bedeviled & beyond 07 - beset & bewildered Read Online Free PDF Page B

isn’t going to get you anywhere, toots. So how about you dial back the hostility a few thousand notches and tell us what you need. Believe it or not, we have lives to get back to.”
    She shrugged. “It is very simple. Your sister and her cluck-whipped king are not interested in allying with us. They are trying to create a peaceful kingdom, they tell me. They have no need for war-dogs in that kingdom.”
    Slayer’s handsome face folded into a frown. “Astra and Dialle haven’t turned many away who’ve asked to join the court. There must be a good reason.”
    “I’m sure they’d let you join their happy commune,” I told her.
    “Bah! What would we do in a kingdom filled with cohabitating fools?” she asked. “We are creatures of war.”
    “I’m pretty sure the dark fairies will inspire you to do battle,” Slayer offered unhelpfully.
    I chuckled before I thought better of it.
    The air between us throbbed on another growl.
    I tried my placating tone of voice. “Listen, I get your dilemma. Really I do. Personally I never understood the whole constant fighting thing. I like the new peace. But I understand peace isn’t your thing.”
    “It isn’t about what our thing is, fool!” In the blink of an eye she was in my face, flames spitting from her eyes. I took a step back as energy flooded my hands, and my pulse spiked in a fight or flight response.
    Slayer reached over and grabbed Caninra’s arm. “Back off, Fire Bitch.”
    She showed me her teeth which, though small and white, sported slightly elongated and razor sharp canines. “My hounds are unfocused for the first time in their long, long lives. They have no purpose. They’ve begun to drift away, finding new employment with less savory creatures. Many of them have been killed. Some imprisoned and tortured in attempts to learn their secrets...” Her voice cracked and tears extinguished the flames in her eyes. “I have lost all but a very small group of my staunchest warriors. And even those have begun to talk of finding their way in the new world.”
    Her pain was palpable. I realized in that moment that she loved her hounds. “I’m sorry, Caninra.”
    She spun away and returned to pacing. “I don’t need or want your pity. I need your help.”
    “If you’d tell us what you need us to do, we can move this meeting forward,” Slayer said with obvious frustration.
    I thought about smiling. He was actually starting to sound like a businessman. “He’s right. Tell us what we can do to help.”
    “One of my bitches has been taken prisoner by a dark one. They are torturing her unmercifully. I fear for her life.”
    Slayer nodded. “Good. That I can get my mind around. Where did they take her?”
    I held up my hand. “Slayer. What exactly do you think you and I can do that Caninra and her pack can’t?”
    “Kick ass, blow shit up and pray,” he responded as though I were simple.
    So much for sounding like a businessman. “I don’t think...”
    “I am coming with you,” Caninra declared. “Me and two of my finest warriors.”
    I shook my head.
    “No way,” Slayer said.
    Caninra crossed her arms, her chin protruding stubbornly. “It is non-negotiable.”
    “Oh, it’s negotiable,” my partner told her, his chin protruding just as stubbornly. “We just won’t take the case. You and your warriors go save her.”
    The starch dropped right out of her shoulders. “We cannot.”
    “Why not?”
    She glanced my way. “Because she has been taken by the King’s brother, Torre.”
    And just like that, my apple cart tilted, swayed on two wobbly, undersized wheels, and crashed to the floor with a wet splat. Or maybe that was my system shutting down from shock. “Crap,” I murmured.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Forging my own Path
    Silly me. I’m always worrying about new problems,
    But it’s the old ones that continually bite me on the butt.
    I hadn’t seen or spoken to Torre for almost a year. Not since the mark he’d given me to seal our connection