Ronan

Ronan

My belly grumbled as I strolled along Piccolo Street, so I nodded to Leif, and we ducked into a deli.

The lunch crowd was big, and I was in no mood to wait. My impatience infected the group, who began jostling and muttering about how long this was taking. Leif snarled at a female at the back of the line, and she whimpered and dropped her bag at the ferocious sound.

Leif had a strong alpha side to his personality, and it was always shocking when I saw it. Among the heirs, he was fun and games, all licking and laughing, but when his position in a hierarchy was challenged, he saw red. The poor fae probably pissed her pants at how he growled all up in her face, his lips curled in a snarl, exposing his razor-sharp canines, looking every inch the alpha.

The rest of the crowd parted in an instant to let us through.

“Two beef wraps,” I ordered, “and whatever he’s having.”

The owner of this place was a competent Magirus and made the best faeyonnaise I’d ever tasted. I didn’t care what else was on the sandwich as long as it came with sauce.

Our food was made first, and I took up the warm package with a nod to the serving fae, then we made our way through the crowd to eat outside while we strolled.

Leif was literally salivating with how good the food was, and a big gross globule of spit splattered onto my shoe.

I shoulder-charged him. “Watch where you’re dribbling, wolf,” I snarled.

He grinned back happily. “Sorry, dude. But this is some tasty shit right here.”

I paused when a short female with spiky blonde hair exited a Crafter’s store, but it wasn’t Neela. In fact, she barely looked like the tomcat, so I don’t know why I mistook her.

I sighed. Neela inhabited my thoughts too often for my liking, and I had to evict her.

“Let’s get some training in,” I suggested. The best way to erase the tomcat from my thoughts was to clear my mind altogether, which meant swordplay.

Leif agreed. He was a good friend and great to have around when I didn’t want deep conversation but quiet camaraderie. He was probably my best friend in the world now.

The quickest way back to the Lakehouse was via Leif’s house, which wasn’t far from the Sensory Quarter, so we went via his monstrosity of a marble palace to the dirt patch beside the Lakehouse where we usually trained.

“Broadswords today, I think.” I selected the heaviest, meanest weapon from the open shelving, and Leif groaned but chose a broadsword too.

We parried lightly to warm up, then I lunged without warning and knocked Leif’s blade from his hand.

He grumbled as he bent to pick it up. “You know I have claws and fangs now. I don’t need to practice with this shit anymore.”

I let him retrieve his weapon, then jabbed again. “And what if a Weaver casts a spell to immobilize your inner power?”

He was ready for me this time and deflected my blade with a clang, then returned his own parry. “If some Weaver douche neutralizes me, I’ll neutralize him back. I’ll rip his balls off.”

Ducking around to the left, I circled my quarry, my feet light on the dirt. “Not if he pokes a big sword through your belly first.” I feinted left, then brought the heavy blade swooping in from above while I leaned forward and kicked his knee, hard.

Leif crumpled to the ground, and his weapon clattered beside him, kicking up a plume of dust. “That’s where you come in. You’ll have my back and remove his head with your over-compensatingly-large sword.”

I grinned. It felt good to parry with blades and words. “Hey, man, I don’t need to compensate for anything.”

He checked out my groin for an instant. “True.”

His leg must hurt like hell where I kicked it, but he kept fighting, limping around me and getting in a few blows. Leif and I always trained together on swords. Gabrelle, Dion, and Sebarah always favored the bow and arrow, but I liked being up close and personal and reading the fear and anticipation in my opponent’s eyes.

Leif’s alpha side came through the longer we parried. He was getting frustrated and beginning to growl. His pale skin went bone white, his jaw was grinding, and his muscles bulged with power. The rage in his burning silver eyes would have made anybody else melt in fear, even Gabrelle or Dion, but I was used to it on the training field.

He and I were pretty evenly matched, though I was getting the better of him today. His comment about friends having each other’s backs made me angry, for some reason I couldn’t pinpoint, lending venom to my strikes.

Neela’s face floated through my mind, looking as it did during the second trial. She had no reason to believe we would help her, but she’d still look wounded when I hadn’t come to her aid against that fire demon. But I wasn’t her friend, so I didn’t need to have her back. I didn’t owe her anything.

“Gaia-be-damned.” I folded over, resting my hands on my knees and panting. This wasn’t getting the usurper princess out of my head. “Let’s take a break.”

Leif darted forward and knocked my weapon from my hand, finally erasing his alpha anger with a light grin. “Last point wins.”

“Cheat,” I muttered, but with a smile. We returned the swords to the open shelving, and a satisfying ache washed through my shoulder and arm. Good—that would take my mind off the tomcat.

Damn, I was thinking about her again.

Leif looked at the sky, using the sun to tell the time. “I should head off. Mom will leave anytime now, so I can go home and find a Healer for this knee.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Are you avoiding your mom?”

Leif grinned. “Just avoiding hard work. She’s all amped up about the Shadow Walkers, and I don’t want to get involved. I just want a shower, a feed, and a fuck. Is that too much to ask?”

Shadow Walkers were real, but they couldn’t live in the fae realm. Beyond the Omber Strait, a narrow waterway off the east coast of Verda, lay an island that was always cloaked in darkness. The Isle of Shadows was home to a race of night dwellers who could travel through the dark and whose touch was living death.

Rumors swirled among the fae. They spoke of Shadow Walkers reaching the villages along the east coast of Verda and feeding from fae souls, leaving behind walking husks—fae bodies without fae souls.

“Shadow Walkers can’t cross water.” I wiped my brow of sweat. “The rumors of them zombifying fae in the east are just that. Rumors.”

Leif shook his hair, and sweat droplets flew off. “No, dude. Some idiot fae sailed his ship across the Omber Strait, and they reckon some beasties returned in the ship’s hold. They’ve been sneaking across the realm at night, and now they’ve reached Verda City. A family of bear shifters was killed last night—well, turned into walking husks that had to be put down. The shifter communities are getting together to figure out what to do.”

I looked at the sky. The sun was nearing the horizon, so the night wasn’t far away. If this Shadow Walker threat was more than a rumor, then come nightfall, they could go anywhere…and kill anyone.

My muscles tensed. “I have to warn Neela.”

Leif gave me a weird look but didn’t say anything except goodbye. Then he stripped off naked, ran to the lake, and dived in, heading home for a good night’s fuck.

I turned toward the orange grove. I had to find Neela before any Shadow Walkers did.