Wanted: Wild Thing

Chapter Nineteen

The last twenty-four hours had gone by in a whirl, and I was twitchy and nervous. Today was my twenty-fifth birthday.

That meant I was locked into my prime. It meant that Finian would come to collect me today. It meant that everything, for better or for worse, was going to happen tonight.

I was crossing my fingers for “better.”

The office was empty. To clear it out, Bathsheba and Sara were throwing a party for the clients at Konstantine’s. Savannah, my nighttime coworker, was keeping the primordials busy at the Russell house. Only Hugh was in the office with me.

“You’re pacing,” he observed from his perch on the stool.

“Sorry,” I said breathlessly. “I can’t stop thinking about—”

The cowbell on the front door clanged and I froze, then turned to the door.

Two men walked in. One looked mild and unassuming, and he was wearing a dorky short-sleeved shirt with a hideous pattern. The other was . . . Batman. Or rather, the actor who’d played him in the last movie.

My stomach dropped at the sight of him. “Finian,” I greeted, moving back to my desk. I’d feel better with something between us.

“Happy birthday, darling one,” Finian crooned at me as he swanned in, his light, airy footsteps at odds with the rugged, masculine face of the actor he wore. “Today’s a very special day, isn’t it?”

I picked up my glittery ruler and began to flip it back and forth, trying not to look at him. Or at Hugh. If I looked at Hugh, I’d have my heart in my eyes. Hugh hadn’t moved since Finian had entered, but there was a weird, simmering tension in the room that I knew didn’t belong entirely to me. I ignored Finian’s cheerful mood. “So what brings you here?”

“You know what, dearest. And I brought you a birthday treat.” Batman put his hand on the back of the frumpy man at his side. “Guess who this is?”

“I couldn’t possibly guess,” I told him and risked a glance over at Hugh. He’d gone completely rigid on his stool, big arms crossed over his chest. His face was impossible to read. He was deliberately not looking at me, and that made me feel weird. Like he was trying to forget I existed. I suddenly needed reassurance. “Hugh,” I said in my cheeriest voice, “can you guess?”

“Another changeling,” Hugh said.

That brought me up short, and I dropped my ruler. “Another changeling? Really?” This boring-looking guy?

But Finian looked excited. He gave the man another nudge forward. “That’s right! You’ll be a breeding pair, so I thought I’d bring my charming Walter with me and let you two meet. Say hello, Walter.”

Walter waved a limp hand at me. “Hello.” His voice was accented strangely, and I wondered if Walter was from this time or just another one of Finian’s time-misplaced toys, like Hugh was.

I gave him a halfhearted wave. “Um, Finian, I think we need to talk.”

“Not before you get a good look at each other.” He gestured me forward. “Come on and touch Walter so you can see what a mature changeling is like. It’s quite something to see.”

I didn’t want to touch Walter. I didn’t want to touch any man other than Hugh. But a tiny part of me was incredibly curious about what a fully formed changeling would look like. Were they truly as beautiful as everyone went on and on about? Uncertain, I hesitated.

Then I glanced back at Hugh.

He nodded at me, as if understanding my voiceless question. He was telling me it was okay.

Fingers snapped in front of my face.

“Hello,” Finian said, trying to get my attention. When I turned to him, his expression was sour. “Your master’s right here, girl. Don’t look to Hugh for permission. He’s just the hired help.”

Well, he was about to be in for a rude surprise, wasn’t he? I gave Finian a coy smile. “All right. Have it your way.” I stepped forward and approached Walter, keeping my expression wary.

Truth was, I was curious about Walter’s form. But now? Finian’s pissy move of snapping his fingers in my face proved to me that he was a little unsettled. He kept giving Hugh irritated looks, and I realized that even when we were silent, the bond between us was strong. And suddenly, I was no longer scared of Finian. He thought he could control us as long as he could manipulate us and keep us rattled.

Now he had nothing on us. He didn’t know it yet, but the power had shifted.

So when Walter approached me, I gave him a friendly smile and extended my hand for him to shake.

Walter leaned in to kiss me.

I ducked him, sideswiping his slobbery mouth. I heard Hugh give a barely audible growl in response. I straightened, then shook a finger at Walter. “I didn’t say you could kiss me.”

“He’s going to do more than that. Quit dancing around the subject,” Finian said, his voice extra-irritated.

I refused to be bullied by him. I shook my head and extended my hand to Walter again. “This or nothing.”

