Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Wade made sure everything that would hint at his true form was locked down tight, all of it hidden how Reed had taught him. That was the easy part. Not hitting back when he got punched in the face by a fae for mocking them took way more effort.

" Ow ," Wade said, holding a hand over his nose. The pain was a barely there flash that disappeared in a second. The trickle of blood that escaped one nostril was the only bit that would leak out. He wouldn't bruise, but that shouldn't be a problem. He knew bruises and swelling took time to actually come up on a person—he'd seen Patrick suffer through them enough over the years—but they'd hopefully be gone before anyone questioned why Wade looked fine. "If you're trying to break my teeth, you missed."

"Don't," Saoirse said, clutching at his arm where they were crowded in the back seat of the SUV. "Please don't antagonize them."

The fear coming off her was sour in his nose. Wade scowled as he dropped his hand but held his tongue in the face of a smirking fae and the gun trained on them. What he really wanted to do was rip the fae's arm off and then go for Niall's head, but that was a Patrick and Jono kind of plan, and he needed to think like Sage. Which meant he stayed quiet for the rest of the short drive through Beacon Hill to Niall's home in the northwest corner that he'd carved out of Lady Caith's territory however long ago.

Wade's clothes got soaked again when they were dragged out of the SUV and hustled into the fancy-looking redbrick home that reeked of fae magic, and not in a good way. An undercurrent of rotten fish hit the back of his throat when they crossed the threshold, and he had to suppress the gagging noise he wanted to make. A mundane human wouldn't be able to scent like that, but really, how did Niall live in a place that stank like that horribly?

"Take them to the holding room," Niall said once he made it inside.

They were shoved down the hallway, and Wade made sure to keep Saoirse's hand in his. If the fae tried to separate them, Wade would drop the pretense and burn everyone with dragon fire. Sadly, none of the fae gave him that opportunity because both he and Saoirse were shoved into a room that had magic in the walls. None of it touched him, but it drove Saoirse to her knees with a strangled cry.

"What are you doing to her?" Wade demanded, crouching beside her.

"Keeping a disobedient fae in line. Lady Caith's power won't be enough to keep her safe any longer," Niall said, eyeing Wade in a contemplative way he really didn't like.

"Feels like an iron burn," Saoirse gasped out.

Wade moved to block her from Niall's view, settling his hand over the fire opal ring she still wore. His hand blocked the glitter of magic in its depths, the spell somehow knowing what Saoirse needed in that moment—protection and subtlety. The lines of pain pricking the corners of her eyes eased, but she stayed on her knees, pretending to cower.

Niall didn't seem aware of órlaith's magic, which was odd. For a wannabe god, Wade thought Niall would have sensed the magic. He wondered if órlaith's magic was just stronger than Niall's, which could work to their advantage.

Wade twisted around on his knees, still keeping himself between Niall and Saoirse. "Where's Casey?"

"The wolf isn't your concern," Niall said coolly.

"That's where you're wrong."

"Such bravado. There is nothing you can do to save them. They broke their bargain with me."

"It's not a bargain if you force them into it."

Niall looked down his nose at them like they were bugs. Wade had to resist the urge to bite him in two. "Well, it doesn't matter now, does it? You confessed to helping Harper flee, which means her husband's life is forfeit."

Wade went still at that, staring at Niall. "Did you kill him?"

"Some sacrifices must be made for those beneath me to learn their place. The sea will take him, and I'll take the land that was his." Niall turned toward the door, speaking to the fae there. "Is she here?"

"She arrived about twenty minutes ago. She waits for you in the study," the fae said.

"You can bring her here. We have business to conduct."

The other fae actually hesitated. "She asked us to bring you to her when you arrived."

Wade wondered who it was they were talking about that made Niall look that displeased. "Fine. Keep an eye on them."

Wade watched him go in confusion. "I thought Niall was in charge. Are you telling me he's someone else's errand boy?"

The fae on babysitting duty didn't bother to answer him. Which was fine—Wade didn't want to have a conversation with him anyway. He turned back around to face Saoirse, catching her eye. She gave him a fraught smile, shoulders tight. "I'm okay."

"Can you tell if your skin is nearby?" Wade didn't bother keeping his voice low, knowing the fae would hear him even if he whispered. The whole reason why they'd let themselves be taken prisoner was to get inside Niall's home.

Saoirse squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "No, I can't."

Wade didn't want her to take off the fire opal ring, not if it was the only thing keeping her upright between the room they were in and whatever she'd suffered through yesterday before its magic activated. "Okay."

He closed his eyes and ducked his head, expanding that internal sense he carried within that allowed him to find all manner of magical artifacts and trinkets imbued with bits of magic. It's what had made him a good pickpocket once upon a time, a knack that had saved his life when he was younger. Right now, he used it to save Saoirse's.

