“We know,” Penny said, smiling at him. “We’ll be ready for them.”

  “I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me,” Merlyn replied.

  “If we get hurt, it won’t be because of you but because of your family. We’re your friends, and we have your back,” Daniel put in.

  “Thank you,” Merlyn replied. He was still scared for his friends but knew they were strong shifters and could protect themselves. Well, he didn’t know about Felix and Jay, but the others certainly could. Maybe he should just go to the fairy realm with Florian. Then everyone would be safer.

  CHAPTER 19

  Florian was waiting outside of Merlyn’s apartment building. He was thinking back over his conversations first with the king and then his parents. They were excited for Florian and couldn’t wait to meet Merlyn.

  No one had ever heard of a fairy and a wolf being mated before, but that could be because they’d never encountered a shifter before. Which brought up a few questions that he wanted to discuss with the king. What if not all mates were human like his? Would that mean fairies should visit other realms? He saw Merlyn, Daniel, and Penny heading towards him and all thoughts fled from his mind as he watched his handsome mate walking down the road. He saw the moment Merlyn spotted him as his face broke into a huge grin.

  Penny noticed the look and laughed. “Man, you have it bad.”

  “I really do,” Merlyn said. “I mean, look at him. He shines. Wait until you both find your mates; you’ll feel the same way about them.”

  Penny sighed. “I can’t wait.”

  “Meh,” Daniel said.

  Merlyn and Penny look at Daniel.

  “Don’t you want to find your mate?” Penny asked him.

  “Not really, no,” Daniel replied, shaking his head.

  Before either of them could ask anything more, Florian walked up, smiling at everyone.

  “Evening, Penny, Daniel.” He turned to look at Merlyn. “Merlyn.”

  “Hi, Florian,” Penny and Daniel said.

  “Hey,” Merlyn said, still smiling at Florian.

  “We’re going to head off and leave you two to it. If you want us to walk you to work tomorrow morning, text us and we’ll wait for you,” Daniel told Merlyn.

  “Will do. Thanks, guys,” Merlyn said. “Have a good evening.”

  “We will,” Penny replied with a smile. “We’re binge-watching Good Omens.”

  Florian looked confused, but before he could ask, Merlyn laughed and said, “Enjoy. Catch you both tomorrow.”

  “Night,” Penny and Daniel said, heading off to their place.

  “What’s binge-watching?” Florian asked him.

  Merlyn laughed, grabbed Florian’s hand, and headed into his apartment building and up to his flat. Along the way he filled Florian in on what binge-watching was and what the show Good Omens was about.

  Merlyn opened the door to his flat and gestured for Florian to enter first. Although Florian had walked him home the night before, this would be the first time he would actually be inside.

  He looked around while Merlyn closed the door. The flat was decorated in off white with blue curtains, a wooden floor, and a grey sofa with a kitchen and small table off to the back.

  There were two doors off to one side. Florian imagined one would be a bedroom and the other a bathroom. The place was small but tidy. It was, however, lacking any plants or flowers.

  “I was lucky when I moved in that this place came fully furnished. I’ve no idea what I would have done if I had to buy furniture.”

  “It’s nice,” Florian said. “You’re just lacking some plants or flowers.”

  Merlyn laughed. “You’re probably right, but I’m not very good at keeping plants or flowers alive.”

  “Don’t worry, Merl. I am fabulous at keeping them alive. You know... being a fairy and all that,” Florian said, laughing. He looked at Merlyn and noticed the look of stress on his face. He knew they had things to talk about, but he had something much more urgent to do. He walked over to Merlyn and smiled.

  Merlyn smiled back, and before he could do or say anything, Merlyn grabbed Florian, pulling him in for a kiss. It started out soft and slow until Florian groaned and then Merlyn plundered. When they both needed air, Merlyn broke the kiss and leant his forehead against Florian’s, suddenly glad that they were the same height.

  “I’ve been wanting to do that since I saw you waiting for me,” Merlyn said.

  “Me, too,” Florian replied, “and I can’t wait to do it again.”

  “And we will,” Merlyn said. “But before that, we need to talk.”

  “We do,” Florian agreed.

  “How about I make some coffee and we can sit and chat,” Merlyn suggested.

  “Sounds perfect,” Florian replied with a smile.

  Merlyn didn’t move for a moment but leant in to kiss Florian again.

  Once they pulled away, Florian asked, “Are you stalling, mate of mine?”

  “Maybe,” Merlyn replied with a little shrug.

  Florian grabbed Merlyn’s hand and pulled him to the sofa, sitting down next to him, then clicked his fingers and two mugs of steaming coffee appeared on the table in front of the sofa.

  “Neat trick,” Merlyn said, smiling at Florian.

  “Just one of my many talents,” Florian said, flicking his hair back and then blowing on his nails.

  Merlyn laughed, just as Florian was hoping he would. He wanted to put off talking about Merlyn’s family as long as possible, so asked, “How was your day?”

  “I went and spoke to my king, told him about meeting you and the problems you were having with your family. He said I can bring you to the fairy realm to keep you safe. I also told him I wanted to split my time between the fairy realm and this one.”