Walter glanced at Finian, who rolled his eyes. Then Walter grasped my hand.

The first thing I noticed was that Walter’s hand was clammy and moist. Ick. I forced myself to keep holding on to it, waiting for the transition to happen. Mine felt sluggish, struggling to the forefront, as if it didn’t want to. I didn’t blame it—Walter wasn’t exactly hitting my hot buttons. Not with my delicious Hugh seated so nearby.

Walter, however, bloomed immediately.

He was beautiful. More beautiful than anything else I’d ever seen, for that matter. I watched, fascinated, as the scales emerged from his pasty white skin. His scales were a pearly, opalescent shade, something between sunrise and sunset, and seemed to gleam with an inner light. It was the most gorgeous color I could imagine. The horns that spiked out of his forehead were long and twisted and ivory, like dual unicorn horns, and glints of gold traced up the curls, making them seem more like works of art than mere horns. Walter’s dippy shirt split apart, and a pair of powerful, gorgeous wings unfurled behind him. They were like butterfly wings, all color and beauty. I gasped at the sight of them.

Walter smiled at me, and he was truly gorgeous in that moment, no hint of the bland human left behind. This was what I could have been if I hadn’t halted my transformation, I realized. My own transformation was no longer hideous, but it was not even close to this glorious creature.

“Wow,” I breathed, impressed. I looked over at Hugh and Finian, as if needing to somehow share how wonderstruck I was at the sight of Walter’s transformation.

Hugh didn’t look happy, though. If anything, he looked . . . jealous? He kept glancing at my hand clasped in Walter’s and twitching in his seat.

Finian didn’t look happy, either. He was rubbing his chin, a frown on his face as he regarded me. “You’re not transforming,” he pointed out after a moment.

I glanced down at my hand locked with Walter’s beautiful, claw-tipped one. Sure enough, my hand was still human. I could feel my changeling side doing its best to try and wake up, but it felt sluggish, as if it couldn’t be bothered. “Huh,” I said. “That’s odd.”

“Yes,” Finian said, and his voice was flat. “Quite odd.” He snapped his fingers again, gesturing at Hugh. “Touch her.”

Hugh stood, uncurling to his full height. His gaze was on me. “Only if she wishes it.”

As if I wouldn’t want Hugh to touch me? I smiled at Hugh, and then I was embarrassed when my change began to trigger. Between Walter’s hand in mine and simply looking at Hugh, I’d become aroused.

Embarrassing. But at the same time, I was elated. Walter’s touch wasn’t doing it for me. It was just Hugh, I realized. Only Hugh. No one else mattered.

I kept my gaze on the primordial as I felt my own transformation slowly move through my body. Wings pushed out of my back and pressed against my dress, and I felt my tail slither out, even as my claws extended and my mouth filled with fangs. Once my transformation was complete, I glanced over at Finian, waiting for his reaction.

He was frowning. Hard.

Walter pulled his hand from mine, making a noise of displeasure at the sight of me. I glanced down as his hand left mine. The pearly green of my scales didn’t match the luminescence of Walter’s, and I couldn’t blame him for drawing back from me.

As changeling babes went, I guessed I was pretty disappointing-looking. And that delighted me.

“What is this?” Finian strode forward, glaring at me. He scowled at Hugh, then back at me. “She is still weeks away from her final beautiful form. Look at this color.” He made a face at my scales. “Her wings haven’t even unfurled. Did you drag her back into your primordial realm? Are we delayed by several more weeks?” The fae’s hands went to his hips in annoyance, and his fingers drummed there. “I’m removing you from this assignment, Hugh. It’s clear you’re incompetent.”

“You can’t fire him,” I told Finian. “He already quit.”

“He quit? When?”

I moved to Hugh’s side and was pleased when his big arm went over my shoulders. I curled up against him, locking my hand at his waist. “The night he took my virginity.”

“What?” Finian’s voice was almost a shriek. “He what?”

“We slept together,” I said proudly. “I’m his mate, and he’s mine.”

The fae’s wide, angry eyes met mine, then flicked to Hugh. “That was not part of the deal! We had a vow! You swore to me that you were not interested in her—”

“I changed my mind.” Hugh’s calm words made me smile. His arm tightened around me.

“You’ve ruined her,” Finian said. “Ruined! She was priceless, and now she is worthless! Look at how ugly she is!”

Hugh’s big hand curled around my jaw, tipping my face up to his. I saw nothing but love in his eyes. “She is the most beautiful creature in this world.”

