“From the feeling like the monster’s going to jump out at you in a horror movie?” I asked with a grunt as I tried to yank on a shirt without dropping my phone. Then I remembered the speaker button and made things significantly easier on myself.

  He gave a dry little laugh with absolutely no humor in it. “Well said. I suspect I’m experiencing what you are, quite literally. I’m assuming this is probably the result of our bond.”

  I sat down heavily on my bed. It was somewhat of a relief to hear Maverick’s voice in the room, and to know we were bound together—that he was experiencing the same sense of wrongness I was.

  The feeling of doom kept swelling, and I probed at it carefully like you’d poke a loose tooth. “The last time I felt anything like this was back in November, when Lady Evergreen and her people started attacking the town.”

  They’d started with ‘pranks’ set up to annoy and distract the Council, while quietly converging on the mushroom circle keeping Janara and her chief lackeys contained. Thanks to a timely intervention from a small group of us, Evergreen hadn’t managed to break the Winter usurper out of her jail, and they’d had to retreat when a band of the supernatural members of Haven Hollow had arrived to fight them off.

  We’d beaten them back, but not without help.

  Fox’s help.

  Which the town no longer had access to… because of me.

  I raked a hand back through my hair and then started stuffing the ridiculous length of it into a bun.

  Maverick’s voice came over the line, low and serious. “Do you think this means there’s another attack on the horizon?”

  I poked at the feeling again. It didn’t give me any useful knowledge, just that horrible sense of looming doom. “I don’t know,” I told Maverick. “But better safe than sorry, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Can you start contacting all the members of your coven? I’ll assemble the rest of the Council. If this is going to get ugly, we’re going to need all hands on deck.”

  “I will.” There was a pause on the line, but I could hear Maverick breathing, so I knew he hadn’t hung up. “Be careful,” he added, quietly.

  My heart gave a little bruised twinge. “You too.”

  We both hung up without saying goodbye.

  I headed for the door.

  It was time to get to work.

  ***

  If I thought getting the boys up and ready for school at the usual time was difficult, then waking them and getting them dressed and ready in the middle of the night was a master class in organization and patience combined. Just trying to find Charlie’s socks involved counting to ten in my head, and the use of a flashlight.

  They were confused, and a little scared. I couldn’t blame them. Hell, I wasn’t much better off. But I put on a calm mask and hurried them along as gently as I could in putting on their socks and clothes. If they knew how worried I was, they would panic. It surprised me, sometimes, just how much they picked up on, even when I tried to hide it from them.

  “Mom?” Charlie’s voice was thin, fear lurking under the word like a dark lake under the frozen surface. He watched my face carefully, clutching his plush rabbit to his chest as I stuffed a few things into a bag. I wasn’t sure how long this would take, so better to have a few things on hand than not. You could never have too many socks, frankly.

  “It’s okay, buddy,” I said, as soothingly as I could. My words came out a little brusque, but they were used to me when I was getting ready for work, so it didn’t bother either of them. “There was a warning on the news that a winter storm was going to hit Haven Hollow. So, you’re going to stay at my friend Louisa’s.”

  “Why can’t we just stay here,” Sean asked plaintively, rubbing his eyes. His hair was sticking up at all angles, and I had to physically restrain myself from smoothing it back. There wasn’t enough time.

  I finished grabbing what I thought they might need and started herding them out the door to the cruiser. “Because they think the power might get knocked out by the storm. It would be too cold to stay here without heat, but Louisa has a generator, so it will be a lot more comfortable with her.”

  The short walk from the door to the cruiser was tense, and I was on high alert. It would be the perfect time for an ambush, but anyone or anything that tried to touch one of my kids was going to seriously regret it.

  I didn’t relax even a little until the boys and I were safely inside the cruiser, with the doors locked. Then I felt like I could finally breathe a little easier again.

