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M onday morning, Jace woke up feeling almost like his old self.

Suha had returned on Sunday to nag him to take it easy. He nodded and obeyed, because the healer knew her stuff—and he did need the rest. Suha’s healing combined with the energy from his own recharged quartz to speed things along.

Zuri had brought Jace’s bike home, so just after dawn, he slipped out of the den, Tigger on his heels. Somehow Suha got wind of it, though—he’d swear the woman was part Seer—and he found her waiting in the backyard.

The healer set her hands on her hips. “Where d’you think you’re going?”

Tigger perked up—he had a crush on Suha. He butted her calf, marking her with his scent.

She ignored the lovesick tabby to glare at Jace. “I haven’t cleared you to work, Jones.”

Uh-oh. She’d used his last name. Not a good sign.

He attempted a winning smile. “I’m fine.

See?” He lifted his T-shirt to show her.

The cuts had healed, but as she’d predicted, they’d left behind two raised red scars.

Normally fada healed quickly and cleanly, but not when iron was involved.

Jace would bear the night fae’s marks the rest of his life.

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Suha removed her crystal and ran it over his belly. “Not bad,” she conceded. “But you nearly died, Jace. Iron poisoning is no joke, and you suffered some internal damage. I want you to take it easy this week.”

“I am taking it easy. I’m only going to the Factory to test some of the new quartz. Those new smartphones are losing their charge too quickly.”

The Factory was the name Adric had given their combination test lab and manufacturing plant. Right now, it was just a big room in a building they’d rescued from the wrecking ball, but Ric liked to think big.

Suha nodded. The clan had been informed about the basics of what they were doing—produce quartz smartphones to Jace’s design, and then sell them to the other earth fada clans.

“So?” she returned. “They can survive a few days without you.”

“But I can’t. If I stay in another day, I’ll be climbing the walls. Even Tigger is sick of me.” He nodded at the tomcat, who’d tired of trying to gain Suha’s attention and was investigating an interesting smell near the fence. “Please?”

The healer cast her gaze skyward. “Don’t blame me if you have a relapse.”

“I won’t.” Jace planted a kiss on her cheek. “Relapse, that is.”

And they both knew Suha would come running if he did.

The Factory was only about a mile away in a blighted section of West Baltimore.

The building had once been a grocery store, and the sign outside still read Allen’s Stop-and-Shop because that was as good a camouflage as any.

After they’d cleared out the display shelves and cash registers, they’d been left with one large room for the tables, computers, and equipment used to manufacture the smartphones, and a storage room in the back.

Jace felt a familiar pride as he entered the Factory.

This was his baby; Adric had given him free rein to set up shop, directing the small crew to not just manufacture smartphones for the clan, but to refine and improve the technology.

The beauty of quartz was that it produced a strong current when fed by an earth fada’s natural energy. It was also strong and waterproof.

Adric was even considering selling the phones to water fada, whose biology tended to short out regular electronic devices, although none of them were sure they wanted to put such a tool in their rivals’ hands.

They’d have to work out the energy issues, too.

Water fada didn’t require quartz for life energy like the earth fada did, but on the other hand, they couldn’t work with the crystals from an early age like Jace’s people could.

And after that, who knew? If Adric could work out a deal with a human communications company—and figure out a way for humans to operate the quartz—the sky was the limit.

They might one day sell the phones to select humans as well.

The military would love a waterproof phone that could hold a charge for several weeks.

Right now, though, you had to have at least a few drops of fae blood to operate a smartphone.

But there was one big problem; the technology burned the quartz up. It wasn’t reusable like an earth fada’s own quartz, and low-grade quartz didn’t work at all. The clan desperately needed a new supply of high-grade quartz like the vein they’d located on the border of Rising Sun Fae territory.

Resolving all the issues would take years, but Jace was up for it. During the Darktime he’d used his Gift with crystals to design weapons. It was a pure joy to use his Gift in a positive way.

Now he took a deep, satisfied inhale, breathing in the familiar scents—the sandiness of ground quartz, the oil they used to reduce dust, the metallic odor of machinery.

A couple of people were already at work—an engineer known as Frog for some damn reason, and a pretty, dark-haired tech named Dina.

They glanced over their shoulders and did a simultaneous double take.

“Jace?” Dina came to her feet. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“Suha gave me the green light.”

