“But you walked right past me. Like you didn’t know I was there. When you tried to go out the front door, I figured something was wrong and pulled you back when you didn’t answer me. That’s when you woke up.”

  I scrubbed a hand over my face. Because what the hell? I’d never sleepwalked before. And, glancing down at myself, I realized I’d just been about to walk out the door wearing nothing more than an oversized T-shirt. With Maverick standing so close and shirtless, I was suddenly very aware of how little my own shirt covered.

  With the adrenaline of being woken so abruptly wearing off, my head felt light and muzzy. I’d never gone sleepwalking before in my life, so where the heck had that come from?

  “I was dreaming, I think?” Exhaustion dragged at my arms and legs. I let the weight of it pull me down onto the couch, and Maverick sat next to me a second later.

  “What were you dreaming about?”

  “I was in the woods, following a light. Someone lost, a hiker or something, and I knew I had to get to them and help them. I thought it was just a callback to what I’d seen earlier.”

  “What you’d seen earlier?”

  I nodded. “I thought I saw someone with a flashlight in the woods outside, but in my dream, there was snow on the ground.”

  I needed a coffee more than anything. Well, no, I needed about a week’s worth of sleep, but the coffee was easier to realize.

  “Anyway, thanks for keeping me from wandering outside,” I said, going for a smile I didn’t really feel. “That’s a fun new symptom of sleeplessness.”

  Maverick’s face had been tight and unhappy the whole time I was explaining what had happened in real life and later in the dream, but it smoothed away when I turned to look at him fully.

  “Of course.” His hand drifted up towards my face, his thumb stroking over my bottom lip, and a line of heat raced through my body.

  “I don’t ever want you to get hurt, Taliyah,” he said softly, and a moment later that devil’s grin was back in place. “Of course, I also didn’t want the plebeians of Haven Hollow to see you in your nightwear.”

  “Plebeians? Have you been hanging out with Hellcat again?” I tried to make it a joke, but it came out wrong, too husky and my mouth was suddenly dry.

  Maverick’s lips twitched. “Seeing you like this, all soft and relaxed with your layers peeled away. I’d rather only I saw that.”

  My heart gave a hard thump then, my pulse leaping. Because Maverick was staring at my mouth, and there was a storm brewing in his eyes that had absolutely nothing to do with magic or monsters. My tongue darted out to wet my lips, and just barely brushed over the pad of his thumb.

  Maverick inhaled sharply then, his eyes darting up to meet my gaze, and whatever he saw there, whatever storm was growing in my own eyes, he leaned forward and brushed his lips over mine. My mouth parted on a shaky inhale, and Maverick pressed forward. The hot glide of his tongue on my lip had my hands curling into fists to hide the shaking. I wanted more. I needed more. I didn’t want that careful, gentle exploration. I wanted the storm I knew Maverick was, overwhelming, surging; I wanted it to drown us both.

  So, I leaned forward and kissed him back. Kissed him with everything I had, every bit of fear for my boys, and hurt, and anger over the situation in Haven Hollow, and the lingering resentment I had for Jonathon. I turned all those emotions into fuel and fed it to the fire that swelled inside my chest. I nipped lightly at Maverick’s surprisingly full bottom lip, urging him to meet me.

  I didn’t need to ask twice. His chest shook, something that wasn’t quite a growl rolling up the back of his throat, and the grip on my shoulders that had been so gentle, so careful, turned crushing. He dragged me forward until I was almost straddling his lap. Exhaustion fell away then, flattened by the need I’d been denying for so long. I’d been so scared to want anything, to have anything for myself, because I knew just how quickly it could be ripped away. But there, in Maverick’s arms, surrounded by the lightning crackle of his power, I felt free.

  “Mom? I had a nightmare.”

  Sean’s voice drifting down the hallway towards us dumped a whole bucket of ice on the mood, and I jerked out of Maverick’s lap to make sure I was decent before Sean drifted into the room, rubbing his eyes.

