DATHAL
“So,this is where you’ve been staying for the last few years?” I didn’t revert to our own language, even though we were alone. The high court, paranoid about others learning it, forbade its use outside the Fae Realm. It seemed a little like overkill to me, but I followed the rules regardless.
“It is,” Axel replied over his shoulder.
I hummed in answer. Axel’s house wasn’t what I’d imagined him living in. The cosy cottage was a far cry from the home he’d left behind in the Fae Realm.
He stopped in the middle of his kitchen and turned to face me, eyebrow raised. “Something wrong with it?” His expression gave nothing away, but I’d known him for a long time. Long enough to notice the slight tightening of his jaw and the flash of irritation in his violet eyes.
“No,” I said softly, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s lovely. Just unexpected.”
Axel stared at me for a moment longer before closing his eyes. “Sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today.”
I had a fair idea that whatever was bothering my normally laid-back cousin had something to do with one of the hot-as-fuck shifters I’d just met, but now wasn’t the time for going down that road. I was here for the foreseeable future until we discovered who was smuggling Blue Alhuirn out of our realm, so Axel’s interrogation could wait.
Instead, I offered him a shrug and a smile. “It’s been an intense few weeks. I can’t imagine having Lady Sarhin here so much has been fun, eh?” I said, poking him in the side and finally getting a laugh out of him.
“No comment.”
I grinned, not expecting him to agree with me. We both knew better than to bad mouth members of the high court. Whether they were within earshot or not. But it had the desired effect of snapping him out of the mood he’d been in.
Before he could slip back into it, I said, “Why don’t you show me the rest of your charming home.” I gestured to the bags at my feet. “Particularly my room. Because as comfy as your sofa looked, I don’t fancy sleeping on that for the next few weeks.”
Axel rolled his eyes, but his smile remained, and he dutifully showed me around the rest of his home.
“So…”Axel set a glass of iced water in front of me and took the stool next to mine. “What exactly has the high court asked you to do?” He frowned. “Assuming you can tell me, of course.”
I took a sip of water before shifting to face him. “It’s not a secret, and you’re involved in this anyway.” Axel had initially been a person of interest when one of the local shifters had been poisoned with Blue Alhuirn—a powerful hallucinogenic only found in the Fae Realm. Fortunately, he’d been through the gateway at the time the crime was committed, so his alibi was rock solid.
He’d also been kidnapped by Tombs, one of the hunters responsible, and injured as a result, and I didn’t miss his shudder at the reminder. “Are you fully recovered?” His fae blood would’ve accelerated his healing, so physically he’d be fine, but mentally? I couldn’t imagine that was as easy to get over.
Not with his past.
Axel glanced down at his own glass, swirling the ice until it clinked against the sides. “I don’t remember much about it to be honest. One moment I was walking with Rys. The next…” He waved at his side. “Woke up bleeding all over the floor with two shifted wolves trying to kill each other in front of me.” He huffed out a laugh edged with bitterness. “Well, Talis was trying to rip Max’s throat out because Tombs fucking poisoned him.”
I stared at him wide eyed, because Axel rarely lost his temper, and I could feel the anger rolling off him. “Talis?” I asked, thinking back to the tall blond-haired, green-eyed shifter, and wondered if he was the one who’d got Axel all riled up earlier.
Axel’s gaze shot to mine, eyes fierce. “Don’t.”
I held my hands up, letting him know he didn’t need to say anything more. I wouldn’t push. Whatever was going on there was Axel’s business. I was a guest in his home and, as such, would respect all his boundaries, no matter the curiosity now burning inside me.
But Axel was family. And I was theonlyfamily he had this side of the gateway. “Just know that I’m here if you change your mind, and it goes no further than this room.” Our parents were close, and both sets were as loving and supportive as we could ask for.
As far as I was aware, Axel’s time here had always had an expiration date. Knowing he was interested in a shifter from one of the local packs wouldn’t be well received.
“Thank you,” Axel said quietly, then stood and took his glass over to the sink. He stood facing the kitchen window into the fading light. “But there’s nothing to talk about. I made a mistake with Talis, and it’s slightly awkward at the moment, but it’ll pass eventually.”
I was an expert at reading body language, and nothing about Axel’s matched his words, but I let it go. “Okay.”
Now obviously wasn’t the time to rehash what had gone down in Gabriel Mason’s cottage, so I changed tack. “Tell me a little about Max and Gabriel, since I’ll be working with them on this.”
Axel shot me a relieved smile and spent the next half an hour giving me basic background information on Max Knowles, Gabriel Mason, and their relationship to Rys and his pack.
“I think that’s all you need to know for now,” Axel said, sitting back in his seat and crossing his arms. “Anything else would feel wrong. You need to meet them and form your own opinions, but they’re good people.”
“Fair enough.” Having a little history lesson on the non-humans in the area was helpful. I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes or inadvertently offend them. The fae weren’t known for their tact and diplomacy when dealing with others, and I’d need to work closely with the paranormal police on this case. Lady Sarhin had sent me here, but purposefully left me in the dark on the case because she wanted me to look at everything with a fresh perspective. The high court had agreed, and so I’d come into this case with only the barest of details.
Blake Tehlin, the fae who’d been spelled to move the Blue Alhuirn through the gateway, was recovering back in the Fae Realm, but Lady Sarhin had requested I hold off speaking to him until I’d met with the police. I wasn’t used to being so out of the loop. And I didn’t much care for it either. But it wasn’t my place to question the decisions of the high court. Not in public, anyway.
