“You saved us first by dragging Caoránach out of the water,” Riordan retorted, peeling his selkie skin off his shoulders and passing it over to Wade. “Here, take this.”
Wade took the skin, the pelt warm despite having been in the cold water. He wrapped it around his waist, wincing when the motion pulled at the wounds on his rib cage. He lifted his arm to peer at the gouges, about to poke one of them, when Riordan crowded in close and bent to get a closer look.
“I didn’t know you’d been hurt,” Riordan growled. His fingertips against Wade’s side were surprisingly warm, and he couldn’t stop himself from leaning into the touch.
“It’ll heal.” He’d heal faster if he shifted mass again, but he figured twice in one day was pushing it. “Right now, let’s findElla and the others. I’m pretty sure Niall was on his way to the island before Lady Caith conjured up that waterspout.”
Riordan straightened but didn’t remove his hand. He kissed Wade, the touch of his lips lingering. Wade licked at him, tasting salt and nothing else. He pulled back when he heard a shout from down the shore. Around them, other selkies were coming out of the water, pelts slung over their shoulders or wrapped around their waists, all of them clearly having no issue running around in the nude.
Saoirse approached, and Wade made sure to keep his eyes on her face and nowhere else. “Everyone is accounted for.”
“You’re sure?” Riordan asked.
Saoirse nodded. “The waterspout was a good distraction, and Wade here kept Caoránach occupied.”
“It wasn’t all me. We have Lady Caith to thank for most of that effort.” Wade looked up at the cliffside and squinted through the pouring rain. He didn’t see her at the edge anymore. “We should find her and see where everyone else is in case Niall and his people made it to shore.”
“We sank some of those speedboats, but a couple did get through,” Donal said.
Wade didn’t see any on the shore, but maybe Niall’s people tried to swim, and some of them drowned. He could hope. “Let’s get up top.”
Rather than try to climb the cliff, they headed down the rocky shore for where the land sloped lower, and it was easier to get off the beach. The grassy stretch of land beyond was muddy from the rain. Wade’s toes squelched in it as they walked. There wasn’t much, if any, plant coverage when they made it up top, so it was easy to see the people scattered near the middle. Wade blinked his vision to something sharper, bringing into focus Lady Caith, Ella, and others. A group of werecreatures was huddled together, most of them looking at whoever was in themiddle rather than out. He hoped that meant they had found Casey.
“Let’s go join the fun,” Wade said.
Even with the saturated ground, everyone moved pretty quickly to reach the others. As they approached, Wade saw that several of Lady Caith’s fae guards had their swords drawn and angled around Niall and some of his fae where they knelt in the muck. He didn’t look like a rich businessman anymore but rather a beleaguered criminal who was about to get his head chopped off if they all skipped the trial part and went straight to judgment and execution.
Lady Caith didn’t turn to look at them as they approached, skin still glowing in a way that had nothing to do with self-care efforts and everything to do with magic. Her magenta hair was a scraggly mess around her head and blowing in the wind, having escaped all its pins. Her clothes were plastered to her body, but she didn’t appear cold.
“Caoránach?” Wade asked.
“I am still guiding the waterspout to open ocean,” Lady Caith said. For all that she was dragging a serpent god out to sea, her focus never wavered from where Niall knelt before her.
Wade went to stand beside her, looking over his shoulder at the werecreatures behind them. It was easier now to see how they were all crowded around Harper, who was wrapped around a bruised and bleeding but very much alive Casey, with Ella hovering behind both of them. “Is he okay?”
“Niall had him on a sacrificial spell meant to break the territory markers belonging to the kin and feed him to Caoránach, giving her unfettered access to the harbor for her own claim. The spell has been dealt with.”
“He’s alive,” Harper said, not taking her nose away from her husband’s throat. “The sooner we get off this island, the better.”
“Most of our boats are still seaworthy,” Riordan said.
“Oh, good. I’m pretty sure flying everyone to shore would be a bad idea. I don’t want to be on the news,” Wade said.
“You were never the mundane human you pretended to be,” Niall ground out in a low voice.
Wade faced forward again and stared at the fae. “Nope. And the Boston god pack was never mine. I’m from the New York City god pack.”
It was funny the way Niall and his people all went absolutely still at that statement. Wade stared Niall down, refusing to blink, and waited the fae out until Niall was the one who dropped his gaze under the pretense of meeting Lady Caith’s. “I issued a bargain because we are worth more than the scraps we have been given by mortals.”
“There is nowein this fight. You would have come after my court as surely as you attempted to go after the Boston Night Court. But Saoirse found her skin, and your hold over the Maguire clan no longer exists. The Boston god pack has found their missing alphas, and your bargain with them is broken. You have no power here,” Lady Caith said.
Wade snorted. “You should also know Lucien is a big fan of finders keepers. I don’t know about Abby Boy, but between their two Night Courts, you’re in for a world of hurt on the financial front.”
Lady Caith took a single step forward, looking down at Niall. Her skin still glowed in a luminous way, proof her magic was still working to send that waterspout with Caoránach into the Atlantic Ocean. “What is left of your property and domain after Abhartach is finished with it will revert to the master vampire’s control, as he has already claimed it. You have a choice, Niall Noígíallach. You and your court can return under guard to Tír na nÓg and leave Boston behind, or your blood can feed this island. Which will it be?”
Wade thought that was a little too generous of her after the last few days. “Or I could eat him? I’d shift mass for that.”
“But not to heal yourself?” Riordan asked incredulously.
