Wolves' Bite [PUP Squad Alpha 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (10 page)

“They’ll be wonderful fathers,” Emmallina said as she once again stepped into Jennifer’s dreamscape.

“I know,” Jennifer said honestly. There wasn’t a doubt in her heart or in her mind that both men would love her and her children deeply. “If I can unbend enough to take a chance, we might even be happy together.”

“I understand your fears,” Emmallina said, tapping the side of her head. “I even know where they’re coming from, but in the end you need to ask yourself what’s the worst that could happen. Even if you gave up everything you know and moved to Sugarvale to be close to your mates and your sister, what’s the worst that could happen?”

She’d be back where she started.

Considering that’s where she would stay if she didn’t take the chance, it seemed a rather pointless conundrum. It was such a simple decision, and actually what she wanted.

“The one thing I truly understand,” Emmallina said as she sat on the comfortable sofa that appeared in the dreamscape, “is that the human heart and mind don’t always agree.” A large sofa appeared beside her, so Jennifer took a seat as she nodded her agreement. Emmallina gave her a knowing smile. “Human history shows that without love and happiness the rest of life is meaningless. If you take the risk and it doesn’t work out, have you really lost anything at all?”

Jennifer smiled. Emmallina’s advice wasn’t anything she hadn’t figured out for herself, but it was good to hear it from another person.

“The anxiety is left over from your parents’ deaths,” Emmallina said quietly. “It will lessen with time, but if you find the strength to defeat it, you have two men who will spend a long werewolf lifetime loving you and your children.”

“I thought you only knew about humans and vampires,” Jennifer said.

Emmallina winked. “True, but I know a good man when I see one—or in your case, two.”

Jennifer felt herself smiling widely at Emmallina’s summation, but then the reason for her needing to talk to the pixie queen finally sparked in her brain.

“Your daughter is alive,” Jennifer said quickly. “But then you already knew that, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” the queen admitted. “The vampires and humans who know she’s alive don’t actually know where she is—except for one, but I have learned that Ronan Deeks is no ordinary human. I do know that Conni almost died. And I know that she is more vulnerable than even she realizes.”

“Benjamin would like to meet with you. We’re hoping that you can help us figure out why your daughter did this.”

“Thank you,” Emmallina said quietly. She gave Jennifer a sad smile as if she already understood what she was going to say next. When Jennifer failed to find the words, the pixie queen gave her a tremulous smile. “I already know I can’t take her home. I just need to see for myself that she is all right.” She stood up from the sofa, obviously taking a moment to pull her emotions back under control.

“Tell Benjamin that I will meet him under your tree just outside of Sugarvale at midnight.”

“My tree?” Jennifer asked, smiling at the pixie queen once more. The dreamscape changed around them and they were suddenly outside in the bright sunshine, watching what had happened several days ago. But this time Jennifer got to see the look of relief and wonder on Adam’s face as he held her close. Despite his obvious nausea the man looked happy.

“Can you do me one favor?” the pixie queen asked quietly.

“Of course,” Jennifer said, already knowing that the pixie queen was asking her to be there when she met with Benjamin. These dreamscapes were certainly a great way to exchange information.

“Thank you. I’ll see you at midnight.”

* * * *

Adam tried to shake off his annoyance. Despite telling them several times that she didn’t want to get involved with the PUP squad, Jennifer insisted on going with the pixie queen to speak with her daughter. Benjamin had taken one look at the anger on Adam’s and Thomas’s faces and immediately assigned them to the mission, also.

So now they stood under the tree where only a few days ago he’d held his mate as they recovered from slip travel. He’d felt so happy for such a brief moment, yet it seemed a lifetime ago. Of course it didn’t help that now they stood here anxiously awaiting the arrival of a pixie who seemed to be Jennifer’s new best friend. And it sure as hell didn’t help the tension level that the pixie queen was ten minutes late.

“What do you think?” Benjamin asked him quietly, keeping his voice low but loud enough so that Jennifer could hear their discussion.