  Black storm clouds boiled across the sky, blotting out the moon and the stars. I hadn’t been lying about the storm approaching. I could feel it coming, taste the sharp iciness of it on my tongue. Haven Hollow was going to be absolutely buried in snow and ice, that was the truth. It was the origin of the storm that worried me, not the fact that it was coming. When the Winter court attacked, it seemed to always be precluded by a blizzard.

  And while Louisa Rutledge did in fact have a generator, that wasn’t why I was taking the boys there. The Council had recently decided, after the last faerie invasion on the town, that in the case of an emergency, the most vulnerable members of the Hollow would fall back to a central location. Mostly it meant the children, but sometimes also the elderly, or just some of the gentler supernaturals that had no real way to defend themselves.

  That was what a Hollow was supposed to be for, or at least that was how Wanda had explained it to me. There were rules about it, sanctions in place. No one was supposed to attack a Hollow, not without invoking the wrath of other supernatural communities, at least. The fact that so many people tended to ignore that when they decided to pick a fight with someone who lived in Haven Hollow was frustrating. So, the town had decided to be a bit more proactive about it.

  Whatever else was going on, at least I knew the boys would be safe at Louisa’s.

  Louisa, probably pre-warned by someone on the Council, met me at her front door. She smiled brightly at the boys, gesturing them inside. “I think the kids have put together a big pot of hot chocolate. Why don’t you two head on in and get some. There are cookies, too.”

  Charlie thought it over, gravely. “Are there marshmallows?”

  Louisa laughed, the corners of her eyes crinkling. “Of course. You can’t have hot chocolate without marshmallows.”

  That sealed the deal. Both boys headed inside, but Sean paused at the door when he realized I wasn’t following.

  “You’re not coming in?” His voice was quiet, but I could see the worry pinching his cheeks. I hated that I’d put it there.

  “Sorry, honey, but I have to go to work. I need to make sure everyone will be okay.”

  He clearly didn’t like that, but nodded, then darted back to throw his arms around me, hugging me as tightly as he could, before hurrying off after his brother. “Be careful, Mom,” he called back over his shoulder.

  The lump in my throat made it hard to swallow for a few seconds.

  Louisa gave me a reassuring smile. “We’ll keep them safe and distracted. Don’t worry.”

  It was hard to believe that Louisa, soft, middle-aged Louisa, with her frizzy brown hair and her baby pink mom track suit, was actually one of the deadlier supernaturals in town. I didn’t have to worry about her or her new husband and their friends taking care of the boys. If there was one thing that werewolves valued, it was children. And family, in general.

  Louisa’s new husband, Carl, drifted up behind her on silent feet. From the almost liquid way he was moving, and the golden sheen flickering over his eyes, the wolf was hovering close to the surface. Beyond them, I could see a few other shifters hanging out with the kids, putting on movies and keeping them occupied with snacks and activities. Making things fun instead of scary.

  “Thank you,” I told her.

  Carl dipped his chin to me silently.

  Louisa smiled, with just the hint of fang. The wolf in her peeked out through her eyes. “Be careful out there, Chief Morgan.”

  I waited until they closed the door before heading back to the cruiser.

  Every step away from the house I took was harder than the last. It was so, so difficult to leave the boys behind, even when I knew they were in good hands. I still felt terrible about leaving them, but I just didn’t have any other choice.

  For their own safety, the further I was away from my sons, the better off they’d be. They were human. Hopefully, without me around, they could just blend in with the others.

  The wind whipped up, tugging strands of my hair loose to dance on its current. I could feel the icy power of Winter rising, in my blood, in my bones. Something was building, out there in the night, rising like a frigid tide to wash away anyone in its path.

  As much as it scared me, part of it also called to me. The snow and the cold and the dark, all of it folded around me like an old coat that I’d forgotten fit so well. I let out a breath, and the air didn’t fog. Snowflakes landed on my cheeks and hair, and didn’t melt.

  I gave one glance back at Louisa Rutledge’s house, at the soft golden squares of the windows, where my sons were drinking hot chocolate and playing games, safe with the other children of the Hollow.

