‘What?’ I said.
He grinned and wagged his hips back and forth, making the early morning sunlight reflect off the iridescent fabric of his booty shorts. ‘You got nookie last night.’
I tried not to smile but failed miserably.
He pointed at me. ‘And this morning!’
I wasn’t about to deny facts, especially not to Cass, who probably appreciated sex more than any other creature alive. I let my grin fly.
‘You’re fucking in love.’ His tone was incredulous. ‘You’re totally batshit crazy for him.’
‘Hey,’ I snapped defensively. ‘You’re gaga over Tianna too.’
‘Yeah, well, have you seen my T?’ His eyes grew nostalgic as he squeezed the air in front of him. ‘Hummana, hummana.’
‘Cass, please tell me you’re not picturing groping Tianna right now.’
‘I’m not,’ he answered too quickly.
Ew, he totally was.
‘I agreed to move in with Brock.’ That would definitely distract him.
But where I assumed he’d make fun of me for being whipped or suggest it was too fast, too soon, he simply rubbed at his fuzzy hot pink goatee instead. ‘I’ve been thinking about asking T to move in with me, you know, since I have my own place now and all.’
Our bounty for catching Calista had come in, and that would hold us both over for a while.
My jaw dropped open. ‘But you’re an equal opportunity lover of the fae, of all the fae. You told me yourself a hundred times you could never settle on just one. You’re a man with a taste for many flavors. You’re...’ I faded off at the look on his face. ‘You’re in love. You’re honest to goodness in love.’
He shrugged furry pink shoulders, making his dark blue wings creep next to his ears. ‘Strange times, Ev. What can I say?’
Well, there was no fucking denying the times were strange. Then I had a thought that panicked me, surprising me at the intensity of my reaction. ‘We’ll still be BFFs, right?’
Cass strolled right up to me and wrapped my thighs in a tight hug. I crouched down so we could properly embrace and he leaned his head against my shoulder. ‘Girl, we’ll always be besties. There isn’t a thing on Earth that can come between us.’
Relief flooded through me. It had been Cass and me against the world for so long … now we were growing up, falling in love, and having babies and shit.
I sniffled.
‘You and me are forever. We always have been.’ He squeezed me with his small arms. ‘But if you ever tell anyone we had this sappy moment, I’ll deny it till my dying day. It’d mess with my badass persona, you know? I have a reputation to protect. Pulling off hot pants like these is harder than it looks.’
Man, I loved the fuck out of this demon imp. ‘Your secret is safe with me.’
“Break up the love-fest,” Tianna called ahead. “We’ve got some selkie ass to kick.”
“We’re hoping not to even have to interact with the selkies, remember?” Haru said, he and his brother trailing behind the Amazonian fae-witch.
“In and out without disturbing a thing,” Reo added.
Tianna flicked her copper hair behind her shoulder. “You boys just don’t want me to have any fun.”
A shotgun cocked while Molly swept out onto the porch of Gran’s cabin. She appeared to be inspecting the rifle.
Tianna pointed at Molly. “You don’t want her to have any fun either.”
Realizing Tianna was referring to her, Molly looked up, smiling from behind a sheet of bright violet hair.
“Shit. This isn’t going to go down quietly, is it?” Brock said against my ear, sidling next to me and settling possessive hands around my hips.
I shook my head. “Not a chance.”
Selkies were territorial bitches, and if they didn’t let me in to their little healing water cave, there’d be hell to pay.
We loaded up into two cars, Tianna and Brock’s, and peeled out of there, a convoy of chaos and redemption.
We drove through Washington all morning and made it to Bellingham around noon. We were so far up the state that we were near the Vancouver, Canada border. Once in Bellingham, Haru instructed us to rent a private boat and we made our way over to Lummi Island.
“How do you know about this place?” Molly shouted above the sound of the wind gliding across our motorboat as Brock drove to the island.
Molly was out of her mind excited that she might be about to see a real life selkie. They were super reclusive and kept to themselves most of the time.
“We have a similar cove in Japan,” Haru said. “It’s our job as kitsune protectors to know all the places where we could heal the kitsune’s sword.”
I raised one eyebrow. “So swords have broken before?”
Reo nodded this time, his dark hair pulled up into a sexy man bun. “A kitsune’s power isn’t dependent on their katana, but they aren’t as powerful without the use of it. The first thing the Akuma does when they want to take out a kitsune is break their blade, to limit the kitsune’s range of magic.”
Fear gnawed at my gut. Was I weakened now that my katana was broken? Is that what he was essentially saying? I gulped. My magic, kitsune or otherwise, didn’t feel any different, but I hadn’t exactly tried to use it.
“And this kitsune killing faction still doesn’t know I exist, right?”
Haru shrugged. “We hope not. It’s our goal to keep your existence a secret at least until you can permanently close the gate.”
