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She glanced down and he rumbled in reassurance. It was clear he wanted her to let his alpha inside. And the longer she left Adric standing there, the more likely one of her neighbors was to see him, which would only complicate things.

Besides, the alpha could’ve easily pushed his way in. The fact that he hadn’t was a good sign.

She forced her fingers to release the doorknob. “Why don’t you come in?”

“Thank you.” He didn’t seem to hurry, but he was past her almost before she knew it.

She shut the door behind him, but didn’t bother bolting it—because what was the point?

Adric crouched next to Jace, a hand on his shoulder. “You okay, bro?”

Jace nuzzled the alpha’s hand.

“You’re hurt?”

While Jace rumbled what Evie took to be a yes, she eyed Adric. Like Jace, he was all muscle in jeans and a camo-print T-shirt that strained over his shoulders. Average height, but with a powerful build that reminded her of the ex-Army ranger in her biology class.

But damn, the guy was young. From what she’d heard, she’d have expected the Baltimore alpha to be older, in his mid-forties at least. Sure, the fada lived way longer than humans, and so aged more slowly, but this man didn’t look much older than Evie herself.

Adric glanced up at her with those odd metallic eyes. World-weary eyes. Eyes that had seen too much, too soon.

And suddenly Evie didn’t have trouble believing the stories. This was a man who’d killed, more than once.

But his concern for his injured friend was clear. He rose to his feet. “Can you shift?” he asked Jace.

Evie raised a brow. So the fada couldn’t always change forms? Last night, Jace had made it look easy, but then she’d never seen anyone shift before.

Jace-the-panther twitched a soft black ear.

Adric bent to examine Jace’s quartz. “Better not,” he agreed.

Evie would’ve loved to know what the man could learn from the quartz, but whatever it was, he wasn’t sharing.

Adric turned to her. “I know he’s hurt. I followed the trail to your house. I have a man cleaning it away, so no one else can follow it.”

“There was a storm, and we hosed down what we could.”

The Baltimore alpha nodded. “I know. But he dripped blood all the way down the block. Thank the gods the storm came when it did. If whoever was tracking him had picked up his trail—” He shook his head. “What happened, anyway?”

“It was a night fae.”

The alpha tensed—an almost imperceptible tightening of his neck and shoulders. “You’re sure? It wasn’t a fada?”

“No. The night fae followed Jace here, but he didn’t seem to know which house Jace was in. Jace protected us somehow.”

“Good. You don’t want to know what a night fae can do to you.”

“I can guess.” Evie rubbed her arms, remembering the darkness that had slithered out of the night. “He stabbed Jace with an iron knife.”

“Iron?” Adric shook his head. “No wonder his quartz is so drained.”

Evie nodded. A glance at the clock above the stove told her it was a little after seven. “Look, why don’t you sit down and I’ll make some coffee. That’s if you drink coffee?”

Jace snorted.

The alpha’s mouth quirked. “I would fucking kill for a cup of coffee. I’ve been out all night tracking him. When we didn’t find a trace of him in Baltimore, we came up here.”

He took a seat while Evie started a pot brewing. She tried to act normal, but it was unnerving having a creature who was basically a human cat seated at her kitchen table.

Jace-the-panther had settled on the floor next to the table and was watching her as well. She filled a bowl of water and set it next to him. She and Adric watched as he greedily lapped it up.

“We did what we could,” she told the alpha. “He wouldn’t let me call for help.”

“We?”

“My brother and me.”

“Ah.” He waved a hand. “Relax, love. I’m not here to cause trouble—I just want to take him back home.”

She nodded but remained near the coffeepot as the water heated and started dripping through. She did not want to sit at the table with Adric, and if worst came to worst, she could always use the hot coffee to protect herself.

Kyler’s footsteps sounded in the hallway above.

Evie briefly closed her eyes. She didn’t care what she’d promised last night—she didn’t want her brother involved in this. But it was too late now.

Adric rose to his feet with a feline grace as her brother entered the kitchen, barefoot and clad only in a tank top and loose gym shorts.

Kyler’s eyes bugged at the sight of Adric and the big black cat. “What the fuck?”

Evie inserted herself between Kyler and the bronze-eyed shifter. “This is Lord Adric,” she told him. “The Baltimore alpha.”

Kyler’s mouth dropped open. “No shit.”

“Good to meet you.” Adric stuck out his hand.

“This is my brother, Kyler,” Evie said. “He helped me with Jace last night.”

“Wow.” Her brother pumped the alpha’s hand. “It’s an honor to meet you, my-my lord.”

“Call me Adric.”

“Okay, sure.” Kyler glanced down at Jace, who had risen to his feet again. “And that’s Jace? He’s a…panther?”

“Yeah,” Evie said.

“Actually, he’s a jaguar,” Adric said. “A black jaguar. You can see the spots if you look close.”

