Pink Princess Fairytini (Fairy Files #2) (34 page)

I had enough time to shudder, before he was gone. I leapt to my feet, ready to fight, and saw Mercury, Frost, and Buddy sitting on Benny. Two goons were laid out on the floor, dead or unconscious, and a third was fighting Brace and Sandra, but staggering. Harvey stood at the window, scanning the street for trouble.

“Well,” I said, wiping the blood off my neck. I didn’t feel any more blood pumping out, so I figured the wounds were superficial. “That was easy.”

We used the useless rope to tie up Benny and started dragging him toward the portal in his house. “You are an idiot if you think you can hold me,” he said. “I’m a dragon and I am slave to no one. I will escape, I will come for each of you, and I will kill you slowly. One. By. One.”

“Can’t someone shut him up?” Harvey asked.

“Nah,” Buddy said. “Let him talk. His delusions are amusing.”

Benny growled. “Just for that, troll, I’m going to start with your baby. I’m going to—”

Buddy punched Benny in the face one, two, three times until he was out. I guess his ‘delusions’ were no longer amusing to Buddy. “Fucking dragons,” Buddy said, as we resumed our trek through the maze of Benny’s house.

We reached the door to Rubalia and stopped. “Okay,” I said. “As much as I hate to ask, I can’t drag Benny through Rubalia on my own and Frost goes wolfy over there, so I’m going to need some volunteers to go with me.”

“Isn’t Hieronymus going to meet us over there?” Frost asked.

I shrugged. “He’s going to try, but I’m not sure that he expected us so soon.”

“Well, I’ll—” Sandra started.

Three men and two women, all with dragon heads, stormed into the room and roared at us. It was quite effective as a scare tactic. Harvey had been at the back of our small group, since he couldn’t travel to Rubalia, and one of the dragon heads picked him up and threw him across the room. He hit the wall with a sickening crack and went limp.

I watched him slide to the floor, sure he was dead, and I saw red. I gripped my sword tight and charged the dragon who’d hurt Harvey. I swung the sword like it was a part of me and hit the dragon woman so hard in the neck that I severed her ungainly head from her body. Blood sprayed me, and she fell in a heap at my feet.

Two of the other dragons roared and ran at me, claws out. I was dead. I knew it, but I wouldn’t go down without causing them some pain. The first one hit me hard and knocked me to the ground. I rolled, looking for the second one, while the one who’d hit me tried to regain his balance. Gunshots exploded and both of the dragon people hit the floor with red blooms on their chests. The rat-a-tat from a gun continued and I got to my feet and stood to see Sandra, a gun in her hand, face pale and her whole body shaking. There were no more dragon people left, so I went to my cousin and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.

“I’ve never killed anyone before,” she said.

“You saved my life,” I said. “Maybe saved all of our lives. I owe you.”

I passed the shaking Sandra to Brace’s capable arms and ran to Harvey’s limp body. Frost joined me, looking at me over my ex-lover’s body. I saw Harvey’s chest rise and fall and let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. “He’s still alive, but it’s going to take a lot out of me to save him.”

“Do it,” Frost said. “I’ll take Benny to Rubalia alone if I have to.”

I gave him a look that suggested he was insane, and he laughed. “I’ll take Mercury or Vin with me. Just do what you have to do for your man.”

I nodded and bent over Harvey. I ran my hands over his body, assessing his injuries. He had a fracture in his spine and three broken ribs, as well as head trauma. It would take almost all I had to heal him. I pushed my healing energy into him and eased the bruising and swelling in his head, knitted up the fracture in his spine. I could feel that I was reaching the end of my energy and I knew Harvey would forgive me for not fixing his ribs. I could fix the ribs after we’d survived Rubalia. On another day, I probably could have fixed his ribs and had enough healing energy to heal three more people, but it seemed I was still drained from healing the kids Benny had almost killed, despite the energy boost I’d gotten from Frost.

I rose out of my healing trance and faced Frost. “I’ve left him with three broken ribs, but I think he’ll understand.”

“Yeah,” Harvey said, wincing as he sat up. “I’ll live. Go get the dragon home.”

We left a shaken Sandra and Brace to watch over Harvey and make sure he got home okay. I promised I’d stop by and heal him up when we got back. Then Frost, Mercury, Vin, and I crossed through the portal to hand Benny over to my mother.

