Page 22 of Beauty At Stake
The thunderous landing of something large, black, and very pissed off came from the backyard, cutting off my words.
Fairies and extinguishers ran for the backdoor as I gaped out the window at a scene straight out of a horror flick. The murderous monster had crouched into the landing, his wings outspread. As he straightened, he pulled them in against his back, their clawed tips glinting in the moonlight. More claws gleamed as his fingers curled and when he lifted his head, his bared fangs also caught the moonlight.
Terror was carved into that face. Primal brow bones created a subtle ridge that swept up to points at his temples and down at the center, becoming the long bridge of his nose. It emphasized the glowing gold eyes that zeroed in on me. As if all of that wasn't chill-inducing enough, his cheekbones were pronounced too—twin blades that slashed up to mimic the ridge of his brow. And the monster's skin was black. As black as a starless night. Which was the perfect time for him to hunt. And with one look, I knew who tonight's prey was. The Unseelie King had come for me.
The only thing keeping me from laleking to safety was the fact that the monster was my husband.
“Fuck,” Killian muttered. “Just . . . fuck.”
“Seren?” Star's voice jolted me out of my trance.
I jerked the scry phone back up and with my stare locked on the Unseelie King, said, “I'm gonna have to call you back.”
“What? Why?”
“Fucking Raza is here,” Kill said. “Gotta go, dude.” He swiped the crystal for me, ending the call. “Babe, you do not want Raza to catch you on the phone with Star.”
“Yeah,” I murmured as I watched Raza get waylaid by the fairy hunters.
Most hunter teams were mixed as far as fey courts went, but in some places where the hunters needed to blend in with the locals, they filled the teams with the fairies of that region. And Thailand was Unseelie territory. Craos-Teine, where Raza and I lived in Unseelie, stood on land that aligned with Papua New Guinea on Earth. That was a bit of a journey from Thailand. Unless you considered the raths. Raza must have taken a rath from Craos-Teine and then one to Earth. Wherever that rath was, I assumed it still wasn't close enough since he had flown the last stretch. Hopefully, Raza had spent most of that flight under a glamour. But I wasn't going to hold my breath. Not with him in a foul mood.
That's what spun through my mind as I watched Lady Malai bow deeply to her king and welcome him to Thailand. Seeing her complete lack of surprise made it all click into place. She had scried Raza.
“She must have overheard us talking about Star,” Kill said.
I finally looked at him. “Ya think?”
“Hey, don't get pissy with me. I told you to scry them. This is all you, babe.” Kill smacked his hands together. “I'm wiping my hands of it.”
I grimaced at him.
“Seren!” Raza growled. Even though he hadn't shouted, it felt as if he had, his voice rolling through the wall to vibrate in my chest.
I looked up to see my Dragon-Djinn husband stalking toward the house. “Shit.”
Then the worst possible thing happened. Star appeared.
I gaped from him to Raza. “Oh, fuck.”
“Seren, what's going on?” Star demanded. “Is everything . . .” He followed my stare to Raza. “Ah, you've scried them.”
“No, my wife did not scry me. Lady Malai of the Wild Hunt did,” Raza declared, confirming my suspicions as he entered the living room. He was so enormous that his presence made the room feel crowded even though it was spacious. Dressed in layers of black leather, head-to-toe, he looked ready for battle, and the crack of his wicked wings closing was like a call to war. That illusion deepened when the fairy hunters fell into formation behind him.
“Bitch move,” I said to Lady Malai.
She met my stare without flinching. “My loyalty is first and foremost to my king.”
“Not when you're hunting.” I pointed at her. “Then it's to the mission. That's the whole fucking point of the Wild Hunt. And I know you made a vow—”
“Seren!” Raza snarled.
“Nope!” I swung my finger to point it in Raza's face.
“Bold move,” Killian murmured. As he backed away.
“Don't fucking come at me like this.” I stepped closer to Raza. “Someone who didn't have all the information, nor the right to pass it on, tattled to you like a fucking child. Then you listened to her and took her words as fact.”
“Because I didn't get any facts from my wife!” He lowered his head.
