Hidden Dragons (13 page)

Rick shot a look at Cass to make sure she was all right. “What did the toymaker say?”

“He said, ‘I’ll die before I tell you.’”

Cass let out a little noise. She silenced herself by pressing one fist in front of her mouth.

“I thought he was done for,” Mrs. Nemo confessed, her gnarled hands patting the chair arms.

“But he wasn’t,” Rick said, reading that in her expression.

“No, he wasn’t. He was playing possum like the Outsiders say. He sagged in the other’s grip, like he’d run out of steam, and the other faerie should just get it over with. Except he wasn’t out of steam. He was spinning a spell. He had a quilt on his bed with a vine pattern. He made it come alive and used it to trap his attacker!”

“My . . . Mr. le Beau performed an animation spell?” Cass’s tone was shocked.

“It was a beaut!” Mrs. Nemo confirmed. “The other faerie took half an hour to free himself. Naturally, Mr. le Beau was long gone. I suppose him escaping made the other angry. He tore that place to pieces like it was his personal enemy. A big faerie tantrum, it looked to me.”

“Did the other fae take anything with him when he left?”

“Not that I noticed. He streaked off in the same direction as Mr. le Beau. A few minutes after that the pigeons recovered, and I went to bed.”

“Mrs. Nemo,” Cass said, drawing the old lady’s gaze to her. “If you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you call the police while this was going on?”

“But . . . it was faerie business,” she said as if the answer were obvious. “Pretty girl that you are, I can see you have some of their blood in you. You must know how it is. Purebloods do what they please between them and them. If I’d called the police, they’d probably have got killed in the crossfire. No offense,” she added for Rick’s benefit.

Rick scratched his jaw with one finger, seeing her reasoning but unable to endorse it. “We’re not without defenses,” he said. “If something like this happens again, you really should call us.”

“Oh,” she said, slightly deflated. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

Rick didn’t have the heart to leave her feeling bad.

“Your report was very helpful,” he said, rising from his too-small chair. “The RPD is grateful you were on watch.”

~

Rick could tell Cass was in shock when they shut themselves in his car again. She didn’t even check the floor for more trash landmines. Rick slid his key into the ignition but didn’t turn it. He wanted to talk to her first.

After a few seconds of blank staring, Cass spoke. “My father
couldn’t
have gotten the upper hand in that attack. He’s a low level pureblood—a commoner by fae standards. Mrs. Nemo must have been confused about what she saw him do to that quilt. Vivifying inanimate matter is a high level ability. Maybe it was an illusion that he brought the vine to life.”

“An illusion wouldn’t have trapped the other fae while he got away.”

“But it can’t be true!” Cass knuckled her forehead as if it hurt.

“Look what you’re doing,” Rick pointed out gently. “That headache is saying you know it’s possible. You knew you saw contradictions when you poked around his house.”

“Damn it.” She dropped her hand to her lap and scowled. Rick wanted to reach out and squeeze her fingers, but couldn’t tell if the gesture would be welcome. She looked at Rick. Her emotions were so wrought up her blue eyes glowed slightly. “My father lied to me.”

“Misled you,” he corrected.

“But why? I wouldn’t have said anything.”

“My best guess is he’s trying to protect you.”

“From what?” she burst out. “What did he supposedly steal that the other faerie was so keen to recover?”

Rick was working on a theory he decided he’d rather not share right then. “Does your father have people he trusts in the Pocket, friends who might help him hide?”

“I’m not sure he has friends. Just customers. And me.” Her frown turned thoughtful, her thumbnail between her teeth again. “He
knew
he might have to run. That’s why he destroyed my picture of him. So I couldn’t use it in a tracking spell. The photograph would have captured a bit of his essence.”

She turned to Rick on the seat, one long leg tucked up under her. Rick had been with her all morning, but having her suddenly face him caused her half faerie gorgeousness to strike him with the force of a thunderbolt.

He fought not to let his breath go short. “When exactly was the picture damaged?”

She thought. “Early yesterday morning. The sound of it falling down woke me.”

That would have been after the female faerie was killed in the underground. And possibly after news of the sword fight first hit the media.

“You’re thinking the faerie who attacked my father is the same who killed the female in the subway.”

