He whirls on me. “As in your dad? The one that murdered your mom?”
“Turns out things may be a bit more complicated than that.”
“And let’s not forget the supernaturals out hunting any humans who bear any resemblance to Deissy, Felix, or Rachel.”
He gapes at Rainey. “They’re killing them out in the open?”
“They are.”
“Fucking-a, do they not care about being exposed?”
Rainey shakes her head. “And that’s worrisome. If they aren’t bothering to follow any portion of The Accords now, it’s going to be a hell of a lot more difficult to come up with supernaturals to help our cause. After all, they’re going to have free reign over the humans. They don’t stand a chance.”
“We need to put them down sooner rather than later.” Ridley runs a hand over his face. “I don’t suppose you all have any brilliant plans?”
“Unfortunately, not yet. I want to get a headcount before we decide what to do. We still don’t even have a one hundred percent confirmation that they didn’t scatter.”
“Though, it’s more likely they haven’t,” Elijah adds.
“There is that.”
“There’s more.” I sigh as Ridley turns in my direction. “We have a dark fae in Billings.”
Every single fae in the room stands straighter, their eyes widening as they look straight at me. It’s uncomfortable, to say the least, having so many golden eyes turned in my direction.
“I’m sorry,” Ridley says, quietly, “can you repeat that?”
“We have a dark fae in Billings. She took on the form of Bronywyn’s mom to fuck with her, then used some kind of hate magic to push Bronywyn and me into a fight,” Rainey answers.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me. I leave you assholes alone for five minutes.”
“Actually, you were gone for over a week.”
“At least, it wasn’t longer here. The entire city might have burned to the ground. Is that all?”
“She helped us take out a succubus hive queen.”
“Succubus?”
At Ridley’s question, Elijah steps forward and clasps a hand on his shoulder. “Brother, we now have a teenage runaway who is a succubus and wanted our help destroying her mother. Who just so happened to be the hive queen the dark fae helped us destroy.”
Ridley stares at Elijah, mouth hanging slack as he shakes his head slowly. “Of fucking course, you do. I swear you lot make the weirdest friends.”
“What does that make you, then?” Rainey questions.
“What the bloody hell is going on down here?” Sleepy-eyed and wearing low-slung grey sweatpants and no shirt, Fearghas wanders into the living room.
The two fae women gasp, their cheeks flushing as they look him up and down as if he’s the finest eye candy on the planet.
Not that I blame them. I may only have eyes for Tarnley, but Fearghas is certainly not bad on the eyes.
He blinks rapidly as he takes in the scene before him, moments before a bright smile spreads over his face. “Ridley! Good to see you back in one piece.” Fearghas closes the distance between them, reaches out, and smacks him lightly on the back. “And you brought company. Good.”
“Yes, we have, Sarah,” he starts, gesturing to one of the women standing closest to him. She smiles softly and bows her head, her long, golden braid swinging to the side, the end nearly brushing the floor. “This is Isaac,” he continues, and the man bearing a large scar drops his chin in a tight nod.
The second woman holds out her hand to Fearghas. “I am Gloria.” Her tone is softer than the others, her expression more youthful. I get the impression that this is not a woman who has seen much battle, even though she is dressed for the part.
“Nice to meet you,” he replies kindly, before withdrawing his hand.