Big, Bad Red (Fairy True 2)

For once in his life, being a wannabe Boy Scout paid off, because he’d arrived in Dublin ready for just about anything. The saddlebags on his Harley were stuffed with enchanted daggers that always found their mark, sonic sounding balls that hit notes so high glass shattered, pixie dust for all of those unexpected moments when invisibility was the only option, and more. Add to that the arsenal he’d spotted in Red’s back room and it would take an army of bridge trolls to stop them.

It wasn’t exactly how he’d like to spend his last guaranteed day with Red, but the only alternative was to surrender to the inevitable and go full wolf. If the king sold the sword, it would take more time than Liam had left to track it down again. “Hope you’re up to storming the castle.”

A spit-and-vinegar grin transformed her face from the sleeping beauty who’d woken up in his arms to the femme fatale ready for battle. “Just try and stop me.”

“Is that even possible?” He palmed her cheek and tilted her face upward, loving the way her breathing quickened and her eyes darkened.

She blew him a kiss. “Not once I make up my mind.”

He was hard in an instant, hungry to taste her and desperate to make her his without the magic binding them together. “I believe it.”

A wet pop sounded as the bubble burst around them. Fresh air rushed into the booth, the cloying scent of magic and the malty smell of stale beer swirling around them. Golden sunlight filtered in through the window. Liam’s gut twisted. The tick-tock of the mental stopwatch grew louder.

Red leaned up and gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Looks like we’ll be finishing this later.”

Damn, he hoped so.

###

Red had changed out of her gingham skirt and Granny’s Pub T-shirt into form-fitting black pants with plenty of stretch and an equally tight and dark T-shirt. Liam had snickered when she’d strutted out of the pub, but if she was going to play commando and storm a castle for the first—and hopefully only—time in her life, she was going to dress the part. Ten minutes later they were hunkered down behind a reeking Dumpster, staring at a live-video stream on Liam’s phone coming from the firefly drone camera buzzing around above the Royal Flush Toilet Emporium.

“See that?” He pointed to the unguarded door on the emporium’s roof. “They don’t think anyone can get there.”

“And for good reason.” She leaned back and peeked around the edge of the Dumpster. Four armed guards stood at attention by the gate. Sentries were posted at intervals around the perimeter. Security cameras dotted the brick fence surrounding the emporium’s courtyard. Returning to her position thigh-to-thigh with Liam, she shook her head. “There’s no way to get to it.”

He shot her a grin that made her heart shimmy. “There’s always a way.”

“Oh yeah, and how’s that?” For a guy with a curse dangling around his neck, he must have lived a charmed life to still be so damn cocky. And hot. And talented when naked. And... Red reined in her drifting thoughts and scooted a few inches away from Liam to help in that effort.

He pulled out a small, thin silver dog whistle and blew. Red didn’t hear a thing, but the air fluttered around them, beating against her and scattering the bits of trash that hadn’t quite made it into the Dumpster. A whump sounded, the ground shook beneath her feet, and the out-of-the-blue windstorm stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Peeling a fast-food wrapper away from her shin, she watched Liam making hand signals to the nearly deserted street.

Squinting, she looked closer. Nope. Nothing there. “What are you doing?”

He didn’t turn around or stop with the hand motions. “Talking to Harold.”

The pressure of trying to lift a curse that had been on his furry family for hundreds of years must have finally broken his brain. She kept her tone soft and friendly, “Okay then.”

“Harold.” Liam tapped his left biceps three times then brushed his hand across his forearm. “This would go easier if she could see you.”

Or if you weren’t imaginary. Red managed to keep from saying that out loud, but there was no doubt he could see it on her face. Then, the air shimmered and a hot-pink dragon the size of a minivan appeared in front of Liam. She scurried back until her ass hit the metal Dumpster.

“This is Harold and he owns me a favor.” Liam waved a hand at the dragon so bright it could induce epileptic seizures. “He’s gonna fly us to the top of the roof. Once we’re inside, we’ll find the sword and get the hell out before the guards with the semi-automatics even know we were there.”

“So we’re going to ride a bright-ass dragon into the Royal Flush Toilet Emporium complex, find the sword before anyone shoots us and then ride a dragon into the sunset?” It actually seemed even more ridiculous when she said it out loud—if that was possible. “Sounds legit.”

He pivoted and stole a kiss as if it was his to take before tweaking her on the nose. “Sometimes you just gotta let your brain take a backseat to your gut.”

Everything from her hair follicles to her toenails tingled. All from a barely there kiss. “I’m going to get that embroidered on a pillow when all of this is over.” Maybe she’d give it to him for his birthday, whenever that was, once they retrieved the sword and broke his curse.

At that exact moment, when everything inside her was bright and bubbly and absolutely unlike her normal bitchy self, she realized she didn’t care if they broke the love spell. Maybe what was between them wasn’

t one-hundred-percent real, but it worked. It made sense in some crazy kind of way. For a girl who’d never had anyone, finally having someone felt really fucking good, and it scared the ever-loving shit out of her.

“You don’t have to make that face.” Liam laughed and climbed up on the dragon. “Once we’re on Harold and he goes invisible, so do we.”

His plan was crazy. Certifiable. Totally nutters. And she was going to do it anyway, and not because of the love spell that made her head pound like a pneumatic hammer when she was more than half a room away from him, but because she trusted him. It was a new experience that left her a little jittery. In the completely bizarre series of events that had started when she’d touched the Caladbolg sword, this stood supreme.

He held out his hand. “You coming?”