Page 5

J ace swam out of the darkness. A female appeared.

Dreamlike, he wondered if an angel had descended to save him from the night fae—an edgy blond angel in jeans and a black muscle tee.

Then she threatened him with a rock, and he jolted awake.

Fucking wonderful . She was going to bash his head in. A female, and human at that.

His mouth twisted wryly—and he passed out. The next thing he knew, he was on a vinyl floor blinking up at a fluorescent light.

He tensed. There were two humans now, the edgy blond angel and a lanky teenager with short brown hair and suspicious eyes.

He had to get out of here. He tried to roll over, but the female was messing with his stomach.

He readied himself to fight her off until he realized she was cleaning his wounds.

That wouldn’t be enough, not against iron.

He tried to use his quartz, but he was too weak, the crystals barely vibrating.

He let his head drop back to the floor.

An earth fada’s quartz was almost a living thing. With rare exceptions, his crystals’ unique song had been with him ever since he’d bonded with his own personal quartz as a cub. To have the song fail now was hard, like watching a family member do a slow fade into death.

And there was nothing to stop the iron burning a path through his veins, poisoning him slowly and inexorably.

His gaze fixed on the female. She was striking, with a face he could’ve stared at for hours—warm brown eyes topped by dark, definite eyebrows and high cheekbones in a narrow, intelligent face.

Her mouth moved. She was scolding Jace, telling him he’d better not die in her kitchen.

Inside he chuckled—if he were himself, he could take her out with a single swipe of his claws. But she had spirit. He liked that. Reminded him of Takira.

He inhaled, testing the humans’ scents. They were tense and afraid, but they seemed to want to help.

And his cat liked the blonde’s smell. It relaxed, easing them both. When the female touched Jace’s stomach, the cat damn near purred.

Okay, that was strange.

Then every hair on his body stood on end. All the sass went out of the female. Even her hard-eyed brother drooped.

Night fae. Jace had brought trouble straight to these people’s door.

“Think,” he managed to say. The female leaned closer to listen. “Happy thoughts.”

He used the quartz’s last trace of energy to protect them, then slid back into the darkness.

“Happy thoughts? Yeah, right.” Evie met Kyler’s eyes. “Better do what he says.”

The doorknob rattled and she froze. She darted a glance at the deadbolt. But somehow either she or Kyler had remembered to lock it in the rush to get the injured fada inside. Fortunately, the door was solid wood, and the shade on the back window was down. He couldn’t see into the kitchen.

Because she knew it was a man. She could almost picture him on the top step—tall, dark and coldly determined, sending feelers out.

A night fae.

She stilled, her breath shallow. Dread filled her. As if she could fool the fae when she knew he could sense them. But the earth fada was somehow shielding them. The dread lessened.

Across the unconscious man’s body, Kyler had his eyes screwed shut. Her wannabe badass looked scared to death, his face pale, his lips pressed tight.

Her heart clenched. That frightened, vulnerable expression took her back seven years to when Kyler’s dad had died and all they’d had left was their mom.

Their mother had tried her best, but those first few months, she walked around like a zombie.

Evie’s dad had left before Evie was two, but Kyler’s dad had been an anchor for all of them.

His sudden heart attack was just too unfair.

Meanwhile, the money was running out. Her mom’s part-time job and food stamps only stretched so far.

Kyler had tried to act tough, but one night their mom had snapped and thrown them outside, ordering them not to come back until bedtime.

Kyler had slipped his hand into Evie’s. “What are we going to do?” he’d asked in a small voice.

Evie had taken a deep breath. “Why don’t we walk to the playground?”

Fortunately, it was summer, and there was another hour of light. She and Kyler rode every piece of equipment on the playground at least three times, and by the time they went home, their mother had calmed down and let them back in without any fuss.

The rattling stilled. But the fae was right outside.

Evie didn’t know how she knew, but she would’ve bet her pitifully small bank balance on it.

Happy thoughts, Evie. Happy thoughts.

Kyler’s tenth birthday. Yeah, that had been a good day.

Things had been better by then. Their mom had a job at an upscale restaurant, and Evie was working at a pizza place after school and on weekends. They lived paycheck to paycheck, but at least they had food in the house.

She and her mom had pooled their money to buy Kyler the latest video game console and a couple of games. Evie had baked Kyler’s favorite cake—chocolate banana, but hey, he’d asked. Now she tried to visualize his expression as he blew out the candles, then tore open his packages.

He’d learned not to expect much. That made his grin when he’d seen the console even more special. His face had lit up brighter than the ten candles on his cake. “This is the best birthday ever!”

Now Evie smiled. She squeezed the fada’s hand more tightly.

