Eric broke the embrace, rubbing Cassidy’s shoulders. “Have Diego and Shane take you home. The Fae is mine.”
Diego had heard that phrase often enough to know what it meant. Eric wanted them all to leave so he could kill Reid in private. Whether Reid died swiftly or lingered, Eric would finish him, Collar or no.
“No,” Cassidy said. “I want to face him.”
“Too dangerous,” her brother answered. “He’s obviously after you, Cass, and needs to be dealt with.”
“He killed Donovan.” Her voice filled with emotion. “He killed my mate, Eric. It’s my right.”
Shane broke in. “He’s a fucking Fae and a Shifter hunter. I say let Eric… um… talk to him.”
“No.” At Diego’s sharp word, everyone turned to look at him—all but Xavier, who kept his gaze on the captive.
“This isn’t the wilds of Scotland in the Middle Ages,” Diego said. “Reid is a cop—a human cop as far as other humans are concerned. If it’s even rumored that a Shifter gutted him, all Shifters will pay.”
Eric growled. “So what do you propose, human? He’s Fae. Our enemy. You want us to let him get away with what he’s done?”
“No, I want you to let me deal with it.”
“You can’t,” Eric said.
“You’d be surprised what I can do.”
They faced each other, Shifter to human. Eric was going to make this a dominance thing, but Diego didn’t give a rat’s ass about dominance. Reid would pay for touching Cassidy—but if Eric ripped into him, all the Shifters, including Cassidy, would be punished for it.
“Eric,” Cassidy said softly. “Diego’s right.”
Eric dragged his gaze from Diego and pinned it on Cassidy. “I don’t want you facing this guy either, Cass. Don’t even think about it.”
From the look on her face, Cassidy was definitely thinking about it. “At least let me talk to him,” she said. “I need to talk to him.”
“She needs closure,” Diego said. “Trust me, I know this.”
Eric’s gaze was right back on Diego. “You think I don’t understand? I’ve been alive for three times as long as you have. I lost my mate and was left with a cub to raise on my own. I’ve been hunted and rounded up, chained down so humans could perform experiments on me. Don’t tell me I don’t understand about revenge.”
“Um, ladies and gentleman,” Xavier said in the corner. “Reid’s waking up, and this man can vanish himself. Our question is—how do we keep him contained while you argue about who gets to do the honors?”
“You said iron hurt Fae,” Diego said, “but Reid obviously works just fine around iron. What about silver?”
“Fae love silver,” Cassidy said. “The purer the better.”
“That’s good,” Xavier said. “Because I don’t have any pure silver sitting around waiting to be used on a Fae.”
“Tranq him,” Diego said. “And we’ll take him to my place. We keep him drugged until we decide what to do with him.”
“Fine,” Eric said. “But we take him to Shiftertown. No, don’t argue with me. We have a better chance of hiding him there. No human neighbors to wonder why there’s Shifters all over your place. And if he tries to escape, there will be nowhere for him to run.”
Diego conceded the argument. He went back to Xav’s truck for the same tranq rifle Reid had checked out of Shifter Division days ago, brought it back inside, and took a lot of satisfaction from shooting the dart into the side of Reid’s ass.
Cassidy found herself once more watching Diego drive, this time in Xavier’s truck. Eric was in his own car with Xavier, and in their trunk was Reid, bound and tranquilized.
Cassidy wore sweats that Eric had thoughtfully brought for her. Her dress must still be at Diego’s. The mate bond kept squeezing her and humming happily. Diego had come for her. He’d known where to find her, and he’d come.
She reached over and rested her hand on Diego’s arm. Just touching him made her feel better. Diego glanced at her, his eyes full of warmth.
Cassidy wrapped her hand more firmly around his arm and sank her head into his shoulder. The hunt, the fight, had only stirred his warmth, she felt. Diego wanted sex; she could sense it and scent it. He’d wait until they were finished with this business, until he was certain Cassidy was safe. And then…
The mate bond was helping to keep down other things inside her. Rage, grief, the need for vengeance. They swooped at her, one after the other, but the mate bond kept them from driving her into a killing frenzy. She closed her eyes and breathed Diego’s scent. Comforting. Warm.
