The sound of footsteps echoing down the stone castle corridor had me scrambling to my feet. Six hours. It had been six hours since Ardan had marooned me in some steel cell inside of a castle in Ireland. My thick steel cage was bare, except for a toilet and washbasin. No bedding, no books, nothing. It looked out onto a hallway and stone staircase. A large arched open window with no glass, just bars, overlooked a beautiful landscape. If I weren’t scared for my life I might actually enjoy the rolling green hills, forest, and rocky beach. Logan and the team were scrambling to find my location, but this place was a magical fortress and they couldn’t locate it remotely. Thank God my mind-speak, mate-bond thingy still worked, or I would have gone crazy by now.

Lynn and the new baby were safe, Logan had informed me, but not for long because Eva’s spell could only hide the baby’s shifting for about twenty-four to forty eight hours, and the ingredients needed for it were precious and hard to come by.

Probably elven ear wax or something nasty.

When I asked him about Ruben, he changed the subject. I didn’t press him; I was too emotionally fragile to hear the answer. Ruben and Steven had been in a faceoff right before Ardan took me. Could he have survived that? I thought of the little red beard tattoo on my ribcage, I prayed wouldn’t need to add a bear to it.

Logan had made me promise that I would mentally keep him informed of everything that happened, I struggled now with telling him someone was coming. What was the point of worrying him?

A face emerged over the top of the steps, and then the largest man I’d ever seen came walking up the stone stairs—that was saying something after being surrounded by huge shifters. He had brown, graying hair slicked into a ponytail at the nape of his neck. His eyes were dark, almost black, and he radiated power that made my pulse quicken; sweat beaded my brow.

Ardan.

Stepping up beside him was the king of douchebags, Steven, and someone I didn’t know, but his glowing yellow eyes made my stomach drop. He was a truth witch. The same eerie glow had been in the eyes of Eva’s bouncer.

I scrambled to connect with my mate. ‘Logan, he’s back with a truth witch.’ Eva had warned me of their kind, told me I had to reframe things in my mind when I answered them, to get away with a lie. But I’d never learned the art of what she called trickery.

My eyes fell to a large red glowing blade in the truth witch’s hand. I swallowed hard. I was too pretty and too sheltered for torture. I was gonna tell these assholes whatever they wanted to avoid getting sliced up.

‘We’re on a plane to Northern Ireland in the general area Eva thinks you might be.” Logan’s voice came through loud and clear. “Isaac has a friend there who might be able to help us find you. Just tell them whatever they want to know so you won’t be hurt.’

That sounded like a decent plan until my mind flashed to the horrible things they could ask me: Where was Isaac’s land? How many more skyborn were alive, and where did they live? My mom’s address book…

I scrambled backward until I was nearly touching the wall.

‘No. Teach me how to lie,’ I begged him.

Logan growled. ‘It takes months to learn trickery! They’ll torture you! Just tell them.’

‘What if they ask me about Casey? Lynn’s baby? No!’ I shouted back through our bond. The men reached the bars and I clenched my hands into fists. Where was Sophie when I needed her? She would probably take a hundred cuts from that knife before ever uttering a single word.

I pinned Ardan with my meanest glare. “You know, I hear steroids can cause some nasty side effects. You should really stop using them.”

His face was a mask of calm. He looked at Steven and nodded. Oh shit.

In a blink, Steven disappeared from outside the bars, reappearing inside my cell, right before me. I wanted to act cool and badass, but instead, I yelped and stumbled backward, cracking my head against the wall. Pain exploded in my skull, but I was able to shake it off and stay upright. Steven grinned, and I wanted to cut that smug look right off of his face. If I thought my dragon could break through steel bars, I would shift right now, but there was no point. I was a smallish dragon and steel was definitely strong enough to contain me.

“I want her magic,” Ardan snapped. “Not just her dragon magic, all of it. I want the magic of a fire druid. Figure out how to get it for me.” He spun on his heel and left, heading down the same stairs he came.

Oh shit of all shits, I was so screwed. There was no way this could end well. I had rogue power that was threatening to put me in a coma if I used it, and no staff to control it. I tried to control my breathing, but felt on the verge of hyperventilating.