  And then I turned, abandoning my cruiser, and walked out into the snow because I could feel something in the air leading me. And the feeling wasn’t as strong when I was inside the cruiser. All around me I could feel the press of ominous power rising, the deepest, coldest heart of winter about to come down on Haven Hollow like an avalanche.

  But I’d be damned before I let it bury us.

  Chapter Fourteen

  That feeling of impending doom that had overtaken me was spot on because downtown Haven Hollow was a war zone.

  Winter Fae came crawling out of the woodwork to fight in the streets. I’d never seen so many in one place, not even back in November when Lady Evergreen had made a play at freeing my usurper aunt.

  Creatures out of a twisted fairy tale appeared to be attacking the people of Haven Hollow, chasing them down, and breaking into the shops on Main Street.

  As to the Fae, themselves, they were like nothing I’d ever seen before. Almost appearing to be pieced together from jagged shards of ice, they moved with an eerie fluidity. Some that resembled polar bears (but even larger) shuffled along on their hind legs, all powerful muscle and thick, shaggy white fur. They might have even looked cute, if I hadn’t seen one absently reach out to flip a car over onto its side while the alarm shrieked and blared in protest.

  Some of these Fae looked nearly human, if you ignored the frost pale hair and pointed ears, and somehow overlooked the armor and weapons that appeared to be forged out of black ice. There was one woman moving through the streets who looked almost like a fantastical bird, all silver and blue feathers down her arms and similarly colored markings on her face. She vanished into a swirl of snow, appearing down the road to hurl a bolt of ice through the window of Sweeter Haunts.

  I turned my head to see another faerie (and it actually took me a moment to realize it wasn’t just a random gust of wind) who moved like a little flurry of snow. But when the thing held still long enough, I could see the impression of a slender body and a face. It seemed to be zipping in and out of the other skirmishes, pausing here and there to freeze someone’s feet to the ground, or to make a weapon too slippery to hold.

  Haven Hollow wasn’t exactly helpless, and a good portion of its supernatural residents were already in the fray and fighting back. As I watched, Roy charged the polar bear looking thing in his full Sasquatch form, taking the enormous, shaggy, white thing to the ground and grappling with it. He got his arms around the faerie and effectively left it in a groaning pile on the road.

  Lorcan was moving faster than I could see, handily dodging anything the Fae could fling at him, and knocking them sprawling, while leaving only the ghost of a laugh hanging on the air as he passed by.

  Betanya Tayir, one of the witches from Maverick’s coven, moved through the fray with her scarlet hair whipping around her head, caught in the wind of her own power. She laid down hexes and curses with the ease only decades of practice could give, while Fifi followed in Roy’s wake, lashing out with her succubus strength, and distracting the Fae long enough for the others to get the drop on them.

  The absence of a single glance of auburn hair, or swirling fallen leaves was a pretty pointed one. In fact, I didn’t see many Fae from other courts, at all. At that revelation, I couldn’t help but remember Cardinal’s words and I swallowed hard.

  There were Winter Fae fighting back, too. Fae that had joined Haven Hollow’s side, and my throat grew tight at the sight of them, the guilt almost strangling me, because these were the people who wanted Olwen to become Queen—they wanted me to become queen. And I’d never even seen them before which meant they had to have somehow learned about this coup and came to defend their would-be queen. I wasn’t sure how I could ever give them what it was they were fighting for, without giving up every part of myself and for that I was sorry.

  I caught sight of Cardinal, dressed in regular pants and sneakers, for once, grappling with another Fae, and I moved to help her. They seemed pretty evenly matched, but her opponent was garbed in armor, and had a blade made of ice that glittered like a black mirror under the shine of the streetlights.

  I might not have had the greatest grasp on my magic at the moment, but that didn’t mean I didn’t know how to hold my own in a fight. A right cross, and a follow up elbow sent the Fae to the ground in a groaning pile of shattered ice helm.

  Cardinal gave me a pissy look as she glanced around. “I told you this would happen.”

