The Hob (The Gray Court 4) (6 page)

“He just ran right in front of me.” The panicked tone of voice made it clear that the speaker was the driver of the vehicle who had hit her patient. Michaela didn’t even look up. She didn’t have time. She began CPR, counting out thirty compressions before she pinched his nose, tilted his head back, and breathed for him. She kept it going despite the ache in her wrist causing her to see spots before her eyes.

Definitely a bad sprain, one she’d have to wrap. She’d have to find a nice colorful bandage the kids would enjoy.

Time to breathe for him again. She barely noticed the protective stance Ringo had taken up behind her and to one side, or the sound of Kael keeping the crowd back. She had a patient under her hands and that was all that mattered.

“They want to talk to you.”

Michaela nodded absently at the stranger and accepted the cell phone. She balanced it between her shoulder and her ear as she kept the compressions going. “This is Michaela Exton, I’m an RN with Philadelphia General Hospital. I’ve got a patient on the ground, nonresponsive. Performing CPR. Vic ran out into traffic and was hit by a car. I need the ambulance to come in hot.” She handed the cell phone back to the stranger. “Thanks.” She breathed for him again, two quick breaths that barely moved his barrel chest.

She bit back the urge to spit when she was done. What was that funky taste in his mouth? It was like old mushrooms. Blech. She’d have to avoid ordering mushrooms on her pizza later.

She heard sirens in the distance and knew help was almost there. Even better, the man beneath her began to breathe on his own. Michaela took his pulse, and while it was not as steady as she would’ve liked it
was
there. If they could stabilize him in the ambulance he stood a good chance of surviving.

“Why?”

Michaela looked up at Ringo, most of her attention still on her patient, monitoring his breathing and heart rate. “Why what?”

“Why did you save him?”

She didn’t like it, but she understood why he asked. Most other people wouldn’t have hesitated to leave their attacker to his fate, but Michaela just wasn’t built that way. “This is who I am.” She looked down at her patient, smiling when she saw his eyes were open. She stroked his cheek, knowing that simple human touch would reassure him despite the pain he must be in. “Hey. My name’s Michaela and I’m a nurse. You’re going to be just fine, okay?”

The man studied her for a moment, then relaxed and nuzzled his face into her palm. He shut his eyes, his breathing harsh with distress.

Michaela tried to soothe him as best she could, stroking his hair and shushing him as he whimpered.

“That’s going to the top of my list for oddest things I’ve seen today.” Kael knelt beside her. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Michaela shot him a horrified look. “Of course he does. He’s been hit by a car.”

Kael rolled his eyes. “Not him. You.”

Michaela winced as the pain of her sprained wrist registered once more. “It’s not broken. I’ll ice it and wrap it once I get back to my apartment.”

Ringo tilted his head, his sunglasses reflecting the glow of the car’s headlights. “You are a strange woman, Michaela Exton.”

Michaela hummed her agreement. It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard that one before.

“Michaela? Is that you?”

Michaela glanced up to see one of her weekend buddies climbing out of the ambulance. “Hey, Will.”

He knelt by the injured man and grinned at her. “We on for this weekend?”

Damn. She’d forgotten about that. “I’m going to the fairy con, so I’m going to have to pass. Next weekend?”

“You’re on. This time your ass is mine.”

Ringo took a step closer to her, almost close enough to interfere with Will as he tried to take the vic’s vitals.

The hood of the car behind her flew into the air, setting off the car alarm. Michaela jumped, and she was used to dealing with loud noises.

“What the hell?” Will glared at the car before turning to the patient once more. “Damn foreign cars.”

“Michaela. Trust you to be in the middle of trouble.” Will’s partner Ed joined Will by the victim. “Vitals?”

Michaela rattled off what she knew while Will took his own readings. He corrected her as needed, but otherwise let her speak.

“I think we have some internal injuries. Let’s get him loaded.” Will grinned at Michaela. “You’re seriously giving up a weekend with us for a fairy con?”

