All Laddin could do was shake his head and murmur what everyone was thinking. “God, what some people do to their kids.”
Nero grunted an agreement.
Then a female voice spoke, the tone light and airy.
“The alpha human is often cruel.” Lady Kinstead floated into the kitchen and poured herself some coffee. As was typical for her, her clothes were a bit messy—there were even a couple of leaves in her hair—but she looked completely, stunningly beautiful. In fact, she was the embodiment of what Laddin thought a fairy queen would look like. Except according to reports, she was completely human and more than two hundred years old.
Nero cleared his throat. “Lady Kinstead, good morning. How is Wulfric?”
She smiled warmly at him. “Dying. As are we all.” Then she turned her ethereal smile to Bruce. “You got your magic!” she said happily. “Where is the demon? We must kill him, you know.”
Bruce cleared his throat awkwardly. It was nice to see that he was as affected as everyone else by the woman’s aura of vague mystical authority. She was bafflingly mysterious even when she appeared normal. After all, she was only sipping coffee.
“Um, yes,” Bruce said. “I know. But I haven’t found the demon yet.”
“Hmmm,” she said, putting her cup down. “Well, do it before Thursday. It’ll be too late to fix things after that.” Then she waved goodbye before wandering out the back door without shoes or a coat.
Everyone watched her until the door shut. Then they turned their eyes to Bruce, who’d folded his arms across his chest and was glaring.
“No pressure,” he quipped.
“No logic,” Nero answered. “Unless you’re holding back—”
“You seriously think I’d keep it secret if I had the answer to saving the world? That I’d wait until I had fame or money or, fuck, I don’t know what.”
“I’ve heard the tales from Josh.” Nero spat. “I know what you did to him as boys.”
Bruce leaned forward. “And I haven’t denied them. But even then, do you think I would hold the entire world hostage as some kind of sick game?”
Nero shook his head. “No,” he finally said. “Everything in your file says you’re a stand-up guy.”
Bruce jolted and his eyes narrowed. “You have a file on me?”
“Of course we have a file.” He pointed out the door. “She’s your great, great, great… I don’t know how many generations grandmother. I even looked at activating you instead of your brother, but you’re just a medic. He’s the genius.”
Well, that had to burn, but Bruce didn’t seem hurt by the comparison. In fact, he nodded. “I always knew he’d come out on top,” he said softly. “Brains beats brawn all the time if it’s given the time to develop.”
Laddin stepped forward. “That’s what your father wanted you to do, isn’t it? Keep Josh down so he never developed into the brainiac everyone saw coming.”
Bruce didn’t answer in words, but his shrug was eloquent enough. It told Laddin loud and clear that Bruce had no idea what had been in his father’s head but that the results were obvious. Josh did develop into a brain. And now as a werewolf, he had brawn too. Not to mention a boulder-sized issue with his brother.
So Laddin turned to Nero. “You done here? We’re both running on fumes. We need showers and a nap. You too, so—”
“Yeah,” Nero agreed. “We’re done. I’ve got to kick this up the chain of command, and that’ll take time.” Then he gestured down the hallway. “The room down there is emptied out if you want it. You’ll have to share, but it beats the barn.”
Given that the barn smelled of smoke and was open to fairies, Laddin didn’t argue—and he wasn’t letting Nero change his mind either. He grabbed Bruce’s arm and tugged him upright. “Come on. Let’s get washed up. You smell like a dumpster fire.”
“Ain’t that the truth.”
They started walking down the hallway to the open bedroom, but Bruce slowed, then turned back to Nero. “What about….” His gaze moved to the window, then returned to Nero. “The pixies? We can’t just leave them out there.”
Nero grimaced. “We can and we will. I’ve already texted Captain M about them, and we’ll do our best to keep the area cordoned off, but there have been Earth fairies since there’s been an earth. We can’t kill or bargain with them. At least not easily. And they’re only going bad right now because we’re so close to the lake and that demon.”
“But what if someone else walks by? What if a kid—?”
“Most people can’t see or hear them. Only paranormal creatures like us get the show. And we know to give them a wide berth.”
Bruce nodded, though he looked like he wanted to argue. Laddin didn’t give him the chance. Instead, he tugged him farther down the hallway. “Come on,” he said. “You have no idea how much I want a hot shower right now.”
“I bet I do,” Bruce responded.
Yeah, he probably did. They found the room, and Laddin opened the door. The bedroom was small and had a queen-sized bed that would only fit one of them comfortably. It looked like heaven to Laddin, as long as there were no pixies in the vicinity. Especially since it had an attached bathroom.
Actually, the room was a converted closet, but it had plumbing, and that would do for Laddin. As for Bruce—
“This is great,” the guy said, relief heavy in his words. “Better than my first firehouse.”
Once the door shut behind them, Bruce let some of his feelings show. His shoulders sagged, his head dropped against the paneling, and his eyes seemed to be drawn to the bed. But he simply stood there for a moment, holding himself back, until he finally said, “The smell of smoke doesn’t bother me. If you’d rather be alone, I can stay in the barn—”
“We’ll make it work here,” Laddin said. “In fact, why don’t you take the
