“Did you just feel that?” Tyler asks, his hand lifting from the constricting collar of his jacket to rub at his temple. “Her powers are growing more restless, more unstable. We have to capture her.”

“Not yet,” Cole replies, scratching at his arm. Since having changed into what Jacob called ‘casual clothing,’ his skin from the waist up feels like it’s being covered with a thousand ants. He knows it’s just the fact that he’s wearing human fabric above the waist, but it’s still hard to get used to. At least his pants feel normal, although the shoes Jacob insisted on getting feel both too hard and soft at the same time on his feet.

“Not yet?” Noah, who perhaps is suffering more than any of them, asks. His neck looks like it barely fits through the hole in his ‘hoodie,’ and his biceps are already straining the fabric. “Why not?”

“She’s around too many humans. We have to get her alone,” Cole replies. “Remember, she works for the one group of humans who have half a chance of hurting us. They’re prepared for Paranormal powers. We can be hurt . . . even killed. So, we wait, and then we take her.”

“I can’t wait for that,” Jacob says hungrily. Cole nods, understanding. His dreams last night were some of the most intense of his life, and he knew the other Fae felt the same way. It had been a long time since they had felt the comforting touch of a woman.

“I’m sure you can’t,” Noah says with a chuckle, “but you need to learn how to last more than two minutes first.”

Jacob snorts. “With what I’ve got, it only takes two or three minutes to make her see paradise.”

“With your aim, I’m surprised you even hit your target half the time,” Tyler jokes. “You should learn how, then you can be one shot, one knockout, like I am.”

Noah snorts. “You mean one shot, and she falls asleep from boredom. There are advantages to being hands-on, powerful, and having lots of stamina.”

The three laugh, and even Cole smiles at the banter between them. He’d brag, but he knows that after his current self-imposed celibacy streak, his boast would fall flat. Besides, they had work to do. “If we don’t get tabs on her soon, her power will cause havoc. Jacob?”

“I know. We could follow—” Jacob starts before they get interrupted by laughter. Looking over, they see a pair of women approaching, their youthful bodies somehow immune to the late fall cold by the amount of bare flesh they’re showing off. In Cole’s opinion, it’s slutty, not flirty, but human standards still escape him.

“Eff eff ess, you guys are totally hot!” the one girl, a bouncy brunette with what Cole thinks are green eyes but upon closer inspection are obviously contact lenses, says. “Like, are you models or something?”

Cole tilts his head, confused and amused. “No, I’m not an automaton. Why?”

“She means you’re good-looking,” Jacob explains with a smirk. His habit of spending all his vacation time in the human realm had more than paid off, but it still left Cole feeling like an idiot more than once today.

Cole nods, not sure what to say. “Oh.”

The brunette doesn’t seem to mind Cole’s lack of understanding, running a hand along his arm. “Feel these muscles, Cyn. Not even those gym Instagram models are cut like this. You boys up for some fun?”

Noah, who’s currently fending off the other girl who’s also spending far too much time interested in his bulging musculature, nods his head. “We’re taken.”

“By who?” the other girl, Cyn, asks.

“Queen Cassina XI,” Cole replies automatically, stepping back from the brunette. It’s not quite a lie, although it could be seen that way. “Apologies.”

“Who the heck is that?” the brunette asks. “And does she mind sharing?”

Cole doesn’t exactly have a problem with sharing. All Fae are born with that ingrained in them, whether it’s sharing a woman or being shared. Still . . . it takes a remarkable woman to deserve multiple Fae as her lovers.

Before he can respond, a commotion catches their attention from across the square outside the police precinct. A crowd of rowdy men is dragging a young man across the concrete, occasionally walloping him with a two-handled club that Cole remembers from his training days, a boy’s weapon but still deadly in trained hands.

“We caught you, fucking wolf boy!” one of them yells, pulling a coil of rope from his jacket and throwing it over a light pole. “Now we’re going to teach all your kind. Don’t you ever put your filthy paws on a human girl again!”

The boy struggles, but he’s seriously outnumbered and unarmed. The Fae watch as he’s cracked in the back of the head, noticing that there are police nearby who stand around, doing nothing to stop the soon-to-be lynching.

“Enough’s enough,” Jacob snarls, reaching under his jacket for his knives. “He may be weakened diluted blood, but he’s still blood.”

“Jacob, wait!” Cole snaps sharply. It’s an effort to subdue the instinct to help the shifter, but he knows it will only lead to trouble. Besides, other than Jacob, they are all on backup weapons, Cole only holding a silver knife along his spine. Ironically, Noah has the same type of club as the crowd, although his was enchanted long ago by the best Fae sorcerers. “Stay thine hand!”

“He needs our help,” Jacob protests. Beside them, the two girls both seem to get the point of their conversation but are confused as to how to react. “We must help, by our own vows.”

“It’s our job to keep peace and order,” Tyler echoes, battle lust in his eyes.

Cole shakes his head, looking around and evaluating the scene. “But this is not Lunaria. This is the human world, and we have a much more pressing issue at hand. Let the authorities here handle it. Getting involved in human politics will only spell trouble for us.”

“Wait, you four aren’t—” the brunette girl says, but before she can, there’s a roar of anger. The boy, who’d been limp and nearly lifeless as they went to loop the rope around his neck, transforms into a wolf before snapping his bonds and leaping away.

The lynch mob, enraged, starts to run after him while the cops act like they see nothing. One of them, a particularly rotund man with a red face, sighs and picks up a donut from the cart at one end of the plaza and stuffs the whole thing in his mouth.

“The authorities here seem to have forgotten their oaths. We should teach them a lesson, the honorless bastards,” Jacob seethes. “They sat there and watched. They didn’t even lift a finger until, oh, wait, one of them has decided to free the city from the blight of a loose rope tied to a light pole.”

“It appears those who are different are not welcome in this city,” says Noah. He’s disdainful, a weakness of his once his anger is awakened. “That should bear watching.”

Cole, taking the lead, draws his three friends with him away from the still curious and confused human girls and closer to the police precinct. “The wolf is free, and at this point he’s more of a danger to the humans than the other way around. As for the humans . . . they have become pompous and arrogant. They don’t deserve our help.”

“Perhaps, but their arrogance reflects in Lunaria,” Noah rumbles. “Their penchant for violence leaks into our realm as well.”

“And our penchant for joy and laughter leaks into their realm,” Cole reminds Noah. “Or do you forget the good times in this realm as well?”

Jacob chuckles. “Cole, the only knowledge you have of the good times in the human realm have been by my tales. But yes . . . Woodstock was a lot of fun.”

“Regardless of your memories, there’s one that is in much need of our help,” replies Cole just as Eve walks out of the police department. She talks to a dark-haired man for a moment before the two get in a car and drive away.