Dina inhaled, testing his statement for truth, and then shrugged. “Okay, great. I have an idea as to why the energy is getting sucked out so fast.” A cougar who’d inherited her mom’s Italian coloring—and brains—Dina was even more single-minded than him.

He pulled up a chair and the three of them hashed out her idea. A couple of other men came in a few hours later, and they all traded ideas before breaking off to test them.

They were eating take-out pizza at their work stations around one o’clock when Adric walked in. Jace removed his goggles and rose to his feet. “Hey, Ric. What’s up?”

“Meeting. Zuri and Luc are on their way.” Adric helped himself to a slice of pizza. “What the fuck?” He frowned at the broccoli and spinach.

“Dina thinks we need more greens,” Jace said.

“We’re cats, not cows,” Adric muttered. But he took a large bite and then smiled at Dina. “Actually, that’s not bad.” He took another bite.

Dina beamed. Like all the unmated women, she perked up around the alpha, even though everyone knew Adric wasn’t ready to take a mate. Not that the man was deprived. He had his pick of the clan’s women, who were happy to hook up with the alpha even for a night.

A minute later, first Zuri and then Luc entered, following their practice of arriving separately at meetings for security reasons. Adric gulped down his pizza and jerked his head in the direction of their underground war room.

Dina, Frog and the rest of the Factory crew looked curious, but they knew better than to ask questions. Adric shared information on a need-to-know basis, having learned the hard way that the less people knew about your business, the better. Sometimes it even saved your life.

Zuri and Luc grabbed some pizza and the four of them headed for the storage room. There, Adric opened a trap door and they all passed through a ward set to allow only Adric and his lieutenants through before climbing down a ladder.

The war room had been carved by Adric and a couple trusted stoneworkers from the bedrock beneath the Factory.

Adric was a Gifted tracker—he hired himself out to the fae for outrageous sums—but what he really liked to do was work with stone.

He could make a rock practically sing with joy as he used a combination of chiseling and magic to transform it into art.

A thin vein of white quartz twisted through the rock walls. The quartz had been magically engineered to soundproof the room. Combined with the ward, it even allowed them to speak a fae’s name freely without attracting his or her attention.

They seated themselves around the large table Adric had carved from a single large rock. Like Camelot’s famous table, it was round. This way, Adric said, each of them could see everyone else—and everyone’s ideas had equal weight.

Adric spoke to Jace first. “I hear you’re cleared for work, just nothing too strenuous.”

Jace scowled. “Suha snitched on me.”

“Of course. You’re not going out on this one, bro. But I wanted your input.” He looked around the table, addressing all three of them. “On Saturday night Zuri went back to the bar in Grace Harbor where Jace was attacked. He asked some questions, but no one knew anything.”

Jace nodded. No surprise there. “The assassin ’ported in. I don’t know about the other two, but they must have blended in somehow or I’d have seen them myself.”

“They probably used a glamour,” Adric said. “Made themselves look like someone else—someone who fit in. Maybe even a river fada.”

“But a glamour only fools the eyes—not the nose.”

The alpha shrugged. “So they didn’t get too close. You weren’t going to scent them across a crowded bar.” He looked at Zuri. “Tell him what you found out.”

“I didn’t discover a damn thing inside the bar,” the tall, dark wolf said, “but I thought I’d sniff around the parking lot, see if I could pick up anything.

That’s where I ran into Rui do Mar, who was having a look around himself.

I figured we should coordinate our efforts. Grace Harbor is their town, not ours.”

“Do Mar knows Tyrus’s scent,” Adric inserted. “You know what he did to the prick after he tried to kidnap Merry.”

“Tracked him to his lair in France,” Jace said, “and beat the shit out of him. Almost killed the bastard.”

Officially, Rock Run remained quiet about the attack on Tyrus, because if it became known that Dion’s second-in-command was the man who roughed up his son, Langdon would’ve been forced to act.

This way, the prince could pretend nothing happened—and Tyrus wasn’t going to broadcast that a fada had overcome him so easily.

“Anyway,” Zuri said, “Do Mar was pissed as hell that a night fae dared attack a fada practically in Rock Run’s backyard.

He promised to let Dion know, and then we went over the parking lot with a fine-toothed comb.

Not only does do Mar have Tyrus’s scent memorized, the man’s animal is a shark.

He can detect a few particles of blood in a fucking ocean. ”

Jace nodded impatiently. None of this was news to him. “And? He picked up Tyrus’s scent?”

