The Hob (The Gray Court 4) (24 page)

“Then we need to make sure he doesn’t get a shot at me. But if he thinks he can scare me away…well. Okay. Normally, he’d be
so
right.” She took his hand. “But not today.”

He cupped her cheek. “And what is different about today?”

“If he scares me off, that just proves that I’m weak, and that can and will be used against you. If I don’t take a stand right now, if I allow him to push me from my home, I give the Black Court carte blanche to bully me and, in effect, bully you.” She kissed his palm. “You told me you were in security.”

“I am the leader of the Knights of Oberon, also known as Oberon’s Blades.”

“Let me guess. They are fighters, cops…assassins?”

And much more, but she’d grasped the concept nicely. “Yes.”

“Then you have to take me back with you. Set guards around me if you like, but if you hide me away I become a liability, and you know it.”

She was right, but oh, so wrong as well. If anything happened to her, his oaths to protect and defend wouldn’t matter any longer. Nothing would.

“I think you should remain here as well, Michaela.” Oberon stared at Robin. “I think you should know that Shane Dunne has foreseen her death.”

For just a split second he lost control of his form, but he pulled it back before Michaela could see too much. She wasn’t ready for that part of him. She might never be. He turned to her, aware he looked less than human, with his fangs, claws and glowing green eyes. “You stay here.”

She glared at him for a moment before turning to Oberon. “Did this Shane guy say how I was supposed to die?” Oberon shook his head. “There, you see? For all you know, leaving me behind could be the decision that ends me.”

“Bringing you along is more likely.”

She smiled sadly. “Did you ever notice that most of Greek mythology is based around trying to
avoid
fate?”

Robin growled. “Do you want to die?” He wasn’t arguing with her about this. “Do you have any idea what will happen if I lose you now?”

“Of course I don’t want to die! I just got my dream man, damn it.” Her shoulders slumped. “I’m scared.”

He pulled her into his arms. “Then stay here. Stay safe.”

She hugged him back. “That’s the problem. Where will be safer, staying here alone, or going with you? What if it’s a fate that can’t be avoided no matter which decision we make?” She looked up at him, and he could see the raw determination in her gaze. “Call Shane. Find out if he can give you more details than what you’ve got now. If he tells you I should stay put, I’ll stay. I promise. And if he says I should go with you—”

He closed his eyes and gritted out through clenched teeth, “You go.” He sighed roughly when she kissed his chin. “Damn you.”

“Damn you too.” The affection in her tone belied her words.

Chapter Nineteen

Michaela slipped through the front door of the hospital and tried to hide her smirk.

“You will be careful.”

She rolled her eyes. For someone who was supposed to be invisible Robin was being awfully chatty. “Yes, dear.” She turned her head and smiled at a patient, making sure the Bluetooth headset was visible. The last thing she needed were rumors that she talked to herself getting back to Dick McGrabbyhands. He’d have her off the floor in a nanosecond if he could, and that would give him all the ammunition he needed.

Not that it mattered for much longer. Robin had made it more than clear that he expected her to move to Colorado, to his home. She couldn’t blame him. While she loved her life in Philadelphia, she was now the spouse of one of the most powerful fae in the world. And hadn’t that been a long, intriguing conversation? Who knew there were brownies, sylphs, leprechauns and Sidhe running around, living normal, everyday lives?

Her family was going to love this.
If
she got to explain it. She wasn’t certain how Robin, let alone Oberon, would handle the Extons when they descended on Colorado.

And she was mortal, which she knew was making Robin’s protective instincts go into overdrive. There were things in this world she couldn’t fight back against, McNeil being one of them. If one of those Black Court fae got their hands on her, they’d use her against Robin. No, it was safer for her to move to him, where he had safeguards in place, than to force him to move to her.

She would miss her friends and being so close to her family, but Robin was worth anything.

“Where is the mortuary?”