  “What did he say to that?” Merlyn asked.

  “He was shocked at first, as he thought I wanted to leave the fairy realm completely, but when he realised I didn’t, he was fine. After I finished with the big guy, I went and saw my parents and told them about you. They’re both really excited to meet you.”

  “I hope they’ll like me,” Merlyn said nervously. He wasn’t sure they would when even his own family didn’t.

  “They will,” Florian assured him. “Trust me.”

  Merlyn blew out a breath. “Okay, I’ll trust you.”

  “Perfect,” Florian said with a smile, then he grew serious. “Now, how was your day?”

  “It was fine until early afternoon. I got a message on my phone from my family saying they now had my number and were close to finding me.” He purposely didn’t mention what they threatened to do to him.

  “Then come with me back to the fairy realm now where my family and the king can protect you,” Florian said without hesitation, his need to keep Merlyn safe rearing its head.

  “Not yet. They’ve not found me yet, but if they do, I’ll go with you,” Merlyn assured him.

  “But I may not be near you or get to you in time,” Florian said.

  Merlyn bit his lip. “I can’t run away, Florian, not yet. It could be months before they even discover what city I’m staying in, then they’ll have to search for me amongst the thousands of people here.”

  “I know. I’m just worried. Let me ponder on this and see if I can come up with something,” Florian said.

  “Thank you, Florry.”

  Florian smiled. “Until then, how about we do something fun?”

  “What did you have in mind?” Merlyn asked, smiling.

  “Claiming... Let me claim you, Merl,” Florian suggested.

  “Only if I can get to claim you back,” Merlyn said.

  “I think I can agree to that,” Florian said with a smile.

  Merlyn grinned and stood up. “Then come with me, my colourful fairy, and we can claim each other.”

  Florian jumped up and let Merlyn lead him towards his bedroom.

  It had been a long day and Thane was tired. All he wanted was a nice, long, hot shower, something quick to eat, and then to fall into bed nice and early so he could wake up tomorrow refreshed and head over to the coffee shop and see if they knew anything about the missing people.

  He showered but decided he was too tired to eat and had an early night, knowing tomorrow was going to be full on.

  CHAPTER 20

  General Kai nodded to the retrieval team. “Okay, fairies, you have your lists, and I would say to leave a gap and not take them all at once, but just do what you did yesterday. Any problems, come and see me. Stay safe.”

  “Will do,” Zephyr said.

  Kai walked off, leaving them to it.

  “Meet you all back here later,” he said to the rest of his team.

  A portal was opened, and the team went off to collect their humans by again following the magical threads and once found, started bringing them back.

  Zephyr and Ali arrived at their first human.

  Ali shot Zephyr a look, “Are you sure we should take her? She looks a little… old.”

  “We have to,” Zephyr replied. “The connection is there. We can take her and tell General Kai when we get back.”

  “Good idea,” Ali said, touching her shoulder. Zephyr did the same, and they all vanished back to the fairy realm.

  When Jasper and Kudko arrived at their first human’s house, Jasper looked at the human. “I don’t think the bigwigs really thought this plan through.”

  “I know what you mean, Jasp. Maybe there should be an upper and lower age limit,” Kudko said.

  “We can mention this to Zephyr later. For now, we have to take her with us, then get on and get the rest,” Jasper replied, touching her shoulder. Kudko did the same and they all vanished.

  Cameron and Celeste appeared in the room of a man who looked to be in his thirties.

  “Well, if no one claims him as a mate, I’ll have him,” Cameron said.

  Celeste laughed. “Did your magic flare?”

  “Nope, but he certainly is handsome.”

  “That he is,” Celeste agreed. “Come on, let’s take him back,” he said, touching the man’s shoulder. Cameron touched his other shoulder, as well, and they all vanished.

  Once all the groups had finished collecting their humans, Jasper and Kudko walked over to Zephyr.

  “Hey, Zephyr, we have an issue with one of the ladies we brought here earlier,” Jasper said.

  “Was she an older woman?” Zephyr asked

  “Yes,” Kudko said. “How did you know?”

  “Because we had one also. I’ll mention it to the General when I go and give my report,” Zephyr told them.

  “Thanks.” Kudko said, looking relieved.

  Zephyr walked off in search of General Kai.

  CHAPTER 21

  Thane came awake slowly. He didn’t want to open his eyes; he wanted to hold onto sleep as long as he could. He stretched and wriggled around a bit, but for some reason, today his bed didn’t feel like his own.

  He heard a noise from across his room. Apart from his alarm, there shouldn’t be any noises. He opened his eyes and blinked and then blinked again. He slowly sat up, looking around. Something was seriously wrong. This wasn’t his room. For a start, this room looked like a dorm room with people in some of the other beds still sleeping. Secondly, there seemed to be a young man stood by one of the windows staring outside.

  Thane got up and headed towards the young man. Hopefully he would know what was going on. Just as Thane got to him, the young man turned and looked at him. Thane saw anger and fear in the young man’s eyes.

  “Hi, I’m Thane Roberts,” he said.

  “Perry Watkins.”

