Jonah isn’t even shadowkind. They can’t claimhe’sa monster.
They tied him up like this and left him helpless just because he’s on our side.
My anguish brings a prickling sensation into my chest. I start to tamp down the swell of unpleasant emotions automatically—and then realize they might be just what I need.
Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I hold out my hands toward the side of the whip where it’s taut against the pole—not Jonah himself. With careful control, I release a spurt of the dark energy inside me.
My concentrated jab cuts right through the searing light. The rest of the whip sputters out, and the handle clatters to the pavement.
Jonah scrambles up with a ragged inhalation. “I’ll get Hail and Mirage.”
I can only watch as our sorcerer rushes to peel the nets off my other mates. As I stand there, mired in my own frustration, a slim dark figure wavers out of the shadows.
“Peri!” Fen cries, with a swivel of her head as she takes in the scene. Drips of distress trickle off her fingers and patter on the pavement. “I was going to see if I could pitch in at all here, but... What happened? Is everyone okay?”
“Some humans attacked us,” I tell her through the tightness in my throat. “Not hunters, I don’t think, just regular people who got some of their weapons. They grabbed me and tried toget me to ‘admit’ that we have a conspiracy against humans or something like that. They think we wanted this to happen!” I wave my hand toward the deluge of shadows cloaking the city.
Fen blinks at me, her brow knitting. “What? Why would anyone want that?”
“I don’t know! That’s why it’s so ridiculous.”
But no matter what I said, the humans didn’t believe me. They probably still think they were right—as much as they’re thinking at all right now before Raze’s paralyzing power wears off.
A shudder runs through the naiad’s slender frame. Her face tenses with determination. “I can go find Rollick and?—”
I grasp her forearm. “No. I… I’m not sure I want to talk to him about this. At least not yet.”
He warned me things like this would happen, didn’t he? That most humans would never trust us.
It was only that small group. It doesn’t have to mean anything.
Except more and more “small groups” keep popping up. At what point do I have to acknowledge that they’ve become a big group?
Jonah heaves the untangled net off Hail, and I dart over to throw my arms around the winter fae. His ebbing pain gives way to a rush of honey-sweet adoration. “There’s my Cream Puff. I hope you gave them a piece of your mind.”
His voice is so ragged my throat completely closes up. It takes a moment before I can speak, with tears burning in the back of my eyes. “I tried to. They weren’t very good at listening.”
The winter fae tucks his head next to mine as if I’m a balm on his wounds, and I’m happy to offer that if I can. Then his gaze drops, and a spurt of jalapeno-sharp anger radiates from him. “They left scars!”
I follow his gaze to my wrists where the sleeves of my leather jacket have ridden up slightly. Faint pink lines mark my pale skin where my captor’s metal-twined ropes bit into them. A bit of an ache lingers too.
I grimace. “I’m sure those will fade. They didn’t have me tied up for very long.”
A few ruddy streaks cross his face and hands too where the metals of the net burned him. I hate to think how the rest of his body might have suffered through his clothes.
Before I can say as much, Hail lets out a growl Raze would be proud of. “They shouldn’t have tied you up at all. Those fuckers.”
Any further angry ranting is cut off by Mirage springing free. He bounds over and flings his arms around both of us, to Hail’s sputtered indignation that’s flavored with a dollop of amusement.
After a moment, Mirage slumps. His time wrapped in the net has sapped most of his usual energy. He has his own temporary scars etched across his flesh.
Even though I know his and Hail’s will heal as quickly as mine, my gut twists at the sight.
I tuck my hand around his neck to draw him into a kiss and then help both of my men to their feet. Raze hurries over to support Mirage, but Hail waves off Jonah when he attempts to offer the same.
“We’ll just go through the shadows,” he says. “We’ll recover faster there anyway.”
Jonah nods. “We should get back to the center of operations and find out what else has been going on.”
