His arms are around me again. Luck sparks in his emerald eyes. I can feel it, like a static charge rising in the air, a giant, powerful force, invisible but palpable. It winds around me, a hot purr against my skin. There is no doubt in my mind that if this man wanted it to happen, we would fall over, and I would somehow land on his dick. But I sense this isn’t as much sexual as playful. He’s trying to take me back to where we were before. The way he uses my childhood nickname. The talk of when we were kids. He’s teasing me. Playing with me. Well, I don’t exist for his amusement, and there is no way I plan to pick up where we left off.
“Is this what you have to do to get a date, Seven? Force women with luck?” The edge to my words is intentionally sharp.
His smirk fades, replaced by a look of disgust. It’s his turn to push me away. “Fuck, Sophia, I was just teasing you back after that barb about humans.”
“Teasing? Or reminding that you can take what you want when you want it?”
“I asked you to kiss me, not to fuck me.”
“I’ll take door number three.”
He points a finger toward me. “I bought your freedom because I care about you, no other reason,” he grits out, looking positively offended. “I’ve always cared about you.”
My hands are shaking. I’m furious and frustrated. I want answers but also to never speak to him again. Worst of all, I can’t deny I’d like to be back in his arms. I’m curiously horny, and the memories of our times here, when things were good, are wedging themselves into my already-confused brain. This place, the way he’s looking at me, it feels like going back in time. None of it makes sense.
“Fuck it. I’m going home. Leave me and Arden alone.” I start for Dragonfly.
A dark and ominous laugh bursts from him. “Ican’t. You’re assigned to me, remember? Godmother’s orders.”
“Fuck!” I bend over and beat my fists against my thighs. This man is going to be the death of me. “Fine! What exactly is this security matter, and how the hell can I help?”
He sighs and looks out over the murky water. “Murder.”
ChapterEight
Oh, but you must travel through those woods again and again… said a shadow at the window… and you must be lucky to avoid the wolf every time… But the wolf… the wolf only needs enough luck to find you once. — Emily Carroll,Through the Woods
All my anger drains away, replaced by intense curiosity. “Murder in Dragonfly?”
“Godmother and I found the body in the square, thankfully before any of the guests did. It was brutal.”
“Humans are always killing each other. It was only a matter of time before they did it in Dragonfly.”
“I’m not sure a human did this.”
“Why not?”
“The body was missing all its teeth and a few choice bones.”
I flinch and press a hand to my stomach. “The agent at the rehabilitation center showed me a murder scene exactly like that. He wanted help finding the killer. He was convinced the perpetrator was fae.”
“Where?” Seven rubs his chin, intensely interested.
“I don’t know. He never told me. But there was a massive footprint beside the body. Wait, could he have been showing me pictures from here?”
“No. We found the body in the square. No mud. And no authorities were involved. What did the footprint look like?”
“Huge. Skeletal.”
“It fits.” He looked toward the wall again.
“You think it’s Yissevel?” I hadn’t lied to Agent Donovan when I said that the human version of the Tooth Fairy did not exist. It doesn’t. But there is a bone fairy, a primeval monster obsessed with the skeletons of his prey. He eats organs, but bones and teeth are his passion. What he doesn’t consume, he collects.
Seven’s eyes narrow thoughtfully. “I’ve checked with the guardians. No breach in the wall. I think someone went through a lot of trouble to make it look like it was Yissevel though.”
“Why?”
“That is the question you and I have to answer. Something like this gets out, it could hurt Dragonfly’s reputation as well as its bottom line.”