“I think something’s gone wrong.”

Brody nodded in agreement. “The question is what.”

Jennifer looked worried. “She said midnight. Maybe she’s just been delayed.” But even as she said the words she didn’t seem convinced.

“Did she give you any reason to think she might have difficulty getting away from the pixie castle?”

“No,” Jennifer said. “She appeared quite relaxed about it. Like it wouldn’t be a big deal.”

“Then we have to assume that something has gone wrong.” He dialed his cell phone. “Alex, has the pixie queen activated the tracking beacon?” He shook his head as he listened to the fire demon’s answer, and then turned and gave her a sympathetic look. “I hate to ask this of you, Jennifer, but is there any chance you feel sleepy? It might be our only way to figure out what’s going on.”

Jennifer gave him a wry smile but nodded her head. “I can try.”

“Thank y—” Benjamin cut his words off when the pixie queen stepped into view no more than ten feet away.

“We need to go,” she said frantically as she glanced around the group. “Dragon, a vortex, please.”

Brody glanced at Benjamin but did as the pixie queen asked. A moment later Adam got to remember just how unpleasant vortex travel really was. He breathed a sigh of relief to see Thomas steady enough on his feet to hold Jennifer up, but moved toward them when Thomas lowered himself and Jennifer both to the ground. Dragon vortex jumps were supposedly less nauseating than slip travel, but as bad as he was feeling at the moment, Adam wouldn’t attest to that.

The pixie queen didn’t seem to have fared much better. “Thank you,” she said unsteadily as she lowered herself to the ground near Jennifer. “I apologize for bringing danger to your doorstep, but whatever is happening now seems to be directly related to the human women who were murdered.”

Adam was a little surprised to hear the pixie refer to her own daughter’s actions as murder. He’d fully expected her to claim that her offspring had been assassinating humans for the greater good.

“How much danger?” Benjamin asked without a hint of emotion.

“I had two assassins chasing me through the slip paths. I am hoping that I lost them a slip path or two before I came to you, but I cannot be certain. They shouldn’t be able to follow a dragon jump vortex.”

Adam nodded in agreement and glanced around their little group. There were seven of them all together. Adam, Benjamin, Thomas, Brody, Devlin, Jennifer, and the pixie queen, Emmallina. The only one who didn’t look green with travel sickness was Brody. Fortunately he was also aware enough of possible danger to have morphed into his dragon shape the moment they were all through the vortex.

“Why do you have assassins after you?” Jennifer asked, sounding bewildered.

“That’s something I’m hoping my daughter can answer,” Emmallina said calmly.

“Can they kill you?” Benjamin asked evenly.

Emmallina glanced around the group before seeming to deem them trustworthy. Considering that pixies were literally believed to be indestructible by the wider paranormal population, an affirmative answer could be spilling even more pixie secrets.

“I believe that you have already stumbled onto that answer, Benjamin. In miniature form we are far more vulnerable, and yes, in that state we can be killed. Many of my own people don’t even know that. I’m not sure my daughter even realizes how vulnerable she is.”

Benjamin seemed to hesitate for a moment before asking, “Does living in miniature affect the pixie brain?”

“In what way?”

Again Benjamin hesitated and Adam realized there was no easy way to ask a mother if her daughter were crazy. “Has Connistanterina ever shown any signs of mental illness?”

“None that I am aware of, but my husband and I both wondered if her killing spree was some sort of breakdown. My daughter can be arrogant, headstrong, and at times quite annoying, but she has always treated her assassin’s duties as a distasteful, yet necessary, part of paranormal life.”

“Okay,” Benjamin said as he glanced around the area. “Which way, Brody?”

“About four hundred yards south,” he said as he returned to his human-shaped form. Adam couldn’t help being a little envious that the guy could change back and already be fully clothed. Brody had once told him the clothes were a temporary illusion and not actually real, but it still meant he wasn’t standing naked in front of the rest of them. Not that Adam had anything against nudity, but it would have been convenient in times when dealing with, oh say, royalty.

