There was something better than Jesse in a wet T-shirt and it was standing right in front of her. She’d seen plenty of magazine photos of guys with rock-hard six-packs, but she’d be the first to admit, those photos were nothing compared to the real thing standing within touching distance.

  She fought the urge to trace her finger across the ripples of his chest and would have lost the battle had he not spoken to her again.

  “Go ahead, babe. Sign on and pull up your mail.”

  “Right.” She dragged her eyes from his chest and let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding as she pulled up her mail server. What a doofus. At this point, she only hoped Jesse either wouldn’t notice or would chalk up her bizarre behavior to nerves about her sister.

  The list of incoming mail was short, but the one she knew would be waiting for her jumped out immediately.

  If you want to see your sister alive…

  “I’ll be damned,” Jesse whispered, his face so close to hers she could feel the heat of him on her cheek. “Go on. Let’s see what the bastards have to say.”

  This is your only chance. Off Highway 89A in Sedona, Arizona, you’ll find the Farmers’ Market. Be there at 5:30 on Tuesday evening. Be prompt. We won’t wait.

  “Oh my God. That’s tomorrow.” Destiny fought the tears she felt burning her eyes as she ran her finger over the words on the screen. “There’s no way we can get there in time. It’s impossible.”

  “Impossible’s just a word,” Jesse reassured her as he straightened, pulling his cell phone from his pocket and punching buttons. “And one that we’re not going to waste any time worrying over. Peter? You’re at the office already? Good. I need you to trace in on my home computer. I have an email and I need the sender’s location.”

  “You can do that? From an email?”

  Jesse grinned. “You’d be amazed at the magic Peter can accomplish with his techie toys.” His expression went from smiles to serious in a heartbeat and he was back to business. “Hold on.”

  He laid the phone down and leaned across her, slanting the keyboard toward him to type.

  REPLY.

  A blank email form popped up with a prefilled address, and Jesse typed in a message.

  I’ll be there.

  He highlighted the SEND button and the message was gone, winging its way to the people who held Leah.

  “It’s done,” he said after picking up the phone again. “We’ll need to be in Sedona early tomorrow afternoon. You’ll make the arrangements and have everything waiting?” A pause. “Great. No need to tell you I’d take it as a personal favor if you had some coordinates waiting for me when we land in Arizona. Later, man.”

  As Jesse slid the phone back into his front jeans pocket, Destiny released a shuddering breath and looked up at him.

  “Come on now, don’t cry.” He slid the pad of his thumb across her cheek, wiping away the tears she couldn’t stop. “We’ll be there in time. I promise. We’re going to get your sister back.”

  Without thought, she was on her feet, her arms around him, her face buried in the edge of the crumpled T-shirt that hung from his shoulder. It felt so good not to be alone in this battle any longer, to have found someone at last who knew what to do and was willing to do it. Someone who believed her. Accepted her.

  His arms tightened around her, pulling her closer, while he stroked her hair. “It’s okay, babe,” he murmured, his breath warm where it feathered against her temple. “It’s okay.”

  A small turn of her head and the soft cloth bunched away. The clean, spicy scent of him enveloped her senses as her lips rested on the bare, heated skin of his chest, where the hard planes jumped and twitched in response to her touch.

  The relief she’d felt only seconds before fled, washed away by a much stronger emotion, a need for the man who held her, a need so intense, she couldn’t imagine ignoring it.

  Strong back muscles rippled under her hands as Jesse brought a finger to rest under her chin, lifting her face to meet his gaze.

  His eyes, those beautifully shifting brown-green lenses, captured hers, and he lowered his head even as she felt herself reaching up to meet his full, sensual mouth, drawn to him as the proverbial moth to a flame.

  Their lips touched and she was lost, sinking into him, wanting him.

  His hands slid to her waist and up, pushing ahead of them the cover of the pink T-shirt, leaving a trail of tingling heat where he traced up her sides.

  The kiss broke and he lowered his head to her neck, his tongue and lips working a magic all their own that within seconds of contact had her ready to rip her shirt off.