Wade kept his aura locked down tight as his awareness drifted through a home saturated with fae magic of various kinds. The tang of ozone was stronger here, probably because it was Niall's home, and it took a moment for Wade to sift through the magic. He concentrated, awareness eventually snagging on the sense of what he could only describe as salt-rusted iron, like the sea was locked away.

Iron hurt fae in the same way silver hurt werecreatures. If Niall had trapped Saoirse's skin inside iron, it might be enough to hurt her the way it had before he'd put the fire opal ring on her finger.

Wade opened his eyes, seeing Saoirse staring back at him hopefully. He mouthed, I think I found it , at her, and she was smart enough not to react beyond ducking her head and letting out a shuddering breath.

Footsteps and voices from down the hall caught his ear, and Wade stood. Saoirse tried to get to her feet but fell back to her knees with a grimace. He offered her his hand, which she took, and he hauled her against him, keeping her close. He wished they hadn't had to return the artifact necklace to Gwen because it would've come in handy right about then. The fire opal ring was keeping the pain at bay for her, which was Saoirse's highest need. Wade would have to be her shield.

Niall returned to the holding room, smelling like ozone, but that was because of the fae who followed at his heels. Wade's eyes went wide as he took in the fae who smelled more like a god than Niall and made him think he had the status all wrong.

The newest arrival was a fae shorter than Niall, wearing a glamour over her skin that Wade's vision easily penetrated. To most people, she probably looked like an old woman with green-dyed hair. To Wade, her skin was an almost teal color with shimmery scales over her joints. Her eyes were a murky gray with no sclera showing. Her face was wrinkled, dark green hair clumped wetly together around it in a way that reminded Wade of kelp. Everything about her spoke of the sea, but her scent was all prickly ozone, the marker of a god, demi or otherwise.

Wade stared at her. The fae stared back. A heavy sense of something big pressed against his awareness, making his mouth drop open in surprise. "You're a dragon ?"

Niall wrenched his gaze from Wade back to the fae. "How did he know, Caoránach?"

Caoránach smiled, revealing sharp teeth. "Because he is not as he seems."

Saoirse made a strangled, horrified sound that told Wade whoever this fae was, she was a problem, one they couldn't get tied up in. He tightened his arm around Saoirse's waist and decided it was time for them to get the hell out of there.

He spat dragon fire at the fae, which was met by a blast of seawater that created a swirl of deadly steam Wade didn't stick around to experience. He hauled Saoirse with him to the side wall and punched his way through it with enough strength it damaged the support beam overhead. Pieces of the ceiling rained down behind them as the wall collapsed. He dragged Saoirse out of the holding room, through magic that made the fire opal ring shine like the light in a lighthouse. They ended up in an adjacent dining room, the open-plan kitchen beyond it empty.

Wade opened up his awareness, primed to find treasure, and took Saoirse with him. Shouting echoed through the house, and the walls glowed with magic that chased them up the stairs. A pair of fae stood at the landing up top, actual swords in hand instead of guns. Wade wasted no time in spitting fire at them hot enough to melt the metal and turn the fae into scorch marks.

"What are you?" Saoirse gasped out in shock.

" Dragon !" a vicious voice cried out from the first floor.

"She's not wrong," Wade said as he practically carried Saoirse with him down a hallway. "Who was that other dragon?"

"Caoránach? She's an Oilliphéist."

"A what now?"

"Mundane humans would call her a sea serpent." Saoirse shuddered. "She's probably the threat that's been in the harbor and the ocean."

"Oh man, I think I saw one of those on a flight to Ireland once. She must be the god, not Niall. I really don't want to know what they've been doing for him to carry that much of her scent with him." He'd gotten it wrong when it came to what Niall was—still an asshole though—but he'd been right that the problem was a god of some sort. "I don't know what a sea serpent gets out of owning land though."

"Niall's been taking hostages, going after people with magic and power. She has a hunger."

Wade swore. "She can stay hungry."

Magic pulsed in the walls around them, and Saoirse let out a pained sound before the fire opal ring sparked with its own magic to counter whatever was being thrown at them. The magic slid right off Wade, useless against him, but he didn't want to put Saoirse at risk any more than she already was.

He paused for half a second to swing her up in his arms, her arms going around his neck as she tucked herself close. Wade spun on his heels and belched out dragon fire in the hallway behind them, setting the space on fire to slow down their pursuers. The scent of the ocean was getting stronger, which meant the sea serpent goddess was probably closing the distance between them. But Wade had one more floor to get to, his awareness of treasure snagging on that salt-iron beacon above.