Steven grabbed hold of my forearm, yanking me closer to him. My heart jumped to my throat, I feared what he would do to me. There was an unlocking noise, metal against metal, and the cell door scraped open as the truth witch came inside.

“We’re going to have a little chat,” the sorcerer told me.

‘Logan, they’re going to interrogate me. You have to teach me something! ANYTHING!’ I roared through our mate bond. Why did men have to be so difficult? Just do what I ask the first time and we wouldn’t have problems.

‘Eva has a plan. Use our mate bond, open it up wide so I can hear what he asks you, but don’t really focus on what he says. Just focus on what I ask you and answer out loud.’

What the hell? That was the most confusing thing I’d ever heard.

I decided maybe I could talk my way out of this. “What do you want to know?” I asked them. “You already know I’m skyborn. You already know I’m half druid.”

The truth witch’s eyes flared to life then, my stomach tightened in knots.

“Are you mated?” he asked, his lips curling into an evil grin as if he already knew the answer.

Frick.

‘Do you hate me?’ Logan asked.

‘What? Of course not!’ My man had lost his damn mind.

‘No, answer me out loud. Don’t focus on him.’

Ohhh, oops.

“I asked you a question. ARE you a mated dragon?” The sorcerer pressed his yellow magic and it washed over me, warmth and tingling, coating my skin like a film.

‘Do you hate me?’ Logan asked again and I focused on that question, ignoring the other one.

“No,” I answered confidently.

The truth witch pinched his eyebrows together, eyeing me skeptically.

“Do you know where any of the other skyborn are?” he asked, taking one step closer to me, causing my pulse to skyrocket.

‘Do you want me to kick Hemlock?’ Logan asked right away.

‘Hell no. And now I miss my dog—thanks.’

“No,” I answered aloud.

The truth witch glared. “She hasn’t technically lied but I don’t trust her answers,” he said to the druid.

Steven growled. “Guess we’ll have to do some experimenting, then.”

He lunged for me and there was nothing I could do but back into the wall and cover my face. The truth witch threw something yellow and suddenly I was frozen midair, hands over my face. I could breathe, barely, but I couldn’t move.

“Thank you,” Steven said politely to his colleague.

He reached behind him and brandished the glowing red knife. “I wonder if I make multiple small incisions, if I can coax out her dragon magic without killing her.”

Oh God.

The truth witch rubbed his chin. “She’s half druid. I’ll bet her druid feeds off of her dragon, and if you kill her dragon it might also kill her druid. Unless she’s mated.”

Steven brought the knife closer to my raised arm, and that’s when my dragon roared inside of me. I could no longer protect myself, so she was going to try. Problem was, I was frozen.

Steven looked annoyed. “So, what do you propose?” He was knife happy. I could see it in his eyes as I peered through my fingers at him. He was dying to cut me.

The truth witch held out his hand, scanning the air before me as my dragon lashed at my body, trying to rip free. “Her magic is all intertwined. We need to tease it apart so we can siphon the dragon magic first. Then I can transfer her druid power to Lord Ardan through a sacrifice spell.”

Sacrifice? Did he say sacrifice? Fainting was a definite possibility now.

‘Logan they’re going to kill me,’ I whimpered through the bond.

I felt his fresh hot panic flare through me as Logan’s presence saturated my being. ‘Hang on. Isaac has a plan. Do whatever you can to buy us a couple of hours.’

A couple hours! That seemed impossible, but I had to try something.

“I know where The Eye is!” I blurted at the truth witch. I was pleased to find that although my body was frozen, my mouth still worked.

He immediately looked at me with interest. “What is this, a bargain? Although the prospect of acquiring The Eye intrigues me, I will not trade your life for it.”

No shit, Sherlock. I’m trying to buy some time.

“I know that. But if you get it, maybe you can look into the past and find a way to untangle my magic or whatever it is you need to do instead of … instead of experimenting on me.”

His intrigue piqued. “And why would you want to help me kill you and drain your power for our lord?”

Shit, busted.

