Page 62 of Tooth and Nail

“They look ridiculous,” Ari said quietly.

They were more than a hundred feet from the couple but the moment the phrase left Ari’s lips, the fairies both turned in unison, zeroing in on them instantly.

“Oh, shit,” Ari said.

Eoghan glanced at him to find him grimacing. He was outfitted with not only his sidearm and Marshal’s star clearly visible where it was pinned to his belt, but the sugar netting in its sheath, slung over one shoulder. He hoped they’d come out of this without having to deploy the things to contain two very angry space fairies but he was ready for whatever happened if an innocent civilian got in the way. Why hadn’t they thought of it when choosing a place to meet? Why hadn’t the chief come to the same conclusion?

Then again, maybe they only attacked if they felt like someone was about to uncover a truth which they were trying to hide, the way Gladys or Acosta had. After all, they’d been interacting with neighbors and shopping for sugar and whatever else they consumed. He took some comfort in this new revelation. He’d protect his partner no matter what. Still, little was known about space fairies and Eoghan didn’t know whether conventional weapons would work on them. No one had any contact with them other than Alvarez and Wick and they hadn’t been able to tell anyone what effect their weapons had on the space fairies.

Alvarez had walked away from his interviews with them noting nothing exceptional about them, other than their long, blue tongues when they talked, and Wick couldn’t remember anything about their meeting after waking to find Acostain pieces. When developing the sugar netting, they’d only speculated that something like it might work but there was no way to know. They were totally on their own.

“Here we go,” Eoghan said. They continued walking toward the pair, looking at their chins as they approached. When they’d come to a stop in front of them, Eoghan lifted his gaze for a second, locking gazes with Titania.

“I don’t know if you remember me,” he said, quickly glancing away.

“Yes,” she answered in a distorted female voice. “We do. Where’s your female?”

“Deputy Marshal Gladys Wyatt died,” he replied, turning to Ari who was looking at the ground. “This is my new partner, Aristotle Brown.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ari said, looking up and meeting her eyes for a moment before glancing at her mate, then looking away.

“You’ve come to find our offspring,” Oberon said, ignoring Ari, and dismissing any pleasantries.

“We’re here to help if we can,” Eoghan replied. “Can you tell us what happened or how you discovered they were missing? There are two, correct?”

“Ariel and Umbriel,” Titania replied in the strange timbre. “We were on the same land as before, when Miranda was killed.”

“Do you think it was your rivals, the same ones who killed Miranda?” Eoghan asked.

“We do not know,” Titania replied.

“Then, I don’t really know what to tell you or how to help you. We have no special powers for finding space fairies’ missing offspring. Of course, we’ll do what we can. Have you searched the forest? It’s close to the spot where Miranda disappeared, correct?” Eoghan asked.

“We cannot go into the forest,” Oberon said.

Titania turned to look at him, and Eoghan was surprised to see him visibly shrink back. He wondered if there had been some sort of telepathic communication between them. Clearly, the male had spoken out of turn. She pivoted to look back at them, putting her body between them and the male.

“You must go to look in the forest. If they are there, you must bring them back.”

Eoghan wanted to tell the imperious creature that they didn’thaveto do a single fucking thing for her but instead he smiled politely, still looking at her chin. “We will do what you ask.” He glanced over at Ari before looking back. “We’ll contact you by telephone to tell you what happened. There will be no more face-to-face meetings.”

“Yes,” Titania said.

Eoghan looked at Ari. “Let’s go.”

Ari opened his mouth to say something, but Eoghan deliberately widened his eyes, silently begging him not to say a word. As if he’d said it out loud, Ari closed his mouth as quickly as he’d opened it.

Eoghan looked back at the couple and bowed his head. “We’ll be in touch.” He turned and waited for Ari to do the same, stepping in beside him as they headed out of the travel center and walked in silence back to their car. They didn’t speak until they were in it, speeding down the highway going north. He blew out a relieved breath, happy to be away from the strange creatures. “Okay, it’s safe to talk.”

“That was so strange,” Ari began. “Did you see how stiff they were?”

“They’re probably having a hard time maintaining their human forms and having to concentrate really hard,” Eoghan said. “A lot of times, shifters have the same problem. They must expend a huge amount of energy to stay in their shiftedforms. No doubt, Titania and Oberon are having the same issues.” In his peripheral vision, he could see Ari turn to look at him.

“That happens? It’s weird to think about them not being able to hold their human forms but what you said makes total sense when you think about it.”

“It does happen and yeah, it’s super strange. I’ve seen a shifter change back when he was unable to hold his form. It was a werewolf puppy who was frightened.”

“Aww, that’s so sad. Was he okay?”

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