The staircase at the end of the hallway wasn't guarded at the bottom, but he knew better than to run up it full tilt. He spat more dragon fire ahead of them as a precaution, which was a good thing, because the hail of bullets melted in the heat. Saoirse turned her face away from the fire, holding on tight to Wade as he burned his way up to the third floor.

Fire kindled on the wall, breaking through magic as he ran down the hallway to his right. He didn't see a stairwell leading up, but there was an outline in the ceiling about half the size of a regular door, completely covered in wards that burned bright in defense to their presence.

"Hold on," Wade said as he set Saoirse on her feet again. She leaned against the wall to get out of his way.

Wade jumped, using his strength to launch himself straight up and break through the ceiling entrance with both fists. The door shattered upward from the force of his hit, the spell embedded in it cleaving away in bright lines that hissed and sparked in midair before fading away. He caught the edge of the opening in one hand, hung there for a second, before landing back on the floor with a heavy thump.

Steam exploded from down the hall, and Wade wasted no time in picking up Saoirse and tossing her up through the broken-open entrance above them. Wade followed after her, nearly cracking the floor with the force of his jump. He landed in a tiny space that passed as an attic. He had to duck his head to keep it from hitting the ceiling, but that was fine. He needed to crouch before the iron safe anyway.

Saoirse came up behind him, her heartbeat loud in his ears, quick like a rabbit's. "Is that where he's kept my skin?"

Wade flexed his fingers, talons curving away from the nailbed. "Yeah."

That salt-iron tug was bright in his awareness, treasure waiting to be stolen. Only he'd never keep what was in the safe because it didn't belong to him. It belonged to Saoirse, and he was determined to give it back to her before the sea serpent made it to the attic.

"She's coming," Saoirse breathed in fear. "How are we going to get out?"

"I have a plan," Wade muttered.

First, he needed to break through the safe and all the spells and wards wrapped around it. Iron didn't hurt him, and neither did the magic Niall had set into it. He wondered how any of the fae managed to touch the thing.

Wade placed his talons against the seam of the door and sank them into metal with brute strength, shifting mass a bit to force them through. Saoirse made a surprised sound and scrambled back a few steps. He didn't have time to apologize for making her uncomfortable. Wade used that part of him that could negate magic in breaking through everything laid into the iron safe as he wrenched the door off its hinges and away from the frame itself.

Inside lay some jewelry that reeked of magic, a scepter made out of bone that smelled like a grave, and draped in the back was a soft-looking pile of sealskin that was the whole reason for the mess Riordan and his clan were in. Wade snatched up the sealskin first and tossed it to Saoirse. She caught it lightning quick, flinging it over her shoulders. It shifted as it spun through the air, turning into a cute little cropped leather jacket that she hugged to her body with a ragged sob.

Wade dragged everything else in the safe into that internal pocket where his mass resided as opposed to the ones in his jeans. He didn't know what any of it did, but he knew better than to leave it for Niall to keep. If it was locked up in a magical safe, then Niall thought they were important, and that meant Wade was adding them to his hoard.

"Come on," Wade said as he stood. "We have to go."

"Where?" Saoirse pointed at the broken entrance. "That's the only way out."

"Not the only way. I need you to trust me."

She snorted, letting out a strangled sort of laugh. "You don't need to ask that. I still can't believe you're a dragon."

Wade would always ask, but he didn't tell her that. He reached for her, settled one hand on her shoulder, and gave her a quick little smile. "Whatever happens, I won't let you go."

He could sense the sea serpent getting closer, but he couldn't stick around and fight her, not with Saoirse to worry about. He'd also never fought a dragon before and wasn't sure how he'd get the upper hand with a sea serpent when his element was fire. Wade closed his eyes and opened himself up to the part of him that he locked away from the human form he walked the world in.

Shifting mass was a little like being on the receiving end of an avalanche. It wasn't like how werecreatures shifted, breaking bone and tearing skin and turning it all into something else. Wade's human body was essentially an illusion—solid, yes, but it wasn't his true form.

His true form was what split through the ceiling and floor of Niall's house, breaking free as mass settled back onto earth in the shape of a dragon that destroyed the house better than a wrecking ball. His wings unfurled, arcing upward into the sky, rain and wind lashing at them. His long neck stretched to its full length before he snaked it back down, tilting his head to look at where he carefully held Saoirse in one taloned foreclaw. She stared at him with a slack-jawed expression on her pale face, but she appeared unharmed from having the house come down around them.

The thing about being a dragon in a large urban city was that people would notice you.

Wade could hide himself from radar, and while he could get people to look away, he couldn't make an entire city not see him. At least with the storm, there was cloud coverage, and hopefully, not as many people would be out in the rain. Wade launched himself into the sky, flying straight up toward the low-lying ceiling of storm clouds, both taloned foreclaws curled around Saoirse to shield her from the rain.

