That Niall didn’t demand an answer right then and there proved to Riordan the other fae believed them to be trapped in a corner with no way out. He’d take joy in watching them squirm like fish in a selkie’s teeth. The terms of the bargain were harsh, and they could only agree to it in the end—whichever clause ultimately won out.
Niall left with Casey one step behind him and the old woman following in their wake. She’d not spoken during the entire meeting, but the look she tossed over her shoulder on the way out sent a cold shiver down Riordan’s spine.
The door shut behind them, leaving a heavy silence in the pub that was only broken by Saoirse. “You should let me go with him.”
“No,” Riordan said, turning to gather her close for a bone-creaking hug. “I won’t let him have you.”
“You can’t let him have the clan. He won’t stop with ours if you do.”
Clan Maguire was the largest selkie clan in the northeast, entrenched in Boston and the surrounding area and stretching up and down the coast for centuries. Giving Niall power over them would mean giving up territory they’d held since coming to these shores. It would mean selling out his people. Riordan couldn’t do that to the kin who looked to him to keep them safe overall, but neither could he give up his sister to a fae who hid his cruelty behind pretty smiles.
“I’ll find a way out of this,” Riordan promised.
Which was a daunting task, because a fae’s bargain was never meant to be fair, even when offered to their own kind.
CHAPTER SIX
Wade atea hefty breakfast made by the private chef the hotel offered before leaving to meet with Ella. He made a pit stop at Dunkin’ on the way to the god pack territory out in the Forest Hills area of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Ella had given out the address at the end of lunch only a little reluctantly. Not because she didn’t trust Wade in her pack’s territory but because she didn’t know what the fallout would be if Niall had their home under surveillance.
Wade didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary when he parked in front of the triple-decker home on Walk Hill Street. He peered at the pale blue siding and white-trimmed windows, noticing there was enough space on either side between its neighbors that could’ve been filled in as apartments back home. The space and the numerous trees dotting the street was a little mind-boggling coming from a city as packed in as Manhattan.
He got out of the car, peering down the street in both directions, taking in the area. He drew in a deep breath, parsing out the scents. It definitely smelled like werecreatures lived there. He’d bet good money every single house facing the cemetery in Franklin Park was owned by the god pack. The park itself was surrounded by a low iron fence that wouldn’t keep anywerecreature out. He wondered if they had permission from the city to shift in that greenery.
Locking the car, Wade carried his three boxes of donuts with him up the walkway to the house. He shoved the last bite of a chocolate old-fashioned into his mouth and would’ve knocked, except the door opened before he could do so. Ella stared at him, gaze flicking from his face to the boxes.
“Is there even any left?” she asked, clearly remembering their lunch.
“Uh, I can get more delivered?” Wade said a little sheepishly. “I didn’t want the car to smell like donuts because then it’d make me hungry later. Can I dump them in your trash?”
Ella sighed and stepped back, gesturing at him to enter. “Come inside. The trash bin is out back.”
She took the empty boxes from him and passed them off to an older man who appeared behind her, his bright amber eyes the same color as hers. Wade glanced around, not seeing the usual setup of food and drink on the hallway credenza that he was used to back home. “No hospitality?”
Ella arched an eyebrow. “Do I need to ask that of you?”
Wade raised his hands in a fending-off gesture. “Nope. I just have a mage in my pack, and I’m used to us offering it. You might want to make it a standard procedure going forward.”
“I’ll mention it to my alphas when we get them back.”
Wade shoved his sunglasses on top of his head, looking around curiously at the home. He could hear a couple more people in the home that he couldn’t see and wondered how many pack members were going to be present for this little meeting.
Ella seemed more at ease today than she had yesterday out in public. Maybe it had something to do with being in her own territory, but she didn’t seem so stressed, despite the situation. She led him to the dining room adjacent to an open kitchen. Someone had left a bag of Oreos on the island, and Wade’sfingers twitched with the urge to grab it and eat the remaining cookies.
A small stack of folders sat on the dining table next to a laptop. Ella claimed the chair in front of the laptop and waved casually at the folders. “I’ve had my pack looking into Niall so you can see what we’re dealing with. It’s not much. He hasn’t been on our radar as a threat, to be honest.”
“Fae can afford to play the long game. If he’s targeting you now, I’d bet he’s been planning it for years.”
“You’re still certain he’s fae?”
“I’d bet the no-limit on my credit card he is.”
Wade sat in the chair next to Ella. He opened up the folders and laid them out on the table to get a better idea of what he was dealing with. After so many years working alongside Patrick and Sage, he knew a bit about investigative work. It wasn’t something he’d ever want to make a career out of, but if it helped his pack, then he was all for it.
“Niall Noai—you know what? I’m not gonna butcher that,” Wade said, squinting at the printout of a news story about Niall’s real estate empire, which probably only scratched the surface. “He’s Irish. Looks like an asshole.”
“Because he’s Irish?”
“No, because he’s pulling sneaky shit.” Skimming through the documents provided a superficial background on the man who Wade didn’t believe for a second was mundane human. “He doesn’t look like a fae in the photographs, which makes me think he’s using glamour. I won’t know until I see him.”
