He turned and felt his eyes widen. Meg was covered in butterflies. They clung to her hair and sat on her shoulder. Beautiful, winged jewels that glistened in the sunlight. Meg was a lovely picture standing there with butterflies creating a halo around her head.
“She says she knows where they took the wolf,” Meg said.
“The butterfly?” Dante sighed. There was a reason he didn’t spend a lot of time in Faery forests. The animals knew better than to talk back on Dante’s plane.
“They’re pixies, Dante. Calm down and you’ll be able to hear them.”
Dante didn’t want to listen to insects, but if they knew where Kaja was, then he would do it. He moved close to Meg, and sure enough, there was a small cacophony of tiny, musical voices.
“The wolf tried to save us.”
“Pretty wolf.”
“Bad goblins. Mira hates goblins. They smell bad, and they tried to make Mira into soup. I don’t want to be soup.”
“I want my papa.”
Kids. They were just kids. Well, naturally his Kaja had tried to save a bunch of lesser Fae from getting put in a pot. “Where is Kaja?”
“In the woods.”
“They took her. They put lightning in her belly and took her.”
They went on and on, their wings fluttering as they all spoke at once.
“Please, younglings, one at a time,” Meg said, her voice pleading.
And then a larger butterfly swooped by Dante’s head. Larger than the younglings, she would still fit in the palm of his hand with room left over. But there was no doubt this one was in charge.
“Stop. The queen is right. We must remain calm.” Her voice was tinny, but Dante’s ears were damn good. Dante stared down at the pixies. He’d never seen one up close. Lesser Fae. It didn’t mean that they were truly less important, merely smaller. The brilliant blue pixie landed on the hand Meg held up. “Your Gracious Highness. I must ask for your help. There was a young woman who came to my aid. She saved my babes, but it was a trap. The goblins captured her.”
“Goblins?” Dante wanted to be sick. Goblins could do just about anything to her. And they would, unless they realized they could make a profit from her. “Where is the chieftain?”
The pixie shook her head. “It’s not a tribe. It’s only a handful of goblins. I thought there were only two of them, but once the nice woman had turned into a wolf, they leapt from the bushes and grabbed her. They had magic.”
No, they had technology. “The vampires caught up with us, and they brought friends. Why the hell would they bring in goblins?”
Meg shrugged. She’d paled, as though she couldn’t stand the thought of Kaja being caught, either. “It’s Torin. We’ve heard he’s made some deals with disloyal Unseelie. They don’t seem to realize that he intends to kill anyone who isn’t sidhe.”
The pixie’s wings fluttered. “Please help her, Your Majesty. She was so kind. I can’t stand the thought of her being harmed for helping me.”
“Where are they?” Dante asked. His voice came out in a harsh rasp, and he noticed his claws had popped out. He felt rage begin to build, shoving the panic and fear to the side. Another fucking vampire had taken his consort. If that mercenary had laid a hand on his consort, Dante was going to tear it off his body and shove it down his throat.
The pixie turned from Meg. She then flew back behind Meg’s head as though begging for protection.
“He’s not going to hurt you, little one. You’re not the one he’s angry with,” Meg said. “Dante, you have to be careful. You’re obviously very upset. Damn, you look scary.”
Meg had never seen him in this state. She’d seen his fangs and claws, but even when they had killed the hag, he’d remained in control. Now, the thought of someone touching hi
s Kaja was making his eyes bleed out. It was something that opened his senses and prepared him to fight.
And he would fight. He would kill, because no one was touching his consort. “Where is Kaja?”
Meg held her hand out, and the big blue pixie landed gracefully. “Take us there. The wolf is the vampire’s mate. He will be grateful to you, and so will I.”
“Meg, you can’t come with me.” He’d lost Kaja. He wasn’t about to lose Meg, too.
Her face hardened, and Dante could believe she was a queen. “If you leave me here, I’ll just follow and probably cause trouble. Kaja is my friend. She saved me too, you know.”