  Maverick was still breathing heavily, but he didn’t protest when I got up to go to my son. A little part of me thrilled though when he reached over to grab a decorative pillow to drop it discretely into his lap. And I might have even smiled.

  “Oh, sweetheart. Are you okay? Do you want me to come and tuck you in?”

  Sean bit his lip, tugging on the bottom of his pajamas. “I’m not a baby,” he mumbled, but he looked up at me, and I could see the tracks tears had left on his cheeks. “But can I stay out here with you?”

  Maverick gave me a rueful smile and shifted over to make room for Sean on the couch. My heart gave a little flutter at that, but I smiled to let him know that I appreciated it. “Of course, sweetie. Come and sit with us.”

  Despite his claims, Sean dozed off onto my shoulder about three minutes after we’d gotten him settled. I held him close, something very close to dread brushing icy fingers over the back of my neck.

  What if Maverick hadn’t been there, and I’d actually wandered out into the street? What if it had been one of my boys, and I’d been asleep and hadn’t even known they were gone until something terrible happened? Charlie had trouble reaching the lock, but Sean could have let himself out, easily. Thinking about all the ways things might have gone horribly wrong was a dangerous game, and unfortunately, one I was really good at.

  Charlie shuffled into the room a second later, dragging his blanket and dog stuffy. He blinked at us all sleepily, and then, without a word, made his way to the couch to squeeze in between Maverick and Sean, and fell asleep again with a little sigh.

  It wasn’t the best for all of us to sleep on the couch. And we barely fit. We were going to wake up stiff, with cricks in our necks. I knew I should have gotten up and put the boys back in their beds, but I just couldn’t make myself do it. Instead, I just enjoyed the fact that my boys were here, in my arms, safe, and that soothed the terrified, furious beast raging inside my chest. Maverick and I would keep them safe.

  Eventually, cuddled up on the couch with my husband and my kids, I fell into an uneasy sleep.

  Chapter Ten

  As soon as the sun started peeking up over the horizon, I called Marty, who was disgustingly awake and positively chipper.

  “Morning, cuz!” He practically sang the words. “What can I do for you?”

  I glared at the phone like it had personally wronged me. How dare he sound so awake and well-rested when I felt grimy and creased and so tired it was like someone had scooped out my brain and left nothing but gray fog and a low-level headache behind. Still, I was calling to ask him for a favor. The least I could do was be civil.

  “Hey, Marty. We had kind of a rough night out here. Is there any chance you can come keep an eye on the boys for me today?”

  “Sure!” He had the grace to somehow inject a bit of concern under the general eagerness. “Is everything okay?”

  “No, not really.” I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’m working on it, though. When can you get here?”

  “I’m already heading out the door. See you soon!”

  “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

  “Of course! What is family for?”

  Even though I’d gotten what I wanted, I couldn’t help but glare at the phone. I felt like I should have written Marty a ticket for excessive use of exclamation points before six in the morning, but that would have been ungracious. Truthfully, I was angry with myself for being angry.

  As soon as Marty arrived, and I told him the boys were having nightmares and a hard time sleeping, he quieted down as much as he could to let them sleep a little while longer, and headed to the kitchen to make smoothies for breakfast once they were up.

  Maverick and I got into the cruiser, and I managed to keep hold of both my keys and the driver’s seat only because I was the only one who knew where Chloe lived, and I threatened to bite Maverick if he tried to take them from me.

  He snorted as he folded himself down into my passenger seat. “I’d say someone’s grumpy, but honestly, who isn’t? Other than your cousin who annoys me at the best of times, but now? His cheeriness made me want to hex him.”

  “I know,” I answered with a chuckle, glad I wasn’t the only one who felt this way.

  “That level of sheer cheerfulness should be illegal.”

  “Right?” I backed out of the driveway, giving it my full attention. Once we were on the road, I added, “Isn’t it weird, how the only people not affected by this wave of insomnia are my cousin, the Null, and Chloe... the human?”

  Maverick’s face darkened, but his voice stayed light when he spoke. “Isn’t it just.”