  Destiny rose up on her toes, pressing into his body, closing her eyes to block out the world, all too aware of her racing heart and the accelerated sound of their breathing.

  In this moment, she didn’t care. Didn’t want to think. Wanted only to feel. To feel him, his hands on her body, his mouth on her neck.

  Down his back she explored, slipping her fingers just into the waistband of his jeans, sliding them forward and down. Down the rippling abs that disappeared beneath his beltline.

  “Jesus, Des,” he groaned, his body tensing under her touch.

  “I know,” she whispered in response, opening her eyes to look at his beautiful face. “I know. I can’t believe…”

  She would have said more, but movement over his shoulder caught her attention.

  There in the doorway, backlit by the bright hallway lights stood a lone figure. A man. Just as in her vision, he paused for only a moment before starting forward, the light reflecting off the long, shiny object he carried in his hands.

  “Jesse! Look out!”

  Destiny’s scream of warning broke the spell that had so firmly held him captive only seconds before. He shoved her behind him as he twisted around to face whatever danger had invaded his home.

  “Pol?”

  The shock of recognition lasted only an instant, followed as quickly by confusion as to why the Hereditary High Prince of the Realm of Faerie—and his own Faerie ancestor—stood in his living room in Denver.

  “You sound surprised to see me, lad. Or is my arrival simply at an inopportune moment?”

  “Not at all.” Jesse avoided meeting the Fae’s discerning gaze as he moved to switch on the large lamps at either end of the sofa, flooding the room with a soft welcoming light.

  “What’s that he’s holding?” Destiny’s trembling voice belied her uplifted chin.

  “This?” Pol laughed as he lifted the long, thin metallic decanter. “This is naught but a gift from home. Dallyn told me you had developed quite an appreciation for our Nectar. This is a particularly fine vintage, if I do say so myself. From my own stock.”

  “Oh.” The little noise escaped Destiny’s lips on a breath as she sank into the large leather recliner. “A gift. I don’t understand. I was so sure what I’d seen was…” Her words died off.

  “This was what frightened you before? The other night in the car?”

  She nodded before lowering her head into her hands, scrubbing at her face as if attempting to physically erase her confusion.

  “This is Destiny Noble. She saw your arrival in a vision,” Jesse responded to the question evident in Pol’s uplifted brow. “And thought you were someone else. Someone carrying a weapon.”

  “Ah.” The Prince entered the room, taking a seat on the sofa across from Destiny. “In that case, Ms. Noble, I’m pleased to disappoint you, my dear. But how delightful to find a kinswoman here, so far from home. Dallyn made no mention of this.”

  Jesse swept the shirt from his shoulder and pulled it on over his head before dropping to perch on the arm of Destiny’s chair. The hand he placed on her shoulder meant nothing. Her evident upset tugged at some long-ignored emotion, but he refused to give in to it.

  Just as he refused to let his thoughts dwell on what had just happened between them.

  There were more important matters to deal with right now.

  Like Pol.

  “How did you get here? For that matter, why are you here?” Jesse couldn’t recall any mention of Pol ever having strayed so far from his Glen into the Mortal World.

  “I took an a-ro-plane.” He pronounced the word as if it were as foreign to him as the object it represented. “It was actually rather pleasant, though burdensome in the time it required. I did not even suffer from the morning sickness Dallyn had cautioned against.”

  “Morning sickness?” Destiny’s head snapped up with her question.

  “He means motion sickness. Dallyn confuses words all the time.” Or he pretended to. Jesse hadn’t completely decided on that yet.

  “And Dallyn would be…?” Destiny dragged out the words, letting the question linger between them.

  “A friend.” Jesse held up his hand and turned away from her. He’d have to explain all of this sooner or later, but at the moment he was opting for later, hoping not to have that particular conversation with Pol present. “I’m glad you had a good flight. But you still haven’t explained why you’re here.”

  “Ah…” The Prince sat back against the sofa, all pretense of a jovial visit wiped away. “When Dallyn brought word of your disturbing conversation with our Guardian, Ian McCullough, I had no choice but to come here in person.”

