to be easily distracted.
“Sorry,” Dante replied with a wince. “That is not a good idea because Taggart will have gone over his security footage and he’ll know Kaja. She’s kind of famous on this plane. Before Dani was born she was the only shanimal known to the plane.”
A dangerous growl came from Kaja.
“Wolf,” Dante corrected quickly. “No one had ever seen a wolf, so there’s zero way Taggart doesn’t know exactly who she is. He’ll monitor everything I have. I probably should have gotten some tech that isn’t attached to my family. I’ve been out of this game for far too long. I’m really better at politics. If you need someone to negotiate a trade deal with goblins, I’m your guy.”
“Dante, focus,” his wife said, but there was a slight smile on her face.
He nodded. “Yes, focus. All right. If our direct way in is closed off, we might have to go to the surface and find another way out.”
“Or we could go to the plane we came from,” Marcus suggested, his voice smooth.
I felt his magic like silk whispering over my skin. He was going to try to take over Dante’s will.
“Yes. Actually, that’s a great idea.” Dante started inputting the coordinates into his system. “I know that plane. Good times were had there. I haven’t been back to the Refugee plane in years.”
“Because it isn’t safe,” Kaja said, her eyes on her husband. “Since the kings returned to their throne, there is no check on the creatures who reside there. It’s certainly not safe for a tiny pup who doesn’t even know how to kill yet because her father wants her to be a delicate princess.”
“I didn’t see anything dangerous there,” Marcus continued, every word burrowing deep in his victim’s brain. “It was a lovely plane.”
“He’s right. Come on, Kaj.” Dante got a dippy grin on his face. “It’ll be fun. And we can totally make that door with plenty of time to spare.”
“But we can’t take the hovercar. It’s too big to work on that plane, and we didn’t make arrangements for the bikes,” Kaja pointed out. “We would have to walk across two planes to make it to Tír na nÓg. Not to mention we would have to camp.”
“Hey, I’m ready for that,” Dante replied. “I’ve got a ton of gear in the trunk. We’ll make it a family trip. Come on. It’s been years, and I fell for you in that faery forest. Let’s go.”
Kaja turned in her seat, carefully cradling her daughter. “What are you doing to my husband?”
Marcus merely sat back. “Something that apparently doesn’t work on you. You can’t even feel me, can you? You’re an interesting creature. I assure you I can control the werewolves on the Earth plane when I wish to.”
“Hey, baby, that’s the word Meg used when you first pulled your quick change on her.” Dante seemed perfectly happy to have his brain invaded. “Werewolf. Maybe that’s where your people originally came from.”
“My people came from a place where the land was cold and the wolves were colder. My heart has softened so much, my love, but I remember how to be that wolf,” Kaja announced. “I’m going to ask you to let my husband go, Mr. Vorenus, or I shall show you who I used to be.”
“I find this whole situation to be a bit hypocritical. No one asked my consort if she wanted to go to Tír na nÓg,” Marcus said casually, as if he wasn’t controlling another vampire’s mind. “My darling, do you wish to go there?”
“No. I don’t want to go back.” I understood little about what was going on, but the anxiety I felt couldn’t be mistaken. There was a part of me that wished the witches had held off a bit longer because Charlotte Taggart seemed to know things I didn’t. I would have liked to sit and talk with her. “But we do need to figure out what’s going on. I can’t run forever. Why do King Beckett and King Cian want to meet with me?”
They’d never asked to meet with me before. I was one of the most unusual creatures in all the planes, but the kings had left my tribe to their own devices.
Dante nodded as though there was nothing he wanted to do more than answer the question. “Because they need to find out if you’re an evil force trying to bring down the walls between the planes, and if you are, we need to figure out how