Shadowfever

The door burst open, and Lor and two others stalked in. Tension rolled off them, so thick it seemed to suck the oxygen right out of the room.

 

Fade followed behind them, carrying a pile of sheets and a roll of duct tape.

 

“You’re never going to believe what just walked into the club,” Lor told Ryodan. “Tell me to change. Say the word.”

 

My eyes narrowed. Did Lor need Ryodan’s permission? Or was it a courtesy in his club?

 

“The Sinsar Dubh, right?” Ryodan gave Barrons a pointed look. “Because it skimmed Mac’s mind and now it knows where to find us.”

 

“You are so frigging paranoid, Ryodan. Why would it even want to find you?” I said.

 

“Maybe,” one of the other men said, “we’d make a damned good ride for it, and we don’t like being used.”

 

“Have you taught her nothing of strategy?” Ryodan fired at Barrons.

 

“I haven’t had all that much time,” Barrons said.

 

“A Seelie. A fucking prince,” Lor said. “He’s got a couple hundred more Seelie from a dozen different castes waiting outside. Threatening war. Demanding you shut the place down, stop feeding the Unseelie.”

 

I gasped. “V’lane?”

 

“You told him to come!” Ryodan accused.

 

“She knows him?” Lor exploded.

 

“It’s her other boyfriend,” Ryodan said.

 

“Besides Darroc?” one of the other men demanded.

 

Lor glared at Barrons. “When are you going to wise up and shut this bitch down for good?”

 

The testosterone level was rising to a dangerous high. I suddenly worried they might all transform into beasts. I’d be stuck in the middle of a pack of snarling monsters with talons and fangs and horns, and I didn’t think for one minute Barrons’ brand would protect me from the other five. I wasn’t even sure it would work on him.

 

“You think it’s the Seelie you need to be worrying about?” said Fade.

 

“What the fuck do you think we should be worrying about?” Barrons said impatiently.

 

Fade swung his gun up and pumped a half dozen rounds into Barrons before anyone even managed to move. “Me.”

 

 

 

 

 

Karen Marie Moning's books