Page 18

M onday evening found Jace on his way up to Grace Harbor. Suha would bitch that he was doing too much, but Merry was worried about him, and if Jace could ease that by visiting her, then he would.

He reached the Grace Harbor exit and tried not to think about Evie.

But his jaguar was more basic. It perked up, flexing its claws and vibrated its throat in an instinctive mating vocalization.

A picture of Evie formed in his mind—shiny blond cap of hair, big dark eyes and that tight muscle tee cupping small but perfect breasts.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jace muttered. “But we’re here to see Merry, remember?”

The cat settled. The cub came first. But after…

Jace headed west until he reached the narrow dirt road that led to Rock Run. Two minutes after he crossed the line into Rock Run’s territory, two large men on motorcycles appeared on the next hill. They zoomed down the incline toward him, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake.

Jace stopped his bike at the top of the hill.

He was in a lush old-growth forest, the Susquehanna River visible over the treetops to the north.

The big river undulated in the late afternoon sun, a wide ribbon of bronze and gold.

To his left, Rock Run Creek snaked through the greenery on its way to the Susquehanna.

The Rock Run men skidded to a stop a few yards way: Tiago do Rio and Chico Nobrega. The alpha had sent his own brother, and Nobrega was Tiago’s best friend and a Rock Run sentry.

“Peace to you and yours.” Jace raised a hand in greeting. “I came to see my niece.”

“Peace,” Tiago returned. “But this isn’t your scheduled day.” Both men were dark, good-looking Latinos, but Tiago was a younger copy of his brother Dion—big, broad and arrogant with a mane of black hair tied back with a leather thong and blue eyes so light they appeared almost silver.

“Do Mar knows why I couldn’t come on Saturday,” Jace returned.

And if Rui do Mar knew, then Dion knew, which meant Tiago was giving him a hard time for the hell of it. Jace’s jaw tightened, but he kept his posture relaxed, nonthreatening. He’d put up with worse to see Merry.

Tiago’s gaze raked over Jace. “I hear you ran into some trouble the other night.”

“I did. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about it, would you?”

It was Tiago’s turn to tighten his jaw. “Is that what you think?”

Jace shook his head, because this wasn’t worth a pissing contest. And if Rui was correct, an earth fada was to blame, possibly one from Jace’s own clan. He was still reeling over that piece of information.

He gave Tiago the same response he’d given Adric. “If you wanted to take me out, you’d do it yourself, not hire a fae.”

Nobrega’s eyes creased with amusement. “He’s got a point, Ti.”

Tiago’s tension eased. His mouth quirked. “If you think I’d dare harm a hair on that pretty head of yours, you don’t know your niece. She’d have my effing balls. Come on, then.” He turned his bike and roared off toward the base.

“Pretty head?” Jace muttered. But he followed at a matching pace.

Nobrega fell in behind, hemming Jace between the two of them. A not-so veiled threat.

They were deep in the forest now, passing through huge old oaks, beeches, sycamores and maples.

The path narrowed until they were nearly brushing the vegetation on either side: lush fiddlehead ferns, tiny pawpaw trees, a stand of mountain laurel.

Jace had never seen the inside of the Rock Run base—Dion had drawn the line at that.

Instead, he met Merry in the woods at the edge of the river fada’s territory.

It suited them both. Sometimes they ran as their jaguars; sometimes they walked as humans.

Tiago stopped near an ancient tulip poplar with a double trunk that twisted its way through the leafy green canopy, one trunk mirroring the other in a slow, ponderous dance. Jace pulled up next to him. “Thanks for the escort,” he drawled as he set his bike’s kickstand.

Tiago gave him a thumbs-up. “Anytime.”

Merry was waiting in a clearing with Rui do Mar.

She was thirteen-and-a-half now, all arms and legs in shorts and a tank top in her new favorite color—lipstick red.

It was obvious she was a quarter fae; she had the sharp chin and pointed ears.

