Page 19 of Fairies Don't Fall

I focused on that mind and went through the layers of his knowledge until I was startled out of my research by Max’s wolf bumping my shoulder with his enormous muzzle. I shrieked before I could stop myself.

“Sorry,” I whispered, and tried to smile. “I won’t tell you how big and terrifying you are. Are you done bleeding? Already? Good thing werewolves heal so fast.” I carefully tried to examine his chest, but the fur was stuck together with his blood. “Right. Let’s go to the shower.” I opened the door and went out, holding it open for Max’s massive, terrifying beast of a wolf who followed me out, staring at me with his golden eyes.

Washing down Max’s wolf was simply unearthly. He was just so big, so he had to crouch down as I rubbed on the shampoo. Shampoo. Such a strange word. In the process, the scent of wet dog and blood was incredibly potent. Also, there was so much fur. I used more and more of the shampoo, working on hisbelly and legs until the bottle was empty, and he and his fur were clean. Then he nosed the other bottle. That’s right, the conditioner. Heaven forbid a massive war wolf not have silky fur. After that bottle was empty, he nosed me back in the water to help him rinse that out. He was gently bossy, and I was soaked and tired when he finally left the shower and shook his fur, spraying me liberally. I stood there, flinching while his hair poofed up all over and he looked at me with his tongue lolling.

His expression was just so ridiculous, like his fur, like the fact that I, a fairy, had worked so hard to make his fur silky. I giggled, and then another loud burble of laughter came out of me until sparkly tears were streaming down my face. What in the world was I doing in a werewolf bathhouse? If I was an even partially competent ruler, I would have delegated this, rooted out whoever was trying to get Fairyland invaded a second time, and maintained my dignity. Instead, I was ‘Princess Sparkles,’ the wolf washer.

I wiped my eyes as my laughter faded to find the wolf studying me with his head cocked as if to say, ‘Have you lost your mind, Princess Sparkles? No, you were crazy from the first moment I found you fighting the hosts of the owl god.’

I smiled at him and grabbed his cheeks, which were now so soft, if slightly damp. “Such a cute fluffy wolf. I need to tour the caverns so I can have a better idea how to turn it into a forest. Do you want to shift back now?”

He ducked down and lifted me onto his head, and then shook me until I was perched between his shoulders, so high from the ground.

“Max, what are you doing? It’s not dignified for wolves to be ridden.”

He looked over his shoulder at me, golden eyes gleaming and then he crouched long enough for me to dig my fingers and toes into his fur. He leapt forward, crashed through the door,then down the tile hall, sliding around wildly while I held on with my eyes squeezed as tight as they could be and still see the world passing by. The stairs were terrifying. He took them in two massive bounds, then we were racing past the bathers, who looked at us with expressions of startled awe.

I should have waved like we were in a parade, but there was no time. I should have a parade in Fairyland to raise the people’s morale. Hadn’t had one of those in decades.

Someone opened the front door for Max, so he didn’t have to break it. We soared down the steps and into a road, where a car squealed and honked at us. We were gone in another bound, across the street, then running down an alley. The end was coming up fast, but he leapt, one wall, the other wall, then over the end, onto a roof.

I couldn’t breathe, but I clung to Max’s wolf and gasped giggles, because this whole thing was so nonsensical. There should be a moon above us, lighting our way through the dark undercity. The city’s lamps hummed the same subtle tune they always sang, while the wolf ran. He leapt down onto the street again, this time merging with the cars, and he was as large as some of them. One small face looked out a car window, finger pointed at us, but then we were gone, so fast, so fearless, reckless, and absolutely delicious.

I used to love to fly on a dragonfly. This reminded me of that, only Max was different. Maybe it’s because I’d groomed him so well, but I felt more connected to his movements than I ever did one of my short-lived steeds. We were one on that ridiculous, impossible ride, one in flesh, one in spirit, and one in exhilaration.

He broke out of the city, passed the ugly warehouse, and then into the entrance of the caverns. He kept running on the stone into the dark, his smooth gait long and loping, until finally, he spun, flinging me off his back. Mid spin, he shifted, turned intohuman Max with that alarming shaved face. He grabbed my wrist, keeping me from flying into a wall, then pulled me close and spun me under his arm in an elaborate dance move that not one fairy in a thousand could have executed so gracefully. No, graceful was the wrong word. Power, control, balance, precision, but not grace.

His eyes burned while he held me in that dance position, staring down at me with those glittering golden eyes. They were almost more beautiful than the moon.

I blinked and pulled away, rubbing my forehead while I reeled without his stabilizing hold. “That was a very efficient use of time and space,” I said, sounding breathless.

“I do strive for efficiency,” he drawled then crouched down on his heels, studying me. He was wearing long pants, long-sleeved shirt, buttoned all the way up so I couldn’t see if his wounds were seeping, or if his chest was still bewildering in its muscular complexity.

I pointed at him. “Why aren’t you naked?”

He raised a brow. “Was that a request?”

I shook my head rapidly. “No, just a question based on the physics of turning into a wolf wearing a towel then turning into Lord Max fully clothed.”

He shrugged. “It’s called…magic.” He gestured to his left forearm, which I remembered as being perfectly, fascinatingly muscled, but was now covered in white fabric. “I have some sorcery runes that link to my closet.”

“Oh. That makes sense.” Not really, but I had other things to worry about. Like how I was supposed to turn the stone into dirt. I frowned down at the ground. “I’m going to concentrate for some time, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure. I never mind. That’s why I’m the alpha.”

I blinked at him. His golden eyes flickered warm and soft. I cleared my throat while uncomfortable weird emotions roiledinside of me. It was probably the bare jaw that was making me feel so uncomfortably aware of him. “Your logic is flawless. If you could…”

He nodded soberly and pressed his lips together. Were they as soft as they looked? Not that I really wanted to know something that ridiculous. But Ruin kept thinking we were making out, so of course I thought about it. I needed to focus on the mind that had known so much and dig deeper. He led me through his understanding, one step at a time, slow yet thorough until I blinked the cavern and Max back into focus.

He was standing, with a twitching, large insect in his fingers. “You said you were hungry. Care for a bite?”

The thing kicked its legs, antennae twitching. For some reason, the sight of that bug struck me as revolting. Probably because it was.

I shuddered. “No, thank you. I’m not very hungry anymore.”

“It just went away? I had no idea that hunger could just go away. Well, no sense in wasting it.” He popped the insect in his mouth, and my whole body twinged at the sight.

I grabbed him, pulling him close while my mind tangled with that other fairy as well as the disgust at the bug. “Max, spit it into my hands. Don’t swallow, okay? I need it.”

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