Warrior Fae Trapped (Warrior Fae #1)(72)

“Should we extract the girl?”

“No. If Vlad is sectioning off the Realm, it means he doesn’t want to involve the elves. I agree with him. Thankfully, we have more power in the Brink. We don’t need to move around in the shadows. It’s a stronger play for us to protect her there, not to mention it is her home. Besides…” Roger hesitated in grabbing his computer. “I’m planning to take her to the Flush to get training, but not before she has a strong reason to come back out. She took to Devon’s pack easily, and from Devon’s reports, she has settled in with them well. I want them to build a sense of family. I’m hoping their connection and her schooling will be a strong enough reason to draw her back out.”

“You hope to tie her romantically with Devon?”

Roger chuckled darkly. “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. No, I wouldn’t go so far as that. He shows exceptional promise and ambition—he’ll be great someday, I have no doubt—but he’s emotionally closed off. I doubt even a beauty like Charity could break through that.” Roger headed for the door. He wanted to get to the Brink to check out the situation for himself. “Organize those men. I don’t want anything to happen to Charity. If we need to extract her, we’ll probably have to fight our way through. And then hide her. That’ll take manpower. We’re playing chess with a master—we need to up our game.”

“Yes, sir. Should I tell Steve to call in his sisters?”

Steve could try the patience of a saint and didn’t like being ordered around. Still, get Steve agitated, and step back. The shifter was fierce and extremely competent. Put him with his five lioness sisters, and their pride could tear through the center of the world.

An ideal crew—minus the family squabbles, their unwillingness to work with anyone but each other, the sisters’ habit of picking on their baby brother, and the fact that three of the five sisters had just had babies. That family of cats was a nightmare.

“Are they back in commission?” Roger asked, debating. To protect Charity, he’d put up with almost anything.

“Yes, sir. All five were-lionesses expressed their interest in getting back to work. Steve won’t be pleased, but…”

“Steve will do what he’s told.” Hopefully. Steve had gone rogue more than once. What a pain. “Dangle the bait of a pretty warrior fae. He’s always had a fascination with the fae. He’ll take the job just to check it out. Have Cole ready, too. We might need a were-yeti to cut a path to the portal.”

“Yes, sir.”

Roger rubbed his temples as Alder left the room. He needed to figure out that girl’s lineage, but he also needed the last three newbies taken out. There’d already been too many deaths so far, and if the young vamps were left unchecked, there’d be more. Add to that two new demon sightings reported from a neighboring pack, the vampires’ efforts to close off Santa Cruz, the elves’ interest in Charity, and the were-cats he was about to unleash, and Roger was in the midst of a high-stakes clusterfuck.





As the pale light of dawn filtered in through the bedroom window, Devon slowly came to consciousness. A soft, warm body pressed against his side, her smell delicate and feminine. Wisps of hair tickled him pleasantly and her hot breath soaked into his neck.

He pulled back the blanket and glanced down at his body. Several bandages were taped to his skin, most soaked through with blood. Peeling one of the larger ones to the side, he revealed a puckered, angry wound, still healing. The bleeding had stopped, though, and only a dull throb remained. The blood smeared across his body from last night was gone. Charity had cleaned him and then patched him up.

He let his head fall to the side until his cheek rested against her forehead.

She’d come back for him. He’d never been so glad to see anyone in all his life. The kicker was that he’d given her no reason for loyalty. A guy couldn’t yell at someone constantly, poke fun at her, almost belittle her, and expect her to confront death for him. Yet she had.

Then she’d helped him into the house, tucked him into bed, and fixed him up.

Warmth glowed in his chest. He didn’t deserve it, but he’d take it.

He breathed in deeply, savoring her scent, stronger now than he could remember. Tantalizing.

Remembering the look of fierce determination on her face as she’d ushered him into the SUV last night, he smiled and rubbed her smooth arm. The force of her magic had taken his breath away. When he’d seen that flickering light in the sky, raining down pain on Vlad and his minion, Devon had thought he was hallucinating. But there was no denying the sound of their skin sizzling, or the way they’d hissed and shrunk away. She’d magically created enough sunlight to affect an elder. It was…

He shook his head against the pillow and trailed his fingertips across her jaw.

Incredible. There was no other word to describe it. She’d saved their lives.

She sighed softly and shifted with a feminine mew, pressing more firmly to his side. Her leg swung up, her soft thigh covering his so she could hook her calf and foot between his legs. She slid her hand up his stomach to his chest, rubbing his pec before continuing the journey north. She opened her eyes for a moment, connecting with his before closing them again with a sleepy smile. She let her hand flatten on the base of his jaw and angled her lips up to his. Her eyes fluttered.