She's No Faerie Princess (26 page)

She raised her eyes to his and forced a smile. "Does thismate thing give you the ability to see into the future? Because if it does, I feel gypped. Where's my newsuperpower?"

Walker shook his head and felt his jaw firm. "No, I can'tsee the future, but I can have a little faith. And if thatdoesn't work, I can always go in and haul their butts outof the fire."

CHAPTER 19

The next morning interruption didn't come until both Walker and Fiona had dressed and settled down in theliving room late that evening with a large pizza, a six-packof very nice British ale, and a DVD recording of
 
The Return of the King
.

Fiona's plans for the evening had involved more pacingand less relaxing, but Walker had been determined totake her mind off her fears. When nothing else hadworked, he'd badgered her into the dinner-and-a-movieidea. She refused to go out, but the pizza place delivered,and he'd had the beer in the fridge. The movie had beena choice between the latest macho action flick and the

fantasy epic. Fiona had voted for the latter because she said she liked to watch the blond elf character and make fun of his silly little stunts.

She sat on the sofa snuggled against Walker's side,munching on pizza and talking about how impracticalthose long, flowing locks were for a real warrior. No oneon the Queen's Guard would give an enemy somethingso easy to grab onto.

When the phone rang, Walker grunted and set aside hisbeer to reach for the receiver. "Yeah?"

"Hey, Uncle Tobe," Jake said into the phone. "How's it

going?"

The casual greeting sounded just like Walker's nephew,but the tone of voice didn't. Instead of the breezy, smart-ass sound Walker was used to, he heard nerves in theyounger man's voice. Nerves and pain. He sat upstraight.

"Jake, what's wrong?" he demanded.

Fiona's gaze snapped away from the television andlocked on his face, her brows furrowing. "What's thematter?"

He shook his head, his own stomach clenching in fear.

"Jake?"

"I, ah… I was hoping you could come over here for a

while. I'm… I'm at Mom's house."

Walker's stomach abruptly stopped clenching and shotup into his throat. He heard the hoarse tone of his ownvoice when he finally forced out the question. "Is she

okay?"

Rachel, Jake's mom, was Walker's baby sister—even ifshe was three years older than him—and his closestrelative. Their parents had retired to Florida several yearsago, but even while they had lived in the city, Rachel and Walker had always relied more on each other. When herhusband, a police officer, had been killed in the line ofduty ten years ago while Jake was just a pup, it had been Walker who'd seen her through it. He'd been the one whostood by her side even when she'd been surrounded bytwo huge, supportive families—the police department andthe pack, the Silverback Clan. She'd cried on hisshoulder, and the idea of her hurt or worse had him asclose to panic as he could ever remember being.

"No, uh… Mom's… Mom is fine," Jake said, but Walker wasn't reassured. He could hear the little breaks in his nephew's voice. "Mom's fine. It's Aunt Shelby. She's dead."

Walker's gut twisted. He couldn't fight the surge of reliefat hearing Rachel was all right, but he'd known her bestfriend, Shelby, since high school. How could she bedead?

He didn't know how much of the conversation Fionacould hear or what expression he wore, but she musthave sensed something. Her small hand covered his andsqueezed, the warmth exactly what he needed just then. He turned his hand over and twined their fingerstogether.

"What happened? Was there an accident?"

"No. No, Uncle Tobe. They were attacked." The teenager

drew in a shaky breath and forced the words out with obvious effort. "She and Mom had a date tonight. You know, a girls' night out. They were walking home from that little dive of a restaurant they like down in the Bowery, and something jumped them. Mom's still real shaken up. Can you come over?"

Now Walker's grief began to take on a tinge of panic. Forsomething to have shaken up his sister and killed herbest friend when Rachel was around to stop it indicatedsome seriously deep shit. Both she and Shelby were fullygrown Lupine females. While he could have bested eitherof them in a fight, together they might very well havekicked his ass. That meant that whatever had attacked

them sure as hell wasn't a human mugger and probably wasn't even a shifter. Given the events of the last few days, Walker decided he didn't like the sound of this at all.

