“He bites.”
Abhartach flicked his gaze back to Wade, who smiled, revealing his own set of fangs for a split second. “Yeah, I bite. Wanna see how hard?”
Riordan pressed up against his back, one hand gripping Wade’s T-shirt, as if he were prepared to haul Wade out of the line of fire. Ella stood to his left, her fingernails shifted into claws, while the rest of those with them now faced outward, squaring off with the vampires of the Boston Night Court.
“We’re not here to fight,” Ella said in a low voice. “We’re here to warn you. Consider it a courtesy.”
A vampire approached at a slow walk to right the table and kicked the shattered bits of glass aside. The table wobbled a bit, but since Wade wasn’t going to be drinking, he didn’t care.
Abhartach shot Ella a dismissive look. “You are dire. You have no authority to engage in courtesies or bargains. Where are your alphas?”
Lucien smirked, and Wade really wanted to punch it off his face. “Something tells me Niall has the illustrious pair.”
“Don’t even think about muscling in on their territory,” Wade warned.
“It’s not yours to fight over.”
“I’d make it mine through an alliance if I have to. Want me to call Patrick? Because I will.” Wade pulled out his cell phone and held it up, pressing the button to highlight the screen and show the additional text notifications that had come through since the last time he’d checked, all of them from Patrick. “He’s kind of pissed I’m talking to you.”
“Do you think I care what he thinks? I’m not bound by my mother’s promise any longer. You would do well to watch yourself.”
Wade smiled, heat crawling up his throat, flickers of fire tickling his tongue. “I can make the right side of your face match the left if you want. You arenottaking anyone’s territory.”
Abhartach smacked his hand down in the center of the table, leaning between Lucien and Wade to break their staring contest. He tilted his head, his long, white-blond hair falling over his shoulders. “I know what you are.”
Wade swallowed the fire in his mouth and breathed out a curl of smoke, refusing to acknowledge the faint twinge of old fear at the back of his mind from the close proximity of the master vampire. He tipped his head back and arched an eyebrow in the best condescending look he could manage. Patrick would be proud. Sage and Jono, probably not so much. “Yeah? Then you probably know I could shish kebab everyone in this bar, and none of your bought magic could stop me. I’m notgoingto because you haven’t done anything yet to make me need to. Other than invite this asshole in for a drink.”
Lucien looked like he was contemplating all the ways he could maybe rend Wade limb from limb, which was just laughable. Abhartach tapped his nails against the wood one at a time in a slow progression. “My Night Court has no quarrel with the Boston god pack nor the selkie clans. I won’t make your problems ours.”
“No alliance. Got it. But Niall is fae, and so were you once. The only difference now is you’re a vampire and he’s a maybe-wannabe-god. That’s a problem for everyone, or do I need to remind you about the Battle of Samhain?”
Abhartach’s lips curled up, revealing his sharp fangs. “I answered my mother’s call and fought at the end of the world.”
“Great. Then you know how annoying gods are. If you’re targeted by one, do you really think you can survive it? Because I know I can, and I’ll make sure those with me survive as well. But no alliance means none of us”—Wade gestured at Riordan and the others—“are going to come to your rescue.”
Before Abhartach could respond, the door to the bar opened and a person stepped in. Wade couldn’t see them, not with his back to the door, but he heard them. What’s more, hesensedthem—so much magic that didn’t feel right.
“Casey?” Ella said, sounding far too hopeful.
“Get down!” Wade yelled.
Carmen flipped the table this time, creating a makeshift barrier between her, Lucien, and Abhartach from the threat that just walked into the bar. Saoirse grabbed Donal and Ella since she was closer, shouting out the phrase to activate the shield ward. Bright white magic flared up in a tight dome around the trio, providing a different kind of barrier that Wade shoved Riordan behind and where the other werecreatures joined them.
All of that happened in seconds, not even the length of a breath, but it was still long enough for Wade to get a glimpse of Casey standing in the doorway, expression one of fear and grief, bleeding magic through his skin that Wade could see even if no one else could.
And then whatever spell was wrapped around Casey exploded, the concussive force of pressurized magic ripping away from the god pack alpha’s body and through the bar.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Wade sankhis claws into the floor as the concussive blast of the magical bomb slammed through everyone. He ducked his head, grimacing at Ella’s scream of rage, the dire held back from reaching her alpha only by dint of the shield ward. He didn’t try to use the ring Gerard and Órlaith had gifted him, not wanting to tip his hand.
A different, high-pitched humming sound hit Wade’s ears, nearly popping his eardrums. He glanced up, seeing the wards running from the floor to the high ceiling in the bar were all activated, magical threads tangling through the physical manifestation of the blast radius. He didn’t know what the spell was, but it had managed to neutralize some of the harsher aspects of the magical bomb, even if it could do nothing for the concussive force behind the explosion. He did know the silence ward would probably keep anyone outside the bar from knowing what was going on and calling the cops.
“Casey!” Ella screamed, clawing at the shield ward Saoirse hadn’t deactivated.
The other werecreatures with her appeared just as equally furious and devastated at the cruel way their alpha was beingtreated. Casey lay unconscious on the floor, magic flickering around his body. Wade could hear that he was still breathing.
One of the werecreatures got halfway to him before skidding to a stop as Niall walked into the bar, radiating power and carrying a faint hint of ozone with his scent. It wasn’t anywhere close to how a true god felt, but it was enough of a warning that Niall’s magic maybe wasn’t just fae magic, and Wade swore softly under his breath.
