“Yes,” Elle said, dragging the word out. “He’s a historian for the supernatural races. We know what adjinnis.”
Adira shook her head and then glanced over at Thad who simply watched. “Yes, he’s a historian. Give him a sprinkle of pixie dust and a medal. But he’s a bit more than that. Didn’t you know? He’s the leader of his kind, the most powerful supernatural race to exist. He can make Perizada look like a human street magician doing parlortricks.”
Elle’s lips twitched as though she wanted to smile. “Please let me be around when you tell her that. Regardless of his power, djinn refuse to involve themselves in our matters. They simply record. They haverules.”
Adira wanted to smack herself in the forehead. What was with these stinking people and their rules? Okay, so no one had said anything about rules up until that point, but once was enough to get on her nerves. They didn’t have time to be chit-chatting about rules and what exactly Thad’s job description and list of qualifications were. They needed to getmoving.
“I’m going to say this once and only once,” shebegan.
“I dinna know that Perizada was giving lessons to the wee ones,” a thick Irish accentlilted.
Adira turned her gaze to the wolf. “Andyouare?”
“Kale.” He bowed. “Beta, of theIrelandpack.”
“I’d say I was happy to meet you, but that would imply that I like you, and at the moment, I do not.” She turned back to Thad. She just wanted to move things along. Time was ticking, and these people were wasting it as if it just grew on trees. “Would you please tell these daft beings exactly what you’recapableof?”
Thad’s entire face was still as he stared back at her. It was as if he were a statue carved of stone. Adira supposed it was easy to learn to sit so still when all you did was store information in your big magic brain. Regardless, her inability to read what he was thinking only frustratedhermore.
Finally, the djinnspoke. “Why?”
That’s it, she thought. The king’s brother wasn’t going to be the last male she graced with a male part on his face. It was kind of sad, too. Thad really was something to behold in all his aristocratic, handsome glory. “Shame.” She breathed out a sigh. Okay, so she didn’t really have the power to mar Thad’s glorious face, but thinking about it did give her some measure of comfort, though only for asecond.
“Why, why, why, why,” she parroted. “How about because the veil to my home is closed. The veil to the draheim realm is, you guessed it, closed. I need to get back to my realm and they”—she motioned to the wolves—“have people in my realm that they want togetout.”
“And the draheim realm?” the wolf sitting beside Elle asked. “Why do we need to worry about it beingclosed?”
“Hmm…” She tapped her lips with her finger. “How do I put thistactfully?”
“Tact doesn’t seem to be your strong suit, wee one,” Kale said sounding amused. “Best ya keep it to simplehonesty.”
“Fine,” Adira snapped. “There’s some nasty evil flowing off the veil to the draheim realm. Evil that feels a lot like fae magic, only much, muchdarker.”
All the males in the room perked up, and she imagined if they’d been in their wolf forms, their ears would have pricked and their hacklesrisen.
“Volcan,” Kalerumbled.
The room was silent until a cell phone rang. Adira turned to look at the large man who stood and pulled the phone from his pocket. He frowned at the screen and started to put it back. Then he appeared to change his mind and growled in frustration before answeringthecall.
“What,” he snarled into the phone. Then his enraged face went slack as his eyes filled with relief. “Jewel.”
Chapter11
“I would give just about anything to see her, touch her, smell her, taste her, even if for only a few heartbeats. But I can hear her, and that is more than I had only a minute ago. It will have to sustain me until I can have all of her.” ~Dalton
Dalton feltas though his legs were going to give out at the sound of her voice. It had only been a couple of weeks since she’d left him, yet it felt like alifetime.
“Are you okay? Where are you? When are you coming back to me?” The questions flew out of him without censor as more entered his mind. “What have you been doing? How did you get this number? Areyouokay?”
“You already asked me that once,” she said with a small, painedlaugh.
“You’re hurt,”hesaid.
“I’ll be okay,” she told him, but she didn’t soundtoosure.
“Tell me where you are, Little Dove. I’ll come to you.” Dalton turned and headed for the door, leaving the little pixie, djinn, wolves, and fae behind without a thought. His mind was completely focused on the voice at the other end of thephone.
“I can’t do that,Dalton.”
