Page 30 of Evil Eyed
“Are you saying those cops weren’t actually human?” Riann asked. “Or are they human allies to Evil Eye? Or something else entirely?”
“They didn’t act like human police,” Keane said, shaking his head. “Aidan’s right. No regular human cop would have completely ignored five able-bodied men. Let alone scruffy motorcycle gang members like us.”
“They could be human but on Evil Eye’s payroll,” Doran added. “He has plenty of humans in service to a multitude of companies and organizations. But even corrupt cops would have shown some kind of alarm at being outnumbered by the likes of us, unless they were ordered otherwise.”
“So they’re changelings?” Riann asked. “Like Jonathan?”
“That’s a possibility,” Doran replied. “Or they could be dark fae casting a glamor to disguise their true nature, though that’s less likely in broad daylight. An imp can wander the streets at night and look like a stray animal, but it wouldn’t be able to hold such a glamor in sunlight.”
“So what I’m hearing is we need to be in and out before dark,” Vivi said.
I whipped my head around to glare at her, though I didn’t say anything. Riann held a soft spot in her heart for the woman, so I didn’t want to upset her by bellowing at her friend.
“It’s not safe,” Doran rumbled deeper and louder than ever. “Day or night. I don’t want her out of my sight.”
“If she doesn’t show up voluntarily, they’ll be back out here with an arrest warrant. Boss Man bought us time by agreeing that we’d be there.”
“Let the motherfuckers come,” I growled, clenching my fingers into fists.
Riann curled her arm around my waist, pulling me closer. “What if that’s exactly what they want? What if they want a reason to bring a swat team out here and gun you down?”
“They’re welcome to try. They’ll find me a mite harder to kill than the average human on the street.”
“Every cop in the city would be out here,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “They’d come with tanks and shields, automatic weapons, K-9 units, tear gas, bombs. Can your magic withstand that kind of firepower?”
I twisted in her grip and turned to face her, clamping my arms around her. “You fucking know we can.”
She stared up at me, dark eyes shimmering with so much emotion. Love, yes, but also heartrending terror. The same fear that must be raging in my eyes. “And then the feds will come. Maybe the Army. Cannons and tanks and airstrikes. Missiles. It’ll just keep escalating into full-blown war. You can’t win that war.”
My rage crystalized into grim ice. “Exactly. We never do.”
“But don’t you see?” Her voice broke, tears spilling from her eyes. “That’s what he wants. He wants the war. He wants the escalation and chaos that ensues. We can’t give him what he wants.”
Gripping her chin to tilt her face up to mine, I leaned down and pressed my forehead to hers. “I’ll die. Gladly. Over and over and over. But don’t you dare ask me to give you to him, love. I won’t allow it.”
Doran stepped closer, wrapping us both in his mighty arms. Ivarr and Keane joined us. Then Warwick. All the men who loved her, pressing around her, shielding her with our bodies. We would die like this if we could. But what would that solve, if she died too?
“Do you trust me?” Soft and gentle, her voice flowed around us, laced with glittering rainbows. Hope and magic, light and love. All the things we’d given up long ago.
Gods. How could I ever bear to leave her?
“Aye,” Doran answered for us all. “With our lives and hearts,mo stór.”
18
Sitting in the back seat of the swanky car that Boss Man had sent for us, I gripped Vivi’s hand and tried not to fidget with nerves.
It certainly didn’t help that I could feel the guys’ worry hammering inside my head.
I didn’t know anything about criminal cases, but this was Vivi and Boss Man’s territory. She’d been able to prep me about how the police station would be set up. Who would be there. What would happen. I’d hashed out a plan given those details.
:Plan, my ass,:Aidan growled.:Show up and don’t die isn’t a plan.:
:I need to know what they have on me. Then we’ll go from there.:
Vivi assured me that while the police certainly suspected me of murdering my ex-husband to inherit his business, they didn’t have any evidence against me, or they’d already have arrested me. Having me come down to the station for questioning was part formality and part fishing expedition. They were hoping I’d slip up and give them some information to use to prosecute me for Jonathan’s murder.
Ironically, I was guilty. I had sent him to his very slow, very painful death.
