Gustavo was a good way from the clearing but still he heard theirvoices.
“Did he say his wolf was atadfrustrated? Because I’m pretty sure that his furry butt had passed frustrated tentreesago.”
Gustavo agreed. His wolf didn’t give a damn. He wanted his mate. That was all. He just wanted his mate with him, home, in their den away from the rest of the world. He wouldn’t be content until he made that happen. His wolf was stubborn and determined and ruthless when it came to those he considered his pack. Anna surpassed everything and everyone in his life. Ruthless was going to look like child’s play when he let his beast loose on the hunt.Our mate, ours to protect.Yes, the man agreed. We will get her and tether her to our side, Gustavo thought. His wolf liked the soundofthat.
* * *
Adira pacedin front of the veil that led to the realm of the draheim. The dragon-like beasts kept to themselves, and there wasn’t a whole lot known about their species. She’d been debating on seeking their assistance in reopening the veil to the pixie realm so she could get home. She was sure they wouldn’t give, but she was getting desperate. It had been over a week since Anna had disappeared with the other gypsy healer named Jewel, and since then, she’d been locked out of her own realm. She’d tried her own magic, and it had been useless, and considering her kind was the most powerful among the pixies, that was saying something. She’d been racking her brain for almost two weeks on what could open the veil, and she’d finally narrowed it down to two things. The draheim were her first resort, mainly because the second resort was, well, to put it lightly, going to be a pain in her tiny rear end todealwith.
Finally, she sucked in a deep breath and walked forward, expecting to pass right through. Instead, she bounced off an invisible wall. She rubbed her forehead and stared at the offending emptyspace.
“Well, I’ll be brighter than a pixie’s butt. Another realm blocked?” She grumbled as she stood up and brushed off her clothes. Adira held her hand out and stepped gingerly forward. She nearly jerked it back when she felt the malice pouring from the closed veil. Without thought, she began to pace again, her eyes continually travelling back to the location of the invisible veil wall, feeling more and more certain that she knew what was causing the malice to flowthroughit.
“Where is Perizada when I need her?” She huffed as she attempted to figure out what she should do next. Did she go and find Peri, or did she go back to her home and talk to Peri’s wolf mate? Or maybe she should just throw her hands up and say to pixie hell with it and make a new home in some remote location of some far-off realm. But darkness would spread there eventually, too. No, she couldn’t turn her back on her friends. And she liked Anna. She wouldn’t walk away when her new gypsy-healer friend was introuble.
“So,” she said, tapping her chin. “Peri or her mate? Or…” Her brow rose as she considered her third option. It was hit or miss. He might help, or he might flick her away like a pesky bug. It depended on his mood. But, she supposed if ever there was a situation to ask for his help, this was it. Now she just had to figure out a way to approach him. She’d need to be tactful, respectful, and, most of all, humble. That would bedifficult.
Adira reached her hand out, touched one of the large trees, and closed her eyes. Her particular race of pixies was the only who could travel in such a way, and that fact was a closely guarded secret. Mainly because the other, less powerful pixies would pitch fits if they knew about it. The magic was very similar to the way in which the fae could flash, only Adira traveled through space and time using the energy from nature. The currents that flowed from living thing to living thing were what powered her ability to leave one location and appear inanother.
That is how she wound up in Peri’s home, standing on a solid wood table looking at a room full of wolves, a fae, and one bored djinn. She turned to fully face Thad and placed her small hands on her small hips and glared at the oldbeing.
“You claim to be all-powerful, and yet all you do is sit around on your pompous arse spouting off about how bored you are,” she huffed. “Well, I, for one, am sick of hearing about the all-powerful djinn but never seeing what they’recapableof.”
Thad’s face remained passive, betraying nothing of histhoughts.
“Adira, of the pixies.” His voice rumbled as he spoke. “Pray tell, who it is that continually boasts of my all-powerfulness?”
“And perhaps, just a thought, considering his all-powerfulness,” Elle spoke up, “be a tad lesshostile.”
Adira frowned at her. “Was I hostile? I was going for tactful and respectful … oh, andhumble.”
“Might need to work on your delivery,” Ellesuggested.
Adira shrugged. “If you say so.” She turned back to the djinn. “It’s neither here nor there who is spreading rumors about your power. I’m saying maybe it’s time you prove yoursuperiority.”
“Why?” he asked, sounding as boredasever.
“Why?” she sputtered. “Why? Because isn’t that what all-powerful beings do? Go around showing offtheirmojo.”
His head tilted ever so slightly to the side, and his eyes narrowed. “Whatismojo?”
Adira stomped her foot. This whole encounter had gone very differently in her mind. Then again, in her mind, she hadn’t said he was a pompous arse. Maybe that’s where things had gone downhill. Or had they ever been uphill tobeginwith?
“Okay, forget mojo.” She waved her hands in the air. “Stupid teenage humans and their stupid made-up words,” she muttered under her breath. “Just sayyes,okay?”
“Yes,” he said, only the word sounded like a question. She ignoredthatfact.
“Great!” Adira clapped her hands together. “If you’ll just come with me, we will be off to open some veils and kick evil in its manparts.”
She reached out to lay a small hand on Thad’s knee, intending to whisk him back to the veil to the pixie realm. But nothing happened when she tried to carry them fromPeri’shome.
“Whoa, hold on a second,” Elle said, holding outherhand.
Blasted fae magic, Adira thought to herself as she looked up at thefemalefae.
“What do you meanopen someVeils?” Elleasked.
Adira’s eyes widened. She glanced around to the other confused faces and then looked back at Elle. “Thad’s a djinn,”shesaid.
