“We’re here.”
Finally. Mary Ann’s knees gave out and she collapsed, sucking in as many breaths as she could. Which wasn’t many. Dizzy, so dizzy. Air too thick, still too cold. Only one thought made any sense at the moment: teleporting sucked.
“The ranch is just ahead. When you’re able, stand and walk. Yes? I am going inside now.”
Victoria didn’t wait for her reply—not that she was in any shape to deliver one—but bolted away, a blur of motion. Fight. Fight this! If she didn’t, and Riley was inside, he would come after her, wanting to help her. He would see her like this. He would view her as weaker than he already did.
A minute passed. Maybe an hour. But finally, Mary Ann clawed her way from the darkness, her head clearing enough that she was able to stand, the air thinning enough that she was able to breathe. Her knees knocked together, but she didn’t let that stop her from tripping forward. She had yet to warm, so every step was like pushing her legs through sludge.
Finally, she reached the ranch’s bunkhouse, where Aden stayed, a log cabin-type structure next to a bright red barn. She found his window, saw that the glass was pushed up, out of the way. Inside she climbed, just kind of throwing her body through. She plopped unceremoniously to the floor.
“Mary Ann!”
Riley’s deep voice penetrated the lingering fog in her mind.
Relief and dread, that’s what she experienced. If he said anything about her presence or current condition, she’d…what? Nothing, probably. Coward.
Not for much longer.
“I was just coming for you, baby. Are you okay?” His strong arms wound around her and gently tugged her to her feet.
“I’m fine. You can let go.” Don’t let go. “Where’s Aden? How’s Aden?” Her lashes lifted, and her gaze met Riley’s. As always, her heart constricted. He was just so beautiful. So much a warrior. But right now, despite that, he looked like death walking. He was shirtless and covered in dried blood. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Come. See for yourself.”
FIVE
MARY ANN EXPECTED TRAGEDY. Death, even. She was braced for the emotional impact, whatever chose to flood her—grief, remorse, sorrow. A combination of all three. What she saw surprised her, and it was happiness and relief that flooded her.
Aden’s room was neat. Clean. The papers on the desk were tidy, and the air was wonderfully sweet, smelling of roses and honeysuckle. Aden lay on the bed, buried under the covers. He was a little paler than normal, with dark circles under his closed eyes, his black hair—with its blond roots—in tangles and matted to his scalp. His body was shaking, but otherwise appeared healthy and whole. She flattened a hand over her thumping heart and grinned.
And yet, Victoria sat beside him, patting his hand, tears streaming down her face. Why the tears? He was alive.
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Mary Ann said, burrowing deeper into Riley’s side.
“He reeks of Fae.” Victoria shimmied under the covers and curled herself around Aden. “My poor baby,” she cooed. “You’re so cold. Like ice. Let me warm you.”
Aden, asleep or not, must have recognized his girlfriend, because he turned toward her, slid his arms around her waist and held on tight. Gradually, his shivering ceased.
“What’s wrong with smelling like the Fae?” Mary Ann asked. All she smelled was the roses and honeysuckle. And it was good. She inhaled deeply, savoring, wanting a bottle of the scent to take home and bathe in.
In fact, when she closed her eyes, she could imagine herself twirling in a meadow, thickets of roses stretching toward her, a rainbow of soft, fragrant petals. Warm air. Birds singing. Hazy blue sky, fluffy white clouds. The images calmed her, and her stomach settled completely for the first time that day.
“The stink lingers, and our people will never follow him like this. They will rebel. They will demand a new leader. But to gain one, they will have to kill him.” Tears fell from Victoria’s eyes again. “And he’s supposed to appear before them. Tonight!”
The last was a screech.
“That’s not the worst of it,” Riley said gravely. “I haven’t told you how he came to be in this condition.”
Mary Ann’s eyelids cracked open, the field and colors fading away. So. Weird. For a second, she would have sworn she’d truly been in that meadow.
Riley said something in a language Mary Ann didn’t know, and Victoria paled. “Mr. Thomas to the humans,” he finished in English.
“Who?” Mary Ann asked. “And what did you say? Before?”
“I spoke the name of the Fae prince who dragged Aden into Fairy Tale,” Riley said. “The human tongue cannot pronounce fairy names, and so they use shortened versions while here. Anyway, he once swore a blood oath to destroy every member of Victoria’s family for their part in his brother’s death.”
“Aden is now part of the royal family,” Victoria gasped out.
“As you can see, he’s fine, for the most part, but…there was a fight,” Riley continued. “I was losing. Aden possessed his body, allowing me to kill the—to win.”