I smiled up at him.

Finian’s snarl of rage broke through our happiness. “You know what this means, then?”

“I do,” Hugh said, and his arms tightened around me. His voice was sad. “No primordial mate for me, nor primordial mates for my men.”

“That is right,” Finian said as he stabbed a finger at Hugh. I supposed he was trying his best to look furious and full of wrath, but he mostly looked comical. All he was doing was shouting. That wasn’t frightening at all. It was like . . . he couldn’t do anything to us.

And I couldn’t stop smiling.

“No mates for anyone,” Finian said, hands clenched into fists. “Are you truly so selfish, so foul a creature?”

“You asked me to ruin one life in exchange for twenty-four,” Hugh said. “At the time, it seemed like a smart bargain. However, as I said, I changed my mind.”

“And he’s not the only one,” I added, then patted Hugh’s flat stomach. “Tell him about the other primordials, sweetie.”

Hugh’s expression turned to one of menacing pleasure. “My brothers are no longer in the primordial lands.”

It was clear Finian didn’t understand. His gaze rapidly flicked back and forth between my face and Hugh’s. The fingers on his hip drummed at a wild, furious pace. After a moment, he snapped, “What do you mean?”

“They left. They are here in this world,” Hugh said simply. He reached for the chain around his neck, snapped it in an easy gesture, and offered it to Finian. “The primordial lands are a haven for our kind, but no one is happy there because they are lonely. There are no mates for them. They have left and arrived here, in the human realm.”

The look of dawning horror on Finian’s face was priceless. I almost felt sorry for the guy.

“But,” Hugh said, “they will return to the primordial realm in exchange for their mates.”

The fae’s lip curled. “So you think to force my hand? Is that it?”

“More or less,” I chimed in. How’s it feel?

Hugh was the voice of reason. “My brothers would be more than happy to return to the primordial realm and await any tasks that the fae might request. However, they will only do so with their mates at their side. They will not go otherwise.”

Finian was silent.

I found the fae’s silence a bit unsettling. Didn’t they want to keep the primordials happy? From what Hugh had told me, the primordials did all kinds of dirty errands for the fae, and did them willingly. Why wouldn’t the fae want them back?

But Finian was saying nothing. He was simply glaring at Hugh, his fists clenched.

“Think of it as a consolidation of forces,” I blurted out, trying to help the situation along. “You get the men and the women together, and everyone’s happy. Don’t the women want to be with men of their own kind? Aren’t they lonely?”

Finian’s glare turned to me. “I am sure they are.”

“So let us talk to them,” I said. “Pick a representative and bring her here, and we’ll discuss it with her. I’m sure the women want families, too.”

Still Finian said nothing.

“You cannot keep us trapped without mates forever,” Hugh said, his voice hoarse with anger. I felt the hand on my waist tighten, as if he was barely controlling himself. “It is unfair to both my men and to the women you deprive of companionship.”

“Let us just talk to one of the women,” I cajoled. “How hard can that be? What’s the leader’s name?”

Finian glared at me, angry panic in his eyes, and hesitated.

And an awful realization hit me. “There are no women, are there? You’ve been lying to them.”

Two bright red streaks of color flared on Finian’s famous borrowed face. “Of course there are,” he said quickly.

I stepped out of Hugh’s embrace and approached Finian, crossing my arms over my chest. “Oh, really? What are their names, and what are their shifter animals?”

“Please,” Finian blustered. “As if I would remember their names? I’m much too important.”

“Yes, but you’ve worked with them for centuries, right? I’m sure you know a few names. Just give me one.”

“I don’t have to tell you anything, you changeling mongrel,” he said furiously. “Nor am I required to rattle off the names of useless shifters just to appease you.”

“Where do they stay?” Hugh asked abruptly, surprising me.

“Excuse me?”

“The female primordials. Where do they stay?”

“Why, in their own realm, of course.”

I turned to look at Hugh. His body seemed relaxed, but I could sense the tension in his face. His eyes were narrow slits of anger and loathing. “You told me once,” Hugh said, his voice deadly soft, “that maintaining a separate, private realm for the primordials cost the fae a great deal of time and energy. That we should be grateful that you cared so much for our well-being that you would do this for us. That we owed you.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“And now you tell me that you hold not just our realm but a realm for females entirely separate from our own.” Hugh’s eyes looked as cold as ice. “And you will not combine them?”

Finian said nothing.