At the Warden house, they unloaded the unconscious Reid, not without drawing attention. Shifters had no concept of minding their own business. They came out of houses and stood watching curiously as Diego and Xav carried Reid into the house.
Nell came over from the porch next door. “That him?” she asked Cassidy.
Eric had gone inside closely after Diego and Xav. The trackers on their bikes and Shane in his truck were just pulling in.
Cassidy couldn’t speak, emotions now overwhelming her. Nell, understanding, pulled her into a hug, her arms strong. “I know, honey. I know. Want me in there with you?”
Cassidy wiped tears from her eyes. “No. Thanks. I have to do this.”
Nell gave her a quick squeeze. “All right, but if you want me, you just yell. I’m good at getting men to confess their sins. I’ve had all that practice with Shane and Brody.”
Cassidy smiled but at the same time blinked back more tears. “I’ll be fine.”
But would she?
Cassidy went inside to find that they’d tied up Reid on the floor, in a space cleared in the living room. Xavier sat backward on a wooden chair to watch him, both a Taser and a regular pistol in his hands. Eric waited on the other side of the room, Jace beside him. Diego stood above Reid, the tranquilizer rifle resting easily in his arms.
Cassidy halted at Reid’s feet, her emotions churning. She wanted to kill him, at the same time she wanted to pound on him until he begged her to stop.
Diego reached over to the dining room table, grabbed a glass of water that had been resting there, and poured the water over Reid’s face.
Reid coughed, and his eyes fluttered open.
Diego cocked the tranquilizer rifle and pressed it into Reid’s stomach. “First question. Who are you, really?”
Reid’s eyes were glassy as he stared up at Diego. He blinked, trying to focus. “You know me. Stuart Reid. I’m dokk alfar.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“That’s what he said to me,” Cassidy said. “In the cave. He said his people were the dokk alfar. He called the Fae the… something that sounded German.”
“Hoch alfar,” Jace said, breaking in. “It’s of Scandinavian derivation. It means, literally, high elf. Dokk alfar can be translated as dark elf.”
“There’s elves now?” Xavier asked. “What is this—Lord of the Rings? Pointy ears, long hair, bows and arrows?”
“Goddess, you’re ignorant,” Reid sneered.
Cassidy scented it, Reid’s body heating into the flare that built right before he vanished. “Diego.”
Diego dug the rifle into Reid’s stomach. “I can tranq you before you can fire up. Just stay here and answer, or you’re going to have one hell of a hangover.”
Jace came to them, still interested in Reid’s revelation. “Where do you think Tolkien got his ideas for his elves? From the legends of the Fae—from Celtic, Norse, and Anglo-Saxon stories. I’ve never seen a dark Fae, never knew they existed.”
“They exist,” Reid said. “I exist.”
“So, you’re not half Fae,” Eric said.
“No.” He shot Cassidy a derisive look. “I am pure.”
Cassidy had had enough. She advanced on him, ready to shift, ready to gut him.
“Why Donovan? Why him?” The last word robbed her of breath. Grief, rage, sorrow, confusion took hold of her. “And don’t you dare say he was only Shifter.”
To her amazement, Reid looked ashamed. “He wasn’t supposed to die,” he said. “I’m sorry. Those hunters killed him before I could stop them.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Cassidy advanced again, unable to stop herself, the bare floor cool on her feet. “What are you talking about? You told me you needed his blood. And my blood. Nothing personal, you said.”
“Shifter blood, yes.” Reid’s face was pasty, his breathing shallow. “I was going to take an un-Collared Shifter. These hunters had bagged un-Collareds before, and I paid them to do so again. I told them to keep the Shifter alive. But when I got there… when I got there…” A shudder went through him. “They’d shot him and pulled off his Collar. Stupid. Stupid. And then, when I knew that I’d have used his blood anyway, if the police hadn’t come too soon… I knew then… what I’d become. What they’d made me become…”
Anguish flooded his voice as much as it flooded Cassidy’s. The man moaned, his head dropping back to the floor.
