Kiril ran a hand through his hair and gathered the length at the back of his neck. He wrapped a piece of leather around it to secure it and grabbed his jacket. He slid his arms in the coat and shrugged it on. After adjusting it with a shift of his shoulders, Kiril walked downstairs to the entryway and grabbed his keys.
With a firm tug, the door slammed shut behind him. He got behind the wheel of the Mercedes and put the roof down. A moment later and the car roared to life as he drove down the drive and through the iron gate that closed automatically behind him.
A calm settled over him that morning once he’d decided on his course of action. First things first. He needed to get word to Phelan to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Since he had no idea where Phelan was, that wasn’t going to be easy. Then again, when was anything?
He reached Cork and chose to park along the street away from an Doras. Eventually that night he would end up at the pub. Until then, he would stay away. Kiril exited the car and stood on the sidewalk looking at the businesses around him. Humans had no idea they walked, lived, and worked alongside the pure evil of Dark Fae. There were parts of Cork that the Dark tended to prefer, but they infested every inch of the city in some way.
It was going to take most of the day to get the address he wanted, but Kiril didn’t mind. He liked stirring the pot, especially when it involved Farrell.
He went into the first business he came to and left almost immediately when he didn’t see any Dark working. Business after business, building after building, Kiril walked the streets making a mental note of where the Dark congregated and where there were none.
By noon he had only covered half the city. He was looking in the window of a jewelry store when he spotted the two Dark Fae males following him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. Phelan was sitting on a bench talking to an elderly lady. His gaze lit on Kiril for just a moment, but that’s all Kiril needed to know that Phelan was also following him.
Kiril turned and crossed the street into a pub for lunch. He chose a table in the back that gave him a clear view of the door. After placing his order, Kiril saw Phelan walk into the pub alone. Phelan smiled and leaned on the bar to talk to a pretty bartender while other customers came in and began to fill up the tables. Phelan’s conversation was brief however. He straightened and ambled over to the only table available—the one behind Kiril.
Kiril spun the cocktail napkin on the table as he listened to Phelan place his order. The many conversations made the atmosphere loud and difficult to hear. Unless you were a Dragon King or a Warrior.
“What are you up to?” Phelan whispered as he leaned back in his chair, nearly touching Kiril’s.
Kiril didn’t see a single Dark in the pub, but that didn’t mean there weren’t humans willing to spy for them. He wasn’t sure what made him think it was a possibility. Perhaps it was the way a man in his late twenties furtively looked at Kiril.
“I’m searching for someone,” Kiril said.
Phelan snorted. “You’re stirring shit.”
Kiril bit back a smile. “That, too.”
“Two Dark are trailing you.”
“Spotted them already. By the way, you need to be ready to leave Ireland.”
Phelan set all four legs of his chair back on the floor. “Why? Have you learned something?”
“That’s what today is about. It willna be long before they realize who you are.”
“It’s a chance we take.”
Kiril smiled to the waitress as she brought his sandwich. He waited until she walked away before he said, “I refuse to face Aisley because you were an idiot.”
“You think I want to be the one to tell Con you were captured?”
Kiril bit into his sandwich and swallowed. The human male’s gaze was on him again. Kiril returned the stare until the human quickly looked away. “Under no circumstances let yourself be discovered by the Dark.”
Phelan’s food arrived. He chatted with the waitress, making her blush. She looked back at him when she walked away. When she was occupied with another customer, Phelan said, “Ditto. Except you can no’ get taken.”
“That’s no’ my plan.” But it might very well come to that. How else was Kiril going to learn what he needed? “If I am, contact Rhys first.”
“Fuck,” Phelan murmured.
There was nothing else to say. Kiril ate his meal, not tasting anything as his mind was on something else entirely—Shara. Even while he slept in dragon form, he had thought of her. She hadn’t come to him last night. There were numerous reasons as to what could have kept her away, but he continued to think of the worst ones.
Assuming she wasn’t lying to him and she didn’t want to have him captured by the Dark.
Then again, she could be the ultimate seductress by using timidity mixed with her sweet allure. It could all be an act to pull him completely under her spell. And damn her, it was working.
“Watch yourself,” Phelan whispered as he tossed down some money and walked out of the pub.