  The address that Chloe had given me when she applied for the job was on the outskirts of Haven Hollow. It wasn’t that far away, considering the size of the town itself, but it was definitely located in a more remote corner than, say, Main Street. Of course, that was assuming that anything she’d told me was true: including her name, her address, her species.

  Though, I’d done a background check on her, and I’d confirmed that there was a Chloe Masters, and unless the faerie courts had gotten their hands on some hackers, her government documents were real. Well, at least some parts of her identity were real.

  And to think, I’d felt guilty about using a fake name with her.

  What was the saying—something like ‘it’s not paranoia when everyone really is out to get you.’

  There was a long stretch of road that wove through bunches of trees along the way, and I kept a careful eye on the forest edge, because it was still early and I never knew when some dopey kind of wildlife would take it into their heads to dive out in front of my moving car. Never mind deer and racoons, I couldn’t stop worrying about the werewolf who’d been so tired and out of it, he’d forgotten he wasn’t a wolf while running buck-naked through the woods.

  Some leaves, now turned brown, red and orange with Autum, blew out into the road in a swirling dance in front of my headlights. And right on their heels came a little boy, about Charlie’s age. He dove right out onto the road as if chasing the dancing leaves. His pudgy little hands were reaching out as he laughed, completely heedless of the road, or the car barreling towards him.

  Panic slammed through me, my heart pounding so fast, it made me dizzy as I just about stood on the brakes, swerving to the side at the same time. For a second, I thought we were going to go right off the road and into the trees, if I didn’t roll the car entirely. Maverick swore, bracing himself, as I fought against physics to keep us on the asphalt. The brakes screamed, the car shuddered like it was dying, and we finally slid to a stop with my bumper about six centimeters from the trunk of an enormous pine tree.

  I couldn’t care about that, though. The little boy—I had to make sure he was okay. Bile burned up the back of my throat, the bitter, sour taste flooding my mouth. My hands were shaking as I tore at my seatbelt, fighting the buckle.

  Maverick grabbed my arm when I went for the door handle.

  “Taliyah, what the spell? What are you doing?”

  “Let go!” I twisted hard, trying to break his hold, fighting to get out the door. “I have to see if that little boy is okay.”

  There hadn’t been an impact, but what if I’d grazed him? Oh, God, let him be okay. Let him please be okay!

  “What kid?” Maverick didn’t let go, keeping me in my seat. “Taliyah, what kid? There was no little boy!”

  I stared at him, and then craned my head around, searching the road. And sure enough: no little boy. No sign even that there ever had been a child. My pulse was slamming through my veins, throbbing along with the terror inside me.

  “You… didn’t see a kid? A little boy? He ran out in front of the car… I…”

  Maverick’s grip on my arm gentled, but didn’t release. “Taliyah,” he said, quietly. “There was no little boy. Just some leaves. I promise.”

  I looked again, scanning the road, the trees, checking just to be sure. The relief was almost as devastating as the horror. I sagged forward then, my head on the steering wheel, as I let out the breath that had been way too tightly coiled in my lungs. My hands were shaking, my head spinning.

  There hadn’t been a little boy. So, what in the hell had I just seen?

  Maverick’s hand was broad and warm where he rested it on my back. For a few seconds, it felt like his touch was all that was grounding me, keeping me together when my body wanted to shake apart. It took me some effort, but I managed to pry my eyelids up again. My eyes felt hot, almost swollen in their sockets. I’d started seeing things, then. That wasn’t a good sign.

  “Maybe you should drive.”

  Maverick didn’t laugh like I’d half thought he would. He just stroked his hand up my spine and rubbed his thumb over some of the more rigid muscles there. It hurt like heck, but also felt good enough that I didn’t want him to stop.

  I’d meant what I said, though. If I was seeing things, I wasn’t safe behind the wheel. I wasn’t sure how much better off Maverick was than me, with the dark circles underneath his own eyes, but he was the best of what we had, and the sooner we confronted Chloe, the sooner I could take a darn nap.

