I awoke fighting, snarls in my chest as my wolf’s howls rang free. For a few seconds of time, I was stuck between wolf and woman, thanks to the fae magic Len had used on me. I remembered all too clearly how his energy had started at the tips of my toes and worked its way up until my brain had been overwhelmed, and I’d passed out.
And now I was ready to kick some fucking fae ass.
Rolling off the soft surface, I dropped to the floor silently, half-crouched as I stared around. I was in a garden. No, actually, garden was too much of an understatement to be accurate.
I’d found myself in the epicenter of the most perfect piece of nature I had ever seen. Flowers ran for miles, in colors that didn’t exist in the earthly plane. Dotted between were trees, so magnificent and grand that the entire scene looked like it was a painted depiction of perfection.
And the smell. My god. As I took a step forward, an overwhelming crush of scents hit me. There was no way I was on Earth or in the library any longer, and considering it was Len who’d decided to hocus pocus my ass and bring me here, that left me with one logical conclusion.
I was in a land I’d been warned never to go to.
Faerie.
What they do to Earthlings who stumble into their world makes me look like a fucking saint.
That warning was extra terrifying today.
Shadow was a cold-blooded bastard who thought nothing of pushing me, punishing me, and possessing me like I was a piece of furniture that he owned, and he’d warned me off this place.
Yeah, I was fucked, and when I got my hands on Len, I was going to rip his pretty hair from his pretty head.
Not able to stay still when it felt like I was under attack—despite the complete lack of anything alarming in my vicinity—I crept forward through the swarths of flowers. I made a concerted effort not to touch anything, and half a dozen steps later, I passed a bunch of yellow daisy-like flowers. Daisies that were seven feet tall with thick, midnight purple thorns all the way up their stems. On the other side of them were shorter floral bunches, in a pink near blinding in its intensity.
Those flowers, above all the others, caught my eye. My steps faltered, and I found myself reaching out to run my fingertips along their velvety stems. They were almost too perfect, with not a single flaw in their greenery or variation in the flower petals.
The perfection made me uneasy. Nothing alive could look that flawless, and yet I felt its energy. All of nature had it, and these flowers were particularly strong. Pausing just before my fingertips made contact, I inhaled one final breath of their sweet scent before moving forward—
“Halt, Mera!”
The command had me snatching my hand away, my heart thundering in my chest. Fuck, I’d lost my head there for a minute and had almost done exactly what I’d promised I wouldn’t. Don’t touch, eat, or interact with Faerie. That was the old urban legend and I’d had every plan to adhere to it, until the flowers had drawn me in.
Len, my warning system, strolled closer, dressed more casual than I’d ever seen from him before. His silver cloak was gone, revealing quite the impressive set of broad shoulders encased in a simple long-sleeved black shirt. I’d never seen him wearing an outfit so dark, and the contrast was quite striking to his silver coloring.
He was slender compared to Shadow, but most men were, and now that he had his sleeves rolled up to the top of his forearms, I could see the lithe corded muscle there. The tight black pants did nothing to hide the rest of his physique, and it was startlingly obvious how he’d developed into such a flirt. Women would throw themselves at someone like this. Most women… but not me.
As soon as Len was in striking distance, I strode forward, hauled my arm back, and slammed my fist into his face. Confusion drifted across his features as his head jerked. “Shit, Mera.” He groaned, rubbing his cheek. “What the hell was that for?”
I growled, a wild wolf sound. “How dare you drag me here without my permission?”
Len tilted his head, still seeming confused by how upset I was.
Jabbing my finger against his chest while fighting the urge to hit him again, I raged. “If one more of you fucking assholes thinks you have the right to take my will away, I will find out how to ensure you breathe your final breath.”
“Technically, we don’t need to breathe,” Len murmured.
Ignoring him, I glared with total effort. “All of you have seen the last compliant version of me.”
I jabbed him again, even though the tip of my finger was starting to ache from being pressed so firmly against his chest muscles. Len reached out and grasped my hand, stopping me from moving it again. “I’m saving your damn life.” It was his turn to growl, and it was impressive for a non-shifter. “Shadow said there were creatures from his world running loose, many of whom would be looking for you. He wanted you protected while he rounds them up before the next fucking apocalypse starts.”
I sagged forward. “Shadow is alive?”