Unfortunately, the house we entered, the house where we’d found the children, wasn’t empty. The dragons who’d been keeping the kids were nowhere to be seen, but a family of brownies were having what appeared to be lunch in the dining room.

“That is a private portal, and it may not be used without our permission,” a tall, thin brownie said standing and facing us.

I wobbled on my feet, still feeling drained after healing Harvey, and Frost shifted into a werewolf, causing the brownies to shriek and leap to the other side of the table.

“We’ll just be on our way then,” said Mercury, tossing Benny over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. In human form, Benny was a small guy, compared to Frost and Mercury, but I knew he wasn’t light, because I’d help drag him to the portal.

I followed Mercury and Vin out of the house. Frost came last, growling at the brownies, in case they decided to give chase. I wanted to ask them why they’d allowed their portal to be used for kidnapped children, but I didn’t have the energy to fight them if they changed their minds about being afraid of Frost. Besides, I figured they were my mother’s problem.

Mercury made it across the yard and several yards down a dirt road before he grunted and dropped Benny on the ground. Benny stirred and groaned, but didn’t wake up. I sat down next to him because it looked like a really comfy spot, and I was so, so tired.

Mercury looked from me to Benny and back again. “This is not good. Do you have any way to contact Hieronymus?”

I shook my head. “No. Not unless you know smoke signals. Then you could make Morse code and maybe he’d see it.” I was hilarious, and I couldn’t stop laughing.

Vin glanced back at the house and frowned. “Those brownies are outside and they’re watching us. We need to get out of here.”

“Horses,” I said, tipping to the side a bit and resting my upper body on Benny. “We need horses.”

Mercury huffed, and bent and lifted Benny over his shoulder again. Vin gave me a hand up and supported me as we walked behind Mercury. My legs felt like jelly, and I just wanted to lay down somewhere and go to sleep.

“We’ll get you to sleep just as soon as we can, midge,” Vin said, and I realized I’d spoken aloud.

“Did you just call me a bug?”

“It’s a term of endearment,” Vin said.

“Huh,” I said. “Because you find bugs cute?”

“I don’t know,” Vin said. “It’s just something we say.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t say it if you don’t know why you say it.”

Vin sighed, but said nothing more. We trudged on in silence, stopping every fifty yards or so to give Mercury a break.

I’m pretty sure Vin was dragging me and my wings were frostbitten when we finally saw a sign of life. A brownie in a cart pulled by two horses. Mercury hailed him and he gave us a ride to the fairy castle, which turned out to be only about five miles away. I’m pretty sure I fell asleep, because I don’t remember most of the trip. Vin helped me out of the cart and started shouting orders like she was the queen.

“Get us Hieronymus, and get this dragon in a cage.”

Hieronymus arrived moments later and echoed Vin’s order to get the dragon to the dungeon. Benny had woken up by that point and was using every curse word I’ve ever heard and some I hadn’t. Hieronymus took one look at me and got angry.

“What have you allowed to happen to the princess?” he asked Vin.

“It wasn’t—” I said.

“She’s just tired from healing her boyfriend,” Vin said. “Can she get a nap and some food?”

“Food,” I said. “Food first.”

“You should not have allowed her to overtax herself healing a human,” Hieronymus said, making the word human sound like a swear word.

“It was her choice,” Vin said. “Don’t blame—”

“Can I get some food before I pass out?” I asked. Frost growled to back me up, and I patted him on the head. He was a good dog.

Hieronymus led me to a huge room with a banquet table that could seat about a hundred people and fed me and my friends whatever we asked for. Being royalty wasn’t so bad. After I’d eaten, I felt more like myself and decided I’d rather nap in my own bed. Hieronymus assured me that my mother would restore my club to me as soon as she could. I told him I’d start playing gatekeeper once my club was opened, so she’d best hurry up.

Hieronymus nodded and gave us horses to take us to the nearest portal, which was still in the night club in the faun village. Somehow, Benny and his minions hadn’t managed to close that one, yet.

“And I’m naked again,” Frost said, as soon as we landed in the DJ booth of the packed night club. I managed to avert my eyes before I saw his man bits…again. But the DJ, who happened to be a woman that night, had no such qualms.

“Well, hello, handsome,” she said, running her eyes over Frost. “I have to work for another hour, but if you hang around you could help me get off.”

