Patrick made a face. “Your aura isn’t carrying anything but your soul. I’d know if something had changed.”
“Fae can mark you in ways you might not notice, Patrick,” Gerard said slowly. “Your magic isn’t like ours.”
“I hate to say it, but maybe you should take a few nights off, Jono,” Emma said as she lifted a rubber mat off the floor and carried it out from behind the bar. “Figure out what’s going on with the fae first.”
Jono frowned. “Em.”
Patrick settled his hand against Jono’s lower back in a gesture of support. “She’s right.”
Jono glared at him, wolf-bright eyes narrowing. “I can do my bloody job.”
“Not saying you can’t. But Estelle and Youssef are gunning for it along with your life, and your job is what anchors your work visa. You lose that, and it’s going to make it harder for you to stay here.”
“That’s what a green card marriage is for. You two could fake it,” Wade said as he walked into the bar and right through Patrick’s shields as if they didn’t exist. “I smell cookies.”
“I told you to stay home,” Sage said, frowning at him.
“Patrick,” Gerard said, staring at Wade.
Patrick scowled at the last member of their pack who was not where he should be. “What are you doing here?”
“Where is your coat?” Jono demanded.
“Patrick,” Gerard said again, but Patrick needed to deal with some teenage rebellion first before he listened to his old captain.
“You were told to stay where you were,” Patrick said. “The Wild Hunt and the Sluagh are flying around in the sky and you’re out there without any of us knowing where you are?”
Wade blinked at them before scowling and crossing his arms over his chest. He wasn’t dressed for the weather at all—a T-shirt and jeans weren’t appropriate winter wear in Patrick’s book—not that the cold seemed to bother him. Patrick made a mental note to have a talk with Wade about remembering to keep up his human habits so that people didn’t get suspicious.
“You said Jono got hurt and everyone is here. I’m pack. I didn’t want to be left out,” Wade argued.
“Patrick.”
Gerard’s voice cut through the bar with a depth Patrick remembered from the battlefield. He instinctively hunched his shoulders before turning to face Gerard, who wasn’t looking at Patrick but at Wade, as if he knew exactly what Wade was beneath his human skin. Whatever trick General Noah Reed had shown Wade back in August to help hide his dragon soul, it apparently wasn’t enough to hide from the fae, or even a half-fae.
“That’s Wade,” Patrick said into the silence.
Gerard slanted him alook. “That’s not all he is.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I don’t know what he is other than too young to be in a bar,” Keith said. “How did you get past the police, kid?”
“Casale let me through, and don’t call me kid,” Wade retorted.
Jono crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re grounded.”
“What? Why? You can’t ground me! I live on my own!”
“We pay your rent, and you’re grounded because you didn’t listen to an order from your dire. An order that was given to keep yousafe.”
Wade glared at Jono, anger in every line of his body. “You can’t ground me. I’m eighteen.”
“You’re pack, and I bloody wellamgrounding you. The only place you’re going is to school, and you’re staying with Sage for the next week. No television, no internet, and your mobile’s data will be cut off. You can make calls, and that’s it.”
“That’s notfair.”
“Then maybe next time you’ll listen when we give an order regarding your safety.”
