“She’s human!” Noah declares in shock. Gathered in the trees that make up the center of Haven Park, the four Fae stand around looking at each other, at least somewhat comforted by the presence of the greenwood around them. “How is it possible that she has the gift?”

Cole closes his eyes, remembering the woman . . . Eve. An appropriate name, if his knowledge of human history is correct. He could see such a woman spawning a whole new race. “She’s half human, half faerie,” he says, remembering her golden hair and gold-rimmed eyes, unusual features for a human. They were captivating, and beneath his loose battle trousers, he can feel his cock stir again, a discomforting feeling considering the reason. “That’s how.”

Tyler, who’s been quiet since his hyperspeed reflexes saved Eve’s life, sighs. “Even still . . . when has a Halfling been born with the gift?”

Cole, whose own heritage growing up was questioned from time to time because of his dark hair, shakes his head. Fewer than ten percent of the residents of Lunaria have anything other than gold or platinum-blond hair, and his black waves often led to teasing and questions growing up. “It’s been a long time, but it’s rare. This is an ill omen indeed.”

“We must go get her now!” Jacob, always the faerie of action, says. “I don’t know why we didn’t just snatch her then. What, do you think her partner was going to help? What could he have done?”

Cole shakes his head, stroking the grip on his sword in a meditative movement that he picked up centuries ago. “Not yet. Something is amiss here, something that has nothing to do with her gift. Don’t you feel it?”

“I do,” says Noah. The second-most experienced of the four, Noah had faced his own comments, considering his huge size and broad chest among the normally tall and willowy Fae. “While Halflings are rare, even more rare nowadays, they are all tracked by the government. This woman, though . . . when we came, there was no mention of Fae or a Halfling in this region of the human realm. That is troubling.”

“I don’t feel a damn thing,” says Jacob. “And Noah, not everyone who dips their dick in human clench reports it back to the Lunarian Guard. I see nothing strange about her at all.”

Cole shakes head and snorts. Jacob, for all his speed and skills, is also impulsive and the biggest ‘joker’ among the queen’s Guard. “Of course your eyes fail you,” he says, trying to focus. “We can’t go back yet. Something is going on here. Something that can bring calamity and ruin back to the Fae realm. We have to stop whatever it is.”

“Did you see her, though?” Tyler asks, swallowing his nervousness. “She’s incredibly beautiful.”

Cole can’t help but agree, but he says nothing. Since laying eyes on Eve, his loins have been on fire, but what disturbs him is that there was something more . . . and that more is supposed to be reserved for the queen. No low-born Guardsman is supposed to have feelings of attachment to anyone other than Her Majesty . . . or else, they face harsh punishment.

“She’s even more beautiful than the queen,” says Noah, a shocked silence dropping over the foursome at the blasphemous words. For almost her entire thousand-year reign, Queen Cassina has encouraged her entire army, and especially those chosen for her Queen’s Guard, to lust after her. Taking only one a year into her bedchamber, both as training and as a reward for the most outstanding accomplishment in her royal service, it’s bound her entire Guard to her tightly. None are allowed to have sex for more than physical need, and while it’s become clear over the centuries that Cassina herself will never mate either, it hasn’t stopped every member of dreaming of being the Fae who takes her bond in his heart.

Finally, Cole clears his throat. While the most excellent of Guardsmen, Cassina has never rewarded him with more than a view of her naked form, a night of passing her oils and soaps as she teased him with her words and flashes of her sublime body, the one he had for centuries thought was beyond compare . . . until now. His cock, however, has never felt anything other than a one-night stand’s touch, and for Noah, one of those long assumed to be on Cassina’s short list of those for her next reward, to say such things . . . “Be that as it may, we have a mission.”

“What is the course of action?” asks Tyler uncomfortably. Cole feels sorry for Tyler. The youngest of the foursome, his sexual urges, style, and conquests are legendary talk in the barracks. While Tyler’s devotion to Cassina is as ironclad as any of them, there’s just something about Eve that makes their faerie blood pound.

“Just kill all the Earthlings, Paranormal or otherwise, and problem solved,” Jacob says easily. He’s not being serious. He rarely is. “We could use a little bit of a workout. That demon lord and those hounds were a piece of cake.”

A wolf howls in the background, cutting off the lighthearted chuckle from the other three. Cole feels the call deep in his bones, where all Fae know their connection with the light and the natural world . . . where the magic lies. It’s a shifter wolf out on the hunt, a descendant of faerie blood, so diluted by humans their magic has been reduced to a mere single form which is strong only when the moon is full.

When the howl drifts off into the night air, Cole turns to the others, his decision made. “We follow the Halfling woman. Protect her, for there will be other forces after her, and make her see reason. It might take some time, but it is better that we teach her about her true nature and find out what’s hunting her. Put an end to it. Then . . . then, we shall let Her Highness decide what to do next.”

Noah nods. “Protecting her, and ending this threat, will protect the Fae.”

Tyler grins, excited. “Exactly. We’ll become her guardians.”

Jacob chuckles. “Guardians . . . Tyler, you’ve been too long from this realm. May I suggest for you a hooded green tunic with an eye mask?”

The joke falls flat, and Jacob shrugs after a moment. Cole looks around at his brethren, making sure they have the message before punctuating the plan. “Until we resolve what’s going on here, we’ll have to protect her at all cost. Treat her like she’s the most precious faerie in existence, and yes, integrate into this . . . very human world.” Cole pauses, knowing he’s about to say something that’s even more blasphemous than what Noah said seconds ago. “Until we leave this plane, we must treat Eve as if she’s our queen.”