Ed looked horrified. “No way. You promised us Camelback and good powder, remember?”

Ringo coughed.

One of the streetlights toppled over with a groaning screech of metal.

“Shit!” Ed took off, checking to see if anyone was hurt.

Will shook his head. “Maybe there are some bad luck fairies at the con.” He smiled sweetly. “In that case, you need to come with us and avoid the bad juju.”

“Aw, shit.” Kael’s soft curse was almost drowned out as all four tires on the ambulance went flat with a loud, wheezing
pfffft
. “Uh, Ringo? Can I talk to you for a moment?”

Ringo backed away, joining Kael on the sidewalk for what looked like a very intense discussion.

“Shit.”

Michaela stared, dumbfounded, at the ambulance. “I think I’ll skip the snowboarding for a little while.”

Will blinked and backed away from her. “Yeah. Camelback Mountain can wait a couple of weeks.” He ran and got a board from the back of the ambulance. “I need to get this guy on the board. Ed! Call for another ambulance.” He shot a rueful glance at the flat tires. “And a tow truck.”

Michaela shook her head. Most of the people on the sidewalk had their phones out, snapping pictures and typing furiously.

I guess some days are meant for Twitter.

Chapter Five

“I still don’t understand what the hell you were thinking yesterday.”

Robin gritted his teeth and ignored Kael. The pooka had been nagging at him since they’d seen Michaela to her door the previous evening, turning down her invitation for pizza to return to Kael’s apartment. Was that not supposed to be his line? He wasn’t the young, foolish lord who’d leapt, unprepared, into battle with a redcap.

In truth, he’d been in a foul mood ever since the human had saved the redcap. If he had his way the creature would be eating its own anus, but Michaela had done her level best to give it a chance. He frowned, ignoring the squeal of an alarm behind him, at the memory of her sweet, full lips pressing against the creature’s mouth. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t been tasting the creature.

All that mattered was that her lips had not yet touched Robin’s own.

“Um, Robin? I think you need to calm down. Unless you really did have it in for that poor artist’s display case, in which case feel free to continue.”

Robin took a deep breath. His power was slipping out of his control, his eyes glowing with green, feral light, his nails black and sharp. If he didn’t get it under control, bad things would begin to happen. The humans here didn’t deserve the sharp edge of his anger. He would reserve it for the Black Court lackeys Titannia had sent.

The very fact that he was losing his control did not bode well for the conference. The last time Robin had failed to rein in his anger…well. Scientists were still arguing over the cause of the 1908 explosion over the Tunguska region of Russia. They believed a meteor or comet fragment exploded roughly three miles above the spot that had been decimated.

They were wrong.

Robin hid his wince. What had happened at Tunguska had been unfortunate. He and Oberon had argued, and the result had the impact of roughly ten to fifteen megatons of TNT. Nothing had survived intact, something he mourned to this day. The fallout from that explosion had been seen around the world, causing strange lights that could be seen as far away as England. People there reported that it was bright enough to read the newspaper by. When an expedition was finally sent by the Russians in 1927, the pictures of the devastation had been humbling, even to one such as him. Oberon and Robin were usually careful to not allow their tempers to get the best of them. Tunguska was a vivid reminder of why.

The topic of a queen for his king was officially closed. Oberon would not budge, and Robin would no longer nudge, no matter how badly his king needed to get laid.

“At least the Seeming will take care of any curiosity about him.”

Robin growled. As if he cared that the gift of the gods would protect a redcap. While human medicine had advanced in leaps and bounds, it had not yet penetrated the Seeming. Fae, in their human form, appeared fully human even to the most advanced human instruments. Robin wasn’t certain how the gods had accomplished that feat, but not even he was brave enough to ask. He’d lived far too long, seen far too much to question the miracle that had been granted to the fae.

Robin took a deep breath to calm himself. He peered around, gratified to see no one had noticed his lapse. “Who is representing Gloriana?”

Kael pulled out his cell phone. “Lord Rudolph Adair, Lady Annabelle Beauchene, Lord Wesley Martel and Prince Gregory Yates, Evan’s older brother.”

