Shadow of Doubt - Hailey Edwards Page 0,18
her, and she rested more of her weight against me, reminding me of a Great Dane who thought it would fit in its owner’s lap as an adult the same as it had as a puppy.
There was no delicate way to ask, but never let it be said that stopped me. “Are you…stuck?”
Another pitiful, whistling exhale more or less confirmed it.
“Do you want me to call Midas?” A shake of her head nixed that idea. “Okay then. We’ll wait on Ford.”
The man in question arrived five impossibly long minutes later, torn between awe and horror when he spotted Bonnie. I didn’t understand the combination, but his gawking caused her fur to stand on end.
“She’s stuck,” I said when he didn’t make a peep. “Can you help her?”
“Stuck?” He wiped the back of his hand over his mouth. “Well, damn.”
“She’s an albino,” I prompted when he continued to stare. “Does that have any special significance?”
“Yeah.” He blinked a few times. “It sure as hell does.” He leaned forward to get a better look, but even that intrusion into her personal space made her snarl. “This explains why Midas took responsibility for her.”
“How would he know the color of her fur based on a sniff test?”
“Not her color, her species,” he explained. “She’s gwyllgi.”
“I got that part.” I gestured toward the hulking beast. “Are all albinos this huge?”
“No.” He checked to make sure we were alone. “I mean, she’s gwyllgi.”
“Oh.”
Fae.
That’s what he meant. She was fae. As in a pureblooded fae. As in born-in-Faerie fae. A fae-fae.
The exact thing all good necromancers are forbidden to approach, speak to, interact with, etc.
As if I needed a reminder I wasn’t good by anyone’s standards, my shadow perked with sudden interest.
Fae didn’t just have magic, they were magic, and Ambrose strained against his leash for a taste. He was eyeing her like a starving man handed a plate at a buffet, but I smashed his dreams with a tug on the bond that connected us, reminding him who was in charge, however thin the margin.
Bonnie nudged me, a soft cry in her throat, like she was pleading with me for understanding.
The fact the Atlanta pack harbored an undisclosed number of their Faerie relatives was a secret very few knew, and it was information they would kill to protect. Bonnie’s identity was a burden, a huge one, and I wished I could shrug it off, but now Ford knew I knew she was the real deal.
“She must have been using a charm to mask her scent,” he decided. “Only on her human self, since I can smell her loud and clear now that she’s shifted.”
The subject of magical augmentation hit too close to home, so I redirected him. “Okay, so what about white is special?”
“Gwyllgi born with albinism are always, without exception, powerful healers. They’re kept under lock and key. No pack who has one will let them go without a fight, whether the gwyllgi is on board or not.”
That might explain why she fled her old pack, but it’s not like we could ask with her currently embracing life on four legs. “Can you communicate with her?”
“She can understand us,” he told me, “but I would have to shift to converse with her, and I can tell you right now that’s a terrible idea. She would view me as a threat, and she would attack. She can barely control her instincts with me on two legs.”
“What are we going to do with her?” I tipped back my head, annoyed at the rising sun and how its bright glare made my head ache. “I can’t bring her home with me.”
I almost mentioned I hadn’t paid a pet deposit, but that was the exhaustion talking.
“She lives at the Faraday,” he confessed. “She was uncomfortable at the den.”
That explained how she joined Midas within minutes. She definitely hadn’t been on-scene with us.
“How are we going to get her inside without anyone seeing her?”
“Will you consent to being taken to the den?” he asked her. “Just until you can shift back?”
Bonnie flattened her ears against her head and bared her teeth.
Panic must have been fueling her reaction. More like overreaction. There was no reason for her sudden aggression at the mention of the den. The alpha was there, and if anyone could unstick Bonnie, it was Tisdale.
“I’m guessing that’s a no.” I joined him in a sigh. “Let’s get her loaded into the bed of your truck.”
“Okay, but how is that going to get her inside the Faraday without