2
Lorcan
Iwas almost too late to save her. I’d sensed that the gyfnosau had broken through and were hunting, but I didn’t expect them to find a target so fast. I pause, the bike purring beneath me, and the woman I’d just rescued from certain death gazes up at me. For a moment I catch the gold in her eyes, like sunlight on water. My heart jumps with hope and shock.
“Let me go.” She struggles, trying to push out of my arms.
“There’ll be more gyfnosau.” I scan the dark park, searching for the rest of the pack. There’s never only three.
“More what?”
“The two-headed dogs.” All that remain of the three that attacked her are inky stains. By morning, even that will be gone. In the sun the path might glitter with silver dust, but the rain will wash that away leaving no trace. Creatures from faery didn’t leave corpses.
Not even me if I die in the human realm.
She stares at me like I have two heads the same as a gyfnos. Her heart beats fast like she’s still trying to run for her life, which I guess she is from the way she’s struggling. Only this time she thinks I’m the threat.
“Where do you live, I’ll take you home.” I need to make sure she’s safe.
“No.” She shakes her head, her long dark ponytail swinging. Then she jabs something into my thigh. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Fuck.” I yank it out, blood blooms dark on my jeans.
She’s already off the bike and halfway to the ink stains. She stops to pick something up and then keeps running.
I watch her for a moment. But I can’t stay here. Someone would’ve reported the gunshots, and I’m sure I can hear sirens.
I rev the bike and ride up to her, ignoring the throbbing in my leg. Spilled fae blood will draw the gyfnosau. If nothing else,Ineed to get off the street for the night. Tomorrow I must hunt the rest of the pack. My duty as a guardian means I can’t allow monsters from the outer realms of faery to hunt fae or human on this side of the veil.
While she may not know it, she is fae, even though she was clearly born in the human world. Those born in faery are always male.
She doesn’t look at me, her feet move quickly but her breathing is fast, and she smells like fear.
“Just get on, and I’ll take you home. You need to get off the street as the pack has your scent.”
I have her scent. I’ve been defending the human world from the creatures of fae for twenty years and have seen only a handful of fae women. Usually from a distance, and none has ever interested me more than the hunt. She landed in my lap. I want her back there—and not just to protect her.
She mutters something to herself.
I’m so busy watching her lips that I almost miss the shadow lurch out of the trees. I aim and shoot. Silver sprays over the gyfnos and it bursts into a cloud of midnight ink. Some of the dust gets on me, gleaming on my gloves. A few specks hit the bare skin of my wrist and burn like fire embers.
She stops and crouches, too late, the danger is over. Things are falling out of her ripped up bag, but she clutches it to her chest like her life depends on the contents. She’ll be eaten if I leave her, and I’ll be arrested if I stay.
The sirens are drawing closer. I holster the pistol, wishing I had something less obvious than a shoulder holster in that moment, or at least a jacket to throw on.
“We need to leave now.” I reach out and grab her again, dumping her in front of me.
“Leave me alone.” She kicks and scratches like a wild thing.
I can’t help but smile at her spirit. Keeping control of the slow-moving bike with one hand, I hold up her key coated in my blood. “Where do you live? Because if we don’t leave now, the cops will take us both in.”
Her eyes widen. “I’m not afraid of cops. Why are you?”
I lift an eyebrow. I barely exist in her world. It’s getting harder for the fae to make lives here as human technology becomes more invasive. “The gun’s not licensed, and I killed dogs they can’t even see. Then I’ll have to tell too many lies to cover up the truth. It’s a pain in the ass.”
And one I am happy to live without.
I’m hoping the gyfnosau don’t eat the cops, because covering up human deaths is always tricky. If I wasn’t leaking more blood than I’m comfortable with, I’d stay and risk my ass to protect the humans—not that they’d thank me for it.