Cassidy could scent his fear, his despair, and over that, his vast shame. It wrenched at her heart; at the same time, she could find no forgiveness. Donovan was dead. That was all.
Eric and Jace twitched with the heightened emotion in the room, but Diego was coolness itself. He stuck to essentials.
“What who had made you become?” Diego asked.
“The hoch alfar,” Reid said. “The fucking hoch alfar, who do you think? They took me because I was a danger to them. They killed my family and put me in this place. This human place.”
Diego prodded Reid with the rifle. “A little bit more. If you’re one of these dark elves, how did you join the police force? How do you have a name, a home, a social security number?”
“I’ve been here a long time. So long. Fifty human years. They exiled me. And for what? So that my dokk alfar, who lived in the land the hoch alfar warrior wanted, wouldn’t get in his way. I fought him. I’m very strong, a damn better warrior than any of them. I led my people against them. But in the end, there were too many. They killed my family and friends most loyal to me. They took me—the one who dared rise against them—and they shoved me here. To die, they thought. Stupid hoch alfar, think dokk alfar can’t take iron. Hell, we invented iron.”
“So you found yourself here,” Diego said, still calm. “What did you do then?”
Reid shrugged, as much as he could while bound hand and foot. “The humans didn’t notice any difference in me from themselves. They don’t believe anything until it’s shoved under their noses. I blended in. I became Stuart Reid. Paperwork was easier to fake fifty years ago. I’ve been Stuart Reid for a long time, moving before people caught on that I age more slowly than humans do.”
“And you tried to go back?” Diego asked.
“I tried, I tried, and I couldn’t. It doesn’t work for me to go to the weak places on the ley lines—the stone circles and whatever—which is how the hoch alfar cross. It doesn’t always work for the dokk alfar. The magic is different. So I searched for humans who knew Fae lore, as I told you. The ritual I found in that grimoire used the blood of a Shifter, in a spell performed at the spring equinox. It’s supposed to open the gate.”
“Great,” Jace said softly.
“I’d already been a police officer for a while,” Reid said. “I was good at it. In my world, I was a warrior and an enforcer. I easily passed the tests to get into the police. Once I found the spell that used Shifters, I got myself transferred into Shifter Division. I figured it was just a matter of time before I found an un-Collared Shifter that I could use. When the hunting law changed, I saw a way to speed up the process. I found some hunters experienced in tracking down un-Collared Shifters and paid them to help me. Except, they were hot to kill any Shifter, Collared or otherwise. They shot Donovan Grady before I could stop them, then pulled off his Collar to try to fool the cops…”
The speech, delivered rapid-fire, faded.
In the silence that followed, Cassidy could hear Nell talking to Shane and Brody outside. Warm, family conversation, so different from the anger and fear in this room.
“Are you telling me you would have let Donovan live once they’d captured him?” Cassidy asked. “As desperate as you were?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did you try to kill me? Not just any Shifter, but me in particular?”
Reid met her gaze with eyes like the black of space. “I knew you were his mate. I learned all about you and your family. I became an expert on you. I know that Shifters perform a ritual on the one-year anniversary of a death, and I knew you’d come out there again, right at the equinox. I told myself that you were so unhappy that it wouldn’t matter if the spell killed you. I justified it like that. But when I shot at you, I missed, and you ran. I chased you, so obsessed about doing the damn spell that I didn’t care about anything else. I realized, right then, that the hoch alfar had broken me. They’d made me become a dakhlar who’d sacrifice an innocent being for my own benefit. I’d grab you, use the spell, and deal with my guilt later.”
Cassidy put her bare foot on his thigh. “Why did you keep hunting me after I eluded you the first time? I went back to finish my ritual, but I brought plenty of guards, and we were alert for you. We almost got you that night. There must have been easier targets.”
Reid shook his head. “I told myself it had to be you, and you alone. To put you out of your misery, I reasoned. I thought you’d be happy to die.”
