Page 66 of Filthy Fae

I stood. “No one is taking you anywhere, Zeezee. Oxonos is speaking out of desperation.”

“I’m sorry, Mack,” Summer said, speaking up for the first time. “But I’m going to have to agree with Oxonos. This sounds implausible, to say the least.”

“Which part?” I asked, shocked that my half-brother was doubting Zeezee’s story.

“Yes, Summer, which part seems particularly implausible?” Autumn asked, sounding genuinely curious.

“You know what? Fuck all of you. I’m going to wait in the van.” Zeezee headed for the door, but she paused halfway across the room. Lifting her foot, she kicked over Oxonos’ tea tray, sending hot tea splashing up the walls and finger sandwiches scattering over the floor. Then she stormed out of the room. A second later, the door to the garage slammed shut.

Oxonos gasped, leaning away from the mess as if it might jump up and attack him.

Naveen gritted his teeth. “I really hope she’s not going to key my car.”

“My car,” I reminded him. “And she might.”

Autumn inhaled deeply, his chest expanding and shoulders rolling back, and then he sighed. “Well, if it was a frame job, they picked the perfect werewolf. But she’s right. There’s no possible way that one woman and her mate could have killed twenty-two fae and left, unscathed. It didn’t add up from the start. We guessed that she utilized some sort of weapon or spell.”

“She probably did,” Oxonos said as he drew himself up. “Zeezee Riley was all too excited to accept my proposition when I asked if she and her mate wanted to sleep with the queen.”

Naveen lifted one of his dark brows. “You suggested it?”

“At the queen’s bequest. She said her daughter Mab was coming, and she always enjoys scandalizing her heir. Having sex with a werewolf couple in a party setting seemed fittingly scandalous, so I made the arrangements. Zeezee works for me, and we had a sexual relationship, so I immediately thought of her. I put my trust in her.”

Autumn worked his jaw back and forth. “The queen definitely never mentioned to me that she initiated all this.” He looked over at Summer. “Did she tell you?”

Summer paused just a second and then shook his head. “I can’t recall her saying anything.”

Oxonos clasped his hands together and dropped to his knees. “Zeezee Riley is responsible. Please, explain to the queen that I had nothing to do with this.”

We all looked at the willowy fae on the floor.

“Summer, you want to handle this while we go talk in the hallway?” Autumn asked. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen my brother calming a fae that was clearly not in his right mind. Of the four fae princes tied to the queen, Marius was famously the most kind.

“No problem,” he said, crouching down and laying a hand on Oxonos’ shoulder while the rest of us moved out into the hallway. We could still hear the low murmur of their voices, but that couldn’t be helped.

“The queen isn’t going to believe an alternative explanation without iron-clad proof,” Autumn said as soon as we were a few paces into the hallway.

“Hopefully I can bring that by tomorrow,” I said. “But I’m going to need your help to keep back the hunt. We’ve got a plan to trap the incubus tonight, and then we’re going to make it reveal the person responsible. We’ve got a necromancer who specializes in demons on the case. Whoever’s behind this has her little brother and is using him to control the demon. If all goes right, I can deliver the proof to the queen by tonight.”

“But?” Naveen asked.

I sighed. “But I’ll need you to lead the other hunters on a wild goose chase away from the Full Moon Gentlemen’s Club until tomorrow.”

Naveen raised a hand. “I’m down.”

Winter snorted, and Autumn said, “No one will believe Naveen for a second. The only way you’d get the hunters to keep out of your way is if Spring told them the exact time and place of where you’re laying this trap for the demon.”

Spring tilted his head, clearly seeing Autumn’s point.

“I’ll do it,” Winter said. “I could give a fuck about my credibility. They’ll probably only follow me for a couple hours. Hopefully that will be enough.”

“I think it will.” It wasn’t ideal, but it was more than I was expecting.

“The rest of us will wait at the palace, guarding the queen, ready for when you bring the proof. Use the portal at the Robertson’s house. It’s only ten blocks from that club. They’re hunters and will be out all night. Just make sure you dismantle their protections.”

“Not a problem.” I threw a thumb over my shoulder. “I should probably check on Zeezee before she smashes through the garage door and leaves me stranded.”

Chapter Twenty-Six