“Because if I’m going to die anyway, I’d like a glimpse at my mother one last time. In her prime, in the old days.” Truth and lie were blurring here. Hopefully it was somewhat true, because he would tell if it wasn’t.

“What’s The Eye?” Steven asked, clearly annoyed to be out of the loop.

The sorcerer looked at the druid with mild disdain. It was clear they only worked together when they had to. “Only one of the most valuable magical artifacts to ever exist.”

Now it was Steven’s turn to look annoyed. “Will it help us get her magic for Lord Ardan?” he growled at the sorcerer.

The truth witch seemed to weigh the question in his mind. “Yes, I think it could. I could go back to a time when something similar to this has been done and learn the technique.”

Oh God. Someone had this done before? That poor soul.

Steven mercifully lowered the glowing sharp torture stick. “Let’s get it,” he declared.

When the truth witch stepped closer, the spell over my frozen limbs broke. My dragon had calmed somewhat, so I was able to retain my human form. I sagged backward against the wall, taking deep lungfuls of air.

“Where is it?” he asked.

Here’s where I had to hope he would continue to take the bait. “Well, it’s with a sorcerer named Hensel. Last seen in Fresno, California.”

Steven groaned. “She doesn’t even have it!”

But the truth witch wasn’t swayed. Greed shone in his gaze. “I know of Hensel. He runs the black market. We can find him easily.”

Steven looked at me with mistrust. “We’ll be back,” he told me, and reached for the sorcerer’s arm. Within a blink they were gone, poofed out of existence.

Holy hell.

I slid down the wall into a sitting position. Now that the adrenaline had run its course, a crushing exhaustion came over me. But no way could I sleep with my life on the line.

‘They’re gone. I’ve bought some time, but I don’t know how much.’

I waited for a reply from Logan.

‘Logan?’

I waited again but there was only silence. The last of my strength fled then, as tears began to fall down my cheek in warm rivulets. I slowly curled into a ball and peered out the bars at the stairway, praying they wouldn’t return soon.

My eyelids were getting heavy—I’d been awake almost twenty-four hours—but snapped open when I heard Logan’s voice inside my head.

‘Sloane!’ he roared.

I sat up, dry-mouthed, stomach rumbling and alert. ‘I’m here!’ The sky was darkening as the sun began to set. I was running out of time.

‘Oh thank God. I did a glimpsing spell on the plane to try to find you, and it knocked me out.’

What! That didn’t sound good.

‘Isaac’s friend is inbound to free you.” he rambled on, before I could ask further. “When she gets there, you’re going to need to shift and fly away with her. She’ll bring you to us. We’re about to land.’

I scrambled upright. ‘W-wait, what? She’s going to waltz into Ardan’s lair to free me just like that?’

Silence. ‘She’s … small.’

I furrowed my brow. Okay. ‘Logan, is this friend … a human, sorcerer, druid, or skyborn?’ I quickly rattled off all of the supernatural species I knew of.

Silence again. ‘Neither.’

Oh God. I let that go, because I couldn’t go there. I didn’t want to know what kind of Faery creatures had escaped before the land had fallen. Creatures that Isaac apparently had friendships with.

‘Okay, you want me to shift, which will alert Ardan, and then fly over Ireland…’

‘Yes.’ His reply was instant.

My mate was crazy, but if it would keep me from getting chopped up I was game. I knew Ireland was full of tales about mythical creatures, and I knew they liked to drink. Hopefully, if I did manage to make it out of here and fly over this place, any humans who saw me would be intoxicated and think they imagined it.

Yes, I was going to go with that.

I spent the next twenty minutes pacing my cell. How long had I been here without food or water? or the restorative energy of the Earth? More pressing, how long had it been since I’d flown? Would I even know how to do that when the time came? I thought I heard a noise and froze, staring at the staircase, wondering if Isaac’s little intruder friend was here.

“Psst!” said a tiny, high-pitched voice, no louder than a whisper. I’d barely heard it. My whole body went rigid as I pivoted towards the sound and zeroed in on the tiny...

Holy mother of little fairies.