Michaela punched the button on the elevator and waited quietly. She couldn’t answer him with all the people around. It might be early evening, but the hospital still had staff, patients and visitors ready to leave for the day. But she couldn’t hide the smile threatening to overtake her. His disgusted, put-upon voice was just too cute.

He’d called Shane, who’d told him that Michaela had to go back with him to Philadelphia. In fact, he’d gone one better. He’d convinced Robin to allow Michaela to be the one to get into the hospital records and check out the names of the chewed-on bodies brought in from the Delaware River. Once she had the data they needed, she was to send everything she had over to someone named Big Red, who would dig further than Michaela’s limited access would allow.

Without Michaela’s assistance, the search Big Red would have to conduct would be far too widespread and take too long to do a lick of good. The river could have carried them beyond the
SS United States
; if so, they might not even be in her hospital’s records, but it would give Red a starting point. Red had even told them that he could use that entry point in the hospital’s computers to jump from coroner’s office to coroner’s office. Michaela was glad to help, even if what she was doing was illegal. No human cop could deal with a monster like McNeil. Robin and his Blades were the only ones who could, and this was the first step in establishing McNeil’s hunting grounds.

McNeil needed to be stopped
now,
and Michaela was going to help do so. She was totally willing to do her part. McNeil was a man-eating, creepy-ass monster, and she hoped she never came face-to-face with him again.

The elevator arrived and Michaela stepped in, followed by her invisible lover. “Remember, do nothing foolish.”

She kept the smile on her face even though it was becoming increasingly difficult. The mini lectures had started the moment her scrubs went on and hadn’t let up once. Hell, he hadn’t even made fun of her lavender Hello Kitty scrubs.

If he didn’t knock it off, he was going to learn all about her mighty fists of death, damn it.

“Hell and damnation.”

“What?” Michaela glanced around as she stepped off the elevator and onto her floor. Her best bet at getting to a terminal would be here.

“I think I saw McNeil.”

“Crap.” Why was he there? He had no business being around sick children. “Robin, you need to get him gone.”

The snarl she received in reply was inhuman, full of rage.

“Robin, the kids. Please.”

She felt a brush of wind, Robin’s anger and fear manifesting as he sped away. The familiar sense of his presence was gone, leaving her alone and vulnerable.

Michaela mentally shook herself. Alone, maybe, but far from vulnerable. She’d taken care of herself long before Robin entered her life. She could do so again.

She hoped.

Maybe.

Hell, who was she kidding? There was some scary-ass shit out there, and if Robin didn’t get back to her as soon as possible she really
was
going to freak the hell out and give McGrabby something to fire her over.

She made her way to one of the nurse’s terminals, exchanging quick greetings with the nurse on duty, and began typing. She just hoped it wasn’t obvious how badly her hands were shaking.

“Michaela, I didn’t know you were on duty today.”

Crap. “I’m not. I’m just checking up on a patient.”

“Who?”

Michaela had an answer ready. “You remember that guy Will and Ed brought into emergency a couple of days ago?”

“The guy who wanted to be called Snod?”

“That’s the one.”

“Hasn’t he been discharged?”

Michaela paused, her fingers still on the keys. “Really? He was pretty injured.”

“I don’t know, but that’s what I heard.”

“I’m going to check anyway. If he’s still here I’m going to go visit him.”

“Just don’t let Dick see you. You know how he is. He catches you on the computer during off hours, he won’t just fire you. He’ll try and have your license revoked.” The nurse grimaced. “Of course, he’ll offer you an out, if you’ll just go quietly to his office and lock the door.”

Michaela shuddered, glad Robin hadn’t heard that. She might hate Dick, but she didn’t want him dead, and she got the impression Robin wouldn’t tolerate Dick’s grabby ways. “I bet if we all got together and complained to the higher–ups they’d have to do something about him. It’s sexual harassment, damn it.”

“What is?”