Wait. Fairy…tale? “Fairy Tale is…”
“A dimension that coexists next to ours, as well as looking into ours. Meaning, while they’re there, they can see us, yet we can’t see them. Which is why they have all developed God complexes, and consider themselves masters and protectors of this world.”
Another dimension? Seriously?
Why are you surprised? Mary Ann was coming to learn that every creature she’d once thought belonged solely to, well, fairy tales, actually existed. They coexisted secretly. Or not so secretly now.
Victoria looked up at Riley, expression as grave as his tone had been. “Where is the prince now?”
“Still in Fairy Tale. Aden can raise the dead, and I didn’t want a fairy prince zombie on the loose, so I whisked Aden here as fast as I could. There’s a lot of cleanup needed, though, and I have to do it before another fairy discovers the remains—” His gaze skittered to Mary Ann. “I mean, uh, never mind. I just need to take off for a few minutes.”
She knew he feared her reaction to the violence of his nature, to the things he’d done—and would one day do. She also knew war would erupt if “the remains” were found. More than it already had.
So, there was no contest. Whatever he needed to do to survive, she wanted him to do. She released him. “Go on, then. We’ll take care of Aden while you’re gone.”
He’d gone rigid, waiting for her response, and now relaxed. “Thank you.”
After a swift, hard kiss, a whispered, “Be careful,” Riley was striding into the closet, soon gone from view. There was a murmur of falling clothing, then…nothing. Frowning, Mary Ann walked over and peeked inside. He was gone. Vanished. Reeling, she made her way to the only chair in the room and plopped down. Her feet sighed in pleasure, even as her mind continued to whirl.
Was Riley now in Fairy Tale? Was there a doorway in the closet? If so…talk about weird!
“He’ll be okay, right?” she asked Victoria.
The vampire was focused completely on Aden, brushing her fingertips over his face and kissing the line of his jaw. The opal ring she always wore glinted in the light, as if rainbow shards were trapped inside. “Yes. He’ll have to rip open a doorway, which is why he moved out of sight, and then he’ll—”
The bedroom door suddenly swung open. A boy stepped inside, one Mary Ann had never met. He stopped when he spotted Victoria in bed with Aden and Mary Ann sitting at the desk. His eyes narrowed, his mind clearly assessing the situation. He possessed the same dangerous edge as Riley, as if he’d done things—difficult, dangerous things.
“First, how come Aden gets all the hot chicks?” he said, his voice rough. “And second, who are you and what the hell are you doing here?”
Uh-oh. Caught. Aden was supposed to be at school. If Dan, his warden, found out he was ditching, he could be kicked off the ranch. Second, no girls were allowed here. If Dan found out about her, Aden would be kicked off the ranch.
So, either way, he was screwed.
Victoria sat up, her gaze never leaving the newcomer. “You will leave this empty room and shut the door behind you. You saw no one.” Power wafted from her voice, so much power Mary Ann had to rub her arms to remind herself that she was not on the receiving end of that command. “You will not return today.”
“Empty. Leave. Will not return.” The boy nodded, his eyes glazed. He turned and shut the door behind him.
With barely a pause, Victoria refocused on Aden, as did Mary Ann. He appeared more relaxed, his color higher, the bruises fading.
“He’s healing,” she said, her relief palpable.
“Yes,” the vampire replied without looking at her. Despite the progress, the worry must not have left her.
She needed a distraction. “I’m a power neutralizer,” Mary Ann said. “So how can you use your Voice Voo—uh, command while I’m here?”
“You do not stop Riley from shifting, do you?”
“No.”
“Because the ability is natural, part of who he is. The same is true with me. Most of my powers are natural, what I was born to do. Like teleporting. You didn’t stop me from doing that, either.”
Too bad about the teleporting. And most of her powers? As in many. How many weird things could she do? And also, what wasn’t natural? Not that Mary Ann would ask. She and Victoria were friendly, for the most part, but the boys were the glue that held them together. Not affection. Not yet. Perhaps that would come in time.
“What a terrible week this has turned out to be,” Victoria muttered. “My father killed, a witch death curse unleashed and Aden injured by the Fae.”
The witches. Ugh. How could she have forgotten, even for a second? “Have you ever been summoned to a witches meeting before?”
“No. Usually, the witches and the vampires avoid each other. They are…well, their blood is our greatest addiction.” Her eyes closed, and she licked her lips, as if she were imagining drinking from one. “The taste is…I can’t even describe it. There’s nothing like it, and one sip can enslave us.”