Hidden Passions (Hidden, #7)(28)

Tony pondered that as Rick drove them to the precinct--along with whether he should have confiscated his car keys.

"You okay?" he asked when Rick took a good five seconds to notice a light was green.

"Huh?" he said. "Sure. I'm wondering what's on the surveillance footage the transit guy handed over."

More was on Rick's mind that that. Not sure he ought to push, Tony pinched his lower lip and said nothing.


~

The surveillance footage showed the sword fighting faeries going at it like supercharged ninjas. All five members of the squad had crowded into Adam's office to watch his monitor. At Rick's insistence, Adam had shut the blinds. Soundlessly--because audio hadn't been recorded--the faeries flipped and rebounded off the station walls while parrying each other's tremendous swings. Their blades clashed so hard sparks flew off. Even more impressive, they moved so fast Adam had to slow the playback to follow it. Despite getting the worst of the exchange, the female faerie had been valiant.

Witnessing her death made Tony extra sorry he hadn't caught her killer. It also made him feel bad for his brother. Even with no sound, he saw Rick beg the bleeding faerie to hang on.

Naturally, his brother kept his upset to himself.

"Doesn't her outfit look familiar?" he asked. "I swear I've seen it before."

The faerie's black silk pants and tunic looked like standard ninja princess clothes to Tony.

Nate's recent honeymoon hadn't blunted his faculties. He snapped his fingers and supplied the answer. "Mini-Dragons to the Rescue! Evina's kids are obsessed with that cartoon. That black costume is what the dragon keepers' protectors wear."

An odd cool prickle crawled over Tony's scalp. He'd seen the cartoon too, with his sister's five-year-old pup Ethan. It followed the adventures of small underwater dragons that saved people, usually with the help of a group of kids. The stories were fiction and pretty ridiculous, but they contained a grain of truth. In one of the Pockets that had been founded beneath the sea, there were actual mini-dragons called Meimeyo.

"So . . . what then?" their alpha asked, leaning straight-armed on his desk. This was his unconscious I-am-the-master-of-this-room pose. "Our vic is a mini-dragon fanatic?"

Rick rubbed the back of his neck like he was experiencing the same prickle as Tony. "Maybe she's a member of the actual Dragon Guild. As I understand it, full-sized dragons are supposed to be extinct, but their guild could still be active in Faerie. We don't know the half of what goes on there." Rick paused and looked embarrassed. "The faerie said something weird before she died."

Adam was Rick and Tony's blood cousin. The green eyes he shared with them sharpened. "What did the faerie say?"

Rick cleared his throat uncomfortably. "She, uh, was bleeding out, and she told me I was 'The One.' She said I had to warn some woman she was in danger."

Strictly speaking, Tony should have left questioning Rick to Adam, but this was just too weird.

"Who did she mean?" he asked.

"She said I already knew," Rick responded. "She said the universe chose me for a reason, and the destiny of the city depended on me succeeding. She said, 'Don't trust anyone. They're watching.'"

Nate and Tony shivered at the same time, which made Tony feel better about the fear response. He guessed the warning explained why Rick had asked Adam to shut the blinds. Probably they were safe. Their basement bunker had anti-eavesdropping wards galore. All the same, if the dying faerie meant her fellow fae were watching, no one could guarantee what they might spy through. Fae avoided revealing the full extent of their powers. They certainly didn't let on what their limits were.

"She might have been nuts," Tony said for the hell of it. His back was braced on a shelf of procedural manuals. Like the presence of his pack around him, the support made him feel more secure.

"She didn't seem crazy," Rick said slowly. He had one hand shoved in his jeans pocket. Tony assumed he'd stuck it there because he felt sheepish, but when he drew it out, he held something in his fist. "She gave me this before she died."

He opened his fingers with seeming reluctance. Along with the others, Tony leaned in to see. A set of brass knuckles lay on his brother's palm. Runes Tony couldn't decipher marched around the four finger holes, which were topped with wicked spikes. They'd deliver a nasty punch, maybe even kill if you weren't careful.

"I think that metal is electrum," Tony said. If it were, it would hold spells better than silver or gold alone.

The knuckles' soft buttery-white gleam was mesmerizing. Unable to resist, he stretched his index finger to touch them.

A spark the size of a walnut jumped out at the contact.

"Ouch," he said, unaccountably insulted as he stuck his zapped finger in his mouth. "You didn't warn me that thing bites."

Rick seemed as surprised as him. "I didn't know it would."

"The pureblood keyed the knuckles to you," Adam concluded.

Tony's twinge of annoyance intensified. Of course a badass faerie would choose Rick to save the world--or at least their city. Tony's brother was exactly what a hero ought to be: brave, true, and as hetero as they came. Even his modesty was perfect.


"Why would she do that?" Rick asked. "I'm an ordinary wolf."