“Yep. Do Mar was sure—said he’d never forget it. And he recognized the scent of the man you killed, too. Tyrus’s chief enforcer.”

Jace was on his feet. “That sonofabitch.” He spun to look at Adric. “I’m going after him.”

“No fucking way.”

Jace slapped his palms on the granite table. “Damn it, Ric. You’re my alpha, but this is my family. Don’t ask me to choose between the two.”

Adric’s snarl made Jace’s spine tighten. The other two men moved uneasily.

“Sit. Down.”

Jace’s claws pricked out, but he grabbed onto his patience and obeyed.

“First,” the alpha held up a finger, “you’re in no condition to take on a toddler, let alone a fae. Second,” he held up another finger, “if we do this, we have to be smart about it. You’re a smart man. Use that brain of yours.”

Zuri murmured agreement, while Luc looked on, his wolf-gold eyes watchful, but Jace knew he’d be a hundred percent behind whatever Adric decided.

“Fine,” Jace spat out. Adric might be right, but Jace was sick unto death of Tyrus targeting his family. “But this time, he’s dead. The man’s not going to rest until every last Jones is wiped off the face of the earth.”

“If it’s you he’s targeting,” Adric returned. “I’m not as sure as you are. Is it you he wants, or would any of my lieutenants have done?”

“Does it matter?” Zuri asked. “Either way, I vote we put the man out of his misery.” His lips peeled in a show of canines.

“I intend to,” the alpha returned. “When he tried to kill Merry six years ago, I had no choice but to let Rock Run go after him. We weren’t strong enough.”

They all nodded. At that point, Adric had only been alpha for a few months and the clan was still reeling from the Darktime.

“But things are different now.” Adric’s smile was deadly, his cougar a shadow on his face. “We’re a hell of a lot stronger than we were six years ago. If Tyrus wants a fight, he’s going to get a fight. I’ll bring it right to his fucking lair.”

They all rumbled agreement.

“But we have to be careful,” Zuri said. “If Prince Langdon finds out, we’re all dead.”

“Agreed.” Adric looked at Jace. “Thoughts?”

His mind was already ticking along: analyzing, examining patterns. “We find out everything we can about Tyrus. Where he lives, who he hangs out with, what he fucking eats for breakfast. Then we figure the best way to take him out so that it doesn’t rebound on us.”

“My thoughts exactly,” said Adric. “I don’t care if it takes a month or two. In fact, that might be good. He’s a fae. He’ll think we’re too stupid—or afraid—to come after him.”

Zuri fingered his quartz. “The night fae compound is in Virginia, but Tyrus spends most of his time at his lair in France. We’ll have to catch him outside. The night fae guard their lairs with triple wards.”

“So we catch him outside,” said Jace. “Drag him into the noonday sun and keep him there until his fucking skin fries.”

“First, we need more intel,” Adric said, “including exactly where his lair is.”

“Do Mar will tell us,” Jace said. “He has as much skin in this game as we do.”

“Good.” Adric looked around the table. “Well? You in?”

They nodded as one. “Fuck yeah,” Luc said.

“You’re elected, then,” Adric told him.

Jace made a sound of dissent, and Adric slashed him a look. “We need you here to work on the smartphones.”

“They’ll keep for a few weeks.”

“Do you really want to be out of the country if he sends someone after Merry? We’re not even a hundred percent sure he’s in France.”

Jace blew out a breath. Adric was right; he’d rather stay close for now. “Fine,” he said, even though his animal was scraping against his insides, coldly eager to go hunting.

Adric turned back to Luc. “Take Nash with you.”

“Nash Savonett?” Luc lifted a shaggy black brow. “You sure?” Nash was Leron’s youngest son.

Adric nodded. “He’s shaping up to be an excellent tracker, and he’s earned it. It’s been six years, and he’s proved his loyalty to me. It’s time we gave him a chance to work his way up the hierarchy.”

“What about Kane?” Jace asked. “He’s not going to be happy if you pass him over for his younger brother.”

“Then he can prove himself the way his brother has. He works hard, but he plays both sides. I don’t trust him with a covert job like this.”

Zuri cleared his throat. “There’s one more thing. You were right, Jace—you heard a third man that night you were attacked. Do Mar doesn’t know who it is, but he had the scent of an earth fada.”