But she had Takira’s hazel eyes and crinkly black curls, and sometimes she did something that was so like her mom that it took Jace’s breath away.

Merry spotted Jace and her face lit up. She sprang across the clearing, graceful as a leggy young deer, while her adoptive father followed at a slower pace.

Jace enfolded her in his arms. “Hey, baby.”

“I was so worried about you, Uncle Jace.” She hugged him back and pressed her face into his chest.

He ran his hand over her head. Her cheeks were wet when she lifted her face.

“Yo, none of that.” He looked helplessly at her dad.

Do Mar was a large man with shoulders the width of a door and the cold eyes of his shark. Jace was never going to warm up to him, but the man would stop a bullet for Merry. The Rock Run second stared back with his usual stony expression, but a muscle jumped in his jaw.

“I told her you probably used up one of your nine lives,” he said, “but that means you still have a couple left.”

Merry rolled her eyes at her dad. But the joke worked, because she stopped crying.

Jace reached around her to clasp the other man’s hand. “Thanks for letting me see her.”

Do Mar tugged one of Merry’s curls. “She asked,” he said simply and then added, “I’m going to stick around today. Just in case.”

The two of them exchanged a look over her head.

The first year, either Rui or Valeria had always been there when Jace visited, but over time, they’d trusted him to be alone with Merry.

That trust hadn’t been easy for them, and Jace appreciated it.

But he didn’t fault Rui for sticking close today.

Hell, if the shoe were on the other foot, he’d do the same.

Merry gave a last sniff. Jace swiped the backs of his fingers down her cheek. “I’m hard to kill, you know that.”

Her slim dark brows snapped together. “No, you aren’t.

You almost died. I felt it—here.” She touched her neck, where a shard of his own quartz hung next to hers.

Six years ago, he’d broken off the piece to save her life at a time she’d been dangerously weak, and she’d kept it even after she’d found her own.

“But I didn’t. Now give me a smile.” He slung his arm around her narrow shoulders.

She crinkled her nose at him and then giggled when he waggled his brows at her. They started walking, following a path along the creek. Do Mar trailed at a distance, allowing them privacy but keeping them in sight.

“School’s out,” Merry said, “so I went fishing with Mama Ria this morning. I used my jaguar to scare the bass into her net.”

“Poor bass.”

“She says she catches twice as much fish when I come along.”

“I’ll bet she does.” He squeezed her shoulders.

This. This was what he wanted for Merry—a safe, happy life with people who loved her. It tore him up that he couldn’t give it to her himself. Cubs were everything to the fada, and he was her only living relative.

For two long years, he’d thought Merry was dead—and then she’d turned up at Rock Run.

At first, he’d have done anything to bring her home.

When Valeria and Rui had refused to give her back, he and Adric had tried to kidnap her back.

But in the end, Jace hadn’t been able to go through with it.

Merry barely remembered him. Valeria and Rui were her parents now.

Adric hadn’t wanted to leave Merry with the river fada. The clan needed their children; they’d lost so many in the Darktime. But he’d allowed Jace to make the final decision, and Jace had left her with Rock Run, even though it had gutted him to do it.

It had been the right thing to do. She had a whole family now—Rui and Valeria had had two more children since adopting Merry—and the powerful Rock Run Clan behind her.

All Jace could offer her was a den with five males and a place in a dirt-poor clan that might never fully accept a mixed-blood, whatever Adric might say.

Merry wrapped a wiry arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder. “I’ve been practicing with my quartz.”

“Good girl. You can show me what you learned next time.”

She nodded. She understood that the lessons between them were private.

When she was younger, she’d run to Valeria with every new skill she mastered.

Some things were instinctive, like soaking up energy from vibration of the crystals.

But there were tricks to using the energy—how to focus it to heal yourself, or turn it outward to make a shield—and for those, she was sworn to secrecy.

