He wanted to thank whatever deity was responsible for his happy improvement in circumstances.
Leif left his place by the door and prowled closer, and Alec jumped a bit when Leif sat on the floor beside the chair, long legs stretched out in front of him toward the fireplace, and his back leaning on the chair, pressing against Alec’s legs from knees to feet. He curled in his toes, afraid to press the cold digits to warm flesh and risk driving off the very welcome sensation of all that wild, half-naked manliness sitting at his feet.
“Tell me this messy tale,” Leif ordered, though not unkindly. He was big enough to lean forward a bit andswing the kettle steaming over the fire away from the flames, and then grab a pair of mugs stacked on the edge of the hearth.
Watching Leif make tea was relaxing and hypnotizing.
“Oh. Um,” Alec gathered his scrambled thoughts, the memory of the past several weeks enough to ruin his growing arousal at being so near Leif.
“My mom was fae, she’s where I got my magic from,” Alec said, and Leif made no reaction to that opening comment, making the tea from loose-leaf sachets he filled from a small box on the hearth near the mugs. Leif stayed silent, but his patient expression told Alec he was listening attentively while making the tea. That easy silence helped him relax even more, absorbing the heat from the large man beside him as well as the tender care from a complete stranger, who somehow felt less like a stranger with every passing moment.
“My mom was on her own for a long time, and I never knew my dad. No idea who he was or is, and Mom never told me. She ended up marrying a human man when I was nine, and he was a rotten bastard. Not at first—he played the besotted and doting husband long enough to con my mom into selling her powers out to his buddies.”
“Dozens of fae species, and a nearly infinite variety of gifts,” Leif said softly as he poured hot water into the mugs, the scent of rich, fragrant tea rising with the steam. Black-leaf tea and bergamot. Leif handed Alec one of the mugs; it was huge, more suited to someone of Leif’s size than Alec’s, and he had to hold it with both hands.
Leif’s words made sense, in a way. All those who weren’t human knew that to try and categorize who and what the fae were after the Great Migration from the Old World was a pointless and frustrating endeavor. Afterreaching the shores of the New World, many of the younger fae peoples interbred with humanity, breeding like wildfire and muddling what little humans and magic folk alike knew about the fae. Plus much of the knowledge of who and what they were, their original cultures, had been lost either to time or to genocide at the hands of the High Council in Europe.
And adding human bloodlines made for some random and entirely unpredictable modern fae abilities and gifts.
He held the mug in his lap, waiting for it to cool. Leif sipped his, impressively unflinching at the temperature. Alec found it hard to look away, and made himself continue his story. “Stuart is my stepfather. Mom got sick from the various jobs he forced her to do, using her powers to make designer drugs and illegal potions and shit. She died.”
“Younger fae, then,” Leif added, though without any judgment in it. The elder fae species were increasingly rare in these modern times—the remaining fae species were those called collectively the younger fae, species that arose in concurrence with humanity, and came with the less impressive, and not nearly as divine gifts that the elder fae could once boast.
Alec nodded. “I had her cremated before Stu could sell her body on the black market.” Alec grimaced. “He never forgave me for that, and the only reason he didn’t make me take her place right after she died is that I was enrolled in public school at the time and my teachers kept an eye on me. I was out of luck when I graduated high school.”
“What happened?” Leif asked, though he could probably guess considering how he found Alec in the woods.
“Stu hired me out, but I wasn’t so great at doing what the customers wanted of me. Stubborn, and I back-talked and fought Stu on it all the time. I call myself an alchemist,one born, not taught, and there’s enough interest out there from legal entities and practitioners that I could pay my own way. I was about to get my own place when Stu finally had enough and sold me outright to the mountain mafia.”
Local gangs and crime organizations in the hills went by different names. The ones typically run by the humans in his home county were the mountain mafia, homegrown thugs aiming to be rivals with the more infamous outfits run in the major cities. His stepfather started as a junkie and moved to dealer once Alec and his mom were under his thumb, and most of the people he farmed their talents out to were drug runners and local manufacturers of drugs with a magical component.
Instead of asking what gifts Alec had that made him so valuable, Leif sipped his tea, waiting patiently. Alec tried sipping his own tea, cautious in case it was still too hot, but the tea was finally at the perfect temperature and helped soothe some more of his aches as he slowly drank it. He managed a solid third of it before stopping, Leif watching him with blatant satisfaction. The general consensus that alphas enjoyed taking care of people was on the mark, it seemed.
“How’d you blow up the building?” Leif asked. “Same magic that makes the drugs?”
Alec figured he had nothing to lose. “I can alter the basic molecular structure of physical matter and even incorporate spells on a microscopic level. Or at least, magic with a purpose and intent that’ll last beyond my active control. Spells are more of a practitioner thing—I’m fae, and I’m more instinct and intent than structured casting and rote spellwork. It’s why I call myself an alchemist.”
Leif frowned a bit. “Not sure what exactly that meansbut it sounds like it meant making fancy drugs with a magical kick to it?”
“And making explosives out of random bits and pieces in my prison cell.”
Leif leaned into his legs, a gentle pressure. “Well done, greenbough.” He paused, tipping his head back a bit to look Alec in the eyes. “Do they know you’re alive?”
Alec shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know, I hope not? I made sure to take out the lab and the room they were keeping me in, and that half of the building. Whether they noticed I was gone before it all blew or not…” Alec let that sentence die out. Leif nodded anyway, understanding.
“They might be looking for you, then. And there’s no government out here in the woods, not in my territory, so no authorities to come investigating. It’s at least thirty miles to the east to find decent people with badges.”
“Yeah.” Alec finished his tea, not relishing the prospect of another hike through the woods, even in daylight. And involving the mundane police with his business merely meant exposing himself to more people who might want to use him for their own ends. Fae, no matter the species, had an almost instinctual aversion to mundane policing, based on thousands of years of abuse, genocide, and forced assimilation.
“No one is looking for you here,” Leif declared with charming confidence, and Alec found himself believing it.
“What about you?” Alec asked. “Where’s your pack? I thought lone wolves were a human myth.”
Leif stared into the flames for a long moment, and Alec had a feeling he’d put his foot in it with that question. “I’m sorry. That was rude. I’m tired.”
“A normal thing to ask, under the circumstances.” Leifrubbed a hand over the scar on his chest. “Not much to tell, really. All boils down to an evil witch and a curse.”
Chapter 4