“My mate is right,” Hugh growled, and the sound was so deadly that I shivered. “You have been lying to me. All this time. There are no females in a separate realm, are there? There are only the fools kept locked in our own private realm, called out when the fae need a favor. Yet we cannot remember these things with clarity. How many times have you called upon us?”

Still Finian remained silent. Behind him, Walter twitched, his wings folding back. His gaze was entirely on Finian with something akin to devotion.

“I suspect you do something to make us forget our memories. That is why we believed you when you told us you would bring us females.” Furious, Hugh strode forward until he was looming over Finian. “Do you deny it?”

Finian straightened, smoothing a hand down his jacket. It looked as if the man was fighting not to take a step backward. “I have nothing to explain to you.”

Hugh grabbed Finian by the front of his jacket. His long canines were bared in a feral snarl. “You have lied to us and manipulated us all this time. I should kill you.”

I gave a squeak of alarm and surged forward to pull Hugh off Finian. “Hugh! No!”

Walter made a distressed sound, moving behind Finian and trying to pull him backward, as if he could somehow safely drag him away from Hugh’s anger.

As I watched, Hugh’s fangs distended, and his eyes became more catlike. He was losing control of his humanity with his rage. He leaned in closer to Finian, threat evident on his face.

“Don’t kill him,” I said, placing a calming hand on Hugh’s arm. I didn’t know what might happen if he harmed a fae prince. “Finian’s going to bargain with us,” I said, thinking fast. “It’s in his best interests.”

“Oh?” Finian still managed to sneer despite the long fangs inches from his face. Sweat had broken out on his forehead.

“Yes,” I said. “You’re going to release all claims on me and the primordials. And in return, we’re going to keep our mouths shut about how you managed to lose everyone in one fell swoop. I’m sure the other fae will be wondering just what happened to all their little playthings. And I’m sure they’re going to be curious—and unhappy—if they find out that you lost everyone.” I gave him my most winning smile. “So in return for our silence, you’ll leave us alone for the rest of our lives. And Hugh lets you keep your face.” I fluttered my eyelashes at him. “Because he really, really wants to remove it right about now.”

Hugh let out a growl so menacing that even I shivered.

I watched Finian’s Adam’s apple bob nervously. After a long moment, he said, “You’ll stay silent about who was responsible for the primordials’ release?”

I made a locking gesture over my mouth and pantomimed tossing away the key.

Finian’s gaze flicked from Hugh, to me, then back to Hugh. He swallowed again. “I suppose that all this is only costing me an ugly changeling.”

I gave him a fake smile. “I don’t know if you noticed how big Hugh’s claws are? I don’t think he’ll take it well if you keep insulting me.”

Hugh clicked his teeth menacingly at Finian.

The fae nodded quickly, his eyes wide. “I accept your deal.”

“I thought you might.”

Finian’s rune necklace was returned to him. In return, a new vow was placed on Hugh, tattooed across his wide shoulders so it could not be broken at any cost. The primordials were free. In exchange, they would be silent to all fae parties about the terms of their release.

My “mark of ownership” was removed from my thigh with a touch of Finian’s hand.

After everything was established, Finian couldn’t leave fast enough. He grabbed Walter and hastily exited, the car peeling out of the parking lot moments later.

I sighed with relief. An enormous weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

Next to me, Hugh collapsed on his stool.

I looked over at him in alarm. “You okay, Hugh?” My hands moved to his hair, and I stroked it off his forehead, worried. “Not regretting things, are you?”

He pulled me against him and pressed his face to my chest. He said nothing for long, long moments. I began to get worried. After what seemed like an eternity, he said thickly, “To think I almost gave you to him in exchange for mates that did not exist.”

I gently ran my fingers through his hair. “You didn’t know. Finian and the others clearly did something to make you forget whatever tasks you did for them. Who knows how many times they’ve offered you mates, only to wipe your memories afterward?”

“I should have killed him,” Hugh growled. His hands tightened around me. “He didn’t deserve to live.”

“That’s not our choice to make,” I told him and kissed the top of his head. “But the bad news is that you’re stuck here with me. He took his rune back, and the primordials are trapped here, too.”

“Mmm. So we are.” He nuzzled at my breasts, distracting me and making my changeling side flare to life all over again. “I can say that I am not displeased with the situation. Not in the slightest.”

“Will the others be disappointed?” I pulled Hugh’s head away from my breasts and forced his attention up to my face.

“Only if they are fools,” he said and pulled me down for a long kiss.