Standing between the bars of my large window was … a fairy. Like a legit, tiny, gossamer-winged creature that I expected carried pixie dust. Her face was like a painted doll’s, with porcelain skin and rosy lips, her hair short and jet black. She wore a tiny blue dress, with a bow and arrow slung over one shoulder.

I didn’t know what to say. I stared with my mouth gaping open. My druid master and I needed to have a serious chat about his “friends.” How many more surprise creatures did he know?

“Sloane?” she asked, in that tiny singsong voice. She had a mild Irish accent, which made her even more adorable.

I nodded, mouth still agape. This is what I imagined tripping on acid would be like. But it was real. Without another word, she burst from her perch and flew at me, so fast I barely had time to move back before she was hovering in front of my face peering into my mouth. She was like a hummingbird on Red Bull.

“You have nice teeth,” the tiny voice said.

Excuse me? Maybe this was an acid trip.

“Thanks.” I smiled.

She nodded, wings flapping, hovering midair.

“Isaac has spoken to you about the payment?” She scrutinized me, raising her tiny chin in my direction.

No.

“Yep. All good.” Take my soul if it means you can free me from here. Whatever the payment was we would work it out. Logan would pay anything to free me.

She looked excited and suddenly I hoped it wasn’t my soul Isaac had promised her. “Be ready to shift and fly, skyborn.”

She pulled an arrow from the small sling around her shoulder.

“Okay…” I stepped back and felt my dragon stir, ready for when I called her forth.

Please don’t let this be an acid trip.

Without ceremony, she loaded an arrow into her tiny bow and it lit up with blue fire. I stepped forward, suddenly interested.

She loosed the arrow and it crashed into one of the steel bars at the window. The second it hit, the bar disappeared. I grinned, trying to contain my excitement. This freaking tiny fairy was totally breaking me out of here.

“Shift,” she told me as she loaded and loosed the next arrow, knocking the second bar out of existence.

The window was a high stone arch, but looked only about five or six feet tall. My dragon was at least eight feet standing. It was going to be a challenge to squeeze through, but I had no other options. I stripped my clothes quickly, feeling my dragon rushing to the surface. The thought of leaving my undies behind for Steven and Ardan repulsed me, so once my shift was complete I clutched the bundle of clothes in one of my taloned hands. My body bulked out, and my wings were pressing the edges of the cage.

“Let’s fly!” the fairy declared. She incinerated the final steel bar just as I heard footsteps pounding up the stairs. Ardan.

The fairy zipped through the open window and I was right behind her, running in an awkward T-rex kind of way. I was just ready to leap from the open sill, hoping I would fit my fat dragon ass through, when I felt a yank on the tip of my wing.

I screeched, looking back. Ardan had popped into my cage and was trying to hold me. Heat flared to life in my belly and I knew that if he did something to my wing, and I couldn’t fly, I was dead.

Without thought I roared, showering the druid in dragon fire, scorching the tip of my own wing in the process. Once I felt the pressure on my wing lift, I leapt. The stone sides of the open window cracked as I pushed my weight through it, smashing my head against the top of the arch, but I shoved past the pain and resistance and then I was falling.

Oh shit. I forgot how to fly!

With a frantic whine, I flapped my wings upward towards the tiny butterfly of a fairy waiting for me. The tip of my wing was sore from my own fire but seemed to be flying fine. Looking down, I could see Ardan and a few of his men below, ready with harpoon guns. Oh hell no. Never again with those things. I flapped, higher and higher until I was next to the fairy, who darted forward away from the water and towards a forest area.

“Get to the forest and I can offer you invisibility!” she shrieked, and I barely heard her tiny words over the roaring winds and shouting druids.

I risked a glance behind me and wished I hadn’t. Ardan was waving his hands in the air and a cyclone was brewing before him. Coming right for me. Shit! He could create tornadoes!

Of course he could.

‘What’s happening? Are you out?’ Logan’s voice was laced with anxiety.

‘Yes. You didn’t tell me a four-inch-tall fairy was coming to rescue me!’ I shouted while the fairy dove into the tree line. I came after her just as the tornado crossed the grassy hill after us. What a shit-show. This was going to be impossible to get away from. Ardan was too powerful.