  “Yeah, thanks,” I said as I shook out my stinging hand. Like I needed the reminder of how badly I’d messed up. The whole situation was a no win for me, no matter how I looked at it.

  Glass smashed behind us, and we whipped around to see three Fae who had just tossed a garbage can through the front window of Wanda’s Witchery.

  Wanda was going to be furious about that, especially considering that she’d just had to repair the glass a few weeks ago. They didn’t know the witch-bear they’d poked. I’d have almost felt sorry for them, if they weren’t doing their best to ransack my town.

  The first faerie trying to climb through the shattered window might have gotten an inkling of exactly how badly they’d just screwed up, though, when he stepped past a certain point, and triggered one of Wanda’s security hexes.

  Magic, the deep red color of fresh blood, lashed out, sending the faerie to the ground in a twitching pile of limbs. The smell of scorched hair and metal filled the air. His friends who were ready to go on a raid through Wanda’s store suddenly froze, possibly reconsidering their plan. I wasn’t about to give them a chance to make a second try.

  Cardinal and I jumped them together; me with my fists, and her with the eddies of frost and magic that were twining around her hands. In a few moments, we had the two would-be looters sprawled out on the ground next to their still twitching friend.

  My breath came out in heavy bursts, and the skin of my knuckles throbbed. I kept up my training, but it had been a long time since I’d actually thrown down physically with anyone. The Chief of Police wasn’t supposed to duke it out with people in the streets. But while my hands hurt, at least I hadn’t split the skin on my knuckles.

  Another Fae ran past, flinging a spell at Poppy’s Potions before grinning at us and darting down an alleyway between the shops. The spell struck, and with a horrible shriek, froze the front of the shop in what looked like six inches of ice. It was going to be a trick to get inside anytime soon.

  “Come on,” Cardinal called out as she bolted after him, following the fleeing faerie around the corner.

  “Cardinal, wait,” I called, and then swore when she’d already gotten out of sight. I lurched into a run, chasing after her. My boots barely crunched in the snow, like I was floating over the surface of it instead of sinking in. My jaw tensed, teeth grinding together. Cardinal might have magic, but it was pretty clear she wasn’t used to being in a fight. It was never smart to let yourself get led anywhere, but I also couldn’t just stand back and allow her to get hurt. Not when she was doing me a solid by fighting these bastards.

  I came skidding around the corner, and only had a split second to take everything in, but what I saw shocked me to my core.

  Both the Winter Fae and Cardinal were in the alley. They’d stopped running, and were simply standing to one side. Together almost. My stomach sank. Because they weren’t alone.

  Jonathon was with them.

  At seeing me, Jonathon took the distance that separated us and before I knew what was happening, his fist slammed into the side of my face, and the world vanished for a second. The next thing I knew, I was lying on the snow-covered ground, my cheek on fire and my jaw aching. The bright copper taste of my own blood flooded my mouth from where the inside of my cheek had mashed against my teeth, until the whole side of my face was one painful throbbing ache. The world swam, and there was an odd, hollow ringing sound in my ears.

  Whatever Jonathon had hit me with—it was more than just his fist. It was like his fist had been laced with magic that had seeped into my skin the second his skin had made contact with my face. And it wasn’t the magic of a demon either—it was the magic of my own kind. And that had to mean Jonathon was in league with Janara.

  I couldn’t make my body move. The shadows moved in, like a tide swallowing the shore. The edges of my vision went first, closing down into a tunnel.

  “Why did you hit her?” Cardinal asked, distraught. “We weren’t supposed to hurt her, just bind her magically so Lady Evergreen can throw her into the faerie circle prison in Janara’s place.”

  Jonathon made a harsh sound in the back of his throat. It was too ugly and dismissive to be a laugh. “I don’t give a damn what your plan was. This is payback for that warlock’s little stunt at the party. Now his new wife is a little less pretty.”

  I wanted to rail, to fight, to get up. But the shadows crowded over my vision and dragged me down.