“Wow,” Kyler said again.

A lean, furry body brushed Evie’s hip. Jace had moved closer. It was almost as if he were protecting her.

Adric’s brow raised. A look passed between the two fada, but all the alpha said was, “I’d still like to hear what happened last night.”

“Yes, of course,” she told him. “Please, sit down.”

While Adric sat back down and Kyler got himself a tall glass of milk, Evie set milk and sugar on the table and handed Adric a mug of coffee before pouring another for herself. She and Kyler took seats at the table across from Adric, while Jace lay on the floor near her feet, his gaze on his alpha.

Adric dumped a hefty amount of milk into his coffee and then drained the cup in a couple of gulps. Evie went to refill his cup, but he rose to his feet. “I’ve got it.”

She and Kyler exchanged a look. It was so surreal—the freaking Baltimore alpha making himself at home in their kitchen.

Adric sat down and leaned back in his chair, one big hand wrapped around the mug, seemingly at ease. But his eyes were watchful.

Evie cupped her own mug and tried to imitate his calm.

“So,” he prompted, “a night fae, huh? And how did you get involved?”

“I found him—Jace—outside. In my backyard. I didn’t know he was hurt until he passed out.”

“He passed out?” Adric scowled at Jace. “How the fuck did the asshole get close enough to hurt you that bad?”

Jace’s growl was low and vicious. Evie blinked, but Adric just shook his head.

“Go on,” he told her, and she explained what had happened after she’d found Jace on her doorstep, with occasional interjections from Kyler.

“I don’t think the knife went in too deep,” she finished, “but he was getting worse until we cleaned the cut out with salt water. Thank God he was able to tell us what to do.”

“You say he shifted in the middle of the night?” Adric glanced at Jace.

His eyes were closed, his big black head resting on his paws, but his ears twitched.

“Yes,” Evie confirmed. “I think his fever spiked. He was restless and moving around, and the next thing I knew, he’d changed to a jaguar.”

Adric shook his head. “You should’ve had her call me,” he told Jace.

The big cat huffed in disagreement.

“Stubborn ass,” his alpha returned. He looked at Evie. “He hasn’t shifted since?”

“No. But he seems better—he’s definitely moving easier this morning.”

“Right. Okay, let’s talk about the night fae. Did he get a look at you?”

“No,” Evie said. “He was right outside the door, but he couldn’t see us. The window blind was down.”

“So he didn’t see you, and he doesn’t know for sure Jace was here?”

“No on both counts.”

“That’s good. And night fae can’t scent any better than a human, so I know he didn’t follow Jace’s trail here. He was trolling the neighborhood, seeing what he could find.”

“But I could swear he could somehow feel us on the other side of the door.”

“He could.” Adric took another gulp of coffee.

“Night fae get off on dark energy—fear, anger, pain. He could sense you all right, but he couldn’t be sure one of you was Jace.

And from what you said, Jace used his quartz to tamp down your energy.

The only way to hide from a night fae is to sit quietly and slow your breath and heartbeat. ”

“And think happy thoughts,” Evie said.

“Is that what Jace told you?” The corner of Adric’s mouth twitched. “I suppose it didn’t hurt—but if Jace hadn’t been here, all the happy thoughts in the world wouldn’t have helped you. He was trying to keep you from panicking.”

Evie exchanged a glance with her brother. What if Jace hadn’t recovered enough to protect them?

She felt another rush of last night’s dark fear. This time it was mixed with anger. That the night fae had dared mess with their minds…

Adric’s calm, businesslike tone recalled her to the kitchen.

“Sounds like you’re safe enough. We’ll make sure there’s nothing to trace Jace to you or your house.

” He finished his coffee and came to his feet, and Evie and Kyler rose with him.

“And now, I believe we’ll be on our way.

” He came around the table and held out his hand to her. “I owe you, Evie Morningstar.”

She stiffened. How did he know her last name? In fact, now that she thought about it, she hadn’t told him her first name either.

“No worries,” he said with a hint of amusement. “I just wanted to know what I was walking into.”

“Of course,” Evie replied faintly as she shook his hand. His fingers were warm and strong—perfectly normal, in fact. It was easy to forget he was one of the most dangerous men in America. “You don’t owe us anything. We couldn’t let him bleed out on our doorstep, could we?”

“Some humans would’ve.” Adric was turning toward the door when he drew a deep inhale and swung back around. “What the fuck? You’re fae?”

Evie took a step back. Kyler put an arm out to steady her.

“What are you talking about?”

“I smell silver.” He leaned closer and took another breath. “It’s you, not your brother.”

Jace had gotten off the floor and was growling lowly. One side of his mouth peeled back to reveal a sharp white canine.

“You’re a fae,” Adric said. “It’s faint, so maybe you’re a mixed-blood, but I know a goddamn fae when I smell one. What clan? And I want the truth, woman.”