Heir of the Dog Black Dog - Hailey Edwards Page 0,1

I might not get another chance, and I wanted that bonus.

Magic sucker-punched me when I reached the mouth of the alley. No subtle push here. This was a seasoned uppercut while your head was turned. Usually charms like the one I sensed made the location emit nothing to see here vibes that spun most folks on their heels. This one blared fuck off.

With my head reeling, I braced my bare left hand against the nearest brick wall and shook off the oily threat permeating my senses. Entering the alley alone was a Very Bad Idea, but I didn’t get paid to let fae eat humans. Our race was a nibble away from discovery as it was. Both Seelie and Unseelie houses agreed if the fae had to come out, they wanted the big reveal to be on their own terms. Having an ass-ugly troll with people stuck in his teeth for their poster boy? Probably not the smoothest move in the campaign to convince humanity our races could coexist in harmony.

That first step into shadow made my bones creak. Pressure built in my ears until I swallowed to pop them. Runes on my hand provided the only light, a faint green glow. Given tonight’s full moon, I chalked the pervasive darkness up to black magic. Someone had gone shopping tonight.

“Smells of dog, it does,” the troll’s thick voice boomed. “What business does it have with I?”

Paper crinkling on my left made me squint that much harder. “Are you Quinn O’Shea?”

“Aye.” He crushed something underfoot, closer to my right.

He was circling me.

I raised my palm, hoping to distract him with the immediate threat while I tugged a daylighter flare out of my satchel. “In that case, O’Shea, I bet you can guess what I’m doing here.”

Hot air blasted my nape as his damp nose snuffled me. “You’re Black Dog’s get.”

I suppressed a shudder. “That’s what they tell me.” I had never met the guy myself.

“Black Dog knows I.” He exhaled near my ear. “Thinkin’ he won’t want it to hurt I.”

“The conclave sent me.” I twisted the cap off the flare. “My father has nothing to do with this.”

“It has Dog’s black hair.” His chuckle slithered over me. “Does it have Dog’s black heart?”

I was nothing like Mac. Our magically radioactive left hands were the only things we had in common, not that I had ever seen his to compare.

“The conclave bids you come with me of your own free will to stand trial.”

He chuffed. “Don’t much like I’s odds if I goes to court.”

“If you’re convicted of the murders—” and we both knew he would be given his starring role in the convenience store surveillance video, “—you can appeal the verdict. But if you don’t report, and if you really do know my father, then we both know what happens next.”

“It don’t have the power.” The troll grunted. “It wouldn’t be set loose here if’n it did.”

“Last chance.” I gripped the flare with one hand and its cap in the other. Each flash of my runes telegraphed my movements. No hope of concealing them. The glow didn’t come with an off switch.

“Don’t fear death.” Claws scraped asphalt when he shifted his weight. “Don’t fear you neither.”

I rubbed the coarse striking surface of the cap against the button on the flare. Nothing happened. Damn it. Trolls turn to stone in sunlight. I had planned to identify Quinn, whip out my daylighter flare and then babysit the hunk of troll-shaped rock until the conclave dispatched a unit with a flatbed for pick-up. But Quinn’s nasty little charm must protect him by dousing all forms of artificial light, like my flare.

With a sigh, I tossed the worthless daylighter aside. “You aren’t coming peacefully, are you?”

His answer was to hook his meaty forearm around my throat and yank me against his chest. My lungs burned while his bulging muscles flexed, crushing my larynx. I dug the nails of one hand into his wrist. Runes eased beneath my skin, shining like beacons, banishing the gloom.

Damp and fleshy, his tongue slid down my nape. The glide of his blunt teeth followed.

A shudder cemented my resolve. Kill or be killed. I had a choice to make. An easy one.

I clamped my bare left palm over his thick wrist. “This is going to hurt.”

Chapter Two

Quinn’s startled bellow when my magic threaded through his veins to his heart was deafening.

My ears rang as much from his screams as the collapse of his charm. Moonlight filtered through the fading tendrils