Kiss of Frost (The Dragon Stone Saga Book 1)(28)
He won’t find one. My team has me covered, but I get the fun task of getting up close and personal with the poster child for unstable and psychotic elves. I’m lucky enough to have the job of hauling his ass back to the Light Elven Kingdom, where they will deal with him in whatever way they deem fit. My job at the Magic Enforcement and Containment Agency, or MECA for short, is to guard the fragile humans from the darker side of being goblin, elf, Fae, or magical being in general. Sounds awesome, right? Tell that to my now bruised ass. Being a Guard isn’t easy, and even though I complain about it I love every second of it. Well, most of the time I do.
Humans know we exist, but they only know about those who look similar enough to pass as human.
Half-human, half-elven, or half-goblin children are common. Fae love to take advantage of their effect on the human race, and they leave a string of children behind that their human parents have no idea what to do with. Thus MECA was created to teach and employ those considered leath cine—literally translated as half breed—to work as members of a little piece of society that understands who we really are. MECA raises us as warriors, scholars, and political ambassadors to the full blooded Fae who employ us to do their dirty work.
I’m damn good at corralling these little fuckers. So here I am, my ass sore from being knocked on it and my elbow scraped. I look down. My new pair of jet black combat boots are scuffed. Oh, hell no.
I point at my boots and then the demented elf in front of me, snarling. “You’re going to regret that, asshole.” If there is one thing I am girl about, it’s my shoes. I hate the anxiety that comes with the first scuff appearing on them. Something so beautiful shouldn’t be scratched.
“Catch me if you can, little girl.” He shifts from foot to foot.
I brace myself for his next move. The only way out of this is through me, and he knows it, if the determined glint in his eye is anything to go by. He lunges at me, and I brace myself for impact. I grab his bony shoulders, flip him to the ground, and land on him. We both let out an oomph as we struggle on the ground.
All the while his mumbling is making less and less sense. “It’s the entirety of life that doesn’t make sense, you know.” He focuses on something behind me. “Eyes like your father’s you have, my dear.”
“Stay still, dude. It’s over.” I ignore his comment about my eyes for now, storing that for later. Any information about my father warrants further investigation but now is not the time.
“Augh!” I lose my breath as his elbow digs into my kidney. I struggle to drag in air.
“Fuck! Any time would be nice, guys.” I know they can hear me through my ear piece. “But just take your time. I enjoy playing ‘what shape is my newest bruise?’”
Boots slap the pavement, and two of my team of five other Guards appear around the corner, distracting me.
The elf swings at my eye making contact. “Son of a bitch!” I grapple for the rogue elf’s hands and pin him down as Doyle gets down on our level. I grind my teeth at his face-splitting grin.
“You’re lucky I love you or I’d slap that smug smile off your face.” I grit my teeth as the elf continues to struggle to break free beneath me.
“Having fun, Ev?” Doyle asks, his playful grin still twisting his lips.
“Oh, you know, just bunches of it,” I snap back, frowning.
Leaning closer, he lays his hand on the elf’s. Instantly the elf goes lax under me.
Being able to control people’s movements with his hands is his greatest asset. Mine is speed and glamour. My own personal glamour is undetectable to most people, but being able to make people see things that aren’t really there is the other part of it. Houdini didn’t have shit on me.
Doyle and Kirin haul up the elf and place cold iron shackles on his wrists. Both of them drag him toward the large black van idling at the entrance of the alley. I look around and make sure nothing is left behind from our scuffle. I limp toward the van with my hand on my sore ass and glance back to make sure there are no scuff marks on my leather pants.
“That looks like it’s going to leave a mark.” Eryn says. She’s one of my best friends and the only other girl on our team of five. She’s in the front passenger seat of the van. She points at my face and winces.
“I’m sure it will. Dude could pack a punch.” I lightly press against my eye to make sure nothing is broken. I nod to Axel, twisting my lips into a semblance of a smile.
He is the quietest one and he prefers to keep his commentary to a minimum. Axel and I have a lot in common. His mother abandoned him at a young age too. The only difference is he couldn’t care less about having a relationship with her, and I can’t blame him. After how she treated him, I might think the same way. On the other hand, I would love to have a relationship with my mother—someone to talk to about my strange elven abilities or even about how I’m doing, but every time we talk we end up fighting. Usually it’s about my position as a MECA guard. She disagrees with my choice of employment, instead wishing I were a researcher, something less physical and more suited to a lady. But I want to keep people safe, not hide behind a desk.
Axel smiles back, wincing a bit as he searches my bruised face, his own face still sporting a bruise over his right eye. The bruise extends to his chiseled cheek bones, adding to the black-and-blue he got from a fight a few days ago with another MECA guard.