  “Perry, do you know where are we? What’s going on?”

  “Well, we’re apparently in someplace called the ‘fairy realm,’ and we're here because the fairies want mates, and apparently, that’s us. But the jokes on them. I’m only fifteen, and these sick freaks have kidnapped women and little children, as well.”

  Thane stared at him for a moment. “Please tell me you didn’t go into the new coffee shop that’s just opened on the high street.”

  “I did,” Perry said. “They offered free samples, which I took. I think that’s how they find us.”

  “It is,” said a voice from behind. “At least that’s what happened to me.”

  “And me,” another man said.

  “My Sergeant is going to love this,” Thane told them. “He said with a name like The Fairy Brew, it was probably run by fairies and that you’d all been taken by them and brought to the fairy realm.”

  “Your Sergeant?” Perry enquired.

  “Yep, I’m a DCI at Winchester,” Thane explained.

  Hope flashed in Perry’s eyes.

  “That’s great,” one of the men said. “You can get us out of here.”

  “I can, but I need to know what I am dealing with first.” Thane looked at the two men. “You’re John Leech, and you’re Andrew Purser, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, how did you know?” Andrew asked.

  “Because you’ve both been reported missing. I’ve got a lot of missing persons I’m looking into at the moment. All of you vanished from locked homes. There were no signs of break ins and no foreign fingerprints. The only thing you all had in common was The Fairy Brew. I thought you had all been taken by some kind of gang.”

  Thane looked at Perry. “There was no report of you missing, Perry.”

  Perry didn’t look shocked by that. “I’m from a group home. They probably thought that I’d run away. That’s if they’ve even noticed I’d gone.”

  As Perry finished talking, the other men in the room started waking up. Some groaning that they were still here, and others confused and demanding answers.

  Molly opened her eyes and looked around. That this wasn’t her room was her first thought. Her second thought was, What the hell? She sat up and looked around, seeing she was in a dorm room with other females. She noticed Dolly was in one of the beds across from her and, getting up quickly, walked over to her, gently touching her shoulder.

  “Dolly, wake up,” she said.

  Dolly slowly came awake and looked confused. “Molly, what are you doing in my bedroom? And in your nightclothes?”

  “I’m not in your bedroom. We seem to be in some sort of dorm room.”

  Dolly sat up and looked around. “Well,” she said, “this is an unexpected turn of events.”

  Molly sat on the side of Dolly’s bed.

  “Do you think this has anything to do with the coffee shop?”

  Dolly’s eyes widened. “It’s possible. Let’s have a look around and see what’s going on.”

  “I can tell you what’s going on,” said a young woman as she walked over to them. “Apparently, we’re in the fairy realm and have been brought here to mate with the fairies, but I already have a husband and children whom I love very much.”

  “Have you spoken to anyone here yet?” Molly asked.

  “Yes, some big wig. He didn’t like what we had to say, and somehow he made us fall asleep again until now,” she said.

  “Well, dearie ducks,” Dolly said, “help us wake the others. We all need to talk and find out what we can do.”

  Once everyone was awake, the ladies all talked, and those who had been taken the night before along with Molly and Dolly had all been brought up to speed. As they finished, there was suddenly a knock at the door.

  Molly looked at Dolly and then headed to the door, opening it to see a man standing there.

  Before anyone could say anything, a voice sounded from behind Molly and Dolly.

  “Thane?” one of the ladies asked, sounding surprised.

  “Grace?” Thane asked, walking over to her. “How long have you been here?” he inquired while giving her a hug.

  Grace returned the hug. “I’ve just woken up here. You?”

  “Same here.,” Thane pulled back from Grace and looked around at the other women. “I’m Thane Roberts, a DCI with Hampshire Police based in Winchester. Has everyone here been told what is going on and what happened?”

  “Yes,” Grace said. “And this lady here,” she said, pointing to Molly, “thinks it’s because we took free samples at The Fairy Brew.”

  Thane nodded. “That’s the conclusion we came to, as well. We’ve decided to go along with what they want from us at the moment so I can get the lay of the land and figure out a way to get us all out of here and back home.”

  “That sounds like a good plan, dearie ducks. Shall we all meet in the hall and then go outside and see what they want us to do?” Dolly asked.

  Thane nodded. “Sounds good.”

  They all headed out to the hall that connected the two dormitories while Thane went and got all the men. Thane had to smile when they returned. One of the older ladies was already talking to one of the guards.

  “Well, dearie ducks, we are not leaving here until we’ve had breakfast and also been given some clean clothes to wear. There is no way any of us are going anywhere until we’ve been fed and gotten washed and dressed.”

  “Um, okay,” the guard said. “Leave it to me, and I’ll be back in a moment.” And with that, he hurried off.

  Dolly shut the door behind him, turned around, and said, “There you go. After breakfast and a wash, and we’ll all feel better.”

  “What do you mean they refused to come out?” Grey asked the dormitory guard in disbelief.

  “The older lady says they will only come out if they are given breakfast and clothes to wear,” the guard explained.

  Grey sighed and nodded. “Leave it with me and I’ll sort that out.”

 

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