When she turned sixteen, he’d teach her the final, dangerous secret, but Adric had to be present for that.

Merry slanted him a grin. “Do you know how to tell a smallmouth bass from a largemouth?”

“Uh—count their teeth?”

She bumped her hip against his. “No, silly.”

And she proceeded to give him a lesson about something called a maxillary, a large flap on a bass’s upper jaw, which apparently extended further on the largemouth than the smallmouth.

There was something in there about vertical and lateral stripes, too—Jace didn’t catch which belonged to which.

He was just enjoying being with his niece.

He stayed an hour, and then reluctantly took his leave.

Do Mar sent Merry into the base. The two of them watched as she trotted off.

The air snagged in Jace’s chest. He made himself say the words, because do Mar deserved to hear them. “You’re doing a good job with her. Her mother—Takira—would’ve been so damn proud.”

“My mate deserves the credit. Without her…” Do Mar grimaced. “I was in a dark place, that first year after I brought Merry home. I don’t know what would’ve happened to her if not for Valeria.”

Jace nodded. He didn’t know the details, but he’d heard do Mar had gone into a bad place for a while where his best friend was a wine bottle. Jace didn’t judge; he’d been tempted a few times himself.

“I know, and I’ve thanked Valeria, too. But you’re Merry’s dad, a good one.”

Do Mar slanted him a fierce glance. “I love her like she’s my own daughter.”

“I know. I should’ve thanked you before this.”

“No thanks necessary. She is my joy.” The other man swallowed hard. “I want you to know she’s been under close observation. She will not be outside our wards without at least two guards as protection. So even if her grandfather’s ward fails, she is safe. This, I promise you.”

“That’s good to know.” It sucked, to know that his niece was safer at Rock Run than with him in Baltimore, but he’d made his peace with it. “You’ll keep me informed if anything changes?”

“Of course.”

After that, Jace should’ve gone back to Baltimore. He was tired and his wounds were starting to protest all the running around he was doing, but both he and his jaguar needed to make sure Evie was okay.

So Jace joined the sentry assigned to guard Evie and her brother. Suha was going to bite his head off, but if she had her way, he’d still be in bed.

The sentry reported that everything was quiet. “The woman went out for groceries—I heard her telling her brother—and the kid’s at the high school shooting hoops with his friends.” He jerked his chin in the direction of the schoolyard on the next block.

“I’ll look around anyway.” Jace took a stroll through town to satisfy himself there was no hint of the night fae or the mysterious earth fada.

Everything seemed quiet, but he still wasn’t satisfied.

Grace Harbor might not be big, but it had a population of over ten thousand—plenty big enough for a man to hide in.

If something happened to Evie or her brother, he’d never forgive himself.

He waited with the sentry in the shadow of the warehouse across the alley until Evie pulled up in a rusty blue car. His chest rumbled in a purr, his jaguar happy just to be near her.

He watched as she gathered her groceries and headed up the back steps. She paused on the stoop to glance around, and his whole body snapped alert. Both man and cat wanted to go closer…to talk with her, fill his nostrils with her scent. Find out if her skin was as soft as it looked.

But it was best he stayed away. The Darktime had left him scarred, bitter.

He’d lost too many people—his parents, his sister, good friends.

Even his niece was being raised by another man.

And he’d killed—because he’d had no choice.

Those grim years were a part of him, however much he wanted to forget them.

He liked women, enjoyed the release of sex, but other than that, he walked alone—and he could count the number of people he trusted on one hand.

No, Evie wasn’t for him. He’d guard her, make sure he hadn’t accidentally dragged her into whatever had sparked the attack on him. Nothing more.

Because on top of everything else, he didn’t do humans, and he especially didn’t do humans who were part fae.

The sentry sent him a curious look and Jace forced himself to turn away. He faded further back into the shadows. He waited until Kyler was safely home, and then headed back to Baltimore.

But the next night he was back.