The Summer King Bundle 3 Stories - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,17

September, and I decided after thorough exploration that Florida is the Australia of the United States. The place scares me,” he said, and I snorted at that, because it was sort of true. “He’s not going to be down there forever. He’s coming back.”

I wondered if there was something wrong between him and Fabian. “Is everything okay with you guys?”

“Of course.” Tink dropped Dixon’s paw and pinned me with a look that said he couldn’t believe I’d actually asked that question. “Fabian not only thinks that I’m the most amazing creature to walk this world and beyond, he’s so in love with me, it’s adorable.”

My grin grew as I reached over and scratched Dixon behind the ear. “That’s good.”

“Speaking of love, how was your date?” He changed the subject as he plopped down on the pillow beside mine and crossed his legs, leaning back against Dixon’s fluffy belly.

“Date?” I almost laughed right in Tink’s face. As if I ever had a date. Kind of hard meeting people when you were a member of the Order, knew that fae existed outside of Disney and fairytales, had a twelve-inch brownie who sometimes was people sized and often crawled into my bed when he was Tink sized—wait. His brows lifted. “Oh, it wasn’t that good. Nothing to write home about.”

Tink folded his arms. “You lied to me. You didn’t have a date.”

“I—”

“You went hunting instead, didn’t you?” His little mouth pursed with irritation. “You went hunting for one of those fae who hurt you, but you didn’t want me—the most awesome of awesome company to ever be blessed with—to tag along.”

“Tink—”

“Not only am I freaking awesome, I am also pretty damn badass. If you go out there hunting those fae, you take me with you. I can help.”

“Tink—” I tried again, no point in lying. He knew what I was doing. He was the only one to figure it out. “I know you’re awesome company, but the moment they saw you, they’d know what you were. That would kind of throw a wrench into everything.”

“Oh, yeah, and you ending up dead or worse would also throw a wrench into everything.” Tink leaned away from Dixon. “What you’re doing is dangerous. If Ivy knew—”

“Ivy’s not going to know. Neither is Ren or anyone else,” I told him. “Look, I get that you’re concerned, but I don’t want you out there, putting yourself at risk. You’ve already done so much,” I told him, meaning it. “You saved my life.”

Tink shook his little head as he stared at me, gaze somber. “I didn’t save your life. I found you. That’s all I did.”

“You still saved me.”

“No,” he said, louder this time. “It wasn’t me who saved you.”

I opened my mouth, unsure of what to say. The way he said that struck me as odd, but before I could say anything, he spoke again.

“Did you find who you were looking for?”

“Yes.”

“Did you take him out?” Tink asked, holding my gaze.

“Yes,” I whispered.

Tink smiled then. “Good.”

Chapter 7

Miles, the leader of the New Orleans branch of the Order, called first thing Monday morning with a request that both confused and interested me.

The Summer fae had requested a meeting with the Order, but Miles couldn’t spare any of the essential members to go see what they wanted.

Since I was not considered an essential Order member, I’d been assigned the task to figure out what they could possibly want.

Tink was passed out in the living room next to Dixon, so I didn’t bring him along with me. Granted, I could’ve woken him up, but the fae treated Tink like he was some kind of golden calf to be worshipped, and Tink’s head was already overinflated, adorably so.

So, that’s where I found myself Monday morning, staring at the beam of sunlight that shone through the large windows of the office inside Hotel Good Fae, keeping the room nice and toasty despite the chilly March temperatures outside.

That’s what Ivy called this place, and it did remind me of a hotel—a really glitzy, mammoth hotel. To humans and even to the Winter fae, Hotel Good Fae appeared to be nothing more than an abandoned power plant on St. Peters Street.

Based on the old maps I’d found in my mother’s past research clutter, I suspected all the strange markings of places that couldn’t or shouldn’t exist were more well-hidden communities.

This might not be the only one.

Hotel Good Fae was a massive structure set up a lot like a hotel. Several stories tall with hundreds of