took slow steps toward the wolf and although Fionn knew the wolf couldn’t see him, he cocked his head as if he could hear him.
As he grew closer, the identity of the wolf hit him. He knew that face with the scar that scored down the left cheek. There was a scar on his neck too.
Scars from silver.
Scars Fionn had seen on surveillance shots Bran sent him.
The werewolf was no ordinary wolf. He was Conall MacLennan of Pack MacLennan—as in the mate of once-fae-borne Thea Quinn.
What the hell.
Fionn flew at the wall, bounding over it easily, the spell trickling off his skin as he did.
Conall tensed, not even flinching at Fionn’s appearance. Instead, he scowled. “I knew there was magic here.”
Exasperated, impatient, and fueled with worry, Fionn strode toward the wolf who stood his ground defiantly. “What the fuck are you doing here? Where’s Rose?”
“Where’s Thea?” he snapped back. “I followed my nose here for her and found this instead.”
Fionn stilled, his worry escalating. “Did you encounter any Blackwoods?”
Conall grew visibly alert. “No.”
“What are you doing here, Conall?”
His icy, pale gray eyes narrowed. “How do you know me?” He stiffened with realization. “You’re fae.”
“I’m Fionn.”
“Mór?”
Fionn cursed inwardly. Did every fucker on the planet know who he was now? “Let’s skip the part where I ask how you know me and vice versa. Why are you here and where is Thea?”
“We were following the Blackwoods. We were staying in the village ten miles north of here. When I woke this morning, Thea was gone. She should be here. Her scent is here.”
“But does it end here?”
Conall took a breath, closing his eyes for a second as the breeze picked up around them. His eyes then flashed open, fury blazing within. “They’ve used magic to throw me off.”
“Successfully?”
“A wee bit o’ magic willnae stop me from tracking my mate. Or killing the fuckers who took her.”
“Good. Because I’m coming with you. I have a feeling wherever we find Thea, we’ll find Rose.”
The wolf’s nose caught in the air again, his expression hardening. “I scent another werewolf here. The Blackwoods didnae come alone.”
Fionn considered this. “I imagine not. There’s isn’t much they’d be able to do to catch Rose unaware.”
“And who is this Rose?”
Even knowing what he did of Conall MacLennan and his mate, Fionn still surprised himself by offering, “She’s what Thea was. She’s what the Blackwoods are after.”
Conall processed this and then growled, “Fuck.”
“You should know Layton Blackwood doesn’t believe Thea was always wolf. That’s probably why they’ve taken her.”
Deep worry etched between the wolf’s brows. “She’s wounded. I found her blood where they took her.”
Having learned a while ago that Conall was famous for his ability to track anyone, Fionn asked, “How does it work? The tracking thing?”
“Usually, once I have someone’s scent, I just instinctively know where to go. But the spell they’ve cast over Thea is … it’s like my compass is haywire. I can sense her but something keeps leading me off track.”
“Now that you know that, focus.”
Conall snarled at him. Hands on hips, he gave his back to Fionn while he grappled against the spell.
“Anything?”
“Something’s wrong.” Conall glared at him over his shoulder. “I dinnae feel right.”
Suspicions building, Fionn asked, “Do you have my scent now?”
“Aye.”
“I’m going to hide, and you’re going to try to find me.”
“I dinnae have time for your games, fae.”
“It’s a test, wolf. Thea might not be the one they’ve spelled.”
The wolf eyed it. “The wall that drops right off a cliff and into the sea?”
“Does it?” Fionn sprung over it. Conall took a step back with surprise. Surprise that lasted but a second for he then threw himself over it. He studied the forest before him with a mere quirk of his lips.
Fionn traveled into the woods, hearing the wolf’s startled curse at his disappearance.
He waited.
He waited as long as his patience would allow considering Rose was most likely in the hands of the Blackwoods. Conall traipsed through the woods, bristling with obvious fury, when Fionn traveled to his location. He spun on Fionn, canines bared. “What the hell have those bastards done to me?”
They’d put the spell on Conall. Not Thea.
Without giving the wolf a heads-up, Fionn gripped him by the collar and sped him through the woods, bursting out of the trees at the faerie pools. He threw the two-hundred-and-seventy pound wolf like he was nothing more than a small sack of flour.