  We got out, the road still deserted at such an early hour. Maverick got behind the wheel as I slid into the passenger seat and buckled myself in. It took a bit of maneuvering to get us back onto the road and away from the tree I’d almost rammed into, but in just a couple of minutes, we were on our way.

  And if my eyes stayed glued to the side view mirror, watching the road and the tree line behind us just in case, no one had to know but me.

  ***

  Chloe’s place was a cute little bungalow that looked like something out of a fairy tale. It was a pale butter yellow, with white trim, and pretty flower boxes on the windows that were empty this late in the season, but still charming somehow. The lawn was neat, there were birds twittering in the oak tree in the front. But in just pulling into the driveway, I was suddenly so nauseous, I could barely sit upright.

  My head felt like someone was holding a jackhammer to the base of my skull, the pain threatening to crack it wide open.

  “Taliyah?” Maverick twisted around in his seat when I doubled over. “What’s wrong?”

  I shook off his hands when he tried to sit me upright, and swallowed carefully to keep from throwing up right there in my car.

  When I thought I could move without embarrassing myself, I threw open the car door, gritting my teeth and grinding the little sounds of pain that wanted to slip out of my mouth to dust between my molars.

  “Let’s get this over with,” I finally managed.

  As we got closer to the front door, I noticed the iron horseshoe nailed over it. The oak tree had a line of iron nails hammered into the trunk, like some kind of bizarre jewelry, and there were rowan stakes driven into the soil of the garden beds out front. No wonder I felt sick to my stomach—it looked like someone really didn’t want the Faeries dropping by for a visit.

  Each step towards the front door made the pain within me spike higher, and for a second, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to knock on the door. I did my best to ignore the pain, focusing all my attention on the little line of daisies painted on the front window flower box. Three sharp raps on the door was instinctive, a police knock. There was some shuffling inside, a thump and some muffled curses before Chloe opened the door.

  It looked like we’d woken her up. She was still in a long sleeve t-shirt and some baggy pajama pants with little cartoon sushi rolls on them, and her hair was falling out of a loose pony tail to hang around her face. Her eyes were still blurry from sleep, and I was suddenly so jealous that I wanted to kick her.

  “Candace?” She yawned, blinking. “What’s up? Is everything okay?” Then her eyes widened. “Are the boys alright?”

  The last question had her snapping awake, franticly craning her head to see around us like Sean and Charlie might be in the driveway.

  “They’re fine.” And they were going to stay that way. “But we need to talk.”

  Her brow wrinkled in puzzlement, and if it was an act, it was a good one.

  “Um, okay? Come on in.”

  She stepped back, obviously concerned, but waved Maverick and I inside.

  I hesitated on the threshold. What if it was some kind of trap? She didn’t look like she’d been expecting us, but then again, I’d never considered that she was lying to my face for a week or more, so I couldn’t be sure of anything.

  Maverick was a long line of warmth at my back, and even though my head throbbed so badly I was starting to see sparkles at the edge of my vision, something in me relaxed. I really didn’t think there was anything I couldn’t handle with Maverick at my back. Whatever Chloe was, whatever was going on, we could take it and her on together.

  I stepped over the threshold of the house and into a cute little living room where I barely had a second to notice the green velvet couch that looked like it was covered in plush moss before something tore over me, ripping my glamour to shreds.

  Just like that, the face I wore, the face I’d had for almost fifty years, was gone, and in its place was the Princess of Winter. Snow white hair slipped free of the knot I usually tied it back in, and I could feel the brush of air against the sensitive points of my ears. Frost painted the floorboards at my feet while a little flurry of snowflakes whipped around me in my surprise.

  Chloe stared at me, wide-eyed and shocked, her hands pressed to her mouth.

  Chapter Eleven

  This was bad. This was really bad.

  Whatever else was going on, Chloe still hit my radar as human, and humans weren’t supposed to know that the supernatural existed. She might have suspected, or been told something, but from the shock in her face, she hadn’t known I was a Faerie. At least, she hadn’t before something had destroyed my glamour and revealed me in my full snow queen glory.