Cassidy rolled her foot on his thigh, increasing the pressure a little. He looked so pathetic, wrists and ankles bound with plastic ties, Diego with the barrel of the rifle in his stomach, Xavier watching with double weapons. Here was the man responsible for her mate’s death, at her feet, and now her victory tasted hollow.
Jace spoke behind her. “You’re talking as though the Fae have qualms about killing Shifters.”
Reid lifted himself halfway up. “No, no, the hoch alfar don’t care about killing Shifters. They’ll kill anything that gets in their way—they’ll do it for amusement. I know that, because I watched them do it to my mate and my children.”
Cassidy took her foot from him. “Diego, let him go.”
Diego shot her a surprised look. “He’ll vanish. We might never find him again.”
“Let him. I want him gone. I don’t want to look at him anymore.”
Eric’s voice rumbled. “He caused Donovan’s death, Cass. No matter how he tries to spin it, he’s guilty of that. It’s your right to do what you will with him.”
“I know.” Cassidy looked back at Eric, her heart bleak. “And I’m exercising my right.”
She’d wanted Reid to be gloating, rubbing his hands like a villain, so she’d feel triumph when she ripped out his throat. Instead she found a creature of shame, anger, and emptiness.
Diego held her gaze. “There’s nothing to say he won’t try to kill another Shifter if we let him go.”
“He won’t,” Cassidy said. “We’ll make sure of that.”
Diego’s eyes held compassion. Only last night, he’d dispatched one of his old enemies, one he’d grown to pity. Diego understood.
Cassidy and Diego looked at each other a moment longer, then Cassidy turned and walked out of the house. She didn’t bother with shoes; she walked barefoot outside to the swath of grass and brush down the common. She walked past houses of her friends and extended family, and Donovan’s friends and family. She walked all the way to the eight-foot-high cinderblock wall that marked the end of Shiftertown. Why humans had built the wall, she never understood—nothing but scorching desert lay beyond it.
Cassidy leaned on this wall, soaking the cool of it into her bones.
Donovan’s killer. Hers to kill, quickly or slowly. Her right as the mate whose mate bond had been broken by murder. Even Donovan’s mother didn’t have the bond that Cassidy had shared with Donovan. The vengeance kill belonged to the mate.
Cassidy knew that more lay behind her sudden despair besides Reid not being the evil killer she�
�d wanted him to be. Reid was responsible, but his finger hadn’t pulled the trigger. Those human hunters were still at large, still fair game, still hers.
She knew damn well that part of her grief was for the severing of one mate bond and the beginning of another.
How could this happen so quickly? Eric had lost his mate, Kirsten, when Jace had been born, and Eric had never shown any inclination to mate again. Having offspring lessened the mating instinct, that was true, but though Eric occasionally had casual relationships with females, he hadn’t made another mate-claim, hadn’t even voiced the inclination to.
Cassidy had thought she’d be like him, letting forty years go by before she even declared herself interested again.
Then she’d met Diego, a human who’d bound her and arrested her for little more than being Shifter. But he’d made Cassidy start erasing Donovan from her heart.
She couldn’t. She wouldn’t.
And yet, the mate bond sang.
Cassidy screamed to drown it out. She beat her fists on the wall, the cement grating her skin. She slapped her palms to the stone, over and over, her frustration, fear, and anguish boiling out of her.
“Stop.” Diego’s warm voice was in her ear, his strong hands closing over hers. He pulled her from the wall and gathered her into his arms. “Don’t, amada mia.”
Cassidy turned to the strength of his embrace. “I loved him. I loved him.”
“I know.”
“I don’t want that to go away.”
“Is that what you’re afraid of?” Diego asked.
She nodded, tears flooding her eyes. “Donovan deserves to be avenged. And I couldn’t do it.”
Diego pulled her close. “Don’t, mi ja. We think that if we keep hunting, keep trying to fix what hurt them, they’ll stay alive somehow. But that’s not what keeps them alive. It’s us, remembering the good of them.”
“Oh, Goddess, Diego, I don’t want to forget him.”
“You never have to.”
She looked up at him again. “I’m feeling the mate bond for you. It’s erasing the one I had for him. I don’t want that!”