Page 1 of Outcast Fae
Chapter One
My eyes shotopen as a figure pressed a hand over my mouth and whispered, “Don’t scream.”
It was a male, an intruder.
Flooded with fear and confusion, I opened my mouth to scream, unable or unwilling to comply, but the hand mashed down, slamming my lips together and bearing down on me with such force that I knew my attacker had to be huge, at least twice my size and weight.
Rage surged inside me like a wild tiger climbing to the surface. No matter what they wanted, I wouldn’t roll over and let them do it. No matter who they were, they would regret the moment they stepped into my room.
I swung my arms and kicked my legs, fighting with all my strength. I reached for the knife tucked under my pillow, but before I could grab it, someone jumped on me and a second set of hands gripped my wrists, pinning them to my sides. My wings at my back felt crushed.
“A wild one,” the second voice said. It was female, though gruff. The weight of her felt less than the male’s but just as determined.
“We deserve a bonus for all this trouble,” she grumbled.
“Just help me get her in the van,” the male voice said to his partner. Then he turned and spoke to me. “Please don’t fight us. You’re just making it harder for everyone.”
Harder for everyone?Who were these people? Unseelie fae? Who else would wish me ill? King Oberon and his followers were my sworn enemies, but other than that, I’d never harmed anyone.
My body seized as I thought of the children, all asleep in their beds in the other rooms. Were they being attacked, too? I had to get away. I had to make sure they were fine. It was my job to protect them.
“Just use the magic already,” the female voice said. Her gruff voice sounded annoyed. She pinched my wrists, her fingers digging in cruelly.
Magic? They couldn’t be Unseelie fae, then. They had little if any magic. They ruled by force and sheer brutality. If these people had magic that meant they were a witch and a warlock. But what could they want with me? With a fae?
“We’re not supposed to use magic. Not here,” the warlock grumbled. The Supernatural Academy where I was living at the moment had many wards. He seemed reluctant to trigger them, scared even.
Taking advantage of their distraction, I ripped one of my hands from the witch’s grip and swung wildly. My fist struck hard. A crunch sounded, followed by a groan.
“Oh, geez!” the man exclaimed, his voice thick, “I think she broke my nose.”
“Enough,” his partner shouted. “We do this my way.”
The room crackled to life as a bolt of purple energy surged from her fingertips. In the flash of light, I was able to take a good look at the female’s face. She was definitely human with short blond hair, angry eyes, and hard lines etching her features. Then her magic struck me, and my body went rigid. I knew the immobilizing spell when it hit me, a paralysis where no muscle in my body could respond to my desperate commands.
I tried my arms, my legs, my wings—nothing moved.
I floated off the bed, carried away by more magic.
No. This could not happen! The children.
Let me go,my brain screamed.Put me down!Yet, no words escaped my lips. I couldn’t do a thing as they floated me out of my bedroom, down the hallway toward the open front door.
Stupid. How could I not have planned for this? Oberon must’ve sent wizard mercenaries.
As I floated down the hallway, my eyes were glued to the ceiling, but, on the periphery, I could tell the other doors were closed. I had to hope that meant the children—my wards, my friends, my family—were safe in their beds and these intruders only wanted me. That or they’d come for me last, and the children were already gone. I could barely stand the thought of someone harming them. They’d already been through enough, losing their homeland and parents, being refugees in this cruel world, surrounded and hated by the same creatures responsible for the destruction of our realm.
We’d been borrowing this cottage for a few months now, waiting for the children to heal and regain their strength. We’d begun healing. Arryn had even started sleeping on top of her bed instead of under it, a big step for her. She was so attached to me I worried about what finding me gone would do to her.
Moonlight flooded the little clearing around our house. I couldn’t scan the surroundings, but only the wind stirred. There was no one nearby to save me from my captors. Instead, a van was parked on the gravel path beside the garden, its silhouette pale in the moonlight as they floated me closer.
Creaking hinges sounded as someone opened the back doors. Then I was angling toward them. As my body turned, I finally got a good look at my attackers.
The woman was older and hardened—wrinkles lined her face, especially around her mouth as it frowned at me. She wore cargo pants, boots, and a tactical vest that suggested what I had come to associate, in my short time in this realm, with a human military background. The male was large with huge, bulging muscles and brown skin. His black hair was cropped short and his goatee was neatly trimmed. His attire was more casual—jeans, a long-sleeve T-shirt, and a pocketed vest. Where she looked pissed, he just looked… sorry, despite the streak of blood sliding from his nose.
“Careful with her,” he said as the’ciallachadhwitch floated me into the van.
The moonlight disappeared as my body floated into the van. I landed on the carpeted floor and the doors slammed shut. Only then could I move.
