Warrior Fae Trapped (Warrior Fae 1)

Could this situation get any worse?

“I don’t speak scoff,” she said.

Yet another deep breath.

“As you heard, I’ll hook you up with two escorts,” Devon said coolly, tamping down the desire to upend the table. “They’ll take you around this area. Try not to stare—some species think that’s a challenge. You don’t want to provoke a Jorogumo or a Hellhound.”

Charity stared at him with squinted eyes and shook her head. Her brain was trying to shut down. He knew exactly how she felt.

“They’ll be in shortly,” Devon finished.

Before she could ask a question, he was striding through the interior of the castle. He found his pack a moment later. They’d gathered in one of the sitting rooms, waiting for Devon. As he walked in, they all looked up, ready for instructions. Probably wondering what came next.

So did he.

“Andy, Macy, you’re on tour duty,” he barked. “Take Charity around a few of the safer parts of the Realm. Stay close. Keep her out of trouble.”

“You want us to keep her out of trouble?” Macy said, her light brown hair pulled back into a tight ponytail.

“That lady seems good in a tight spot,” Dillon reflected. “Give her the rules and she should be fine.”

“You’ve seen her in action for a total of fifteen minutes, bro. What makes you an expert?” Andy asked.

“Great question,” Macy said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Jimmy smirked. “Jealous much, Macy?”

“Irritating much, Jimmy?” she shot back.

“She got out of a house full of vamps,” Dillon said. He scratched his hooked nose and looked up through his lashes at Macy. “Then she somehow got past Roger and ran out of the castle. Doesn’t take a genius to notice the obvious.”

“She shouldn’t have been scared back into the house in the first place.” Devon’s eyes flayed Jimmy. “Roger’s probably wondering why I have such a poor handle on my pack. We screwed up, starting with you, Jimmy.”

Jimmy shrank down in his chair.

“You’ll be disciplined after I talk to Roger,” Devon continued. “Until then, Andy and Macy, ease Charity into this world. Roger wants her acclimated, and I won’t let him down again. Rod and Dillon, start tracking the new vamps. If, by some miracle, Roger doesn’t pull me off this detail, I want to go after them immediately. A lot of the vamps that turned them are dead, which means they’ll be out of control. If we don’t get to them fast, the innocent bodies will pile up.”

“Yes, alpha,” the room chorused.

“And Dillon is right: Charity seems to have a penchant for survival. She not only reacts quickly and effectively, she knows something about fighting. I’m not sure how much, but she knocked Roger out of the way like he weighed nothing. If she’s to be believed, she grew up in an extremely dodgy part of Chicago. Problem is, she isn’t in a dodgy part of her world. She’s in ours, and she doesn’t have a clue.” Devon gave Macy, and then Andy, a poignant stare. “Watch her constantly. She’s going to gawk, and point, and do other potentially awkward things that might lead to a confrontation. Don’t let it happen. She starts throwing people around with her magic, the elves will get involved. I’m counting on you two to keep that from happening.”

“Yes, alpha,” Macy and Andy said in tandem.

Devon nodded and barely hid a sigh. He didn’t look forward to what came next.

Strapping on an expressionless mask of rank, Devon found his way to Roger’s office before knocking on the polished wood door, one of the many new additions the alpha had made to render the castle livable.

There was a muffled “Come in,” and he pushed through.

Roger sat at a large oak desk with neat stacks of paper pushed off to the sides, leaving most of the surface bare. His elbows rested on the arms of his chair as he waited for Devon to take a seat.

“So, you had a small hiccup in your mission,” Roger began. His tone was even. Not accusatory. Not yet.

Devon nodded. “When Charity went into the house for the last time, she hadn’t consumed any of the elixir. When she came back out, she seemed wild. In human form, but not exactly human. She didn’t smell like a newbie vamp, though, so I signaled for my people to subdue and not kill. That proved…more difficult than I had anticipated, wasting valuable time. By the time we returned to the mission, we could only extinguish three newbies. Three we watched get away—too far out of reach—and the others must’ve left in the pandemonium Charity created.”

Roger studied Devon with an expressionless mask. Devon hated that stare. It was impossible to tell what the alpha was thinking.

Finally, Roger said, “I find it commendable that you had the foresight to subdue and not kill. Many men your age would not have had that presence of mind within the circumstances.”