Page 43 of Filthy Fae

“That’s what I want to know,” I snapped, articulating the words. “I want to know how she was warned or who warned her. Who had foreknowledge of what was going to happen at that party?”

The fae holding the mace only glowered.

“We’ve been trying to figure that one out ourselves,” Mack’s curly hair brother said. “Summer got an anonymous note.” He nodded to the fae with long, midnight-black hair.

The fae man named Summer stood slowly, and I noticed that he looked even more like Mack than Spring, which made sense, now that I thought about it. Mack was the son of two courts, meaning the queen had two of his brother’s hostage.

When Summer grinned, I could see Mack in his kind smile as well. “The queen wanted me to protect her through dinner...” The three other fae snorted at this, as if at some private joke, but Summer continued without acknowledging them. “It was in my pocket when we left the restaurant.”

I nodded. “Handwritten or typed?”

Autumn clapped a hand on Summer’s shoulder and addressed me. “You tell us first.”

I told the fae about the strange attack outside my building and the creature bursting into acid after Darrel broke his neck.

“What time was this?”

I thought back, remembering that I’d made my reservations with Darrel at eight thirty, knowing that he’d probably want a moment to relax and maybe shower after his long drive. “Maybe seven thirty. Why does the time matter?”

“It doesn’t.” Autumn nodded, his expression giving away none of his thoughts.

“Because of the party,” I realized. Zane and Zeezee had arrived at six. The massacre had already ended when Oxonos got there at seven. So, all those fae died in a very short window of time. My stomach flipped as something else occurred to me. Zeezee lived in my building. What if she’d fled home and that thing had chased her down? Her apartment had been trashed. Maybe she’d shown up, injured and desperate, and then fled, leaving the water on.

What if the creature had arrived and mistaken me for Zeezee? The creature had no eyes, so it would have been following her scent. Since we were sisters, we probably had similar pheromones.

“That creature didn’t have eyes, though,” I thought aloud. “It wasn’t exactly the same one, though it could have been the same species. But Darrel, my mate, killed it.”

Summer nodded. “So, there must be at least two of them.”

“Your turn.” I crossed my arms and turned to the handsome Prince Summer. “Tell me everything about this note.”

He didn’t have much to tell. The note was handwritten, and the message on it simply said that the queen should not attend the party. The queen, ever vigilant of her safety, had decided to spend the evening bathing in the moonlight with Summer guarding her. This got the other fae guffawing again, and seeing the pattern, I realized that they were laughing because the queen was making excuses to go on dates with Summer—which was all kinds of icky. Eternal youth obviously came with its own set of problems.

When he was finished, the other three fae simply slipped back into the forest. Mack’s brother Spring gave Mack a parting hug, but only Summer stayed.

“Need help?” Summer nodded down to Aaron.

“Thank you, but no.” I stepped between Mack’s brother and Aaron. “He just needs time to heal. His wolf pulled him completely under so he could heal him faster.”

Summer clapped his hands down on Mack’s shoulders. “Queen Titania can’t exactly exile us for helping or associating with you, can she? I’d love it if she tried.”

Mack’s lips pursed, and emotion filled his eyes. “Thanks.”

“You’re never going to lose us, like it or not,” Summer said. “And father would always welcome you home. You know that, right?”

Moisture hit my cheek, and I realized I was crying. It hadn’t really hit me in the mad dash for our lives. Mack was in exile. His mother ordered his death. She revoked his title and everything he had, all because he wouldn’t marry some much-older queen or kill his best friend.

Mack wouldn’t lose two of his siblings, but he had dozens of them.

Ever since we met, Mack and I had tried to protect each other from the werewolf and fae parts of our lives. Today, all of that exploded in our faces. His mother hadn’t given Mack a choice—not a real one. He couldn’t go against the person he was. I was just so desperately sad that it came to this.

As his brother slipped away into the forest, I tucked my hand into his. Mack turned to me, his aquamarine eyes raw with emotion.

“I’m so sorry, Mack,” I whispered. “I’m going to do everything in my power to fix this.”

Mack gathered me into his arms, gripping me tightly to him. He pulled me against his bare chest as his breaths rasped in and out. I ran my hands over his back and his hair, comforting him the best I could. But how could you comfort someone who just lost everything? What could I even say?

After a long silence in which we simply gripped one another, Mack whispered, “Maybe I can finally join your pack.”