Bjorn moved his hands again. His spells weren’t for Ranger. They were meant to conceal the two magicals sitting directly in front of the garage door.
Gerard and Remy Geroux, both in their dire wolf form, sat in Ed’s driveway about ten feet from the door. Neither wore vests, but if there were questions, the fake K-9 unit behind which Ed stood would provide cover.
Even if the kelpie smelled the wolves coming, the spells meant he wouldn’t see them.
“We will increase protections on your family,” Bjorn rumbled. “The whole city.” He sniffed as he flipped his hands. “The state.” His lip twitched and the blue dancing along his shoulders brightened. “This will never happen to your children again, Eduardo Martinez. On this, I swear.”
Wrenn’s lips rounded for a split second as if this was the first time in her life she’d seen a magical vow to protect mundanes.
It wasn’t Ed’s. Usually they did a good enough job.
Usually.
Ed looked up at the huge elf. Bjorn’s jaw worked. He was barely containing his rage.
“If that kelpie harms any of our mundanes, I will lay waste to Oberon’s realm,” Bjorn rumbled. He didn’t look at Wrenn.
She blinked again. “Noted,” she said.
This was not a normal elven display. Not even close. And frankly, even though Bjorn was here to protect Ed’s family, his reaction was epic-battle-ready level behavior. The elf looked moments from manifesting his elven armor.
Wrenn continued to watch Bjorn with wide eyes as if she figured he’d burst open at any moment. Which he might.
“The van’s engine just engaged,” Bjorn raised his hands. “Go!”
The werewolves literally vanished behind concealment enchantments. Bjorn, too.
Wrenn blinked. “I can’t see their magicks.”
Ed slapped the SUV and motioned for her to move with him, slow and steady, along the side of the driveway toward the door. “The enchantments are working.”
She stepped in front of him. “I can take any blasts from Ranger. Stay behind me.”
Except she couldn’t. He’d overpowered her in the park. But she seemed to believe that to be a fluke.
Ed nodded anyway and stayed slightly behind her, but not so much so he couldn’t fire his shotgun if he needed to.
They were halfway up the driveway when the garage door lifted enough to give the werewolves a clear line of vision.
“Duck!” Sophia screamed from inside.
Gerard Geroux manifested as he leaped onto the hood of their family van.
He’d changed behind the concealments.
In their human forms, Gerard and Remy were two of Alfheim’s most upstanding citizens. Both were Scout troop leaders. Gerard would plow out your driveway if he happened to be in the area. They donated a lot of time and money to just about every good cause in the county.
What hit the van scared the crap out of Ed.
Ten years in Alfheim and Ed had only seen a werewolf in wolfman form twice, and neither of them had been one of the alphas.
They hadn’t told him they were going do this. They’d only said the Alphas would go in first and distract Ranger.
Gerard still had the tail and the wolf head, and the bulk of his brown-black fur, but he was definitely human. A human with big wolf teeth, and huge wolf claws.
Ed’s son sat in the driver’s seat, eyes wide and white with terror. Sophia, in the back, gaped at the werewolf. That slimeball Ranger had the damned sword between his legs and it stood straight up like he’d jabbed the tip into the floor of the van.
Ed and Wrenn were five feet from the open garage door when Gerard locked his claws into the windshield.
Sophia didn’t open the side door to escape. She leaned forward and clasped her brother’s bicep, putting herself directly in the werewolf’s path.
Something was wrong.
The glass shrieked and buckled, lifting up away from the van under Gerard’s claws like it was paper, and pulled away from its seal to the automobile.
The windshield popped out and folded over in Gerard’s hand like a twinkling glass cape.
The kids ducked and screamed. Ranger looked directly at Wrenn. He grinned.
She looked down at her wrist.
Gerard tossed the glass into the driveway.
“Stop!” Wrenn yelled. “He took my Heartway token!”
Ranger slapped one of his hands over Sophia’s hand on Gabe’s bicep.
“Red! Don’t!” Wrenn leaped toward the van and grabbed the driver’s side door handle.
But Remy was there, leaping from God knows where, also in wolfman form, diving to bite Ranger’s arm right off and to get between the kelpie and Ed’s kids.
Ranger slapped his other hand, the one with his little coin of magic, onto the hilt of the sword.
The damned sword went nuclear.
And Ed’s garage vanished.
Chapter 20
The sword screamed. Searing pain blasted from her, hot like the sun, bound and burning and bidden from Muspelheim. Ranger had somehow woken her up.
Except she wasn’t awake. He’d pulled her nightmares to the surface and they were all about to pay the price of whatever spells the fae had used to bind a powerful elven weapon.
Each Heartway token was an access key. It allowed passage into what was essentially a system of spellwork tunnels built within the many veils between the many realms. And the veil between the fae realms and the real world.
Wrenn didn’t have the power needed to open gates. Neither did Ranger. But Ranger was fae, and Ranger was magical.
Wrenn looked down at her wrist. Ranger was also a thief.
And, it seemed, he was better at being all those things than anyone thought possible.
Wrenn looked back at the van as the wolfman tossed the glass into the driveway. The second one leaped. They were almost between Ranger and the kids. But it didn’t matter.
“Stop!” Wrenn yelled. “He took my Heartway token!” Not that the elves or the other members of their community would understand what she meant.
Ranger, in the passenger seat of Sheriff Martinez’s van, clamped a hand down on top of the girl’s hand on her brother’s arm.
We bind thee, Fenrir! the sword shrieked. We bind thee near!
Red wasn’t in this moment. She
