Page 56 of Filthy Fae

There it was—my third mark. My wolf sang with joy as she accepted what she’d already known. I had three True Mates.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Scarlet

In the light of morning, I was intensely grateful that my mother had gone with the submissives to the safehouse. If I revealed Lance’s true mate mark, her beautiful face would have lit up, and the first thing she would have crowed was that she told me so. Then she would have happily discussed Lance and my consummation with anyone who’d listen to her.

“Good morning, sunshine. Just in time for breakfast,” Aaron said as I climbed onto the counter beside him. “You need to eat to regain your strength.” Scooting between my legs, he gave me a wicked grin, leaned in and whispered, “Cu-min.”

“What?” I asked.

“It’s a spice.” With that, he stepped away and headed for the frying pan.

Spice. Right. The password thing.

Oh, fuck.

Lance and I had forgotten to use the password. Obviously, we’d been lucky that time, as I wouldn’t have gained a true mate mark with an imposter.

And you’d be dead, dumbass.

Oh yeah. And that. I’d have to be a lot more careful from now on.

Aaron pushed a heaping plate of bacon next to me on the counter while cracking eggs into the pan.

Jane stepped into the kitchen, her attention fixed on her phone screen as usual. She didn’t even look up as I held out a strip of bacon. She just took it and leaned against the counter. After a second, she said, “First, my tech guy said that he’s closing in on Necro-Nancy. The woman has one hell of a security system, but he thinks he can hack into her phone and get us an address.”

“Second?” I asked through a mouthful of crispy bacon.

“Second, I’ve been looking up the witches and wizards at the party, starting with the one who worked with Zane. Marisa Tyler posted on her social media about every eight minutes. How she kept her job as a nurse, I have no idea. I’m wading through thousands of memes, but she posted something in one of her groups,” Jane said, showing me her phone screen.

I couldn’t help but notice that the page said, Carrie’s bridesmaids, private group, at the top. Marisa’s post was below.

Hey ladies, Cross your fingers. Big news coming soon. Maybe dreams can come true. Who knew? Margaritas on me—either celebrating or drinking the pain away lol. Love you!

“She wrote that the morning of the party,” Jane said.

I reached toward the screen. “Can I read the comments?”

Jane and I read them, but the comments didn’t give us anything useful. The girls just posted happy screaming gifs and said things like, “If anyone deserves happiness, it’s you!” A few asked Marisa what was happening, but she responded that it was a secret for now.

By the time I finished reading, tears had pooled in my eyes. It was one thing to learn that twenty-six people died and something else entirely to see a glimpse of the joy and love that one of those people gave out in life.

“Why are you crying?” Jane’s brow furrowed. “This mage clearly had some ulterior motive in attending the party, one that would make her dreams come true.”

I scrubbed my tears away, but more followed. “Maybe Marisa was somehow involved. But she also woke up that morning excited, thinking that her dreams might come true. Now they never will.” Reaching forward, I touched her name to link to her profile page, but the moment I saw her feed, I wished I hadn’t. There were hundreds of social media messages from her friends, family, and well-wishers. Photos of Marisa smiling and laughing crowded her feed. “I’m amazed the news isn’t all over us.”

“They are. We’ve been able to suppress the pack’s involvement thus far, but that might end at any minute.”

Still, we’d been able to avoid the press this long. I had all new respect for the gifted lawyer. The moment the newspapers got involved, so did the NALC. The thought made my heart sink because I realized that perhaps having the NALC take over wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Yes, they’d want me to step down as alpha.

Yes, it would destroy any chance at a peaceful resolution.

But my wolves would have a better chance of survival if the NALC sent in their teams of trained soldiers with weapons that could combat the fae.

I only let the thought percolate in my mind for a couple minutes before I tossed it in the trash, where it belonged. Going to war with the fae over a lie was wrong, any way you looked at it. The only way to end this was to find the truth.