“Ma’am…”

“You need to try calming down, Zuzu.” I hated to keep saying his name because it was bloody ridiculous, but I needed the guy to keep his attention on me and not the wolf. Maybe using some old-school hostage-negotiating tactics would help.

Unfortunately for me, the hostage taker in this case was a werewolf with no human control, and my only frame of reference for dealing with this kind of situation was repeated viewings of the Kevin Spacey movie The Negotiator. I asked myself, What would Kevin Spacey do?

He’d give a rousing monologue and collect a hundred Oscars.

That didn’t help me much.

“Take a deep breath,” I instructed.

“Oh-o-kay.” His deep breath sounded like forty-five small ones.

“One more time.”

He tried again, and this time managed to take one big breath. Which he held.

“Let it out,” I told him.

He sputtered.

The whole time I kept watching Desmond, and the wolf kept watching me. I didn’t want to shoot him, but I didn’t know how to subdue him. I was supposed to be Queen, but I didn’t have the first fucking clue how to make him yield to my power.

My wolf might know, but could I let her have that kind of control without her stabbing me in the back and running wild with it?

Yes, came the answer inside my own head.

“Yes I can trust you, or yes you’re going to screw me over?” I muttered.

“What?” Zuzu asked.

“Deep breath, Zoo. Don’t move, and keep breathing.”

You can trust me.

Fat fucking chance.

I can help you.

She was alert now, stirring inside me. Feeling the wolf part of me move like it was its own entity hadn’t stopped being weird for me. I wasn’t sure I could get used to sharing my body with a wild animal, even if she had been there as long as I’d been alive.

Trust me. Trust yourself.

This coming from the bitch who’d run away from the pack to do God knew what in the Louisiana woods.

They weren’t my pack, she scolded. He is my pack. He is our mate.

“Fine,” I said. “But don’t shift.”

Fine. Get on the ground, and put the gun down.

I didn’t love the initial instructions, but she was playing nice for now, so I wanted to do my part. If we had to coexist—literally—we might as well learn to work together.

I got to my knees, much to Zuzu’s visible dismay, and put the gun on the floor behind me.

I’ve got this from here.

When I opened my mouth again, the voice that came out was mine, but it wasn’t me speaking. I’d never heard myself sound so rough and forceful. “Bow before me, lesser creature, for I am your rightful ruler and you will yield to my commands.”

Desmond’s ears went from flattened to perked up, and he gave a low whine.

I advanced towards him on all fours, and bared my teeth at him, my gaze not dropping, never showing him any signs of weakness. In spite of the fact my human teeth weren’t anywhere near as imposing as his wolf ones, he still looked uneasy.

“Bow before me,” the foreign version of my voice said again.

The wolf took a step away from Zuzu, watching the fae before turning back to me. Zuzu, for his part, now seemed more afraid of me than he was the wolf.

I growled, and it was not a sound a human throat should have been able to make. It rumbled in my belly and shook my bones.

Desmond’s legs stretched out before him, and he lay with his belly flat on the ground, covering his muzzle with one paw.

“You will not disrespect my authority again,” I told him.

He whined in reply.

Zuzu looked like he was going to wet himself, and his fear gave my inner wolf a thrill.

“That’s enough for now,” I whispered, more to my wolf than to anyone else in the room. I collected my gun, rearming the safety.

For now, she thought back.

Chapter Thirty-Four

She let her humanity slip.

Calliope’s words echoed in my head as I led Holden and wolf-Desmond back through the palace, following Zuzu, who walked ahead of us. He’d been sent to bring us before Aubrey, and I think the last thing he’d expected was to be cornered by a werewolf and then witness said werewolf take a browbeating from a possessed woman.

But that was his own damn fault. He lived in fairyland, for crying out loud. Wasn’t this a place where anything could happen? Hadn’t I seen glowing flowers and a man wearing an outfit made out of moss? Did we not arrive here through a magical fucking door?

I found myself getting angrier and angrier at Zuzu as we walked, upset with him for being afraid of us. Mostly because it meant we were somehow scarier and more fucked up than anything in the fae realm. And there was no way I could believe that was true.