‘Just follow her directions and meet us at the airport,’ he told me.

Sure. Easy. I’ll just ditch this tornado and this freaking teleporting druid and hop a cab to the airport.

‘Kay…’ I told my mate. I didn’t want to worry him, and I didn’t need the distraction right now. There was nothing he could do for me up in the air.

I was about to ask the fairy what was next, because Ardan had blinked out of sight and was probably in these woods controlling his tornado, when she shot me with an arrow! This time, it was a pink flaming arrow. It stuck into my neck and I gasped, expecting to plummet to the ground or something. It didn’t hurt, just felt like an acupuncture needle or something.

She grinned, looking pleased with herself. “You’re invisible now!” she shrilled.

Say what? I was going to have to take her word for it, because I could still see my wings flapping in my peripherals. I made it to the tree line and followed her lead on where to go. I had no idea where we were.

Why didn’t she make me invisible before we left? I wondered. I mean, I was grateful, but it would have helped our escape. I couldn’t ask her in my dragon form, so I just kept flying, hoping I was in fact invisible, and that Ardan wasn’t fixing to shove that tornado right into me and shear off my wings.

“I can’t control invisibility magic without my trees.” She gestured below us, as if reading my thoughts.

Oh, right. Of course. She needed her trees.

Isaac sure did have some weird friends, but she’d saved my ass from getting chopped into dragon sushi, so I didn’t care what peculiarities she had.

My wings were tired already. Flying my big ass dragon body was akin to running, and I was not a runner. The fairy was swooping lower into the tree line, and I risked a glance behind me to see the tornado had fizzled out and there was no sign of Ardan. Thank God for small favors.

Please let that douchebag be lost in these woods.

My tiny flying partner lowered into a small meadow where there was a black Jeep-looking off road-type of vehicle waiting for us. The top was open and it looked like there was no one inside. The tree line had ended, and with it, I was guessing, her ability to keep me cloaked. I lowered my awkward dragon body into the meadow, skimming a few trees with my large wingspan. When I landed on my taloned claws I looked down and took inventory of my bundle of clothes. Damn! I’d lost my bra somewhere in the flight.

“Shift. We must leave quickly,” she told me, while her tiny eyes scanned the woods behind me.

I did as she asked. She hadn’t led me astray yet, although I had to admit I wasn’t jazzed about going back to my human form. Without my staff I felt so … weak. At least my dragon could breathe fire and fly away. My bones cracked and shrank, and once I was fully shifted I looked up to see her gazing at my naked body.

Awkward.

“How tall are you?” she asked.

What the hell? She was high, I decided.

“Five-eight,” I told her as I scrambled into my clothes, going braless. I felt so naked without my staff. I couldn’t believe it was gone, reduced to ash. What the heck was I going to do about that?

“Ohh that’s tall,” she cooed, lustily raking her eyes over my body.

I was dressed, so I nodded and pointed to the car. “You, er, want me to drive?”

She rolled her tiny eyes. “Obviously. It’s my boyfriend’s car, so be careful with it!”

I froze. Boyfriend? She just said boyfriend, like a human boyfriend? Nope, I didn’t want to know. I just jumped inside and thanked my lucky stars that my high school boyfriend had taught me how to drive a stick shift on his Mustang.

I threw the car into first gear, grinding the clutch a little, and then took off down the dirt road that led to the meadow we were in. After two minutes, we came upon a cobblestone road, with nothing but rolling hills in sight. I followed that road for another few minutes, and then was brought to a main road where my winged friend told me to go left. After driving on the wrong side for a few seconds and hearing her shriek, I figured out that I was supposed to drive on the left side of the road and not the right one. Oops.

We drove through farmland, which opened up to a village that turned into a bustling city, all within twenty minutes. It was kind of crazy how quickly we went from the middle of nowhere to full-on four-story apartment buildings and a market.

‘We just landed,’ Logan told me anxiously. ‘Are you okay?’

I could see the signs for the airport up ahead. ‘I’m fine. We’re five minutes from you.’

