That’s the issue, Da. I’m not a pup anymore. What you did—drugging me so I wouldn’t have a choice about leaving—that was a horrid thing to do.”

“We’re very sorry about that, sweetness,” Lyonsia said, her voice full of hurt. “But do you have any notion how worried we were about you? Out there in the dangers of the human world all alone?”

“I wasn’t alone. Theo was with me.”

“Having a monster as your protector is no protection at all,” Cerith growled. “You were lucky and came out of it whole, but you can’t go around thinking with your small head, boy. One day that thing would have turned on you and killed you. We had to keep you safe.”

Limpet pulled in a slow breath and faced them. His arms wrapped around his ribs were the only thing keeping him from shaking apart. “I’m sorry I left without telling you. That was wrong. I beg pardon for having worried you. But I’m grown now and need to explore on my own.”

“You’ve never had the sense to keep you own head safe.” Lyonsia nodded to his mangled ear. “We couldn’t just leave you on your own.”

“But if I had said I wanted to swim up the coast and find a mate? Start my own pod?”

“That’s different.”

“It is.” Limpet nodded. “I agree. I would be with my own kind. You’d still be able to call to me whenever you wished.

My poor muddled head would still have selkies to watch out for it.

But I didn’t. I went out to where things are happening, where people need help, and fell in love with a Nightwalker whose single-minded need to protect everyone nearly killed him. ”

“You don’t love him,” Cerith said on a snort. “Don’t confuse lust heat with love. You can’t love someone who only knows violence.”

“Da, you never even spoke to him. You have no idea who he is, the terrible pain he carries with him without complaint, the selflessness, the sense of duty. You never saw how patient and kind he can be, the light in his eyes when he creates with his hands. I do love him.” Limpet swallowed hard against the rock in his throat.

He did love Theo and in that moment, he finally realized how deeply.

“And I’m going back to him. You can slip something in my food again and carry me back here as many times as you like, but I’ll turn right around when I wake and go back to him.

Which will get ridiculous after a bit, since that’s all we’ll be doing is running back and forth to the sidhe lands. ”

He had run on a bit longer than he intended, but still his parents regarded him slack-jawed, as if he had sprouted extra fins.

“I love you both. I love all my family. But I can’t stay here, not now when I don’t even know if Theo survived. Come visit me at the consulate if you like, in the big, bad human world. I won’t live in a net any longer and I have things to do. I’m going back to Theo.”

Predictably, his mother started to cry and his father glowered, but he couldn’t be intimidated any longer, or stopped short by manipulative guilt. He hugged them both and kissed their unhappy faces. Then he walked away over the grass-swept dunes without looking back.

“We can reverse it, can’t we?” Diego stared morosely at the stone werewolf under the wisteria arbor.

Lugh threw an arm over his shoulders and hugged him tight. “No.”

“No? But if we—”

“Are you a necromancer now?” Lugh asked, raising one thick black brow at him.

“Of course not.”

“That’s what you propose, though. To raise the dead. Diego, there is no blood in the veins of this statue. No heart beats within. No mind cries out to us to be freed from its prison. The man is gone. There is only stone now.”

“Damn it.” Diego leaned into Lugh’s offered strength. “I’d really hoped…” He turned to Asif, who stood nearby. “I’m sorry. I…asked you to carry out someone who had already died.”

Asif shrugged, shoulders nearly as broad as Lugh’s. “Not a big deal. Maybe he has family and shit.”

“We’ll try to find out. I’m sorry Mr. Werewolf Banker. I never even knew your name.” Nusair probably did, but I can’t ask him and I’m still not certain he didn’t engineer what happened to you .

“You want him somewhere more private? I could move him.”

Diego glanced up at Asif in surprise. He cleaned up well, no argument there.

His gold-tipped black hair gleamed in the sun, pulled back in a neat queue since he could proudly display his tapered ears here.

He had taken to wearing kilts as many of the sidhe did, so his black, giraffe-like tail could be free of the awkward confinement of pants.

“Thank you for offering. I’d appreciate that. Maybe in the pine grove at the back of the garden? If we can’t find any next of kin, we could do a proper memorial back there, I’d think.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Asif hefted the statue easily and snorted at Diego.

“Don’t look at me like that. I feel kinda responsible for him.

” He lifted his chin toward the consulate.

“Your pooka boy’s looking for you. Of course you’re together.