I rolled my eyes at her cheesy pick-up line, but I had to admit I was impressed by her confidence. Judging by the crowd on the dance floor, it was well past closing time for any clothing stores in the area, and I doubted they had jeans and a t-shirt in Frost’s size in the club’s lost and found box.

“Let’s make a human shield,” I said. “I’ll walk in front, Vin will cover the back, and you, Mercury, block the side.”

Mercury looked like he might want to argue about his match covering Frost’s very nice back side, but she narrowed her eyes at him, and he let it go. “And what do we do once we’re on the street?” he asked. “I don’t think we can get a cab for a naked guy.”

“Who do we know who has a car?” I asked.

“Harvey,” Frost said, and Mercury and Vin nodded their heads.

“No, he’s got broken ribs,” I said, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “Let’s call Sandra.”

We got Frost through the club and managed to cover him in a dark alleyway outside until Sandra’s truck pulled up. Frost and I got in the cab and Mercury and Vin cuddled in the bed.

“Here, cover that thing up,” Sandra said, throwing Frost a towel.

“You couldn’t bring me pants?” he asked.

Sandra smirked. “You get what you get wolf boy.”

Frost shook his head.

“Where to first?” Sandra said. “Mercury and Vin are coming home with me, so you want me to take you to Harvey’s, Chloe?”

I cleared my throat and looked out the window. I was way too tired for this conversation, but it didn’t look like I had any choice. It might seem petty, but I didn’t want to return to the condo until I knew my mother had cleared my club, and I couldn’t go to Harvey’s because we’d just broken up. But I also didn’t want to ask Frost if I could crash with him yet again.

“Take Chloe to Harvey’s, first,” Frost said. “I want to see her home safe.”

I couldn’t help the snort that escaped as Sandra revved the engine and put the truck in gear. “No,” I said. “Harvey and I broke up. I can’t stay there.”

“So you’ll stay with me,” Frost said, like it was a foregone conclusion.

“I could just stay at the condo,” I said. “I don’t want to impose on you.”

“No,” Frost said. “I know people like your mother. If she thinks you need her or have conceded to her wishes even the tiniest bit, she will keep pushing to see if she can get more from you. I’d like for you to stay with me.”

Sandra steered in the direction of Frost’s place, and I gave up arguing. I’d have to go to Harvey’s to get my stuff and to heal his broken ribs, but I needed sleep first.

No one spoke on the short trip to Frost’s apartment. We thanked Sandra for the ride, said good night to Mercury and Vin, and headed in.

“I like having you here,” Frost said, once the door was closed behind us.

My head spun around like that little girl’s in the Exorcist. “Are you feeling okay?”

He gave me one of his genuine smiles, the heart stopping variety. “I’m feeling great. You okay about your break up with Harvey?”

“Yeah,” I said. “It was a lot for him to take in, me being a fairy and a faun and a princess and the owner of a club that a lot of his buddies hate.”

Frost dropped his keys on the kitchen counter and pulled two bottles of water from the fridge. He handed me one and leaned against the counter. “He’s a good man and I hoped you two might work together, but I think he needs a submissive woman. A delicate flower he can protect. You will never be that woman.”

I studied him for a moment. “You’re right. I don’t know why I didn’t see it.”

“Lust is blind.”

My stomach dropped. “It was more than lust. I like Harvey as a person. I always have.” I shook my head. “But you still think that’s all I am. Lust.”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I always manage to say the wrong thing around you, when what I want to say is that I think you’re amazing. I feel lucky to have you in my life.”

I blinked a couple of times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating, but he just smiled.

“Do you need clothes for bed?” he asked.

I nodded and he left the kitchen, returning moments later with a t-shirt and sweat pants.

“Leah left these here,” he said. “They should fit you.”

“Thanks.” He nodded and started back toward his room. “Wait,” I said, because I still hadn’t figured him out and I really wanted to understand him. “I know I don’t always show it, but I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. Everything you
do
for me.”

He swallowed hard and stared at the wall for a long moment, before he returned his gaze to me. “It has been and always will be my pleasure, Chloe.” Then he left, closing his door behind him. I smiled and wondered how Frost and I had become friends, when I’d been so certain a couple of weeks ago that we’d never do more than barely tolerate one another. I headed to bed, leaving that question for another day.