Thomas helped Jennifer to stand, so Adam went to assist the pixie queen. The woman wobbled as she stood up and wrapped both her hands around his elbow.

“Thank you,” she said as they turned to follow Brody. “I apologize for putting your mate in danger. When I asked her to meet me, I didn’t expect to be fighting off assassins when I got there.”

“I doubt that Jennifer has even given a thought to her own safety,” he said quietly. “My guess is the woman is more worried about everyone else.”

“Being a nurturer does seem to be a big part of her core personality,” Emmallina said with a secretive grin.

Adam nodded. He could almost see her swollen with his and Thomas’s children. Jennifer would make a wonderful mother, if they could only figure out a way for all three of them to be happy together. He tried to set the thought aside as he used his heightened werewolf senses to scan for danger, but he was still ruminating on the problem when they stepped into the safe house where Connistanterina was being held.

* * * *

Thomas nodded at the bullfrog sitting on the bench and hoped that Bull wouldn’t choose this moment to change into his human form. If there was one thing Thomas could guarantee, it was that the man had a penchant for hitting on any woman in the room. His frog prince claims were so annoying that one female vampire had even threatened to violently throw him against the wall as the princess had done in the original Grimm brothers’ version of the story. Disturbingly, his human appearance wasn’t much different to his frog shape—big, bloated, and slimy looking with a wide mouth and a personality to match. He was lucky he possessed the ability to go without sleep in his frog version, because without that rather unique talent of his shifter species it was unlikely the PUP squads would have put up with him for very long. There had been more than one joke about dumping him in the kitchen of a French restaurant.

Thomas helped Emmallina onto the sofa and then went to retrieve the miniature pixie from the cupboard under the sink. It wasn’t exactly the best place to keep a prisoner, but they hadn’t yet found a way to transport her elsewhere without giving her a chance to “slip” away.

Angus’s prototype was definitely promising, but until the portable ward field generator was subjected to more tests, it had been deemed not worth the risk. As soon as Thomas lifted the glass jar from under the sink the miniature pixie started ranting, throwing herself against the glass time and time again, her words barely loud enough for werewolf hearing, but her anger very clear.

She stilled when she saw her mother sitting on the sofa.

Brody placed a small speaker-type thing on the top of the jar and the pixie’s voice filled the room.

“Mother?” she asked, sounding like a young child rather than the accomplished assassin that she truly was. “Get me out of here! These idiots are interfering in official PLA business. If they don’t get out of my way, I’ll fry their asses, too!”

“Conni?” Emmallina asked, looking very worried. It wasn’t until Thomas heard the tone in Emmallina’s voice that he realized the miniature pixie was shaking. But it wasn’t from rage as he’d first suspected. Connistanterina’s eyes were sunken, her skin sallow, and her wings were hanging limply behind her. She actually looked kind of like a drug addict suffering from some pretty serious withdrawals. “How long were you on fireweed?”

“Fireweed?” she shrieked as if the question were an insult. “I’ve never touched the stuff!”

“I’m sorry, Conni, but you have been on it. Considering how long you’ve been missing, and the severity of your withdrawal, I would say you’ve been on it for many years.”

“She wouldn’t do that to me,” Connistanterina said, but the words lacked conviction, and the pixie seemed to somehow deflate before their eyes. “She loves me. She wouldn’t do that to me.”

“She who?” Emmallina asked softly.

Connistanterina gave her a stubborn look, but then sighed as if she realized her mother would finally get the woman’s name from her. “Victoria. She’s a witch, but she loves me. She wouldn’t do this to me.” Connistanterina’s words seemed to be the automatic defense from someone who’d just discovered their loved one had betrayed them. But again her denial lacked conviction and Thomas was beginning to wonder if the pixie maybe considered it herself as the withdrawal symptoms had begun. Connistanterina scratched at her arm, apparently not noticing the severe welts that weren’t healing the way a healthy pixie should.