Page 21 of The Werewolf Cowboy
All his suspicions flared. Grayson tensed. “What the hell do you want with Katy?”
Jaeden’s pointed ears twitched. “Nothing. I have no desire to put myself out for your Lupine. There are other matters holding my interest. Female ones.”
“You want to get laid by a Dark Fae?”
Jaeden laughed. “I have no need to purchase pleasure for the night. No, I will tell you. You are a singular-minded Lupine, and have no interest in Fae matters.
“There is a Dark Fae named Ninnea who went missing a year ago. I suspect she’s prisoner in the brothel and the queen wants her back.”
There was only one queen in the Dark Kingdom. The Unseelie Queen ruled over all Dark Fae, but for the solitary ones who avoided complicated court politics.
“Queen Morgan of the Unseelie Court? What does she want with her?”
Jaeden’s cynical look returned. “Ninnea is her niece. There is quite a nice reward for her safe return.”
Safe return. It had to be specified safe, for Fae in the Dark Kingdom would tear her apart and send the pieces back, expecting the reward.
“What is Morgan paying?”
The Fae lifted an eyebrow. “Why should you care, Grayson Moore?”
“Just curious.”
Jaeden removed his sword and twirled it in the air. “Five hundred gold pieces, and the head of a very annoying troll I’ve pursued for many months. Little slick bastard manages to get the slip on me each time I draw near.”
“He must be quite powerful to escape a mighty Fae like you,” Grayson mocked.
The Fae struck at a branch of a sapling, lopping it off neatly. “He is a distraction I cannot afford to have. Easier to pay Morgan to send his men after him and do him justice than to hire my own bounty hunters. Of course, I have heard as well that the missing woman has a certain magick of her own I wish to explore.”
It didn’t sound very honorable. Then again, it wasn’t his business. Still, chivalry wasn’t dead in him. Not yet.
“If you’re going to harm her, I will find Morgan and tell her myself,” Grayson warned.
Jaeden laughed. “No, though it is none of your business, Ninnea’s magick that I wish to explore is of a different nature, and she will find it quite pleasurable for me to tutor her.”
He winked, and Grayson realized the magick the Fae mentioned was of a sexual nature. He shrugged. “Your hide, Fae.”
If the missing Ninnea was related to Queen Morgan, she had her own defenses against Jaeden’s sexual tricks.
Jaeden nodded at the tree. “Shall we? If you are ready, hold onto my belt.”
Grayson clutched the back of the Fae’s belt. Steeling himself for the shock of entry, he felt apprehension at finally going back after all these years.
After closing his eyes, Grayson felt a ripple in the air, much like that of an approaching windstorm of tremendous power. And then pain wracked his body, enormous pain that felt as if someone yanked deep inside him and tried to squeeze his innards. He grit his teeth, hoping Katy had been unconscious during the crossover.
He felt his body compress, and then pull outward, and then magick pouring into his body. Not good, wholesome Lupine magick of wolf, but pure power, as if someone pumped him full of energy.
Opening his eyes, he growled. “Damn, I forgot what a rush that is.”
The Dark Fae disentangled himself from Grayson’s grip. “It’s a wonder you do not experience it more often, wolf. Or are you so ingrained in the Skin world that you forgot how to be yourself?”
Not answering, Grayson looked around and found his backpack sitting a short distance away. He strapped it back on and regarded this world.
They were just outside a stretch of thorny cacti that made an effective barrier between the vast wasteland of the Blasted Zone and the glittering black building that was the brothel in this world.
The Dark Kingdom.
It looked the same as the earth world at first glance. Overhead the burning yellow sun beat down upon them same as it did in the Nevada desert, and the sky was a clear, cloudless blue. But then he noticed the streaks of deep purple and pink rippling in the sky before vanishing, like the Northern Lights of Alaska.
