Chapter 7 Zera #2
“Let’s hope your untraceable faestones are half as convincing,” Zera retorted with a forced casualness, her eyes meeting Maverick’s for a fleeting moment. She thought she detected a bit of pride, but it was quickly masked back into his look of indifference.
“Please, this is what I do,” Quill sneered as he moved to the worktable, waving his hand again, and suddenly, an envelope appeared in a puff of violet smoke on the table in front of him. “Everything you need—faestones, documents—all of it is in here.”
Zera reached for the envelope, her fingers brushing against Maverick’s as he also extended his hand. The brief touch sent a spark up her arm, igniting something dangerous within her chest. She withdrew swiftly, letting Maverick take the envelope and tuck it under his arm.
“Thank you, Quill,” Maverick said, checking the envelope to ensure it was all accounted for before handing Zera her ID and faecoin card.
She tucked the documents in her backpack before slipping her arms through the strap, matching Maverick’s smirk with a challenging lift of her chin.
Inside, though, her thoughts were a whirlwind.
This man, who annoyed her to no end, somehow managed to stir a flutter in her stomach that she couldn’t quite quell.
But she had more important things to focus on. Her son. His safety. Zera reminded herself of these priorities as she followed Maverick’s confident stride out of Quill’s lair to the staircase, the weight of her new identity resting on her shoulders.
“Oh, I wouldn’t leave that way if I were you,” Quill’s voice purred behind them.
They both froze. Violet smoke puffed in front of them as Maverick’s image displayed itself out of thin air and New Bounty flickered in bright-red letters across his face.
“Looks like you’ve got a bounty on your head,” Quill said, appearing beside them. “Ooh, and it looks like it’s a juicy one meant for both of you.”
“What does it say?” Maverick demanded when his image vanished in another cloud of smoke.
Quill fixed him with a firm stare. “It says it’s offering one million faecoin for one Dane Brown, logistics strategist—you, obviously. But it also mentions an additional million for his pixie companion with pixie dust. Alive.”
His gaze shifted to Zera, and she gulped. “You didn’t mention she was a pixie.”
Maverick stepped in front of her, blocking Quill’s path to her. “You’ve never needed to know before.”
The room fell quiet again, both men debating their next move.
She cleared her throat, trying to deflect from the panic that threatened to set in. “Well, at least they want us alive.”
And at least they didn’t use a picture of her. There was still a chance she could get out of this.
Quill’s gaze moved to hers, and Maverick reached his arm to block his path. “Make a move for her, and you’re dead,” Maverick growled.
“Dane, do you really think I would stoop so low?” He arched a blond brow at him. “You’re my customer. In my bar, under my protection. You can trust me. Besides, I make more than that in a week. I have no intention of getting into the bounty game.”
He turned and strolled back to his worktable. Maverick kept his eyes glued to every move the demon made, and Zera couldn’t blame him for his concern.
“Now,” Quill continued, “the fae upstairs will all have seen this notice by now, and I can’t make any promises for them.”
The dragon shifter and his probing eyes flickered in her mind.
“How do we know this is real?” Maverick asked.
Quill tilted his head. “Dane, when have I ever been anything but honest?”
Maverick didn’t respond but had a look as if he knew Quill was telling the truth. Even if he wasn’t, could they risk going upstairs with all of those fae ready to pounce in order to get their bounty?
“Whoever’s after you isn’t messing around,” Quill said, his voice carrying a hint of concern. “These bounties don’t come up often, especially with that kind of price tag. You must have really pissed someone off.”
Zera’s heart thumped erratically as she tried to process the gravity of the situation. There were no other exits that she could see down here. How did Quill expect them to leave?
“Gareth,” Maverick said, finally taking a breath and running a hand through his dark, crisply cut hair. “We had a run-in with him at the Crystal. Tried to kill… Charlotte because of her pixie dust. She’s a walking target if anyone finds out, so please—”
“I won’t tell a soul. You have my word,” Quill said, his voice firm and his gaze steady. “Rumor has it that Gareth’s gotten himself in bed with a much bigger kelpie.”
“Who?” Maverick prodded, gripping the straps of his backpack so hard his knuckles turned white.
Quill shrugged. “That I don’t know, but I heard he’s looking to get into the drug business now that his arms dealing has fizzled out, though I wouldn’t put it past him to be expanding now that he’s got a sugarfae who can bankroll him.”