Haven’t seen this many gay fuckers in one place in my life. ”

“Most of the fae are bi, more accurately.”

Asif actually smiled, the first one Diego had seen from him. It put a faint light of mischief in his violet eyes. “Best island ever,” he muttered before he stalked off with the unfortunate werewolf over his shoulder.

Finn jogged up as Asif disappeared down a tree-lined path. “There you are.”

“I am.” Diego stood on tiptoe for a swift kiss. “Good to see you up. Did you eat?”

“Like a starved bear. But that’s not what I came to tell you.”

“I’m glad you did, anyway. Finn, if you hadn’t—”

“Don’t start that now, love.” Finn stroked the side of his face.

“You’ll have us both in tears. What’s done is done.

Now then, Herself says the griffin is welcome to travel through sidhe lands to get back home to his mountains in the Otherworld.

But she confirms what you suspected. The ghoul is not fae, and she forbids him entry. ”

“I was afraid of that. I haven’t been able to find any government programs anywhere that offer support to ghouls.

But I do have a call in—” Diego’s phone buzzed against his thigh.

He checked the number and glanced up at Finn.

“I know you still hate him, but I have to take this call, caro . Agent Pulaski?”

Finn sniffed in mild offense but didn’t stomp off. An improvement, at least.

“Yes, Mr. Sandoval, good to have you back. Checking into your placement issue. We may be able to offer territory in the Sonoran Desert, west of Phoenix, pending some licensing issues and his tolerance for the climate.”

“It sounds ideal. Hot, dry, plenty of wildlife, right? Should be good hunting for him.”

“Yes.” Chill and dust-dry as always, it was hard to know what Gerry Pulaski was really thinking.

“We’ll send a Dari translator to collect him when everything’s in place.

But he needs to understand that the minute he strays into human lands, attacks some hapless tourist or decides to dig up a graveyard, all agreements are cancelled. ”

“Understood. We’ll make sure he understands beforehand. Are there any other magically altered beings out that way?”

“That, Mr. Sandoval, is classified.”

“Of course. Thanks, Gerry. The Fae Collective, as always, appreciates the support of the US Government.”

“If you were anyone else, Sandoval, I’d accuse you of sarcasm. We’ll be in touch.”

Diego was still chuckling as he sat down with Finn under the arbor.

Part of him still had difficulty with Gerry for what he had done some years ago.

But he was one of those men who followed orders unflinchingly, whatever they might be.

Always better to have that type of man on your side rather than opposing you.

“All settled, then?” Finn stretched his long legs out, lounging like a big cat on the garden bench.

“We’re getting there. Some of the humans still need placement, but we’ll find a place for everyone.”

“Where will Asif go?”

Diego flopped down on the bench with his head in Finn’s lap, content to have those long fingers stroke through his hair for a moment.

“I’m not sure. Danu says he’s welcome at the sidhe court, since he’s half fae and not what she considers dangerous.

But he didn’t like the idea. Said it sounded too stuffy and full of politics. ”

“Interesting. Most humans wouldn’t find half-naked, beautiful sidhe stuffy.”

“For now, I think he’s fine here. We’ll see what he wants to do when he’s had some time to adjust.”

“But wasn’t he a thief?”

“That’s rather judgmental, coming from you.”

“Your pardon.” Finn lifted Diego’s hand to kiss the fingers. “I’m sure he’ll not cause a whit of trouble and all will be well.”

“I hope so. You and I could use some boring, peaceful, non-traveling for a while.”

“Is this what they call a staid-cation, then?”

Diego chuckled and nuzzled Finn’s stomach. “Yes. Because we’re not going anywhere.”

Pants. He’d managed the pants. Socks were optional, or they could be for once.

Theo struggled to button the shirt, but his fingers were like inflated party balloons and he couldn’t keep his arms up long enough to manage.

He gave up and stomped into his boots without socks instead, but then realized lacing them up might not be possible.

“Where are you going? And why are you so angry at your boots?”

Theo’s head jerked up. The figure in the doorway had to be a fever dream, except he never ran fevers anymore. No, the selkie was back, but it didn’t matter. “Limpet.”

“Hello.” In a flurry of wild hair and near-nakedness, Limpet flopped down on the bed beside him.

“I’m glad you’re not dead. That was what I worried about on my way back.

Though I suppose that was silly. It’s not that you would die from me not being here and you’re simply too strong for that.

But I did worry and it’s so good to see you awake. They too—”