She's No Faerie Princess (7 page)

everyone was probably better off if she just kept her

hormones to herself.

She was debating the merits of indulging in a healthypout when a teeth-rattling slam broke the silence,followed closely by the thunder of footsteps on the stairs. She jumped at the initial noise, her gaze shooting to Walker's face. He looked back blandly and pushed lazilyto his feet. If the two of them were about to be attackedby another demon, the werewolf seemed to be taking itwell.

He was standing facing the top of the stairs when a blurof blue denim and black cotton came charging throughand skidding to a stop in front of him.

Walker looked at the clock above the stairs. "That wasalmost twenty-two minutes."

"I'd have made it in fifteen, but that would have been

without clothes. And it's chilly out there."

Fiona looked at the newcomer and raised an eyebrow.

This was who Walker called in a crisis?

She couldn't call herself an expert in mortal growthpatterns or anything, but if she had to judge, Fionawouldn't put the boy's age at all that far pastadolescence. He looked like a college kid, all lean andlanky, like he'd just finished growing, but his weight hadn'tcaught up yet with his height. He stood an inch or twoshorter than Walker, skimming right under six feetmaybe, and had lightly freckled skin, disheveled brownhair, and sparkling eyes in that light amber brown socommon in Lupines.

Glancing back and forth between the two figures, Fionafrowned. They shared more than that one similarity, infact. She saw something around the shape of the eyesand the set of the jaw that told her these men were morethan acquaintances.

Eyes narrowing, she pushed to her feet, immediatelydrawing the attention of the young werewolf. His headturned toward her, eyes and nostrils wideningsimultaneously as he raked his gaze over her and drewher scent in deeply. For a split second she saw an echoof Walker's predatory grin on his face as he took a stepforward, but that was before the older Lupine shot out ahand and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

"If you so much as drool on her, I will kick your ass into

next semester. Got it, Jake?"

"Aw, but Uncle—"

He gave a shake before returning the teenager to hisfeet. "Off-limits, Jake. I mean it."

"Why?" Jake seemed smart enough—or maybe un- suicidal enough—not to make another move toward Fiona, but he didn't give in easily. He stood his ground warily. "It's not like you marked her or anything. I mean, yeah, you touched her, but look at her. Who wouldn't?"

"Um, excuse me." Fiona raised her hand and waved it above her head. "Talking about an actual person here. I don't appreciate being fought over like some sort of bone."

Jake turned and looked into her eyes for the first time, hisgrin all charm and energy and youthful lust. "More like a

roast, actually. A nice, juicy one."

Walker snarled, not the kind he'd used to let Fiona knowshe'd been irritating him for most of the night, but a real,honest-to-goddess, dog-in-the-manger growl. "Off. Limits."

For a minute Fiona thought Jake might take his life intohis hands and push the issue, but apparently youthhadn't deactivated all of his brain cells. The two menstared at each other silently until Jake broke down andlooked away, turning his head into what looked like areally uncomfortable position. It took Fiona a second torealize the significance of the tilt. It left his throatcompletely exposed to the older Lupine. She shivered.

"Fiona," Walker growled, still not looking at her, "I'd like you
 
not
 
to meet my nephew, Jake, but under the circumstances, I can't figure out a way to avoid it."

Fiona extended her hand, then withdrew it at Walker'slow growl. Ooookay. No touching, then. She settled for alittle wave. "Hi, Jake. It's nice to meet you."

"Jake, this is Fiona. Off-limits."

The younger man kept his gaze focused someplacebeyond Fiona's left ear, but she could see him pursing hislips, looking half-irritated and half-amused. "Unusual lastname you've got there."

"Isn't it?"

Ignoring her glare, Walker herded his nephew farther intothe room and placed himself between the youth and Fiona. If Walker kept this up, all the eye rolling she wasdoing was going to make her dizzy.

Slouching on the end of the sofa like the college studenthe was, Jake looked up at his uncle and yawned. "So,what was so important that you interrupted your own dateand dragged me out of bed at four nineteen in themorning?"

"She's not a date. And unfortunately, you're the only pack member I could think of who'd be more afraid of what I'd do to you if you talked about this to anyone than you'd be of Graham if he started asking questions."

Jake shrugged. "I'm plenty scared of the alpha. He couldprobably kick my ass through the power of suggestion ifhe tried. But he barely knows I exist, so I'm not realworried about the eventuality. You, on the other hand,know where I sleep."

"Exactly. Remember that."

Fiona snorted and waved a hand in front of her face. "Stars, the cloud of testosterone in the air around here isgetting toxic. And here I thought the story about menthinking with their testicles was an old wives' tale."

They both ignored her.

"Fiona needs to get home as soon as possible, and

you're going to help me with that."

Jake looked incredulous. "What? You can't find thenumber of a good cab company?"

"Oh, it's not that," Fiona put in breezily, "but once you

cross the planar barrier, the fare just skyrockets!"

More ignoring. Sheesh, it was like the ability to pretendshe didn't exist was hardwired into this family's Y

chromosome.

"Planar barrier?" Jake's voice rose on the question. "Are

you trying to tell me she's Fae?"

"Would you please stop talking about me as if I weren't in the room?" Fiona snapped, her patience thinning with every "she" and "her" one of them uttered.

"In case no one noticed, I am, and not only that, but I

have a right to have input into my own plans."

"I don't give a shit about your plans, sweetheart," Walker said, turning a fierce glare on her. "What I care about is keeping you intact and getting your ass back to Faerie before anyone notices you were ever here."

"What's wrong with the way she came in? I assume it

was one of the gates. The one in Inwood is closest. If you

don't want to call a cab, we can use your car."