The wind picked up and a frigid blast whipped across the boat, making me wish I’d thought to dress in something warmer than my usual crop tank-top. I’d left my leather jacket at the cabin.
Brock slowed as the island came into view. Thick green trees spanned the length of the oasis. I’d spent the last several years living in the concrete jungle of LA. This was so raw and untouched in comparison. “It’s beautiful,” I breathed.
Haru nodded. “There’s an artists’ colony here. They produce quite striking paintings.”
Reo dipped over Brock’s shoulder to indicate he steer the boat over to a small wooden dock near a rocky beach. There were trees for miles in both directions, and except for far off in the distance, it didn’t look like this part of the island was inhabited.
Nerves swam in my gut. Selkies were a bit of a wild card. We were taught about them at the Bounty Hunter Academy, but it was a lot of guess work and word of mouth stories. They kept to themselves, abhorred strangers, and were prone to reacting with violence if anybody approached their habitats. I’d only ever heard of one instance in which one had been brought in and booked for a crime.
Haru consulted a map on his phone. “It’s about a five to ten minute walk from here.”
Good, because I had an uneasy feeling about this. The sooner we got it done, the better.
Cass flew out of the boat as it brushed against the dock, Tianna tossed him the rope and my bestie worked to moor us. I grabbed the leather bag that held the pieces of my katana and climbed out, sensing Brock’s concerned gaze on my back. If my baby daddy was going to worry about me when all I was doing was climbing out of a damn boat, it was going to be a very long day.
Once we’d all disembarked, Haru and Reo led our small party along the edge of a pebbled beach to a thick copse of trees beyond.
Brock, positioned like a sentinel, didn’t leave my side. “I should have brought Sabine,” he muttered.
“I’ll be fine.” I hoped I wasn’t lying. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with some hormonally charged selkies. Besides, we didn’t want to charge in with a big crew and alert them to our presence. Brock was the only wolf present, then my odd bunch. It was going to have to do.
Once we left the beach, we traipsed across ancient tree roots and rocks. Critters chirped and scattered off to the sides of the path while we forged through the virgin wilderness.
After we’d been walking for a few minutes, a hissing noise filtered through the sounds of nature, and Haru put up his fist, military speak for “stop or we might walk into a trap.” Every one of us halted immediately, quietly withdrawing our weapons.
The hissing grew louder. Bushes rustled to our left and a woman walked out of the trees. She was stark naked but for a seal skin draped around her shoulders, leaving the entire front of her body naked and exposed.
Selkie.
“You’re trespassing. Fuck off,” she snarled, showcasing pointy teeth behind thin lips.
My eyes flicked over to Molly, who was staring, open-mouthed. Her shotgun hung uselessly at her side, but just because this woman was naked and unarmed didn’t mean she was harmless. Selkies would kill you and not skip a beat.
My lover stepped forward. “I’m Brock, alpha of the wild hunter pack.”
The selkie’s eyes washed over his body like she was preparing to seduce him. “Werewolf,” she purred, and I had to restrain myself from launching forward and wringing her fucking neck for talking to my man in a sex voice.
Brock cleared his throat. “Yes, I am. We’re here to access your healing pool, then we’ll be on our way.”
Haru was creeping slowly, working to mute his footfalls across the forest floor, trying to get behind the selkie while her attention was diverted. Did he think she was going to attack? She was undressing my man with her eyes, not broadcasting violence.
But when Haru crunched fallen leaves with his next step, she spun half around, keeping him and us in her sights at the same time. “Stop, warrior,” she hissed.
Haru froze, not bothering to pretend he hadn’t been trying to sneak up on her. He gripped his unsheathed katana in a tight hand. The selkie’s eyes were sharp—gleaming with a wild edge, but astute. I doubted she missed much, which made her all the more dangerous.
The selkie eyed Molly and Tianna, before boring her eyes into me. “Which one of you is the kitsune?”
What the fuck?
Reo stepped in front of me, his katana pointed at the creature. Brock growled, and Cass unzipped his black leather Gucci fanny pack, loaded with Gran’s magic potions.
The selkie tipped her head back and laughed, a horrifying sound that set me on edge. I got a great view of her sharp teeth and shivered. They were more animal than human.
“Do you know nothing of my kind, you idiots?” She surveyed us all, one by one, scanning us with a predatory gleam to her wild eyes.
Tianna put things together first. “You can read minds?”
The selkie looked at her approvingly. “To a certain degree, yes. It’s a greater challenge in a group such as yours, made up of so many magical creatures.” She pointed a look at Cass, who tilted his chin up at her and tightened his grip on his gun.
“You have a kitsune in your midst,” she said, making the slithery words somehow seem like a threat.
Brock let loose a full wolf growl and inched closer to the selkie, edging his body so as to be more fully between me and the creature.