But that didn’t make sense. The wolf had merged with Norse, and she knew Norse had existed, and they had been actively searching for his other half.
“Smoke is coming out of your ears.” Dayton laughed. “When you’re done spinning your wheels, let me know. I’m going to go see what’s in the fridge. I’m starving.”
“Why don’t you just put me out of my misery and kill me?” Well, that was a stupid question. She didn’t need to put that thought in the beast’s head.
He turned, taking one step toward her.
She shot her hand up as if that would stop him from grabbing her with his massive hand and snapping her neck with one squeeze. Heat prickled her fingertips. White specks of dust trickled from her palms. “What the hell?”
“That’s interesting. Can any of your brothers emit fairy dust?” he asked with a chuckle.
She ignored him, and his stupid sounding-sweet-like-hot-fudge voice. What softly glided from her hands to the air was exactly what she saw when she looked into Dayton’s eyes.
“What are you doing to me?” She shook her hands, but that only created more dust. It snaked up to the ceiling and wrapped around the fan before dropping on top of Dayton.
If only she could cage the beast again. Then she could do her research without having to worry if he was going to shift and turn her into dog food.
“Shit,” he muttered. “Please stop.”
“Why?” Not that she knew how to turn off the sudden flow of fairy dust.
“I can’t move,” he mumbled behind a tight jaw.
“Seriously?” A smile tugged at her lips. She raised her hands, pushing the dust in his direction.
“Now you’re crushing me.” His face contorted, and his eyes grew wide. “You’ve got to call the dust off.”
“I have no idea how to do that.” A combination of awe and panic gripped her heart.
“It’s a living extension of you. It’s why fairies have a hard time hiding their emotions. Wolfairies are better at it, so this should be easy. But hurry. You’re going to start breaking my bones.”
“Maybe that’s what I—”
“Do you really want to kill me? Because that’s what you’re doing.” His projection came through as a tight whisper. “Negative energy brings negative dust, and you’ve got a shit ton of anger directed at me.”
“I don’t trust you.” Instinctively, she waved her hands above her head, swirling the dust. She collected it into a ball like she’d seen Drew do. Clapping her hands, she broke the knot and then tugged at all the dust still wrapped around Dayton. Slowly, it floated away.
Dayton dropped to his knees. His knuckles hit the wood floor with a thud that rattled the planks under her feet. “That fucking hurt.” He snarled as if in his wolf form. “A Queen should not be allowed to do that to her King.”
“I’m honestly thrilled I can do it. Just in case I need to kill you.” She pointed her finger like a gun and blew on the tip. “But now I need to find out why I can do it, because I’m no fairy.”
“Nope. You’re not. You’re a Wolfairy, just like me.”
“Ha. Ha. You’re such a comedian.” Next time, she would be sure to squish his dry sense of humor. She tucked her hair behind her ears and went back to the table. Somewhere in all this new stuff they’d found on the Royal Fairies and the legends that went with them, there had to be something on a wolf gaining fairy abilities. Her brothers had all developed stronger senses and were able to experience much of the fairy magic their mates possessed, but she’d never seen them shoot off fairy dust from the palms. “I’m half human, so it’s impossible.”
“Your mother hasn’t come into her powers? I would think that should have happened when Chaz and Daphne mated.”
“I don’t find you amusing,” she said.
“Coral used to wander around her town. She’d skip and sing, and Norse loved that. But he listened to everything, and he overheard Isadore and Coral’s father discussing something they found regarding the Alpha of your pack and his non-human wife.”
“That’s impossible. Trust me, my mom is human.” Cheryl swallowed. Her mother could communicate telepathically with more than just her husband. But that wasn’t a fairy power. That was a wolf thing, and she wasn’t that either.
Isadore and Coral weren’t witches, even though they were raised by them and had their powers until their fairy selves were released.
Shit.
“So, you agree it could be possible your mom is a fairy,” he said more as a statement of fact than opinion.
“I’ll agree it’s not impossible.”
“That’s keeping a half-open mind.” Dayton stayed on the ground on all fours, huffing and puffing.
“That’s all you’re going to get out of me on that subject.” She felt horrible she’d hurt him, but no way would she let him know that. She needed to keep the upper hand while trapped in this cabin if she was going to come out alive.
Of course, he could have been faking. Some fairies, especially the tiny lighted fairies, were full of trickery.
“What are you looking for?” Dayton asked with a throaty growl.
“One of the Royal Fairies that had been bottled up for a few hundred years had with her a book of folklore written by a human. There were stories in there about fairies and a prediction about the Wolfairies. At first glance, it didn’t appear to have any value, but maybe it’s worth a second look.”
“What did it say?” He took in a large breath before pushing to his feet. He groaned. “Damn, you’re strong.”
“Remember that, because you do one thing that puts me on edge, and I will crush you.” She leaned under the table to grab a box of papers and books that hadn’t seemed important, but she knew better than to disregard them all together.
“I won’t soon forget that.”
“Here it is.” She pulled out a thick, hardbound book. “Whoa.” She tossed it on the table. Red sparks flickered from the cover. “That
