5
Jenna
We fall. I try to scream but there’s no air in my lungs, then Lorcan’s feet hit the wet pavement and I’m almost jolted out of his grasp. I push away, my skin made slippery by the rain, but he holds me firmly as he sprints across the road to his bike.
“Help!” I claw at his arm. I will not be taken by this man…or is he truly a monster? “Where are you taking me?”
Light swings our way and Lorcan puts me down.
In the cop’s flashlight, I see the gleam of dozens of golden eyes. My blood goes cold and I step back. Lorcan wasn’t lying. The two headed dogs are hunting me.
The cop holding the flashlight is getting closer. He doesn’t notice the beasts only yards away from him. “Everything all right, ma’am?”
I glance at Lorcan. Is everything all right? Does he have a plan?
Am I safe with him?
He shrugs and whispers. “They can’t protect you. They won’t even believe you.”
No one has ever believed me when I talk about monsters, but Lorcan knows all about them. Because he is one, my mind whispers. His eyes flash gold when the cop’s light sweeps over him. Do mine do the same? Does the cop notice?
He said I’m fae. That I can leave this place and live in faery and for a heartbeat I want to believe in that fantasy. In the next I want to say he’s wrong and that I’m human, but for the first time in my life someone believes me and understands. He saw the same monsters and killed them to protect me.
The monster-dogs, what did he call them, gyfnosau are padding closer.
Lorcan gets on the bike and glances at me. “Are you living or dying tonight?”
The rain slicks his hair and plasters his T-shirt to his body. His holstered gun glints in the streetlight.
“Ma’am, is everything all right?” the cop is close enough now that I can see the rain dripping off his nose. He’s drenched and looking none too happy about it. His flashlight sweeps over Lorcan. “Are you licensed to carry that, sir?”
I force a smile. If Lorcan gets arrested, I’m on my own and I won’t live to see daylight without him.
“Everything’s fine.” I climb on the back of the bike and wrap my arms around Lorcan’s waist like he’s my boyfriend. My body likes that idea far more than it should. The gyfnosau are only a few feet behind the cop. “You should get out of the rain.”
Lorcan starts the bike and we pull out onto the street. The cop shouts after us, wanting us to stop. I glance back as the dogs pounce.
* * *
We ride through the rain, zipping past cars and late-night buses. I don’t know where we’re going, only that we’re heading out of the city. Part of me thinks I’m going to die, killed the next time he slices between traffic. The rest of me expects the dogs to give chase. We’re going too fast for me to risk checking, so I tuck my head against his back and hang on to him.
I expect to be taken to a secluded cabin, but instead he pulls up at a nice house on a large block in an outer suburb. He slows as he turns into the driveway, a garage door opens as if sensing us, and he parks in an ordinary looking garage.
Nothing about his house screams monster hunter or fae.
What did I expect, a wall of weapons? Wings and magic wands?
Maybe.
Water drips on the floor and I begin to shiver. I’m wet and cold, and the adrenaline that kept me going has fled. I stumble as I get off the bike and he catches me.
“You’ll be safe here. It will take them a while to find you, and even when they do they won’t be able to enter.”
But that means I can’t leave if the gyfnosau are waiting for me. I nod numbly and let him lead me through the house. It’s neat and clean and fully furnished.
“What do you do when you aren’t hunting monsters?”
“Nothing. That’s my job while I’m here. This house belongs to the rider guarding this breach,” he says, like it’s supposed to make sense.