“The descriptions are very similar.”

“This one didn’t have a sword.”

“This one didn’t
use
a sword.”

“If my father knew he was in danger, why didn’t he run before this Roman soldier fae found him?”

Rick touched the side of her face lightly. Her skin was velvet under his fingertips. “I expect your father didn’t run before because he wanted to lead his attacker away from you.”

Cass’s lovely mouth fell open. Rick’s groin tightened, but he ignored it.

“But my father trapped him,” she objected.

“Your father must have known he’d get free, and that he’d be extra hot to chase him afterward—especially once he didn’t find what he wanted at his apartment. If the soldier fae is as powerful as he seems, he probably could follow your father’s energy.”

Cass considered this.

“There’s another thing,” he went on. “The other faerie called your father ‘keeper.’ Whatever your dad is hiding, I think it’s safe to conclude he’s no commoner.”

It was also safe to conclude his daughter wasn’t as ordinary as she’d assumed. Keeping this to himself for now, Rick started the car engine.

This seemed to startle Cass. “Where are we going?”

“My place. I need a change of clothes and to touch base with my alpha.”

“Rick—”

“You can trust him.” He reached for her hand the way he’d been longing to. “Pack is always stronger together.”

She let him squeeze her fingers for a few moments before drawing her hand away.

~

Her father was alive. That’s what Cass needed to focus on. Not that he was in danger. Not that he’d lied to her. Not that Rick’s comfort felt so good it frightened her.

She repeated this to herself all the way to his house.

He lived in River Heights, a nice family neighborhood in the city—a pack neighborhood, to a large extent—where everyone knew each other like on a TV show. Rick lifted his hand to three different people before they’d closed the distance between the curb and his row house’s stoop.

If he noticed their heads swiveling back to her, he didn’t let on.

“Chances are no one’s home,” he said as he unlocked the street door. “Well, Ari, Adam’s wife, might be, but she’ll be busy with Kelsey.”

Cass didn’t know who Kelsey was. Someone Rick was fond of, to go by his tone of voice. Maybe the child of Ari and Adam? She didn’t want to ask. She felt out of place here, nearly as much as she had Outside. The interior hallway of Rick’s building had an extra-male feel to it: a pack feel, she guessed, with the heightened testosterone that went along with wolves. Probably it was her imagination, but she almost thought she could pick out Rick’s pheromones.

That seemed as good a culprit as any to blame her rather awkward arousal on.

“I’m on the second floor,” Rick said, glancing back at her as he started up the stairs. Him being above her made him seem bigger. His shoulders filled up the stairway, his legs surely a mile long. She remembered how he’d held his gun by one thigh when they entered her father’s shop.

His entire body had been in serve and protect mode.

Between her legs, nerves that shouldn’t have reacted did.

You’re just trying to distract yourself from the morning’s shocks, thinking about sex instead of your worries
.

She
wasn’t
becoming obsessed with her old high school crush—even if it seemed like he’d crushed right back on her. Building too much on that would be silly. A crush was just a crush, the same as sex was just sex.

Really, really good sex
, her libido reminded her.

“Coming,” she said, when Rick lifted his brows at her.

Possibly she should have chosen a different word.

Rick stopped at the landing in front of his own door. “Huh,” he said, flattening the fingertips of one hand against the panel. “I think my brother’s in here.”

“Your brother.” She backed an unthinking step away. Her feelings were confused enough. She didn’t need to meet his family. “Maybe I should wait in the hall.”

Rick noted her anxiety. “It’s just Tony. He won’t bite. Not you, anyway. You’re not his type.”

His crooked half smile reminded her of Jin’s scuttlebutt that Tony Lupone was gay. Rick didn’t appear traumatized about it—just maybe a bit rueful.

“I, um, I’m not really good with strangers,” she said. “Sometimes they react . . . oddly to meeting me.”

“But Tony’s not a stranger.” Rick grinned like someone expecting to win an argument. “You know him from high school the same as you know me.” He took her arm gently, but she dug in her heels.

“Scaredy cat,” he teased.

“Wonder Woman,” she retorted.

Rick gaped, then realized she was referring to his magical arm cuff. He laughed, not the least annoyed by her sharp response. “The gloves are off then,” he said, seeming to look forward to this prospect.