  Jesse turned his full attention to his ancient guest. “You know something about what’s going on with the Nuadians?”

  How bad must that explanation be if Pol came himself rather than sending his General?

  “Are you sure you want to discuss it… now?” Pol cast a pointed gaze in Destiny’s direction.

  “Yes sir. This concerns her, too. It’s her they’re after for some reason, and I suspect they already have her sister.”

  “Unfortunate.” Pol tapped his steepled fingers together before sighing deeply. “Very well. As you say, it is best you both know what you are up against. May I?” He held up the decanter he’d brought with him.

  “Oh, sorry.” Jesse snagged three glasses from the sideboard and returned, placing them on the coffee table in front of the Prince.

  Pol completely filled two glasses, but poured only a splash into the third, which he offered to Destiny.

  When she shook her head in refusal, he returned the glass to the table and leaned back once again, his eyes taking on a faraway look as if, for the moment, he was lost in his private memories.

  “It began long before I was born, in a time when the royal family still ruled Wyddecol, what you know as the Realm of Faerie.”

  Jesse leaned forward, returning his untouched glass to the table. “I knew the Nuadians were old, but I was under the impression they hadn’t been living in my world for that long.”

  “The Bloodlust didn’t begin with the Nuadians. They were hardly the first of our people to be banished to the Mortal World to live out their lives bereft of their magic. In the Long Ago, it was a common punishment for the worst of our kind.”

  “Well, isn’t that just great,” Jesse muttered. That the Fae had used the world of man as a penal dumping ground for their worst offenders shouldn’t surprise him. “What’s this bloodlust thing you mentioned?”

  “A black scourge on the souls of the Fae. In the Long Ago, the Exiled Ones discovered a way to regain their stripped powers through the consumption of Mortal blood.”

  A strangled sound came from Destiny. “You’re saying that those people drank human blood?”

  The palpable disgust in her voice reflected Jesse’s own feelings.

  “Yes. The Exiled Ones drank blood.” Pol shrugged and looked away, as if trying to distance himself from the memory. “It was, in fact, the horror of those dark times that led men to create legends of an undefeatable race of monsters who preyed on the blood of the innocent.”

  “Vampires? Are you talking about vampires?” Destiny shook her head, disbelief in her eyes. “But they’re not real. They’re just make-believe. Nothing more than fairy tales.”

  “Exactly,” Pol agreed. “Tales of the Faerie. The darkest side of the Fae. Though the practice rejuvenated their bodies, restored and enhanced their strength, it ate away at their souls. The putrid traces of what they had been was no longer fit for the Fountain of Souls. The disruption they left behind was rivaled only by the destruction caused during the Great War with the Nuadians. It was that horrific destruction that led the Earth Mother to remove Faerie magic from the Mortal World.”

  “If they were undefeatable, does that mean they’re still around? Did the Nuadians hook up with those guys? Is that how they can do what they’re doing?” Jesse didn’t have time for a history lesson. He wanted to understand what he was dealing with in the now.

  “I have no idea how the Nuadians discovered the ancient evil. I was but a lad when the Exiled Ones were finally defeated, though I do remember whispers in the palace about the means of their defeat being as dangerous as the evil had ever been.”

  Destiny’s shoulder stiffened under Jesse’s hand and she pulled away, rising from her chair.

  “This is crazy. You guys are talking about some old legend like it’s real. There are no vampires. There are no faeries. None of that stuff exists.”

  “You must be aware of one other thing, Guardian,” Pol continued, as if Destiny had not spoken. “The Whole has entered a new phase. It is as if the strings of fate are being gathered up, leading us all to the place we need to be. The magic forbidden in the Mortal World is returning with an unknown strength. Only this time it is not in the hands of the Fae, but instead resides with the new race.”

  A tension zinged through Jesse’s veins at Pol’s use of his title and the markings on his arm felt as if they had come alive. “New race?”