Maverick’s jaw twitched, glancing between Quill and the bounty that flickered on a monitor behind him. “How many have access to this alert?”
“Other than everyone upstairs?” Quill arched a brow. “Anyone on shadowcom, which is anyone who’s anyone in this business nowadays. Really, Dane, are you still determined to work old-school?”
“I prefer not to be tracked more than I am already,” Maverick grumbled.
Zera could practically see the gears turning in his head.
“How can we get out of here?” he finally asked the demon, who watched them carefully.
His violet eyes flickered like jewels, and the moment he snapped his fingers, a second winding staircase appeared behind him.
“You can take my emergency exit,” he said with a lazy yawn, as if the whole world weren’t about to crash through the walls around them.
Maverick nodded, his gaze flicking over to Zera. “We need to move.”
Zera nodded, fear making it difficult to move. Her feet felt glued to the floor. She tried to even her breath, her hand going to her mother’s locket in her pocket. It seemed to bring her the calm she hoped for.
“And we’ll need a car,” Maverick said, taking her hand in his before turning back to Quill.
“Obviously.” Quill snapped his fingers again, and a set of shiny keys materialized out of violet smoke. “You know where it’s parked. I’d suggest you hurry, though. They’ll likely suspect you to take the back exit.”
“I appreciate it,” Maverick replied, taking the keys before rushing to the stairs.
“Never a dull day in the life of Dane Brown,” Quill drawled lazily behind them. “Oh, and don’t forget your card.”
They stopped at the foot of Quill’s secret staircase and turned as Maverick’s faecoin card flipped through the air with a snap and landed in the wolf’s outstretched hand. Zera shuddered to think how powerful this demon’s machines were if he had the power to make things appear like that.
“Your tab’s been closed.” The demon flashed Maverick a devilish grin before glaring down at Zera. “Oh, and pixie?”
Zera met his tense violet eyes, apprehension crawling up her back.
“Please do avoid all government buildings. The Fae Tribunal’s security is the only one my IDs can’t fool, and I’d rather not have to deal with the mess of relocation.”
Zera nodded, a motion that was beginning to be her signature right now.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Maverick said and guided their way up the stairs and out of the underground lair.
A rush of cool night air greeted them as they emerged from the concealed doorway.
They must’ve been down there for hours, since it was already nightfall.
She drew in a deep breath, filling her lungs with what she hoped to be fresh air after being stuck in that stifling lair.
She immediately regretted it as the scent of wet asphalt mingled with decaying garbage filled her nostrils. It must’ve rained.
She zipped her coat up against the wind. The alley was deserted, save for the distant echoes of Mystic City’s nightlife spilling into the shadows. Maverick took point, striding ahead with a confidence that Zera begrudgingly admired.
A siren in the distance sent her jogging after him.
“Where to next?” she asked, hoping beyond hope it would be to send the untraceable faestone by whatever secret means Maverick had planned to Jade so Zera could finally video chat with her boy.
This was the longest she’d ever been away from him, and the thought of how long it would be before she could hold him again was beginning to send her mind into a spiral of worry and longing.
Maverick held up his forefinger in response, a cue that someone might be listening. Zera glanced over her shoulder at the nondescript building behind them but saw no one.
He led them to a car parked at the corner of the street. How he knew which one the set of keys belonged to was beyond her.
“There you are,” a gruff voice hissed from the shadows. “Thought you two ran off without giving me a shot at your sweet little heads.”
Zera swallowed hard when the dragon shifter stepped out from behind the car they were headed for, his nasty tattoo gleaming in the moonlight. His eyes flared as they met hers, and she knew in an instant that he might not kill her, but she would be nearly dead if they didn’t get out of there soon.
“Get behind me,” Maverick gritted out, his hands balled into fists as his wolf muscles bulged.
Zera’s heart hammered against her rib cage.
He didn’t have to ask her twice. The dragon shifter from the bar, with the intricate tattoo that seemed to write on his nearly iridescent skin, stood between them and their only means of escape.
His presence sent a primal warning through her, every instinct screaming at the danger he posed.
“Planning on taking us in for that bounty, are you?” Maverick’s tone was deceptively casual, but Zera could feel the coiled tension in him ready to spring.
“Thought you’d never ask,” the shifter growled, the smirk on his face not reaching his cold eyes.