As soon as we arrived in the throne room, Zuzu vanished out a side door. I would bet good money we’d never see him again.

“I trust your evening was restful,” Aubrey said by way of greeting. “Though I see one of your party has slipped his mortal form.”

“Alternative realities are a tricky thing like that,” I replied, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with his comments.

“Did you sleep well after the ball?”

“No.”

“Ah, well.” He gave me a knowing smile. A little too knowing. “That will happen.”

“Mmm.”

The more time I spent with Aubrey Delacourte—and granted it hadn’t been much time at all—the less I liked him. Besides the similarities of appearance and the way they tended to talk in circles, I couldn’t find a lot of ways Aubrey and Calliope were alike. They did both have a habit of trying my patience, but I could at least count on Calliope to come through with something useful in the end.

Aubrey wasn’t here to help me.

He snapped his fingers twice, and a door behind him opened. A man came through who was average height. He was the man from the night before, but I was able to get a better look at him now. He would have been incredibly handsome if he’d been in any other company. With Aubrey and Holden in the room the quota for beauty had already been exceeded, and this guy just looked pleasant and symmetrical. That was the best I could think of him.

Kellen followed behind him, her fingers entwined with his. She was wearing a gold dress, her long brown hair done up in an elegant Grecian bun, and she appeared to be happy. I’d seen Kellen giddy-happy and drunk-happy, but there was something about the expression on her face I didn’t recognize. She was so happy I didn’t trust it. She looked over at us and gave a wave, but her attention was fixated on the fairy.

“You’ve had time to make your observations,” I told Aubrey. “Now let’s come to an arrangement. That was your promise. One of them, anyway.”

“Ah, careful now.” He raised his index finger and waggled it side to side. “I promised no such thing. I said if you and I could agree to terms, then I would let her go.”

Motherfucker. The fae should all moonlight as lawyers.

“I did have time to observe,” Aubrey continued. “I’ve been watching you since you arrived here.”

“I bet.”

“And I do have the terms of her release, should you be ready to hear them.”

“Never been readier.” That was the God’s honest truth. The sooner I could get Kellen and bring everyone home, the happier I’d be.

“My terms are a trade.”

The word trade hit me like I’d fallen into ice water. “A…what?”

“I will trade for the girl.”

The gears of my brain started grinding, desperate to find something, anything that would make him give me any other terms. “But she’s not yours. He took her.” I pointed to the average-enough-looking fae. “You can’t trade for something that isn’t yours.”

“Clever. But you are sadly mistaken. I am King, and therefore everything here is mine to barter and trade for as I see fit. He may have her now, but if it were my desire, she would be mine. As you wish to have her back, I feel like something should be left in her place. That seems fair, does it not?”

Don’t agree. Don’t agree. Whatever you do, don’t agree, screamed the intelligent part of my brain. The desperate part wanted to grab Kellen and make a break for it. I wanted to do or say anything to get us out of there. But the underused McQueen smarts made me think better of rash actions.

“I don’t—” I stopped myself mid-sentence. I needed to think very carefully before I said anything. If I told him I didn’t agree to the trade, our promise was void. He’d only let Kellen go if we came to an agreement. I couldn’t tell him I did agree, because I had no idea what he wanted from me.

“You don’t what?” he asked.

“I don’t know what I have to offer that would inspire you to request a trade,” I said finally, picking each word carefully and making sure to keep sarcasm out of my tone.

He smiled, seeming to appreciate my participation in his game.

“As I mentioned, I kept a close eye on you.”

“As one does when observing,” I replied.

“Yes.” His look told me I shouldn’t interrupt again. “And I have found your attachment to your companions to be quite intriguing. You bed this one…” he pointed to Holden, “…but still you risk your own life instead of harming this one.” Desmond was sitting beside me like a well-trained dog. My hand went to his head, as if touching him could protect him from the weight of Aubrey’s gaze.

I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t want to make him think my feelings went one way or the other.

“I want you to choose,” he said.

“I don’t understand.”

“The terms of my trade are this. You are attached to both your male companions. I cannot tell which you care for more. It bothers me not to know, and so I want you to choose. The one you care for most you can keep. The one you do not choose will stay here in place of the girl. I will have done you a great favor.”