Page 58 of Filthy Fae

“Scarlet Riley, alpha of Six Rivers, I presume. Took you long enough,” the woman said, her voice surprisingly low for her size. She had the voice I’d expect to hear from a lounge singer in a movie. I could definitely see why my sister was playing dress up. Nancy had the badass look down, from the tip of her army boots to the top of her head. The expression on Nancy’s face and the energy that wafted off her said that it wasn’t just a look for this woman. She was everything Zeezee wanted to be and so much more. Leaning a shoulder against the doorframe, the woman pointed her chin toward the van. “Who’s in your vehicle and can’t get out?”

I hooked my thumbs in my belt loops. “Someone who’s sensitive to iron.”

Nancy reached to her side and snapped the holster on a sheath at her belt. Her hand fisted around a wooden handle. “Why don’t you invite your friend out here, and we can have a little conversation.”

My wolf surged forward, pushing for control. “If anyone is going to have a conversation with your knife, Nancy, that would be me.”

“Chill,” Zeezee said, hopping down from the half-collapsed porch and directly between me and Necro-Nancy. “My sister’s boyfriend Mack is probably in the van. He’s fae. And, Scar, that’s not a knife she’s holding. It’s holy water. You have no fucking clue the week Nancy and I have had.”

I wheeled on my sister. “Yeah, I fucking do, Zee. I really do. I have been threatened, kidnapped, hunted, and beaten. Lance’s throat was slit. Mack is now exiled. Darrel had to kill someone needlessly, and it was all trying to clean up your fucking mess. Again. By the way, you’re evicted from Meadows, and you should be damn glad that’s not all I’m evicting you from.”

God, that felt good.

“Like hell I am,” Zee said, gesturing with her crossbow. “I’ve been protecting all of you. We’ve been demon hunting and almost dying all week so you can fucking cool your heels.”

“Wanna tell me about the party and the earrings?” I pointed at Nancy, who lifted her hand in an I’m-not-part-of-this gesture.

“See, this was why I didn’t bring you in, Scarlet.” Zeezee gestured. “You don’t always have to micromanage everything. I was handling this one.”

“Were you?” I crossed my arms over my chest and tapped my foot. “Were you handling everything, Zeezee? Because a fae hunter came this close to killing your mate last night while you were here fucking Nancy.” I held my fingers an inch apart. “You’re a dominant mated to a submissive. It’s your fucking job to see to his safety. But no, you leave that shit to everyone else.”

Zeezee paled. “What happened to Zane? Is he okay? I thought they were going to keep him in jail until tomorrow night. We’ve been running against the clock.”

“Well, they released him early. Turns out the humans at the party were mages.” I nodded over to Nancy. “I’m guessing you know something about this. Actually, no more information from me. Zeezee, I would believe that the moon really was made of cheese before I’d believe that you were looking out for anyone other than yourself. I’m glad you’re safe, but you should have come to me instead of putting everyone else at risk. Your recklessness and selfishness needlessly sparked a war that might wipe out the Six Rivers pack. We are going to have a conversation, but not while I’m so fucking angry at you,” I growled. “Go get in the van before I make a decision I might regret, like exiling you from this pack for the foreseeable future.”

“Scarlet,” she whined. “You don’t understand.”

Zeezee trailed off as my wolf surged to the forefront, filling me. I was seconds from changing, and my eyes cast a green glow on my sister’s features. She wisely snapped her mouth closed, dropped her gaze, and offered me her neck and crossbow.

When I took it, she trudged off toward the van with her head down.

Turning, I held up the complicated contraption toward Necro-Nancy. “I’m returning this to you in good faith.”

“Keep it.” Nancy hopped down her steps and strolled across the distance. “Trust me, Alpha Wolf, you’re going to need distance weapons. I have a feeling that you werewolves are more contact fighters.”

I handed the contraption off to Aaron beside me without looking over, and he quickly pulled a lever that let him pull out the light-wood arrows.

“Just so you know, Alpha,” Nancy said to me, but she was gazing at Jane. “Your sister Zeezee isn’t my type.”

I couldn’t help but notice that Jane had at some point tucked away her cell phone and given Nancy her full attention. Her cheeks had darkened a few shades, too.

Nancy turned fully to me. “Zeezee really was trying to handle this mess without involving you. She’s actually blocked my attempts to contact you, and the only explanation that I can guess for that is that she wanted to protect you.”

“Oh, I’m sure there’s some other explanation.”

I felt I needed to justify my reactions to this woman. My sister regularly caused problems with no expectation of ever having to clean them up. She just handed the consequences off to me.

“No offense, Nancy.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Our mom is a therapist, and she’s constantly psychoanalyzing Zeezee. And me. I really don't need it from anyone else. But yeah, I'll tell you flat out my sister was not thinking about the consequences of her actions. This might be the worst fix she's gotten herself into, but it is far from the first. It actually only beats out a lot of the things she's ended up making me clean up by a small fraction.”

“Okay, okay. I know better than to get involved with family dynamics. But I feel honor-bound to say one more thing. This situation isn’t Zeezee’s fault.” Nancy shook her head, making her ponytail bob. “Not whatsoever. If it was, she wouldn’t be alive or standing in my house.”

“So, holy water kills demons?” I asked, nodding to her belt. Her leather tool belt had far more than holy water. One glance down told me the woman was stocked with probably a hundred items strapped to her hips. I recognized a crucifix, but it was only one among a long line of what I was pretty sure were religious symbols carved out of various types of wood. She had bells and several bottles holstered near the front, making me think that these were her primary weapons.

Nancy chuckled, her laughter as low and raspy as her voice. “Insert subject-change here? All right, fine. No, holy water doesn’t kill demons, but it’s a sure-fire way to detect them. Are you completely positive that the fae in the van is what he says he is?”

“We know that the incubus can imitate people, so we have a password.” My wolf was reading Nancy as a non-threat and retreating, and even though I wasn’t sure that my wolf’s assessment was right, I found my posture relaxing in her presence.

She tilted her head back and forth. “That’s pretty effective, unless the incubus overhears the password.”