Page 87 of Storm of Summer (Wild Haven 3)

ZARA

I’m ready for sleep. Even though our attempt to sever Anthony’s bond was a failure, it was draining. Or maybe the late hour is catching up with me. I helped at the bar earlier today with the influx of customers for the festival and I’m dead on my feet.

“We’ll talk in the morning. We’re going to bed.” Rhys says as we say our goodbyes outside the tunnel entrance. There’s not even a question about whether I’m going to spend the night at his place. Maybe I’d find it high-handed and irritating if it wasn’t so hot. Plus, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than tucked in next to Rhys all night.

Everyone splits off and heads for home, including us. When Rhys pulls his ATV into the garage behind his building, I’m nearly asleep.

“Let’s go to the front. I just want to make sure everything was put away for the night. It won’t take more than a minute.”

“’Kay,” I murmur as Rhys takes my hand, leading me around to the front of the building. I’m practically walking with my eyes closed, so I don’t notice when Rhys abruptly stops. I run into his back with an ouf, rubbing my nose when I step back.

“Why are we…” My voice trails off when I see the reason Rhys stopped. Anthony, Colton, a woman with platinum blonde hair and a sour look on her face, and a handful of other Fae are standing in front of the bar. I want to yank Rhys’s arm and force him to run, but they’ve already spotted us. A disturbing smile crawls up Anthony’s face. He’s a handsome man, but then, most Fae are attractive. The grin on his face is anything but. It’s a thing of malevolence, of undiluted evil.

“Ah yes. Just who we wanted to see. I suspect our little drudge runaway from Fairy has been filling all of your heads with ideas.”

Rhys steps more fully in front of me, as if he can keep me safe by sheer will alone. I squeeze his fingers and step to his side. Maybe it’s a stupid move, but I don’t want him hurt any more than he wants me to be in danger. Anthony’s gaze pierces straight through the heart of me. Memories, old and ones that are far too recent, of how the High Fae treat humans, make me want to crumble, but I take a fortifying breath instead.

“Why is it that a low-level piece of garbage like you thinks you can flit through the veil and start messing around with things you have no concept of?”

“What are you doing here?” Rhys cuts off Anthony’s bad guy spouting.

“Well, son.” Another man moves through the small crowd of Fae, answering Rhys instead of Anthony. This one is definitely human. It’s Rhys’s dad. “We’ve got some unfinished business that needs to be taken care of.”

Rhys’s father is handsome except his skin is a little waxy and there’s absolutely no warmth in his eyes, like there’s nothing but darkness inside him. It’s awful.

“There is nothing between us. As far as I’m concerned, you don’t even exist. You’re dead to me. Just like my mother that you murdered.”

His father jerks out a black stick from a belt on his hip, but Anthony holds up a hand to stay him. “Your petty feud isn’t why we’re here, Scott.”

“He burned my fucking house down.”

They’re insane. All of them. Scott’s pissed about a house when Rhys just accused him of murdering his wife.

“Not now.” Anthony’s head snaps around toward Scott as he snarls. His teeth almost look sharper, his face gaunter, losing some of its inherent beauty. Scott stumbles back a few steps and shuts his mouth. Anthony turns the full force of his anger back on me and Rhys. From the corner of my eye, I see Colton practically bouncing on his toes, while the icy haired woman looks downright bored.

“What I really want to know is what you and your friends were doing tonight?” Anthony glares at us both. I can feel his power vibrating off his skin even fifteen feet away. He’s strong. There’s no doubt about that. Did he feel us trying to sever his connection to Miri and Davis’s bond?

“No comment? Awfully brave when you’re sneaking around like rats, but not so much when someone more powerful than you asks a simple question. No matter. Perhaps you need something to remind you not to mess around with powers you don’t understand.” Anthony crooks a finger and Colton bounds up beside him, an obedient puppy. Except his metaphorical claws are sharp enough to sever heads.

“Seraphina,” Anthony barks out and the blonde woman steps forward on Anthony’s other side, and the gleeful light that sparks in her cold eyes scares me almost as much as Colton’s exuberance.

“Remember that I tried to be considerate with you all. I’m only allowing you to go about your pathetic daily lives as a courtesy. I don’t have to. If you mess with your bonds again, I won’t be so gentle with my reminder.” Anthony makes a get moving motion with his hand and then walks away from us, apparently done with this conversation.

The rest of the Fae, including Colton and the blonde, remain where they’re at. Scott stands toward the back of them, the smug smile on his face telling me this won’t end well.

Colton leans down, picking up a brick that’s holding down a corner of the booth set up for the festival earlier. Rhys presses me back, inching us farther away from the group. Colton’s gaze finds mine, and he winks at me. I want to scrub my body to get rid of the feeling of his attention.

He doesn’t even look at the bar when he throws the brick. The block connects with the bar’s front window, showering the ground with shards of glass. The sound sets off something in Rhys. He pushes me toward the alley.

“Get out of here. Call the others.”

He doesn’t even look at me as he launches himself at Colton, taking him down in a vicious tackle. I hear his head crack against the pavement. I really hope he’s knocked out.

The frosty woman, Seraphina, doesn’t even look at the two of them as she steps toward the bar, her long, nearly white hair whipping in the wind like a death banner. Her cold eyes remind me of the Queen and shivers chase up my spine, one after the other. I fumble to get my phone out, pressing Ruby’s number without taking my eyes off the scene unfolding in front of me.

She answers right away, just as Rhys starts pummeling Colton’s face. But the asshole isn’t staying down. He’s laughing like a madman. At the same time, Seraphina does something with her hands and flames erupt inside the bar.

“No!” I scream, forgetting that Ruby’s on the other end of the phone. I haven’t even acknowledged her yet.

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