  “Yes. The race created when Fae mated with Mortal. Neither Fae nor man, but a combination of the two. For better or worse, these beings now hold the power of the magic in this world.”

  “You mean like me?” Though Jesse used himself as the example, it was the face of his little niece that danced through his thoughts.

  “Yes. Like you.”

  “This isn’t funny, okay? Why are you two carrying on like this? There. Are. No. Faeries. Period.” Destiny had backed away from them as she punctuated her words, her arms crossed defiantly, protectively in front of her.

  The look Pol cast in her direction as he gestured toward her could only be seen as sympathetic. “Like her.”

  “Stop it! Stop it right now!” Destiny’s voice shook with her emotion. “You can’t frighten me with these fantasies. It’s not real. None of it.”

  “It is real, Destiny. Denying it won’t make it go away.” Jesse stood and headed across the room toward her, but Pol stopped him with a gentle hand to his arm.

  “Show her.” Pol straightened, his arms at his sides.

  “Show her?”

  “Can you not feel the fear inhabiting the rips in her soul where trust has been torn away? She will not believe without proof. She cannot.” Pol lifted his chin and held his arms out to his sides. “Hit me.”

  “What? What do you think you’re doing?” Destiny looked as if she were ready to jump between the two of them.

  As if Pol needed her help!

  Jesse shrugged. He would have preferred to do this differently, but maybe Pol was right. They didn’t have time to ease her into what she needed to accept.

  “Whatever.” He pulled back his arm and threw himself into a wicked uppercut.

  With one slight miscalculation.

  Destiny screamed as his arm flew through the unsubstantial mist Pol’s body became. With nothing solid to stop his forward momentum, Jesse’s body pitched through the Fae and his shoulder hit the floor with a thud that rattled his bones.

  “Oh my God.” Destiny’s words died off, sounding as if they’d been dragged from the depths of her soul, and she repeated them over and over in a breathless whisper until she turned her sticken gaze toward Pol. “What are you?”

  “I am Fae,” he answered simply.

  Chapter 12

  “Hereditary High Prince of the Faeries, to be more exact,” Robert said from his spot in the doorway before he walked to Jesse and extended a hand to help him up. “Now, would someone like to tell ol’ Robbie what the bloody hell’s going on in here? That scream likely aged me five years.”

  Destiny’s mind crowded with questions, the shock of what she’d just seen blocking them all. It couldn’t be. None of it was possible.

  And yet… she’d seen the proof with her own eyes.

  She watched silently, trying to sort out her thoughts as, with Robert’s assistance, Jesse rose to his feet, rubbing his shoulder. A sheepish grin lit his face when he spoke to his friend.

  “Just got a little carried away with our demonstration.” Jesse tilted his head in her direction. “She didn’t believe in Faeries. We were trying to convince her.”

  “Aye, well, that one is quite the big bite to swallow, is it no?” Robbie nodded thoughtfully. “I had my own experience with the believing of it a long time ago. There’s many a mystery in the world, lass. Yer life will be easier by far if you just accept and move on. That’s my motto these days.”

  “How did you do that?” Destiny at last untangled the words in her head and found herself moving across the room without thought, as if pulled by some unknown force. She stopped in front of Pol and reached out tentatively to trail her fingers down his arm. “You’re solid. I can feel you. And yet, I watched you evaporate. How did you do that? How did he go right through you?”

  “I told you. I am Fae. As the Earth Mother decreed long ago, the Fae can neither commit nor experience violence in the Mortal World. We are as the mist of the time flow.”

  The mist in her visions! What had her father’s voice called it? “The time flow of the All-Conscious,” she murmured, remembering the words from her vision.

  “Yes,” he agreed, catching up her hand.

  Robbie cleared his throat, as if embarrassed to interrupt. “I’m all packed and ready to go whenever you’d like to leave, yer grace.”

  “You’re not staying the night?”

  Jesse asked the question as he took Destiny’s hand from Pol’s, lacing his own larger fingers with her smaller ones, though she hadn’t even noticed when he’d moved so close beside her.