Page 26 of Filthy Fae

“That’s not a fae investigator,” Mack said as he leaned past me to look out Scarlet’s window.

He smelled amazing, distracting me for a moment as he pressed along my side.

“Do you know him?” Scarlet asked.

“That would be Barney,” Mack said the name with a cringe. “He’s one of the biggest idiots at court and eagerly one of my mother’s playthings. And trust me, she doesn’t treat them gently.”

Scarlet cracked the van door just wide enough that we could hear Lance verbally tearing into the fae in a cold, calm voice.

Barney seemed undeterred as he answered. “The queen has every right to close off her property to investigators under the Fae Self-Governing Act, just as you would have a similar right if the crime scene had happened on werewolf property.”

“Shit,” Scarlet said, shock passing over her features. “How did I not see this coming? If she won’t let us or the police investigate, we won’t be able to find proof of Zane’s innocence. They’ll have to release him, and the hunt will be on.”

“It’s exactly the type of move my mother would make,” Mack said. “It’s conveniently extending her policy that all investigations involving fae killing fae are handled internally.”

“We have the same policy, but if we had a situation that involved a troll or something, we would coordinate with their government,” Scarlet said. “Fuck. She’s going to block our investigation until it’s impossible, isn’t she?” Scarlet turned fully and nuzzled her head into my coat.

I nuzzled her back, knowing she needed a moment of comfort.

Lifting her head, Scarlet whispered, “If anyone in my pack is guilty, I will do what I have to do. But I’m not going to hand him over to be hunted and probably tortured. At the same time, I can’t have my wolves protect him. That would mean that they’d be killed. It would just be me against an army of fae. My only hope—” She broke off and inhaled deeply, trying to regain her calm before going on. “My only hope is to prove that he’s innocent. Obviously, the queen knows that.”

I woofed quietly and tossed my head at the house. Both Scarlet and Mack looked at me, their brows furrowing.

It turned out that I’d be surprising them after all. Concentrating hard, I changed. My bones shifted and fur sucked into my skin. Within thirty seconds, I was again in human form. I was also naked, with both Mack and Scarlet leaning into me.

“Sorry for changing,” I whispered through breaths labored from turning human and the very strange position I found myself in. “I was just trying to say that if Mack could distract this Barney guy, Scarlet and I could slip around the house as wolves. I’m sure he’d be...” I trailed off a little, sidetracked by the fact that both Scarlet and Mack were still touching me. Their hands lay on my chest, both of them listening to me as I spoke.

It wasn’t like we hadn’t been naked together fairly often. I’d just never found myself in the middle. It was distracting as hell. I cleared my throat, trying to ignore the tingling sensation of my cock, rather inconveniently, growing harder. My voice was more strained as I continued, “I’m sure this Barney guy would be preoccupied with fae royalty.”

“According to Zane, he broke the glass door in the back, so we’d probably be able to get in,” Scarlet said.

“What if there are fae inside?” Mack leaned past both of us.

“We’d have to be careful.” Scarlet moved in even closer, her intoxicating scent almost unbearable as I tried to convince my body to behave.

I sucked in a breath as I lost my battle for control, and my cock swelled. “And… That’s my cue to turn back into a wolf.”

“What?” Scarlet whispered as both she and Mack looked down to my quickly hardening cock. Mack’s aquamarine gaze rose to meet mine, and there was a glint of mischief there that made this situation all the more unbearable. For this first time in the month that Mack and I had become fast friends, the mischief in his gaze was pointed my way, and I liked it way more than was appropriate under the circumstances. His hand crept a little lower on my abdomen, and my cock jerked upward, fully erect.

Scarlet’s honeysuckle arousal filled the car, and I looked over to find her wide green eyes looking between Mack and me.

“Bad time, worse place,” I said, after a beat of silence. “And now I’m going to change back before Lance and Jane find me in this state.”

Scarlet blinked around like she’d actually forgotten what we were doing. “Bad, bad, bad timing,” she said in a breathy voice. “And yeah, we have to pull our shit together.”

They were both silent as I changed, and thankfully my change dampened my arousal.

After a few seconds with me as a wolf, Scarlet cleared her throat. “What do you think, Mack? Can you cause enough of a fuss that we can slip around the side?”

“Uh...” Mack rolled his head back and forth. “Yeah, that I can do. I’ll just channel my mother. I’ve done impressions of her often enough.”

Scarlet’s hand curled into a fist. “I’m sorry for never being there for you when it came to her.”

“Scar...” Mack rubbed the back of his neck. “I see you beating yourself up about this, but up until recently, I didn’t want you to know about her. Remember? I wanted you safely far away. But recently… Shit, we don’t have time to talk about this right now. But we definitely need to talk soon.”

Scarlet visibly swallowed before pulling her shirt off and wiggling out of her jeans. In less than a minute, she was a wolf beside me on the van bench seat.

Mack looked over, making sure we were both ready, and then he slid the door open, leaving it ajar as he headed to the front porch.