Page 8 of Skyla

We were all the best parts of both species. I hid my strength, vision, and hearing. But every one of my senses was powerful. On my human side, I could lie, and I wasn’t sensitive to iron and ash. The perfect blend of both. With one notable exception: I didn’t have a drop of magical power.

What made us so valuable? The main downfall of humans. We could be fae-struck. By the fae themselves, or by a spell with very particular elements. So enamored by the power that we were lost in it, just like a normal human. But because every sense was amplified, if a hybrid was forced into a stricken state, they could never bring themselves out without help. Sometimes ever.

A fae-struck human would fall out of it after a few hours. Not me. So hybrids were superhuman, with the ability to be controlled. Every suggestion was an order when you were stricken. Including triggering theathanasía.

The transition to immortality every fae—both hybrid and pureblood—couldmake once they turned twenty-five, like I would in a just over a week. It erased our humanity but kept the benefits, making us pure fae with none of the restrictions. Not to mention theathanasíacould be a weapon in itself.

Yeah. Kramer had signed his own death warrant by selling me out. And the fact that he hadn’t even thought about that? I shook my head.

“I need to get the hell out of here, Jessie.”

“I know, but I don’t know how. Kramer will be back.”

“You think that will be enough to stop them now?”

One glance at her face told me I was right.

The crowd at the bar was thinner now, and Clementine was winding down. “I guess I better get up there to dance. Maybe it will be a distraction. I need to go to the dressing room first.”

“Okay.” She swallowed. “I’ll help you however I can, Sky.”

I squeezed her hand. “Thank you.”

Fang didn’t stop me from slipping into the back. His enchantment made sure I couldn’t get out of the building. Of course I didn’t have anything to break that enchantment. If I got out of this, I needed to start carrying a kit with me.

There wasn’t a real reason for me to be back here, except to catch my breath. I checked on Puff, still sleeping in her little bed, and stared at myself in the mirror. This was the last thing I expected today. Ineverexpected this, and I felt like the most foolish girl in the world.

Why would I trust anyone? Even people I’d known my whole life? I should have had a plan to get out of something like this, and now I was backed into a corner because of one person’s desperation.

What the hell was Kramer doing toying with faery coke, anyway?

I ran a hand through my hair and closed my eyes. There was only so much I could delay before they came to look for me. I closed the door of the dressing room behind me, darkening the hallway.

Movement made me jump, and I barely kept myself from screaming. Silver stepped out of the deepest shadows toward me, backing me against the wall, though he still wasn’t touching me.

Blond hair fell over his eyes, like he’d been running his hand through it. I could just see the gauges in his ears in this dim light. Leather pants that clothed powerful thighs and a vest that exposed tattoo sleeves full of ancient words and symbols, along with some good old-fashioned tattoo classics.

And, of course, those molten eyes that always saw all of me.

“Silver.”

“Maggie called me,” he said.

I glanced toward the front. “They say a shipment of fae coke was stolen, and Kramer was the middleman. Sent him to get the money andI’mthe collateral. They have the fucking place warded. How did you get in here?”

A flicker of something I didn’t recognize passed over his face before he smirked. “You think those warlock pricks are any match for me?”

Fae were born of magic and shadow. Some fae could travel the shadows themselves. You never saw them coming.

“You have to go, Silver. There must be forty of them in there, and if they see you—”

“I’ll be fine.”

I huffed out a breath. “Don’t be arrogant. Even you can’t dodge the bullets from forty guns.”

“They’re never going to see me, Sky. I’m here to help you.”

Terror filled my chest. There were almost no consequences for what the Legion was doing. It was their day to use this club, and they were coming after something they were legally owed. They werejuston this side of the rules until they decided whether to kill Kramer or take me. Shooting Kramer was a gray area, since he wasn’t innocent.

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