"Yeah," he said, trying to keep the worry out of his voice but not knowing if he succeeded. "Just sit tight, kiddo. I'm on my way."

He hung up the phone and headed straight into thebedroom to grab his shoes and his keys. Fiona followed,her eyes wide and concerned.

"I couldn't hear everything," she said, watching as he sat down on the end of the bed to yank on a pair of socks, "but I know your sister is okay. Who isn't?"

"Her best friend. Jake's honorary aunt. She's dead."

"Oh no." Fiona's voice was soft and full of genuine regret for the death of a woman she hadn't even known existed. Walker felt a tiny corner of his heart ease just from

knowing she cared. "What happened?"

His mouth hardened as he stamped his feet into a pair ofbattered work boots. "I don't know. She and Rachel wereattacked on their way home from dinner. Rach made ithome, but Shelby was killed. Jake asked me to comeover, so I need to head out."

"Of course we do."

He looked up from yanking on his laces and saw herstanding in front of him wearing a denim jacket over thecasual outfit she'd been lounging in. While he still hadone shoe to tie, she wore a pair of neat pink sneakerstied with tidy bows.

She shoved her hands in her pockets and watched himfrom those wide violet eyes. "Is it close enough to walk?"

"I'll catch a cab." He finished tying and stood, struck maybe for the first time by how tiny she was. Her head barely came up to his shoulder, and her body looked so delicate, he was amazed he hadn't broken her during one of his less restrained moments. "You don't have to come with me."

"But I am. You'll have enough to do dealing with your sister, and it sounded like Jake was taking this pretty hard himself. Your hands are going to be full, so there's no reason you shouldn't use mine."

He reached out and pulled one of her hands out of herpocket, linking his fingers again with hers. As small asher hand was, it felt just right joined with his own. "Youknow, this probably isn't the best way to go aboutconvincing me you're not my mate."

"Just because I'm not your mate doesn't mean I'm heartless," she said, walking with him to the front door of the apartment. "I'll save my convincing for another time. Right now, I wouldn't even leave my uncle alone to face what you're facing."

Walker almost surprised himself with his brief snort oflaughter. "Wow, so you like me as much as your uncle,huh? Now that sounds like a match made in heaven."

Fiona stood awkwardly in another woman's kitchen,watching while that woman buried her head against Walker's shoulder and sobbed as if her heart werebreaking.

Jake had opened the door to them just a few minutesago, looking both profoundly relieved and incredibly sad. He'd acted like any young man on the cusp of adulthoodand held his shoulders straight under a burden thatthreatened to make them crumple. Fiona had taken onelook at him and felt her own heart crack a little. Walkerhad just pulled him into a hard, comforting hug.

They had kept their voices low, the way folk alwaysseemed to do around the dead and those who had lovedthem. It didn't make any difference, Fiona realized,whether you were Fae or Lupine or human. Grief left thesame wounds on everyone, and everyone spoke softly inthe face of it.

Jake led them into a bright, cheery kitchen completely atodds with the soft sounds of weeping that came from thewoman seated at its small table.

Rachel Walker Chase had long, dark hair, a slim, athleticbuild, and elegant, tidy hands with nails polished a soft,candied mauve. That was all Fiona could see of her,because she sat with her elbows braced on the table andher face buried in her trembling hands, crying with soft,gasping sobs.

Fiona hung back, standing uncertainly in the doorwaywhile Walker crossed the room in two short strides andpulled his sister up into his embrace.

"Aw, Rach," he said gruffly as he pressed his cheek to

her hair. "I'm sorry, hon. I'm so sorry."

Rachel's arms locked tight around her brother'sshoulders, and Fiona could see her body trembling withthe force of her grief. "God, Tobe, I can't believe she'sgone."