Michaela glanced up, startled to find herself almost nose to nose with Raven MacSweeney. “Um. Raven. Hi.”

He smirked. “Hi. I missed you today. You never showed up at the convention.”

Her one concession to Robin’s fears, and her own. Damn it, she’d really wanted to go, too. “I was busy.”

“Indeed?” He leaned against the counter, smiling at her like she was his whole world. “With whom?”

“Not now, Raven. Please.” She began typing again. She didn’t have much time, and odds were good Robin would be back any minute. She couldn’t be found looking up records she wasn’t supposed to. As it was, if anyone checked, they’d be able to see she’d logged in and what records she’d accessed.

Hell, she was going to quit anyway. As protective as Robin was she didn’t see herself continuing as a nurse, even in Colorado, unless they had fae-only hospitals.

Besides, if she stayed here and McGrabby made another pass at her, Robin would probably hand him his ass on a silver platter. Literally.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” The nurse batted her lashes at Raven, but Raven barely noticed her.

“Raven, Lynn. Lynn, Raven.”

“Hi, Raven.” Michaela almost gagged when the on-duty nurse, Lynn, cranked out an overly sweet tone. Raven was a looker, but there was no need to fall all over him like that.

“Pleased to meet you.” From Raven’s tone he was a liar. He sounded far from pleased.

Michaela quickly followed the instructions Big Red had sent to Robin. While the files transferred, she jotted down her own list of names and dates. It couldn’t hurt to have a physical backup, just in case.

She got as much information to Red as she dared before shutting down the search and looking up Snod’s charts. “Huh. You’re right. He
was
discharged.” With a clean bill of health, no less. How had he…?

Oh. He must be one of the fae. Unless werewolves were real too. All the romance novels said they healed super fast.

“Told you.”

“Oh, well. I hope he does okay out there.” She hadn’t pressed charges, so the cops wouldn’t be after him. But after that odd pledge, she had to wonder if he was like Robin, one of the fae. She was willing to bet that he was, and that she hadn’t seen the last of him.

Robin would be thrilled. Not. He was far more possessive than anyone she’d ever been with.

Michaela moved out from behind the counter, pleased that she’d managed to avoid Dick’s attention. “I’ll see you later, Lynn, and thanks.”

“You too, Michaela.”

Raven grabbed hold of her arm. “Come with me.”

“What—?”

“
Now.
”

Michaela tugged on her arm, but he had it in an iron grip. Raven pulled her to a deserted hallway. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Crap. Was Raven fae, and if so, was he working with McNeil? But he couldn’t be. He’d protected her from McNeil, and she still had the sense that Raven wouldn’t truly hurt her.

Michaela gasped as Raven, eyes glowing a familiar, vicious green, slammed her into the wall. “You know
nothing
of the affairs you have meddled with. Do you understand the danger you have placed yourself in?” He reached into her scrubs pocket and pulled out the list of names. “McNeil will make a meal of you without a second thought.”

“I can take care of myself.” She scowled up at the big brute and ripped the paper back out of his hands. Really, what was it with these guys and ordering her around? She was getting tired of it.

“Can you?” Raven loomed over her, his hands on the wall just above her head, closing her in. One of his knees was bent, pinning her in place. “Can you truly?”

Michaela nodded and pressed a single-serving box of Cheerios into his groin. She always carried them with her to tempt the appetites of the kids who were allowed solid food but whose appetite was off due to medication. “My Taser to your balls says I can.”

Raven, eyes wide, jumped back, freeing her.

“Made you look!” And Michaela took off like the hounds of hell were on her heels.

Considering everything else she’d learned that day, maybe they were.

“Damn it.” She heard the pounding of his footfalls, knew he was after her. She rounded the corner at speed, her nurse’s shoes squeaking on the linoleum. “Michaela!” She darted for the elevator, gasping in surprise when he appeared in front of her in a swirl of black smoke. “Stop running, damn it.”