Warrior Fae Trapped (Warrior Fae #1)(71)

Having seen to his immediate needs, she covered him up with a clean blanket and grabbed his gun from the open safe in his closet—he hadn’t wanted to give her his code. She would be damned if all the money Devon had spent would go to waste in the back of the SUV. Not to mention that the house wouldn’t save her if the vamps got through the ward protecting the property. That trick with locks was practical for breaking and entering.

She tiptoed out of the house. Although being quiet didn’t matter, the action seemed to fit. The still night waited for her, crickets singing from within the folds of darkness. The SUV, scraped and dented, sat in the driveway, alone and forgotten.

No faces or shapes waited at the property line. At least, not yet. But then, her BFF and his buddies had known Charity and Devon would be at that store. No doubt they also knew it would be senseless to hang around outside a warded property.

Still, just in case, she’d decided not to call the rest of the pack. If the vamps were out there, watching and waiting, anyone trying to get in would probably be ambushed. She didn’t want to endanger them needlessly. Devon said he wouldn’t bleed out. She had to trust that.

Bag by bag, she brought the groceries into the house and put them away. That done, she trudged back in to check on him, exhaustion dragging down her eyelids. She sucked in a breath of surprise to find the smaller scrapes nearly gone!

Crazy. She wished she healed that fast.

She brushed a strand of hair away from his handsome face and then traced her fingers down his cheek. Sighing, she looked in the direction of her room. She could barely see the sliding glass through the open door. Foliage bowed and waved, no more distinct than plays of shadow in the moonlight. The house sighed around her, quiet and empty except for this room.

Making a decision, she tiptoed to her room and quickly changed into some briefs and a tank top. She returned to his room, put his gun on the nightstand, and lay on the bed. Pulling the blanket under her as protection from the blood-soaked sheets, she slid as close to Devon as she could. His warmth basked her side and his even breathing calmed her anxiety. He’d be okay.

Unable to help herself, she rolled and placed her palm on his forearm, craving the solidity of touch. A tear slid down her cheek. This man would’ve given his life to protect her. He hadn’t expected her to come back for him—he’d thanked her, for criminy’s sake! It blew her mind. He was so closed off most of the time—so angry whenever he had to feel any sort of emotion—but then he went and did something so selfless.

No one could argue that this man was anything less than exceptional.

Snuggling closer, until their bodies were almost touching, she rubbed his skin with her thumb. She was so lucky he’d been assigned to babysit her. Without him, she would’ve suffered a horrible fate. Gone mad, or killed by Donnie, or kidnapped and turned into a pampered pet. Dealing with Devon’s moods was a small price to pay for her sanity, life, and freedom.

But the fight wasn’t over. Clearly the old vampire wanted her something fierce, and now he knew the gamut of what she was capable of. He’d come after her again, and this time he’d surely be better prepared.

So would she.





Chapter Thirty-One





“Sir, we have a situation.”

Roger finished the bench press, his muscles straining under the weight. His beta, Alder, stood in the doorway of the workout room, staring at Roger with the cool eyes of a predator. The white scar cutting from his sharp cheekbone to his neck stood white in his otherwise tanned face.

“What’s up?” Roger asked, sitting up and wiping off the rivulets of sweat running down his neck.

“Vampires are gathering near the portals surrounding Santa Cruz. It’s rumored the demons are poised to join them. No one has been stopped from entering or exiting yet, but I don’t see why they’d station themselves in growing numbers if they didn’t plan on blocking the portals in the future.”

“Which side are they gathering on—the Brink side?”

“Yes, sir.”

Roger rested his forearms on his thighs in consternation. “That order would have to come from someone high up in the vampire hierarchy. What’ve you heard?”

“I’m looking into it, sir.” Alder paused, then added, “There’ve been rumors of an Arcana.”

Chills ran up Roger’s spine. “An Arcana? Have the warrior fae emerged from the Flush?”

Alder shook his head slowly. “Not that we know of. We haven’t seen or heard of any movement. I’m also getting reports of a huge release of magic last night. The human papers are calling it a burst transformer. Reports say the sky lit up in the parking lot of a grocery store. It looked like an explosion, but all anyone heard was magnetic buzzing.”

Roger held very still. He’d already identified Charity as a custodes, based on her ability to summon light and turn a touch into an explosion, but he hadn’t seen anything that might mimic a transformer bursting. He hadn’t thought her royalty.

But he’d seen her before she’d taken a trip to the Realm. Before she’d spent time with other magical people to coax her out of her shell. Maybe her magic was just waking up, having been mostly dormant in the Brink, unused.

And if that was the case…

Roger stood in a rush and threw down his towel. “Find out everything you can about these rumors.” He brushed by Alder and into his main office. “Put someone on Devon’s crew. I don’t want Devon to know he’s being watched—he’ll think I don’t trust him, and that might affect his judgment—but I want help close, just in case. Vlad knows something, and I want to know what.”