Hell on Wheels (Faetal Attraction #1)

Morgana

The colorful Fae in front of me is definitely sassy and powerful. She practically exudes untapped energy as she follows me to the small sitting area inside the party tent. Her men are mostly quiet, but I smile when I note the tall blond shifter who reminds me of Lucas. The demon twins are clearly rich and dangerous; the way the studious looking one watches both the buff blond, and the girl tells me they must have a very similar relationship to my family.

Love is love was much more common in supe society before we came over to America, and it still is in the other parts of the world.

“I should introduce everyone,” I say as I choose a seat on one of the couches. Lucas sits on one side and the prince takes the other, leaving Slade and Iggy to find chairs alongside our chosen side of the sitting area. “As you know, I’m Morgana LeCiel, and this is Prince Liam. The asshole dragon is Kasper, and these two lovely gentlemen are Ignatius Briarton and Slade. Slade is Tracer’s younger brother, as he said.”

She waits for someone else to speak, then sighs when it’s left to her. The woman’s gaze is sharp as she points at her guys, letting them know she’s pissed. “I’m Rogue, and the green-haired dick is Rebel. Tall, blond, and hockey is Archie; the twins are Angelo and Damon Gemini. My quiet phoenix Javier King. They’re all in my doghouse for making me a damn hostess when I’m better suited for sparring—verbally and physically.”

My lips curve at her caveat. I really think I’ll get along with Rogue well. I like her spirit. “Nice to meet all of you. I won’t keep you too long, but you should know that there have been attacks on campus at State U that we believe are connected to both the Hand of Morrigan and some outside faction of shifters they are working with. The Society sent Guardians to help clean it up, but my lawyer believes many of the activated Guardians are far too busy to track this shit down. The one who arrived admitted they’ve been dispatched all over to handle things that sound suspiciously like other attacks, perhaps from other groups besides mercenary Fae and random mythicals.”

“Mythicals?” the Fae called Rebel asks with a frown. “They hate getting involved in politics unless they’ve been hired.”

“It was a fire drake the last time,” I reply seriously. “Luckily, our combined skills took it out before more damage was done or lives lost.”

“Motherfucker,” the bespectacled Gemini twin says as he shakes his head. “Those things are a bitch and a half.”

“Indeed, demon,” Iggy agrees. “Morgana and Kaspar helped to take it down by air while Lucas, Slade and I worked on the ground forces. However, we’re also embroiled in other subterfuge that feels bigger than Magnus’ acolytes being mad at Morgana.”

“Like what?” the other twin cuts in. “Because as far as the rumors go, he left a lot of women behind and Rogue is a prime example of a chick who’d make you wish you died, too, if she felt like it.”

I laugh in delight, then wink at him. “Well… Angelo? A star hockey player from a competing uni was murdered in the locker room and a bang-up job was done to frame Lucas. When that didn’t work because his Nana is pretty high in the Society, they slipped poison made with magic and science into his water bottle at practice. It almost killed him—that’s how we all came together, in fact.”

Rogue looks at my men and inhales sharply. “I would raze this entire city if someone killed one of these jackasses. You showed remarkable restraint.”

“I can, when the injustice isn’t as bad as Magnus’ was.”

She wants to ask, but she shakes her rainbow hair instead. “I imagine it’s as bad as my ex-BFF trying to kill me because I wasn’t useful anymore.”

Lucas frowns, and I have to control my features as his soft heart shines through. “That’s rough. I’m sorry you had to go through that. People are doing you ladies dirty and I fucking hate it. I assume these dudes took care of her, right?”

The pastel haired woman laughs, “Despite giving me a cowardly beat down with her new friends, we can’t strike out at Mina just yet. She’s aligned with a powerful shifter mob family who runs a lot of the sports and other shit in town, so we have to be careful. She’s here, by the way, as are her pathetic minions and the shifter mob leaders. They’re inside.”

Rebel—I think—grumbles something under his breath at her words and my darling bear mate chuckles. “I get it, man. There are some people I’d love to kick the asses of at home that I can’t just yet. And some who came with us.”

Our new friends look surprised, but at that moment, Kaspar, the phoenix, and Tracer walk in with trays of drinks. The dragon shoves mine at me after he gives the Prince his and it seems like the light bulbs go off. I see the demon twins smirk, clearly understanding that our dynamic is not quite as… settled as theirs.

“Yeah, we had to knock some sense into Reb recently, too. Be patient,” Angelo says and his twin nods in agreement. “Some people need a swift kick in balls to get their shit together.”

Liam laughs, trying not to look at his scaly guard pointedly, which only gets a snarl from the jackass. “I’m familiar.”

“I know we’re Guardians, but you could have found others who aren’t activated closer to you. Why come here?” The maligned Fae guy looks at me curiously, but I feel his suspicion in the air.

It’s a fair question, but I doubt it’s all he wants to know.

“We came here because we wanted to speak Tracer,” Slade says as he looks the rough and tumble Fae in the eye without fear. “He suggested you might be of help since our father is likely to pout me through the ringer over my choices and not give me an ounce of fucking info.”

The stylish phoenix sits with his family, tilting his head as he asks, “You’re… not close?”

Slade snorts. “That’s putting nicely. I live as an academic, getting more degrees on purpose to stay away from here and what would be my legacy with the Sons. Tracer gets what he wants—the leadership if our old man ever hands it over—and I get what I want, which is to be left the hell out of that life.”

