It had worked, her plan had actually worked. The problem was Nell was now stuck on her own without a vehicle and vulnerable to any stranger who saw her as prey. The new height she had miraculously attained helped some, though she continued to think of herself as small.Waiting it out in a stall in the rest room, she heard Josh’s yells and the shit storm he was creating for what seemed an endless time. She thought it a pity she didn’t know how to control her reappearances and was forced to stay put in case folks witnessed such a thing and – best case scenario – put her in a freak show.Though it might have been preferable to stay unseen, if she wanted to hitch a lift or otherwise ask for help she needed to be visible.Straining her ears for the distinctive sound of the engine in his new car, she was relieved to hear him drive away. She wanted to be gone after that, but nothing seemed to be happening other than that a girl in dungarees came in to wash her face and hands. Nell saw that m

It would have been a long journey to the colony had Robin not agreed to transport them.“No unbelievers,” he said, smiling from ear to ear.Jack held up his hands.“Maybe I should just stay here with the vehicle,” he said.“Yeah,” Alpha Liam said. “You do that.”The retreat could have been anywhere. All Nell knew was that it was warm and felt surreal. Elves came and went through invisible portals, most of them looking solemn.“I shouldn’t have smiled.”“Why not?”“You’ll see,” Robin said.Nell gripped Alpha Liam’s hand tightly and reached out to her half-brother. They made an unlikely trio joined together like that as they waited for someone to come to the door.A panel slid back, possibly the paranormal equivalent of a spyhole, and she saw what looked like coloured smoke behind the wrinkled being who uttered just the one word, “Yes?”It was a relief not to have to express her ignorance of elvish. Perhaps something in the atmosphere was acting as a magical translator.“Wynreth,” Robin

Nell wasn’t privy to what was said at the Council meeting. Liam knew from the look on her face she was smarting about that. He consoled her in the only way he could: with kisses.“Is it dangerous, what they’ve asked you to do?”“How did you know?”“Actually, that’s not strictly true.”Robin. Her half-brother turned up at the most inopportune times.“Stay out of this,” he growled. Then: “Would you mind? I’d like some privacy with my Luna.”“Tell her, Alpha. Or you’ll regret it. Trust me, I know these things.”“You volunteered for whatever it is, didn’t you?”She was so astute, this not-so-small hybrid.“Someone needs to suss out the extent of Si’s madness, his ambitions. Why shouldn’t it be me?”Nell reached up a short way and put her arms round his neck.“Because I love you too much to lose you now,” she said.Liam turned sharply, but Robin was already fading away.“You two are so alike,” he murmured, rubbing noses with her.It gave him an idea.The disappointment on her face was kill

This time the plan was different. Josh was intending to confront Alpha Liam in person so as to obtain his money. He didn’t really want Nell. She suspected he never had. Thankfully, there were no physical demands and he didn’t say anything overly crude in front of her. There was a lot of cussing, but she supposed that was only natural in a frustrated male.“I keep telling you, Liam is Simon’s prisoner.”“Then I’ll negotiate with him, like before.”Well, that was news to her, and of the unwelcome kind at that.“Would you really kill my pups? They’re innocent,” she said.There was no point telling him one was destined to live among the elves; he would never have believed her. And she didn’t want to drag them into this, as well. Though perhaps such an ancient race of people would take it in their stride.“Maybe not, but the Alphas won’t know that.”Maybe? The inconclusive remark had her fretting all night. At least the motel room was clean and had twin beds. She turned towards the window,

He’d had time to think both before and after Rae’s arrival. They’d had a decent heart-to-heart as well. She deserved better than Si, that was for sure. Hearing that his twin was planning to oust him wasn’t a surprise – once, he would have welcomed the notion – but, for Nell’s sake, that couldn’t be allowed to happen.Liam knew she didn’t care for status given her appalling background circumstances. At least it hadn’t been all bad, though Martin Field was never going to be the same again. He was all she had now, him, the pups, the pack and not to forget the elves, though it wouldn’t be practical to live with them.Could he permit his hybrid pup to live elsewhere? Only if certain conditions were fulfilled. He’d want to see her regularly, that was for sure, and not because he didn’t trust Melas and Robin. After all, he was basing this on a prophecy delivered by Nell’s dying elf mother, something he had never thought to question.When Simon came by, in something of a hurry, he didn’t know