Page 22 of Secret Origins
“You two might be immortal, but some of us in the car can die from a crash.” He barked at me.
My grin grew just like his glower.
I wish Fenrir glowered, too.
No, his gaze was still pinned on my hound and the coal in his hand.
“What did the Donn Cúalinge say to you, Myst?” I squirmed in mt seat like my ass was on fire, though I said nothing. “The goddess touched,” he prodded after a second, as if I was deaf and not ignoring him on purpose. “What did he say?”
“I don’t know.” Shrugging nonchalantly, I kept my eyes on the road. “He was spitting all sorts of nonsense, and I was trying to kill him and stay alive. I didn’t pay attention.”
Fenrir didn’t believe a word I said, and I didn’t care.
“Which way, General?” A change of subject was in order and getting the human to play GPS was as perfect as any.
The Fae stayed silent, giving me side-eyed glances while the General turned me around ten times through the same roads until finally deciding to give me the right destination. I was at the end of my rope in regards to my level of patience, and his explanation that he was trying to make sure we were not followed didn’t help any. We were predators, every single one of us. We didn’t need to follow a car, we just used our noses and instincts to find a trail. Try explaining that to a human that was a second away from activating dormant genes and going all hulk in your car. Yeah, no. I kinda liked the SUV. So, I sucked it up, probably cracked a tooth or two from grinding, but I kept my mouth shut and sat there staring through the windshield at the white picket fence, the nicely-trimmed lawn, and the light blue house with a porch. A rocking chair was placed next to a side table that had a potted fern in it, the wide green leaves bowing over the ceramic protecting its roots.
The General cleared his throat in question.
“It looks”—I blinked at it stupidly—”very human.” At Fenrir’s snort, I pressed my lips together firmly so I didn’t swear at him. “Very domestic,” I amended like that made it better, then I stared at the Fae from the corner of my eye.
Fenrir chuckled.
“You really don’t value your life, do you?” Snarling at him, I hopped out of the car so I didn’t kill him for real.
“It has to be unassuming. The better it blends in, the less anyone will pay attention to the comings and goings.” The General sounded proud of himself when they joined me outside, and I begrudgingly agreed with him.
“You will bring the mage here?” Hating the fact that they could hear the nervousness in my voice, I plowed through. “Might as well get it over and done with while we make a plan to deal with the cow.”
“You really need to stop calling him a cow,” Fenrir mumbled. I ignored him.
“Let’s get inside before we attract attention.” The human looked pointedly at Fenrir. “You are sure he is safe to be allowed inside?” That question was for me, so I tilted my head and pretended to think about it.
Fenrir narrowed his eyes, a muscle jumping on one side of his jaw.
“I can always kill him for you, General.” Eventually Fenrir and I were going to really kill each other, or at least end up in bed again. The tension between us was making even the General squirm.
“I’ll hold you to that,” the human chirped too cheerfully. “Wait.” His hand wrapped around my arm and he held me back when I tried to move.
With both eyebrows raised, I watched him pull out his phone and press a button, his hold on me never ceasing. Fenrir’s eyes zeroed in on the General’s hand, his white iris flashing in anger. A flick of my hand stopped him from divorcing the human from one of his limbs.
“General, we have a visual on both subjects accompanying you. We wait on your signal.” A disembodied voice came through the speaker of the phone. Even Fenrir looked impressed.
“Stand down, these are friends”—The human gave me a shrewd look before speaking again—“this time. If you see them again without me, shoot to kill.”
My nod of agreement had him releasing my arm, and I realized it had all been planned. He hadn’t been just trying to manhandle me. By physically holding me back, he was not just using words to tell his soldiers that we weren’t a threat, he was also showing them with actions. My respect for him went up a notch, and Fenrir bowed his head in acknowledgment, even though it was barely a tilt of his chin. It must’ve hurt him a lot to do it, too.
Without further delay, I bolted down the short path and up the two wooden stairs to the porch. Grabbing the metal door handle, I was twisting it just as the General called out a bit too late, because I already had the door open a bit.
“Myst, no!” the human shouted just as a blast of magic punched me in the boob and shoulder, pirouetting me off the porch and faceplanting me in the neatly-trimmed grass.
14
Shouts were accompanied by the crashing of a door into something, then there was a lot of snarling. The buzzing in my ears quieted as I flopped on my back, groaning and spitting a mouthful off grass. Thankfully the cow was sent in time out or I didn’t think the minotaur would let me forget this moment for as long as we tango.
“Fenrir.” I rasped, lifting on both elbows but barely able to hold my head up. That mage packed a good punch.
“I will put a bullet in your head if you try to get past me again,” the General snarled, pointing a mean-looking gun with a very long barrel at Fenrir’s nose with a surprisingly steady hand.