“So the Adairs have sent one of their minor lords, but the Beauchene clan sent their Lady. Interesting.” Robin rubbed his chin. “I’m unfamiliar with the Martel clan representative.” Something that would soon be remedied. Robin quietly noted that each of the White Court delegates, other than Prince Gregory, was Sidhe, an oversight on Gloriana’s part. She relied too heavily on the children of the Tuatha Dè at times, a habit that would eventually cost her.

“He’s the youngest of the delegates on either side, a newcomer who has his uncle’s favor.”

And with the power vacuum left behind by the turn of the Malmaynes to the Black, the Adair, Beauchene and Martel Clans were poised to gain more prominence in the White. Interesting. Perhaps Gloriana was testing their mettle. “And the Black delegation?”

Kael frowned and scrolled down. “It looks like Lord Aaron Wyght, Lady Cecelia Malmayne—” and didn’t that name give Robin a start, “—Lawrence McNeil and…” Kael paused, then began cursing under his breath.

“Who?” Robin was curious. Facing a redcap hadn’t unsettled the pooka, but a name on his cell phone had him pale and swearing.

“Lord Raven MacSweeney.”

Robin gritted his teeth to keep his own curses from escaping. He’d had Blades who’d run afoul of Lord Raven MacSweeney, the Fear Dearc, though he himself had yet to meet the reclusive fae. It was said the man bore a striking resemblance to Titannia’s dark beauty and that his powers rivaled Robin’s. He held the power to summon ravens at will, using them to blind his enemies, thus earning the nickname the Raven Lord. Indeed, none knew for certain if Raven was truly his first name, or the name he’d chosen for himself.

No doubt the comparison to Robin was a result of the Dark Queen’s wish to mock him, but Robin had no choice but to take the reports of his Blades as truth.

“If he’s here, we’ve got problems.” Kael looked worried for the first time since Robin had met him. “He’ll use any perceived weakness against us.”

“Meaning Michaela.” Robin understood Kael’s unspoken message, but it was already too late. Robin’s actions had already marked the female, rendering her vulnerable. Too many had seen him save Michaela, a woman who had no power over him, from the redcaps. He wasn’t certain how many may have been Black Court, slipping away when the ambulance arrived.
 

Robin should have left her to her fate, saving his cover rather than her life, an act he’d been forced into countless times over the long centuries. This time he’d found himself unable to stand aside. He could not allow his bondmate to come to harm, not even on Oberon’s orders.

Michaela had needed him, and Robin had responded.

He’d have to see to it that she was protected at all costs. He could not afford to be distracted now, not with Evan’s life on the line.

Balls. This is going to get complicated. And when Oberon finds out…
He shuddered. It did not bear thinking about.

“What do we do with her?” Kael smiled at the woman behind the registration desk.

“Name?” The tired-looking female smiled up at Kael. The boy was attractive. More than one female had turned her eye to him, and not a few males as well. If he wished, he could have his pick of the available and, possibly, the less than available.

“Kael Capall.”

Robin also gave his fake name. The two men were handed their passes and maps of the convention, passing numerous fake (and a surprising number of real) fae on their way to the room where the negotiations were to take place. “We place a guard on her.”

Akane might be tired of life in Nebraska with her mate. Perhaps he would call for her. She was one of his best Blades, and her unique clairvoyant powers would allow her to keep an eye on Michaela without having to be in the room with her. However, the young dragon was pregnant with her first child, and Robin was loathe to take her from her mate’s side. Akane would begin nesting soon, and Robin wished Shane joy in dealing with
that
.

Etienne would balk at guarding a human, even with direct orders from Robin. The Sidhe was becoming problematic, attempting to pick and choose his partners rather than work with the ones Robin gave him. Robin was going to have to deal with him soon, before he placed a “lesser” Blade in danger due to his prejudice. Too bad the Sidhe was a slick manipulator, one of the best at slipping into a subject’s mind and ferreting out his secrets without being caught.