Cass truly could not have said whether she was delighted or horrified.

Tony saved her from deciding—though not from her social anxieties—by opening the door himself. “I hear you out here,” he said to his brother. A second later, he did a double take at her. “Whoa. Snow White.”

Cass guessed this settled the question of whether he remembered her.

~

Rick wanted to smack his brother. He could tell Cass disliked her old nickname. “You want to step aside and let us in?”

“Uh, no?” Tony said, cutting a look at Cass. “We, um, made a bit of a mess.”

“
We?
”

“Evina got called in to her station for a three-alarm building fire. Her mom’s out of town, so I got drafted to emergency babysit.”

“And you’re not watching the cubs at your place because—? No, never mind. I know the answer. You didn’t feel like cleaning your apartment enough for them.”

“I didn’t have time!” Tony pleaded.

Rick sighed. “Just move aside. Cass won’t faint. She’s already seen a worse mess today.”

He thought she had, but his living room was running a close second. Toys and games were everywhere. His couch was upside down, what looked like his entire supply of clean sheets having turned it into a fort. Nate’s adopted kids, six-year-old tiger twins Abby and Rafiq, lay on the floor by his front windows, studiously drawing with magic magic markers on a big shared sheet of white paper. The sun hit their dark curly heads, bringing out a hint of gold in the matching mops. An expected sense of satisfaction radiated through him from his wolf.

The kids were safe. All was right with the pack.

“Hi, Uncle Rick,” Abby said without looking up.

Rafi was less blasé than his twin. He did look up, and his big blue eyes widened. “It
is
Snow White,” he breathed.

This Abby had to see for herself. She sat up and goggled.

“Uh, I’m not Snow White,” Cass said. “I’m just a half faerie.”

Abby took this in. “Are you Uncle Rick’s girlfriend?”

Rick felt his cheeks go ridiculously hot. “She’s my friend-friend. We knew each other in high school. She’s helping me with a case.”

He was talking too much, so he stopped.

“You should ask her to be your girlfriend,” Rafi said. “Clarence’s dad says part faeries are hot stuff.”

“O-
kay
,” Tony interrupted belatedly. He took each twin gently by the arm. “Why don’t I move you guys and your picture into Uncle Rick’s kitchen?”

“We can hear in there too,” Abby pointed out, weretiger ears being as sharp as wolves’.

“Pretend you can’t,” Tony advised briskly.

When Rick snuck a look at Cass, her lips were pressed together like she was holding in a laugh. He was glad that was her reaction, though it didn’t totally cure his nerves over having the topic raised. He knew this kind of household couldn’t be what she was used to.

“Sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay,” she demurred. “Kids say things.”

Her gaze met his, and his insides gave the most incredible swoop. Amusement lit her eyes, her fears for her father momentarily forgotten. The warmth he read in her beautiful face set his cock twitching.

Rather than risk another monster hard-on, he tore his gaze away. “I’m going to . . . change and catch Tony up on what’s happened.

~

“Holy smokes,” Tony whispered the moment they were alone in Rick’s bedroom. “Is she The One?”

“The one what?” Rick asked, refusing to assume his little brother meant the term romantically.

“The person the dying faerie said you had to protect.”

“Oh.” Rick rummaged in his dresser for a clean shirt. “Yes, it’s looking that way.”

“Wow.” Tony plunked his butt on the bed. “You and Snow White. Your high school fantasy.”

“Her name is Cass,” Rick corrected. “She’s an actual person, not a storybook character.”

Tony looked at him and smiled. “You still dig her.”

Rick stripped off his slightly stinky shirt. “People don’t say that anymore.”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t feel it. You might want to shower, by the way. I can tell you and ‘Cass’ got sweaty.”

Rick cursed, which stretched Tony’s grin wider. He pretended not to see. “Call Nate while I’m cleaning up. I need to know everything he found out about dragon keepers.”

~

“You owe me,” Nate said as he strolled into Rick’s place with his usual I’m-too-sexy-for-this-joint confidence.

“I owe you?” Rick replied.

“Okay, maybe you owe Carmine. He’s pissed at me for ditching his vampire case to work on yours.”