Walker shook his head at his nephew's suggestion. "Theproblem is that the last time she got near the Inwoodgate, we ended up getting jumped by an unpleasantfellow with serious sulfur breath."

"Holy shit!" Jake's eyes widened until he no longer looked the least bit sleepy. "A demon? You ran into a demon? In the park? That's crazy."

"We got out whole, which is the important thing, but I don't think it would be a great idea to go back there tonight. We can't take the chance of running into it again. It got in a couple of good swipes at Fiona, and I haven't had any sleep in more than twenty-four hours. I need to catch a nap, and it would be smarter not to head back there during full dark."

Jake turned to look at Fiona, his eyes now holding ameasure of respect in addition to the lust. The lust hadn'tgone anywhere—he was a young, male Lupine, after all —but the respect at least made it easier to accept.

"I'm fine," she said. "I've got a souvenir or two, but it

didn't do any lasting damage."

Jake nodded. "Okay, so what do you guys need me todo?"

"Nothing. I can take care of myself."

"I need you to babysit. Keep an eye on her while I catch a couple hours of sleep. When I wake up, we'll figure out the best way to get her to the gate without being seen."

"No problem."

"Babysit?!" Fiona couldn't decide which of them to glare at first, so she got up and stood where she could keep them both in her furious sights. "I already told you, I don't need your protection, and I sure as demon spit don't need to be 'babysat' by a kid whose
 
parents
 
weren't even born when I was celebrating my two hundred fiftieth birthday!"

Walker turned to her, those golden eyes finally fixingback on her, but they didn't look any more cooperativethan his attitude so far had indicated.

"Well, that's just your tough luck, Princess, because you've got yourself protection whether you want it or not. You're in my city now, and until I put your butt back through the gate that takes you out of my city, you're my responsibility. You'll do what I say, and as ridiculous as even I find it, you'll do what the puppy here says, or I'll

take it out of your hide."

It took a few seconds for Fiona to process that threat. Noone had ever threatened her before, and certainly no onehad ever tried to order her around before. She might notcare about her position as a sidhe princess, but now thatsomeone was treating her as if that position didn't matter,she found that the alternative to the prerogative of royaltypretty much sucked.

"Princess?" Jake asked, his eyes wide. They both

ignored him.

"You've got no right to try and tell me what I can or can't

do—"

"As in daughter of the queen? That kind of princess?"

Jake's voice had risen half an octave.

"In Faerie, you'd probably be right about that, Princess, but you're not in Faerie anymore. You're here and around here, might makes right. I've got the might, so that makes me right."

"Holy shit," Jake breathed. "No wonder you wanted someone who wouldn't run right back to the alpha with that news. We gotta get her home before he hears about this."

If she hadn't already been drained of magic, she wouldhave used whatever reserves it took to turn the pair ofthem into sea slugs. Come to think of it, based on theirbehavior, it might not take much magical energy after all.

She settled for killing looks, folded her arms over herchest, and plotted what exactly she would do once shegot her powers back. Maybe a trip back home wouldn't

be the end of the world. Going through the gate didn't mean she had to go back to the palace. She could spend a few hours, replenish her magical reserves, then come back when the werewolf of her nightmares wasn't looking. That sounded a lot easier than trying to change his rock-hard mind about something.

Walker stared at her for a long while before he turnedback to his nephew and gave the last of his instructions. "Remember, if you lay so much as a paw on her, I'll bite itoff. And keep your damned mind on business. She mightlook like a sugar-coated bonbon, but she's more troublethan a coven of witches, and she's smart enough to useyour own damned hormones against you. Don't listen to aword of her twisted logic, and if you let her step one footout of this apartment, I'll rip off something you'll miss ahell of a lot more than your hand. Got it?"

Jake nodded and Fiona stifled a scream. "Got it. Neitherone of us will be going anywhere. You can count on me."

"Good."

He turned and headed for his bedroom, and Fionawatched the broad back flex before she purred a promiseof her own.

"You can count on me, too, Tobias. You can count on

paying for this one day. A lot."

He glanced back over his shoulder just before hedisappeared into the darkened bedroom. The look on hisface was inscrutable. "Princess, I've been counting onthat since the first minute you opened your eyes andlooked at me. The only question is how I'll come up withthe price."

CHAPTER 7

Within two hours of Walker's disappearance into thebedroom, Jake had managed to find and immerse himselfin a college basketball game, and Fiona was sevenseconds and half a breath away from climbing theapartment's Spartan walls.

"You know, if you add short bursts of jogging every quarter mile or so, you'll get a better cardiovascular workout."

Fiona kept pacing, but she still managed an irritatedgrumble in the werewolf's direction. "If I'm bothering you,feel free to call me a cab. I'll be out of your hair before themeter starts running."

"Right. Sorry, but I'm really too young to die. Besides, if my uncle kicks my ass hard enough that I miss my statistics exam tomorrow, my mom will be happy to finish me off." He grinned at her. "You're hot, but you're not worth facing the wrath of a Lupine mother paying NYU tuition."

"Gee, thanks. I see charm runs in your family." Tightening her mouth to keep him from seeing her almost smile, she turned away and went back to pacing. He was a cute kid all right, or he would be if he'd just stop being so uncooperative. Kind of like his uncle, who was way too sexy for her peace of mind when he wasn't being a

stubborn jerk.

"What did you do to piss him off anyway?"

Tugged away from her thoughts, Fiona turned back to thesofa and frowned at Jake. "What are you talking about?"

"My uncle. What did you do to piss him off? He looked

ready to chew metal when he went to bed."

"You mean that wasn't just his normal sunny disposition?" She shrugged. "I think he objects to my breathing the air of 'his' city. But he's gonna have to learn to deal."