Charmed Wolf by Aimee Easterling (best ereader for pdf TXT) 📕

of blossom, but if we dared to step on one of the Veronicas she blew her lid.

Plus, Kale had been kidnapped by the icy wind hours after pointing out the uniqueness of my flower patch. Coincidence? I thought not.

For half a second, though, I doubted my guesswork. Or Kale’s guesswork. Maybe he’d used the wrong Latin?

The air hung heavy. The hall was silent.

Then...it worked.

Veronica didn’t just release Kale, she flung him off the table. Not in my direction, unfortunately. The other way.

The boy landed on his knees, barely catching himself from falling flat with his free hand. Cradled in the crook of his other elbow, the baby started to cry.

Hazel’s wail didn’t send me fleeing the way it usually did. Now that I wasn’t being forced to commit to having an unwanted child of my own, my friend’s infant didn’t look nearly so sticky.

Perhaps there was a small silver lining to having the fae I’d thought was protecting our pack turn out to be our nemesis. Unfortunately, I didn’t dare take my eyes off Veronica long enough to comfort either child, not when she’d leapt from her table onto mine.

She was so close I could smell her. “So you did guess,” she growled, dancing daintily through obstacles I’d tripped over. “I thought you were too stupid to put two and two together.”

“I was too stupid,” I agreed, motioning surreptitiously toward the door with the hand shielded by my body from the Guardian. Because that was the one benefit to Kale being flung in that direction. He was close enough to creep toward escape while all fae eyes fixated on me.

Only, would Kale see the door I’d come in through? Would he have the strength left to obey even if he understood my finger twitching?

I could only chatter, keeping Veronica’s attention while hoping for twelve-year-old resilience. “Once I met your sister,” I told her, “I learned your parents were gardeners. Naming you after a plant made more sense.”

“My sister?” Veronica’s eyes blazed as blue as her floral namesake. “The weakling? This is her doing?”

Veronica was so close to me now that her perfume was a physical presence. Like the scent of her flowers, light and barely present. What must it be like to be born an inconspicuous weed then spend your life masquerading as a rose?

Not fun, but that didn’t mean Veronica had to turn into a monster. I gestured again, hoping Kale was paying attention.

Then the Queen’s voice intervened at long last. “Your sister isn’t responsible, Veronica. You are. You disappoint me.”

Veronica spun to face her monarch. “I’ve done all of this for you, Your Majesty! I wanted to bring beauty to your Court.”

As the Guardian begged, I finally dared to glance at Kale. The kid was far stronger than he believed he was. In the seconds my attention had been elsewhere, he’d bounced back from his fall, had quieted the baby, and was now creeping around watching fae and toward our only avenue of escape.

Unfortunately, the door was fading. The Queen was fulfilling her portion of our bargain...even though doing so at this moment meant she was also trapping me, Kale, and Hazel on the wrong side.

Meanwhile, the Queen’s voice filled the hall. “Beauty is far less entertaining than pain, child. Veronica, show your true face.”

The hall erupted into a cascade of laughter that ran the gamut from tinkling bells to donkey braying. But I was too intent upon sliding through the crowd to pay attention. Wrapping my arm around Kale’s shoulder, I swiped one last fingerful of blood off my neck.

“Rune,” I murmured, trying to draw upon our connection.

But I’d severed that tether personally. No wonder the door knob slipped through my fingers, physical for one split second before fading into a mirage.

This wasn’t working. It wasn’t going to work.

Well, not for me at least. “Kale,” I bit out, “think about Rune.”

His lips quivered. He was only twelve years old and he’d just stabbed someone then been drawn into the Unseelie Court where he was promptly misgendered and threatened with a dagger. I couldn’t expect him to focus. I’d have to think of another solution....

But Kale sniffed one teary sniff. Then he acted like a man.

Like a man—someone brave enough to overcome his own fears in order to help another. He leaned against the door, as nonchalant as Rune had taught him to be.

And the tiniest whiff of persimmon erupted around him. For a split second, Rune’s presence was palpable.

Then the door opened behind Kale’s back.

Chapter 40

I leapt through, pushing both children before me. Veronica screamed, but I didn’t glance back to see what awful face had been revealed by the use of her true name.

Instead, I hugged the children tight as we tumbled through frigid darkness. I protected them with my body as we thudded to the ground.

We lay there, all together, for one long moment. The baby wriggled, protesting being sandwiched between us. But I didn’t let go until Kale said, “I can’t feel my hand.”

That got me moving. I unfolded, perching the baby on my knee while I manipulated Kale’s joints. “Which hand? Is it broken?”

His mouth quirked into a Kale smile. “No, dummy. You were lying on it. It’s asleep.”

Never had I been so glad to be insulted. “Alright then. I’m not lying on it now. Feel free to wake it back up.”

Children safe, I moved on to the next step—getting them home. Because one glance proved we were within Erskine’s stone circle, neither fully on the human earth nor fully in Faery. The door was gone, but I didn’t particularly want to return to Faery anyway.

The more troubling absence was Rune’s brother. Hopefully he was within earshot. In the past, he’d always been willing to come when I called....

I whistled, which started the baby crying. “Give her to me,” Kale suggested.

And even though I wanted to, I shook my head and did what he’d asked—I treated him like a man. “I can’t be sure you’re fully uncharmed yet. Until