“A little bumped and bruised, but I’ll heal.”
“Where were you taken?” Catcher asked.
“Shopping center in Loring Park. Four of them jumped me, bows and arrows right there in public view. They knocked me out—a choke hold,” I explained, touching my neck. The skin was no longer tender, but the muscle beneath still ached.
A wash of shifter magic flushed through the room like a moody tsunami, angry and tense. It left an uncomfortable prickle on my skin and made my clothes feel uncomfortably tight.
I rubbed my goosefleshed arms. “What do you think’s going on out there?”
Ethan made a sympathetic sound. “I imagine Gabriel is explaining to his Pack why he didn’t mention the elves before tonight. Why he didn’t mention the wolves at their door, no pun intended.”
I finished the second bottle of blood, placed it on the counter beside the first. “How did they not notice it? The humans? The Brecks? A hunter, a farmer, a utility crew? Someone had to have seen them.”
“Magic,” Catcher said with a shrug. “A mechanism that allowed them to blend into the trees, or which obscured them completely.”
“A village of hundreds in Illinois,” Ethan said. “And that’s one clan. If they came west from Ireland and Scotland, how many more clans might be sprinkled between here and the Atlantic?”
“Very many,” Catcher guessed. “But perhaps the better question—how many of them have arrangements with the rest of the American Packs?”
“Probably too goddamned many,” Ethan said grimly.
“Fuck you, too, Sullivan.” Gabriel walked in alone, moved to a cabinet, and grabbed a bottle of whiskey with a plaid ribbon around its neck. He loosened the lid and took a slug directly from the bottle, throat moving as he swallowed. Maybe shifters had a different metabolism, as the quarter bottle he ingested would have put me on the floor. And maybe he was stressed enough to need it.
He put the bottle back in the cabinet, then braced his hands on the countertop and dropped his head. It was the second time in as many days he’d let his guard down in front of us. I both appreciated the trust—and regretted the need. Even with his back turned, it was obvious he was exhausted. His Pack had come to the Brecks’ estate for camaraderie and fun. And they’d met only threats, violence, and death.
We waited until Gabe stood straight again, running his hands through his hair and turning back to us.
“The contract was negotiated by my father. He told Papa Breck when the Brecks bought the property, thought it was only fair Papa Breck know who was living nearby. When my father passed, Papa Breck told me. I’ve never even seen the elves until tonight.”
“I’m not certain that’s an excuse,” Ethan said. “Not for what my people and yours have been through.”
“The elves’ interest is in keeping quiet, in staying underground. They were nearly eradicated. They wanted to live peacefully, and they have done so.”
“Until tonight,” Ethan emphasized, voice firm. “They are barbarians. They protect their lands without regret, kill without remorse. They do not believe in weakness, and they don’t overlook it. They don’t believe in pity. They kill children they don’t believe will flourish, men and women past their prime. They do not live peacefully. They wait.”
The reference to children and the elderly made me think—I hadn’t seen either at the village. Everyone appeared to be in the prime of middle age. Maybe twenty-five to forty-five in human years. Anyone outside that group could have been indoors or hidden. Or perhaps they’d been culled.
“We have no fight with them,” Gabriel said.
“Because you have not seen them fight,” Ethan insisted. There was hard experience in his eyes. He’d been born in Sweden, had served his time as a soldier, and had nearly been killed because of it. He’d also apparently been in Europe long enough to have seen elves there on the ground and know their practices.
“I have seen battlefields littered with women and children. Ground they stained with blood. They attack without mercy, and they allow no survivors. That Merit, Jeff, and Damien were allowed to live today was a miracle.”
“Or it is proof that this clan is different from those which lived in Europe,” Gabriel said. “Humans are different now, too. Humans fight differently, battle differently.”
“Humans battle with and through machines,” Ethan said. “But that does not absolve them of their atrocities.”
Mallory moved closer, catching both of their gazes. “Let’s pause,” she said, and I felt a gentle nudge of calming magic. It was a nice thought, but considering the story the elves had told about nonconsensual magic, it just left me feeling uncomfortable.
“The elves are clearly here,” she said. “If, for some reason, we can’t figure out what’s going on here in the larger sense, how bad could this get?”
“They could seek revenge for the wrongs they think have been done to them throughout history,” Ethan said. “The elves release their magic, show their societies to the world, and there’s human panic and genocide. What we saw tonight was only posturing,” he softly added. “Do not mistake their bows and arrows for a lack of savvy.”
I rubbed my face, trying to soothe the headache that was beginning to build there, then glanced at Gabriel. I didn’t think he was the type to feel guilty, but there was obvious regret in his eyes. It was time for a little optimism—or at least a little strategy.
“Then we need to ensure it doesn’t get that bad,” I said, meeting Gabriel’s gaze. “If we do as they’ve agreed—find Niera and bring her back—will they go back into the woods again?”
He shared my gaze for a moment, then glanced at Ethan. “Sullivan?”
The question was an obvious concession—he was recognizing Ethan’s expertise, looking to him for information.
“I don’t know how honorable they are,” Ethan said. “Fear tends to make new enemies. But we’ll assume they’ll hold to his deal.”
“Go team!” I said with false cheer. As no one seemed moved by the faux enthusiasm, I waved it away. “So that’s our solution. We find Niera. We have two attacks here—one on shifters, one on elves. The first attack by harpies, which weren’t supposed to exist in the first place. The second against elves, which weren’t supposed to exist.”