More footsteps, but they were moving away. The ominous presence receded.

Evie expelled a breath. She felt the night fae moving down the alley, testing other doors.

She stiffened. There must be blood on the back steps. Had the night fae seen it, or had the rain washed it away in time?

Happy thoughts, damn you . Don’t think about the blood. Not now.

Things went quiet—and then, whatever had been shielding them abruptly failed.

The earth fada was unconscious again. The ominous feeling increased.

Evie’s spine iced. The night fae was coming back.

She and Kyler exchanged a look.

“Don’t stop,” she mouthed. “Happy thoughts.” She set a finger on either side of her mouth and mimed a smile.

His lips twitched. “If you could see what you look like…”

She made a face at him and they both smiled. Weakly, but it worked. The ominous feeling slid past her without latching on.

She made another face at Kyler, and he caught on and made one back. They took turns making silly faces at each other. A laugh escaped Evie, and she froze until she realized the best thing was to make the night fae believe they didn’t know he was out there.

Kyler made a monkey face at her, and she returned, “Yo mama.”

He chuckled.

And the night fae was gone.

She let out a shaky breath. “Better wait another couple of minutes,” she said in a low voice.

“Yeah.” Kyler glanced at the unconscious man. “What are we going to do with—”

“I have no freaking idea. What’s he doing in Grace Harbor anyway? This is Rock Run territory.”

The local fada were water shifters who changed to dolphins, sharks and other water-based animals. The nearest earth fada clan was thirty-five miles away in Baltimore.

“We can’t just throw him out,” Kyler added. “The night fae could come back.”

“I know.” Evie pinched the bridge of her nose.

Their narrow row house consisted of two floors, with the first floor taken up by the kitchen, living room and a tiny half bath.

The upstairs consisted of two bedrooms and a full bathroom, but they couldn’t carry an unconscious man up a flight of steps to one of the bedrooms. “I guess we’d better move him onto the couch. ”

“Sounds like a plan.” Kyler rose to his feet.

It took them a few minutes to work out the best way to transport the injured man into the living room until Kyler had the idea of putting him on a sheet. They each took an end, Evie at his head.

“One, two, up,” her brother said.

This time Evie was prepared for his weight. Bracing herself, she bent her knees and lifted her end of the sheet—and she still staggered.

She gritted her teeth. “Got him.”

They maneuvered him past the kitchen table, Evie walking backward. She turned into the living room and almost banged his head against the wall.

“Almost there.” Kyler strained to take more of the load.

The couch backed up to the wall dividing the living room from the kitchen. They maneuvered until they were parallel with the cushions.

“Lift him a little higher,” Kyler said. “He’s sagging in the middle.”

Evie gripped the sheet and obeyed.

“Good grief,” she muttered as they eased him onto the couch. “What does he have, concrete for bones?”

The man lay sprawled where he’d landed, his breathing shallow, a leg dangling off the couch. Evie slid a small pillow beneath his head while Kyler pulled off his sneakers. He wasn’t wearing any socks. Kyler arranged his legs so both feet were on the cushions.

Evie pulled up the hem of his T-shirt and flinched. The cuts on his stomach had turned an angry, puffy red.

“That doesn’t look good,” muttered Kyler.

“Can a wound get infected that fast?”

“All I know is their biology is different from ours.”

She frowned. “But I thought they healed faster than humans. Plus, he did something with that crystal to heal it. He shouldn’t be getting worse.”

The earth fada moaned.

Evie laid a hand on his forehead. His skin felt clammy. “Shh. You’re okay.”

A pulse at the side of his neck jumped erratically. She set two fingers on it.

“It feels really fast,” she said to Kyler. “Is that normal for them?”

He moved a shoulder. “Fuck if I know.”

The fada’s eyes popped open. They were a bright, feverish green again. “Salt.”

“Salt?” she asked. “Are you thirsty?”

Kyler stood up. “I’ll get him some water.”

“Yes.” Their patient moistened his lips. “But…iron—poison. Need salt. Clean.” He indicated his stomach.

“You want me to clean it out with salt?”

A short nod. “Salt. And warm water.”

Kyler returned with a glass of water. Evie took it and lifted the fada’s head enough so that he could drink. His eyes closed but he greedily gulped the water down.

She handed the glass back to her brother and helped the guy resettle his head on the pillow. He lay there, eyes closed, panting raggedly. His light brown skin had an unhealthy yellow tinge. And were those red streaks spreading from the wounds out across his belly?

“What was he saying about the salt?” Kyler asked.

“He said clean it out with salt and warm water.”

The fada’s eyes opened. “One part salt, four parts water,” he said in a clear voice. “And now . Or I…die.”