Boston disappeared when he made it into the clouds, flapping his wings hard to gain altitude. He was better at navigating direction in this form than on the ground, some other internal sense always knowing which way was up and down and where true north was. He banked on a wingtip in the cloud, sheet lightning cracking above him for a split second, and veered south, heading for the harbor.

He made sure to stay within an altitude that still let Saoirse breathe. The sound of jet engines echoed through the sky, most of them far off at a higher altitude. Wade kept out of the flight paths of the ones heading to the airport, his world gray and cottony-looking, rain pelting his wings and body. He couldn't stay airborne forever though, much as he loved flying. Casey was still missing, and they needed to find him before the sea serpent made it back to the harbor.

Dropping a building on top of a god was probably not enough to kill them.

He could hope it had killed Niall though. It would save Wade from eating the bastard. He probably tasted terrible.

Wade dived lower, the updraft different when he reached the trailing edge of the clouds. He snaked his head down below the clouds, getting eyes on the swath of Boston stretched out before him. The shoreline was closer, and he adjusted his vision to see farther, like a telescope. The water was choppy, all white-capped waves, and none of the boats in the harbor had any sails unfurled.

He rose back into the clouds, hiding himself away from curious eyes, and flapped his wings harder to speed up. He knew vaguely where he needed to go for the meet-up, and the boats waiting for him when he finally dived out of the clouds through howling wind and pouring rain held people that smelled like the sea and others that carried the scents of werecreatures.

He shifted mass as he arrowed toward a familiar yacht. The people on the small rear deck scattered, but they didn't need to. When Wade landed on the deck with a heavy grunt, it wasn't with the mass of a fire dragon but the easy weight of a human. The landing drove both him and Saoirse to their knees, the rocking of the yacht from the storm sending them sliding across the deck.

"Saoirse!" Riordan shouted. "Wade!"

Wade lifted his head, blinking rain out of his eyes. Riordan hurried toward them, keeping his balance against the rocking boat with ease. He crashed to his knees before them, dragging both of them into his arms for a bruising hug.

"He found my skin," Saoirse said, sniffling hard.

"Thank you," Riordan said, pressing a hard, close-mouthed kiss to Wade's lips. " Thank you ."

"Not supposed to thank me," Wade muttered.

Riordan laughed shakily before letting them go so he could shrug out of his leather jacket. "Here. You can use this to cover yourself."

Wade was keenly aware of the sharp breath Saoirse drew in. His clothes had been ripped to shreds when he'd shifted mass, and Wade was grateful for the offer, but it was Riordan's sealskin . "I can't take that."

"It's only for a little while. We're on our way to the islands."

Wade hesitated but reached for the leather jacket after a moment. It was warm in a way a true piece of clothing wouldn't be. He gripped it with one hand, meeting Riordan's eyes over it as rain poured down around them. "I'll give it back."

Riordan smiled, and the look in his eyes was something Wade wanted to hoard. "I know you will."

Nodding, Wade took the leather jacket and tied it around his waist, gaining a modicum of decency. "I destroyed Niall's house."

"You did what?" Lady Caith asked from where she was braced in the doorway to the cockpit.

"Niall isn't the god, but he was working with one. She was glamoured as some old woman, but she goes by Caoránach."

Wade heard Lady Caith's fingers make dents in the doorframe. "He allied himself with the First Oilliphéist?"

"Looks like it. I'm pretty sure she's not dead and is probably on her way to the water right now."

"Then we need to get to the islands before she makes it beneath the waves."

"I think I saw her that night in the pub," Riordan said, frowning. "She was with Niall and Casey. She didn't act like a god."

"They're good at hiding, but I can always sniff them out," Wade said. Riordan helped Wade and Saoirse to their feet, and Wade swayed on the deck for a few seconds as he tried to find his balance. He didn't mind it when Riordan wrapped an arm around his waist to steady him. "Do we know where Casey is being held?"

Harper popped up behind Lady Caith, peering at him over the fae's shoulder. "No, but my entire god pack is ready to search the islands."

"I will know better where Niall's magic is in the land out there amidst the waves once we are closer. If magic keeps Casey prisoner, my fae and I will do all in our power to free him," Lady Caith said.

"Then let's get out there before we all become fish food," Wade said.

The clock was ticking, and while the sea was the selkies' territory, it was also Caoránach's. He'd fight her if he had to, but the water wasn't his domain, and Wade knew he'd be at a severe disadvantage, especially in the storm. That didn't mean he wouldn't take to the air if he had to.

No way was he letting her or Niall have Boston.