“I can’t imagine Axel Finn is thrilled with that,” Damon says drily. “He’s got plenty of others in his school, but choosing some artsy fartsy academic life isn’t something he’d support.”

Iggy shakes his head. “He definitely doesn’t, but I’ve been doing my best to keep Slade at SU, so he’s not forced to come back. However, when shit heated up here, we knew we’d have to tap every resource possible to find out who’s gunning for Lucas and Morgana.”

“The fire drake attacked me, you assholes,” Kaspar bitches. “None of you were even there until the fight had already started.”

They look at me, and I nod in confirmation. “It’s true, though I hate admitting he’s right. We don’t know if that was to take out Li’s guard, by virtue of association with us, or simply because this Wally World brand Legion of Doom is aiming at destabilizing shit everywhere for some bigger purpose.”

“Great,” Rogue says with an irritated sigh. “As if my plate needed more shit with Mina, the Stuhll Mafia, and whoever the fuck demanded that I come to this stupid meeting filling most of the space. Not to mention these guys crashing through the gates recently with this mate stuff. I’m living a Fresh Prince and this is my goddamned Bel Air.”

I snicker, enjoying her wit. “I understand and truly, I’m sorry to add to your woes, but the Society isn’t taking this seriously. The Guardians who came to do cleanup with the drake seemed worn out and they’re not even assigned. According to my assistant—who is their leader’s adopted sister—Julia is part of a strike team that runs around fixing things. Their charges have outgrown Guardians and been inducted, so they’re on-call. Seeing on-call strike teams sent out despite looking ragged out means they didn’t have anyone else.”

Rebel frowns. “Maybe. Proximity and skill matter, but yes, that’s concerning. It’s more so since we’re not being told that anything is stretched thin by our handlers and bosses. Inactive Guardians could definitely be used for strike and investigative purposes if that’s true.”

“Exactly,” Iggy replies. “They should use all resources if there’s a big problem, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. It’s almost like they’re trying to hard the connections because they don’t want to admit a larger problem is on the horizon.”

Watching the woman in front of me, I notice that the hard she’s thinking, the more those fabulous tattoos glow. She must be accessing Unseelie magic, but Liam doesn’t seem bothered, nor does fuckhead Kaspar, so it must be safe. After a few more moments, she speaks. “If a rebel group from the Veil like the Hand, plus mercs in shifter and mythical realm, plus other factions are all doing shit at once… it’s typically not coordinated because none of them can stand one another. But the likelihood of them all starting shit at once is infinitesimal as well.”

“Julia said something about the sisters,” Slade murmurs. “Remember? So did Jackson.”

Putting my hands over my eyes, I suck in a slow, deep breath. The Fates were a topic at my trial and though they did not crawl out of their stupid cave to attend, things I overheard made me wonder how much their influence had to do with my sentencing. “Yes, I do. Bringing together random dickheads is in their wheelhouse, but I don’t think they’d enjoy the chaos it will wreak on their tapestry, especially when it crosses realms.”

“They might have a clue what to do, though. Those old bats love moving chess pieces around,” Kaspar grunts. “And their reach is uninhibited.”

The more studious demon twin frowns, looking at his brother for a moment before he says, “There’s weird shit going on in Hell. Luca doesn’t stay connected with them much because he’s likes his fiefdom here, but recently, there have been… developments that are puzzling.”

“Such as?” Liam asks as he scoots forward on the couch.

The twins exchange glances again, and this time, the brash one answers. “Such as restarting the Caliphate Games—which have been banned for centuries since the current King’s caliphate won and started the war that earned him the throne. Such as that sneaky bastard Darkstar attending meetings on the surface with our father—especially because the games are being held at his university with the Prince of Hell’s caliphate in attendance. Shit like that.”

Lucas elbows me. “Didn’t Jackson say weird shit was going on in the Hollow enclave, too? And the chick he knows had issues in Faerie?”

Our new friends go quiet at the same time as my family and I know we’re thinking the same thing. Something very important is going on for all of this to be happening in disparate regions of the supernatural world—especially ones who don’t talk to one another and are only tangentially held together by the Society’s governing body.

“This definitely feels like a plan that’s been in the works for a long time,” Iggy remarks. “Otherwise, no one could arrange for all the problematic shitheads to act up simultaneously. I mean, how long would it take to convince the King of Hell to change his mind on something? Has to be centuries, right? And getting shifter criminals and mercs to work with a rebel band of Fae? I would have thought that was better fiction than reality TV.”

Rogue scratches her chin, thinking about his words before she nods. “The problem you came here about is probably connected to all of this, but fuck if I know how. Even if that kid’s grandma is well connected, I don’t see what it gets them. And if the shit here is connected, I don’t see what the surface shit up here achieves. The Hell stuff, sure, cause chaos below will spread upward, eventually. But we need more input—where else are there issues and with whom?”

I nod, looking at my guys. “We’ll see what we can get out Jackson and his team if you work contacts on your end. We can stay in contact after we head home. Sound fair?”

The pink-haired Fae smirks at me, tilting her head. “Sure you want to enter a bargain with an Unseelie? It’s probably making your Prince’s skin itch just thinking about it.”

“I stopped letting mean make my decisions for me when I cut my ex’s head off,” I say with a shrug. “They know I cannot be managed.”

By the look on Rogue’s face, I’m guessing she can’t, either. She’ll make a fabulous ally.