Max saluted. “I’ll follow you anywhere, sir.”
Mike sliced a six-inch gash into the fabric of reality and peeked inside, looking right and left before closing it. “There’s a wooded area a few hops from the entrance. I’ll send you there.”
The demon swiped his arm near the floor, creating a glowing red tear in the ether. Pete hopped through without a second thought, and Max scurried in behind him. A rabbit and a raccoon, ready to save the day. Weren’t they an unlikely rescue crew?
Then again, they were only going up against a vampire goose. Surely, they could take her down. And if it came down to it, beheading or an iron stake to the heart would take her out completely.
He shuddered at the thought. “I’m a painter, not a fighter.”
“Sir?” Max asked.
Pete shook, fluffing his fur. “Nothing. I don’t know where that came from.” Because he would fight to the death to save his Destiny. He’d take on a gaggle of geese, a scurry of squirrels, and a flamboyance of flamingos…all vampires…all at once, with his paws tied to his tail.
No question about it.
He hopped through a bed of snapdragons that should have been in bloom. Pausing, he twitched his nose, inhaling the scents of earth and arbor, car exhaust, and blacktop. Not a single spring flower was in bloom, not even the local skunk cabbage.
“Poor Eostre,” Max said. “All the realms will suffer if you can’t save her.”
“Surely anelfengoose couldn’t trap a goddess.” He hopped along the edge of the grassy area, the blades just tall enough to hide them.
“Helga is goddess-touched like you, sir.” Max crawled behind him. “She can do things no normalelfencan, and now that she’s a vampire, who knows?”
They made their way alongside the outbuilding without being noticed. A hill emerged from the ground behind it, a locked metal gate blocking the entrance to the mine. Pete crouched low, flattening his ears against his back as a guide led a group of tourists wearing yellow hard hats toward it.
The docent unclipped a keyring from his belt and unlocked the gate, holding it open for the dozen or so people as they stepped inside. He glanced around the area and then pulled the gate closed, locking it behind him.
Pete lifted his ears, turning them this way and that, listening for signs of predators or another group of tourists. “Why can I unlock anything I touch?”
“How else could you sneak into people’s backyards to hide eggs?” Max took a cautious step toward the entrance.
Satisfied with the silence, Pete high-tailed it through the gate and pressed himself against a wall inside the entrance. His heart thumped on overdrive, and he tried to breathe deeply as Max attempted to squeeze through the bars.
His upper torso fit through easily, but his belly stopped him from sliding all the way through. Grabbing the bars, he pushed with all his might, his jaw clenching and his eyes tightening as he strained. “I shouldn’t have eaten so much frosting while I was hiding from Helga. It seems to have gone straight to my hips.”
He pushed and wiggled, making zero progress before he slumped between the grates, hanging there like a raccoon-shaped rug on a clothesline. “A little help, please, sir?”
With no humans in sight, Pete shifted, and thank the goddess he really was a fae and not just any old shifter. Fully clothed, he could pretend to be a lost tourist if he got caught. As a buck-naked man…not so much.
“Are you sure it’s not the endless supply of chocolate eggs that’s the problem?” He offered a hand and used his other to tuck in the belly in question as he pulled.
“Couldn’t be.” Max laughed, the contraction of his abdomen helping him slip through. He rose onto his back legs and brushed out his fur. “Easter candy honors the goddess. Those calories don’t count.”
“Good point. Come on. She’s this way.” Pete trekked through the arched passage, his legs growing heavier and heavier with every step. If he still doubted his faery origins—which he didn’t—being inside this mine would’ve been the definitive proof he needed. Iron was a bitch.
Luckily, it was iron ore surrounding them and not solid iron. The impurity of ore weakened its effects on the fae, but not nearly enough for Pete’s liking.
“You doing okay, buddy?” He paused and turned to Max, whose breathing had become labored.
“I…” He sucked in a breath. “Will follow…”
“Me anywhere. Got it.” He kneeled with his back toward his new old friend. “Climb on.”
“Thank you, sir.” Max clutched his shirt with all four paws, hauling himself up, and they continued deeper into the mine.
Pete’s chest tightened and heated, the invisible tether tying him to his fated mate vibrating and pulling, guiding him through the maze of tunnels that branched out in every direction. He made a left and then a right, nearly sliding down a steep slope before it leveled out into a dead end.
No, not a dead end. A narrow tunnel jutted out to the left, and his mate bind yanked him through. He had to crouch, lest his head knock against a wooden beam, and the tunnel grew so dark, he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face.
