“If you’re worried about anyone in particular, send them to New York City. My pack can see to their safety until we fix this problem.”
“We aren’t werecreatures.”
“Neither is Patrick. I’d like to see Niall try to go up against my alphas.”
It’d be a bloodbath, and none of it would come from Patrick or Jono. Niall would have to be phenomenally stupid to fight the New York City god pack. They had a reputation for a reason these days. It’s what had made the five boroughs safer, actually, after the Battle of Samhain. Most of the alliances they’d brokered still held, and the divide between groups within the preternatural and supernatural communities were definitely narrowed these days or gone completely.
“We’ll see,” Riordan said, promising nothing. Which was fine with Wade. The offer was out there, and that was all that mattered.
“If we’re going to that bar tomorrow night, we’ll need to figure out a plan beyond one enemy against the other. I don’t trust who will be getting us inside,” Ella said.
“We can go back to my hotel room. I have plenty of space. I doubt Niall knows where I’m staying,” Wade said.
“Yet,” Saoirse muttered from down the table.
“He’ll probably try to figure out who you are. That puts you in danger,” Riordan said.
Wade shrugged. “He can try, and then I’ll just eat him.”
Ella crumpled up her napkin and drank the rest of her beer in two long swallows. “Will your hotel room even fit all of us?”
“It’s the penthouse in the Ritz-Carlton. If we get hungry, I can have the chef make us snacks and send them up.”
Ella stared at him for a moment before shaking her head. “All right, let’s go.”
They left their empty plates on the table and made their way out of the restaurant. Wade thought Riordan would stick with his siblings but was pleased when the other man decided to ride with him again. It eased the twitchiness he got whenever Riordan was out of sight, which had been maybe twice today. He’d known the selkie for less than twenty-four hours, and already Wade didn’t want him to be beyond arm’s reach.
Maybe it was a dragon thing he didn’t yet know about, this desire to keep Riordan close. It was similar to the way he always liked being with his pack and knowing where they were, but different in that none of them had ever made him itch to curl close to Riordan and just hold on.
Just keep him.
Wade got behind the steering wheel and watched Riordan get settled in the front passenger seat. Without his jacket on and in just a T-shirt, it was easy to see how muscular he was. Wade found himself staring at Riordan’s shoulders and forearms as he buckled up, noticing there were freckles on his skin there too.
“Something on my shirt?” Riordan asked.
Wade blinked and shook his head, wrenching his gaze away. “Uh, no. Just thinking.”
About you. About how I think I want to kiss you.
Ooh, maybe time to call his therapist.
He started the car and backed out of the parking spot, keeping his eyes on the mirrors rather than meeting Riordan’s gaze, which he could feel staring at him.
“Thank you, by the way, for helping us. I can’t speak for Ella, but my clan appreciates it.”
“Sure. I wasn’t going to walk away from this once I knew what was going on.”
“Other people would.”
Wade snorted. “I’m not other people.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to see that.” Riordan sounded quietly thankful, and his scent, when Wade breathed it in, was salt-tinged relief threaded through with the cologne he wore.
Without thinking about what he was doing, Wade reached over and patted Riordan on the knee. “We’ll free Casey and Harper, and we’ll get your sister’s sealskin back. I promise.”
Riordan’s fingers wrapped around Wade’s wrist before he could pull away, grip gentle, warm fingertips resting right against his now-pounding pulse. “You shouldn’t make bargains with fae.”
“Bargains don’t work on me,” Wade managed to get out in a voice that wasn’t strangled. Ha. Go him. “And I’ll do whatever I want if it’ll keep you and the others safe.”