My eyes kept flicking to the rearview mirror; I continued scenting the air—anything that would tell me if Ardan was on our trail. I didn’t think so. I hadn’t shifted and if he were on my trail, he most certainly would have popped into the car with his magic. Right?

We reached the airport.

“Private plane entrance!” the fairy beside me shrieked. She’d been flying this entire time, not sitting on the seat like a normal per—okay she wasn’t a person so that made sense. I followed the sign for the small side entrance that led to the private plane hangar. The second we turned the corner, a sob ripped from my throat. I didn’t think I’d get all emotional, but seeing Logan, Isaac, Eva, Danny and Keegan all standing there at the gate waiting for me gutted me open. This was my family and I’d almost died without them. I brought the car to a halt and pulled the e-break. Jumping out, I was barely two steps across the street when Logan closed the distance and scooped me into his arms. His hard body crashed against mine and tears leaked from my eyes. His woodsy scent overwhelmed me as I inhaled deeply.

“I’m never letting you out of my sight again. I’m so sorry,” he said gruffly.

So much emotion was roiling through me I couldn’t speak.

The fairy cleared her throat behind me. “The matter of my payment?”

Logan released me. The pack was staring at the four-inch-tall hovering fae creature.

I smiled at her. “Yes. Pay this woman whatever she wants. She saved my life,” I told the group.

Isaac cleared his throat nervously and made a face he only made when I did something stupid or he was uncomfortable. I looked to the fairy, who was grinning ear to ear.

“Isaac,” she piped. “You know what I require. It has to be a molar! You know that.”

My face fell. Did she … did she just say molar?

The good druid rubbed the back of his neck nervously as my mate stepped closer to him. “What’s the payment, Isaac?” Logan’s voice could cut glass.

The fairy growled suddenly and darted into Logan’s face. “I was promised payment for saving your skyborn. Don’t fuck with me!” She pulled her bow and the arrow glowed blue.

Oh shit. Blue made things disappear. Forever.

Logan looked amused, but he didn’t know what this little thing was capable of.

I put up my hand. “Calm down! You’ll get your payment. You saved my life. It’s only fair.”

She stared at Logan one second longer, lowered her arrow, and glanced at Isaac.

He reluctantly pulled out a freakishly large pair of pliers.

Logan’s eyes widened. “You knew!”

Isaac looked to the floor. “You never would have agreed. It’s just one tooth and then we can go home. It will grow back.”

Home. Isaac’s land, and our little house above the waterfall were our home now. I wanted that so badly. If Logan’s arm could grow back then surely my tooth would.

“Take mine,” Logan growled. “You’re not touching her.”

The fairy looked offended. “I’m not a man!”

We all looked confused until Eva stepped forward, a look of fascination on her face. “Rumor is that a female fairy can … consume the tooth of a female skyborn and it will give her a body shape and size identical to that female skyborn for over a decade before she returns to her small form.”

The fairy nodded. “That’s right, and I’ve been small for too long. I don’t fancy having a penis, so it’s got to be her tooth.”

My brain was still stuck on the word consume. She was going to eat my tooth? A shudder ran through me. This sweet thing wasn’t sweet at all. No wonder she’d complimented my teeth when she first saw me.

Casey, Lynn, Nadine and the baby, they were all back home…

“Just do it. I want to get the hell out of here,” I barked at Isaac.

He nodded, stepping forward.

“Wait!” Logan shouted. He looked to Danny and Eva. “Can’t you numb her or something?”

“Not much, but it will help a little.” Eva stepped forward, and laid a yellow gauze of magic over my face. Suddenly, my lips went slack and I just knew in a moment there would be drool there.

“Open up,” Isaac instructed. My hand clamped down on Logan’s. Danny slipped behind me and I opened my mouth while the fairy zoomed into view.

“I want that one!” she said, pointing greedily to my back left molar as if it were in some way superior to my other teeth.

Isaac’s big pliers-filled hand came into view and I felt the cool metal, working its way to the back of my mouth. I looked at Logan, who looked away, down at the ground. There was a metallic click and then pain exploded in my jaw. A drool-filled gargling wail cut from my throat and then I blacked out.