I might not have admitted it to myself, but a part of me had mourned that bastard from the moment I’d seen the fireplace cold and empty.
Len laughed. “Of course he is. Nothing will kill Shadow.”
Rubbing at my temples, I let out a sigh. “Why didn’t you just tell me this at the library? Would have been a lot easier than whatever it was you did.”
He shrugged. “Would it have been, though? You’re pretty well known for being a touch argumentative and I literally didn’t have the time to waste. If anything had happened to his little shadow magnet, my friend would not have been happy with me.”
Len wasn’t scared of Shadow—their friendship was obviously long and true—but he was respectful of the beast’s power, and that was always a safe place to stand.
“No matter the situation, you never have the right to take my will away from me,” I said, my voice calmer.
Part of me was still pissed off, ready to throw down, but in truth, Len had let me get a decent hit in and hadn’t returned the favor. And if he was literally trying to save me, then I no doubt owed him an apology. Which was in the mail. With the rest of my fucks to give.
“I understand,” Len said. “It won’t happen again.”
Right. Sure. Very reassuring.
“So, what now?” I sighed. “I just hang out here in your garden that I can’t touch, waiting for Shadow to call on me, like it’s the 1900s on Earth?”
“You didn’t miss that thing about not touching the flowers, eh?” Len grinned. “Humans are smarter than they’re given credit for.”
I didn’t bother to inform him I was probably as human as him, according to Angel anyway. “Your bellow of ‘halt’ wasn’t exactly subtle. And I know the fables of this land. Just lost my head for a moment with that particular flower.”
Len’s grin grew broader. “Oh, yes, she’s my most enticing little sweetheart. But also not good at playing with strangers.” He turned abruptly, strolling toward the vibrant pink flowers, and when he reached out to touch them, they morphed completely into a single entity, with a huge open mouth and razor-sharp teeth formed by thorns. Thorns that hadn’t been visible at all in their other form.
“They like to lull their prey into a false sense of serenity,” Len said, continuing to pet the damn plant monster like it was a cute kitten. “Never trust anything this beautiful.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Already ahead of you. Why the fuck do you think I fight so hard against Shadow and his band of merry psychos?”
Len abandoned the creepy flowers and I stared fascinated as they returned to their sweet and innocent state. No one would expect that under that perfect façade was a plant that ate people for breakfast.
“You think we’re Shadow’s band? How do you know I’m not the lead singer?”
All of them had a surprisingly strong grasp on the English language, and I had a sneaking suspicion that like Angel, they’d all spent more than a little time Earthside.
“I notice you didn’t deny the psycho part.”
He shrugged. “‘Psycho’ is in the eye of the beholder. And truth be told, there’s very little we haven’t done in our long lives, and not everyone is going to understand the way our power or minds work. So… yeah, there’s truth in what you’ve said.”
“No argument from me,” I said, forcing myself to keep a straight face.
I looked around again, ignoring his smirk. I couldn’t offend this guy, that was clear, so I stopped bothering and instead gestured to the land of Faerie. “Are you going to show me around?”
Len’s smile faded a touch. “You should stay here in the immortal gardens. This world is not kind to those who carry human weaknesses. It’s best that we don’t tempt the land of fae.”
I blinked at him. “Okay then. Weirdest warning I think I’ve ever received, but I’ll heed it, don’t worry.”
Len led me back to the platform I had woken on, and now that I wasn’t focused on the flowers, I saw it was a large slab of rock with a thick, soft cloak draped over it. That was where his silver cloak had gone—I hadn’t noticed until now.
“Sorry I hit you,” I said softly, staring at the evidence of him not being a complete asshole.
Len just nudged my shoulder. “I deserved it. I forgot about consent—fae aren’t the best with acknowledging consent, especially royals, but most of our females are submissive in a way humans and shifters are not, so it’s not usually an issue. Personally… I prefer the fire.”
Our eyes caught and while there was no real spark between us, I appreciated his confession. In truth, this was exactly what I’d been hoping to find in the library so I could win the bet. A connection with someone I found attractive. Len ticked all the boxes in that regard, but… I needed the spark. It didn’t have to be the raging forest fire that Shadow created, but at least a small flicker.
Dammit. I was broken, and it certainly looked like I was not going to win the bet now.
Wouldn’t put it past Shadow to have orchestrated this entire event to ensure I’d be stuck in Faerie for the rest of the days of the bet.