Walker murmured soothing nonsense against Rachel'shair and rocked her gently back and forth. Feelingsuddenly like an intruder, Fiona began to wonder whowould notice if she just slipped out. She wouldn'tcompletely desert Walker, but maybe she should wait inthe living room. Or downstairs in front of the building.

"They were best friends for like… forever," Jake said softly, the murmured words pulling Fiona back to reality. "They went to high school together and everything. Shelby was the maid of honor at Mom's wedding." His own voice sounded thick, and he had his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his jeans. He stood with his shoulders hunched as if he were walking against a cold wind. "I haven't seen her this broken up since my dad died."

All thoughts of escape drained out of Fiona. "I can'timagine what she's going through, but I do know it mustbe tough to lose your best friend. That's what happenedwhen your father died, too, isn't it?"

The question seemed to take Jake by surprise, and helooked away from his mother to stare down at Fiona. "Yeah, I guess it is. I never thought of it that way before,but I think you're right. I mean, she used to call my dadan idiot and threaten to bash his brains in with a fryingpan, but most of the time she was laughing when shesaid it. And if she wasn't, he'd say something stupid andsilly until she couldn't help but laugh." The memory madehis mouth curve in a small smile. "They were nuts abouteach other, but I always thought that was because theywere both just nuts."

"It must have been tough to lose him. For both of you."

"It was the worst. I'm not sure who spent more time crying, her or me. But Uncle Tobe was there to take care of us. Or maybe to just bully us through the worst of it. We got through it."

Fiona put her arm around the youth's waist and huggedhim. "You'll get through this, too."

Jake looked down at her for a minute; then he noddedand one of his arms lifted to curl around her shoulder. "Thanks, Princess."

They stood in the doorway for several minutes, quietlygiving Rachel and Walker their moment together. Seeing Walker with another woman wrapped up tight in his armsstirred two very confusing feelings in Fiona. The first feltlike jealousy, which was a feeling she'd never

experienced before and which especially surprised her considering she knew the woman he was holding happened to be his sister. In the first place, Fae didn't get jealous as a rule. They tended to be casual about relationships, entering them with a burst of passion, then parting amicably once the flames had died. Even the few life bonds she'd seen among her people had a quietness to them that had nothing in common with the sharp, possessive feelings she had when she saw Walker in the arms of another woman. And second, she knew Rachel was his sister. Even if she hadn't, she could have guessed. The way he held Rachel looked completely different from the way he held Fiona. It was gentle and loving, but there was no heat. It looked completely fraternal, and Fiona had never mistaken the way he touched her for the touch of a brother. She could only put it down to shock, maybe. Their relationship was still new, and tonight's news had taken them all by surprise.

The second feeling disturbed her even more, because itbore a striking similarity to the things she had felt when Walker had been inside her and called her his mate. It feltlike her insides had gone all soft and liquid, and a curiouskind of tightness in her chest made it feel as if her heartwere aching.

It felt almost like… love.

Oh no.

She was so not ready to deal with that. Pushing thedisturbing sensation aside, she refocused her attentionon Jake. "Does your mother drink tea?"

"Huh?"

"Your mother. Does she drink tea?"

He frowned down at Fiona, clearly not following her trainof thought. "What are you—"

Fiona pointed at the kettle sitting on top of the stove andasked a tiny bit slower this time, "Tea. Does your motherdrink it?"

"Ah… yeah, I guess so."

Since she had nearly cried herself out against herbrother's shoulder, Rachel heard at least part of thatexchange. She raised her head and wiped a hand acrossher eyes to clear away the tears.

"I'm sorry, Jake. I didn't know you had invited anyone over," she said. Her voice was hoarse from weeping, and she sniffled as she tried to compose herself. "I'm not sure this is the best time to introduce me to—"

"Rachel," Walker interrupted. "This is Fiona. She's not

one of Jake's girlfriends. She came over with me."

The other woman's red-rimmed eyes- widened, and shelooked from her brother to Fiona and back again. "Oh,"she said. "Well, it's… ah… I'm glad to meet you."