“You don’t,” Lorcan said. “Not from here. You’d have to take that fight inside Faerie, or lure the Fae out.”
Bowman broke in. “So, there are as many Fae with the swords as there are Shifters with Collars? I could eat ten Fae and have room for dessert, but them controlling the Collars makes things different.”
Going into Faerie wasn’t an option, Graham knew. There weren’t enough Shifters in fighting form to win a fight inside Faerie, even without the Fae having the Collar-controlling swords. Plus, gates to Faerie were tricky—no guarantee a Shifter army could get in. On the other hand, enticing a boatload of Fae out of Faerie to fight didn’t appeal either . . . if they’d even come.
“What about Andrea’s father?” Graham asked. “What’s his name, Fionn? He’s a Fae. What does he know about all this?”
“Nothing,” Dylan said. “I already spoke with him, and what I told him made him very angry. Not all Fae see eye-to-eye. He fears those Fae who made the swords will not only want to walk the earth again, but rule all of Faerie. There are constant power struggles there. Fionn can help, but only if he can convince his clan it’s necessary. Fionn’s people might be happy to let the Fae use controlled Shifters to kill humans, good riddance to the humans.”
“Good riddance to Shifters too, you mean,” Graham said, and Dylan gave him a slow nod. “And then there’s Reid,” Graham said, turning to him. “Go tell your dark Fae to kick some ass.”
“I will,” Reid said. “Same problem though, getting my clan to agree about the threat. They might be happy to let the hoch alfar fight each other, or let them leave Faerie for the human world without protest. Dark Fae will shut the gates behind the hoch alfar and be glad. Dokk alfar are the original Fae, after all.” Reid’s black eyes glinted. “However, I might convince my people to keep the Fae busy while we figure out how to stop them.”
“I know how,” Graham said. “Without going to Faerie at all.”
He didn’t say it out loud. Lorcan might be under Dylan’s thumb now, but he still could turn around and text someone in the human government as soon as he got his hands free.
The solution was getting the Collars off Shifters. The Fae couldn’t manipulate what wasn’t there. Collars were already coming off the weaker Shifters, the ones who couldn’t take the pain and couldn’t learn the techniques for control. The thought that Matt and Kyle, and whatever cub Graham would have with Misty, wouldn’t have to wear true Collars made his heart sing.
“Is that enough information?” Dylan asked. “I’d like to get Lorcan back home before the humans miss him.”
Liam, hands in his sweat jacket pockets, nodded. “I’ll get Marlo, and we’ll go. Sean and Andrea will stay a while longer, Graham, to make sure Misty’s all right.” Graham gave Liam a nod of thanks.
“That’s it then,” Jace said.
The fact that the Shifters didn’t disperse until Jace gave the nod attested to his growing power. Without any more talk, Liam disappeared into the darkening desert, and Dylan, Bowman, and Sean carried Lorcan, silver chains, chair, and all, out. A plane’s engines started up, lights flashing, the lumbering bird waiting for its passengers.
The other Shifters started to walk away, off to board the airplane or find their own transportation home. No one said, Take care of yourself, or even Goddess go with you. Such words might mean they’d never see each other again.
“How’d you do that?” Graham asked Reid in a low voice as the building emptied. “With the ring? If mixed-blood Fae don’t have to worry about iron?”
“They still need to worry about it,” Reid said. “But they have enough human blood in them to dilute the effects. I used the ring to undilute the effects, going straight for the part of Lorcan that was true Fae.”
“Really?” Graham rubbed his jaw, feeling stiff bristles. “Good to know.”
Reid eyed him. “You couldn’t do it yourself. If you pushed this ring against Lorcan’s neck, he’d only feel a ring against his neck. Only I can make the iron work.”
“Because you’re Iron Man, I know.”
“Ironmaster,” Reid said. But he gave Graham a ghost of a smile, appreciating the humor. Then he walked away a few steps, and disappeared.
Graham couldn’t help his jump when the air around Reid displaced with a little pop. “Damn, I hate it when he does that.”
Jace waited to walk out with Graham. “We’ll start with you,” Jace said.
He meant taking off the Collars. Graham shook his head as he mounted his borrowed bike. “Dougal first. He’d never stand against Fae. Thank the Goddess it was me who got shot and water-spelled. Dougal would already be gone.”
“I agree,” Jace said. “But it’s not up to me.”
“Your dad thinks it’s up to him,” Graham said. “Your dad’s wrong.”
Without waiting for Jace’s answer, Graham started and revved the bike and took off across the desert. To the west, the sky was crimson, gold, and brilliant blue, black mountains in silhouette—a desert sunset in all its glory. A perfect backdrop, Graham thought. Too bad this movie wasn’t over.
• • •
Graham checked on the cubs when he reached Shiftertown, who were happy to continue hanging out with Andrea and Sean, who’d returned from the meeting. Sean and Andrea were looking after Dougal too, while pretending not to, to spare Dougal’s pride. They were good people, Graham conceded, for Felines and half-Fae Shifters.
Graham left them and headed south into the heart of Las Vegas to Misty’s store. He knew she’d gone back there in spite of Graham telling her not to, because that was the kind of lady Misty was.
Misty wasn’t at the store when Graham reached it, however. Some of Eric’s Shifters were, including Brody, cleaning up. Eric had arrived with Misty here, Brody said, then Xav had followed Misty home, and Shane had driven Eric back to Shiftertown.
Graham continued to Misty’s house. Her truck was in her driveway, along with a couple of black pickups and SUVs from DX Security. Graham told the man working on fixing Misty’s door to get out of the way and go home. The man stepped aside, but went back to his work on the door.
Graham ignored him, in too much of a hurry to be irritated. He let scent and voices guide him to the kitchen, where his mate was.