The Fox’s Tale

“Not entirely,” Lucas clarified. “But mostly. Don’t worry; anything you take off will be returned to you once we get you to safety.”

“Where’s Ellery? Why do they need a cover story?”

“Ellery is trapped in No Man’s Land with a group of hunters and she shunted us in here, and now we have to cross the Kingdom to get to the portal that goes to our home,” I explained.

The dopey smile left Quinn’s face and the rabbits burst into flame. “Shit!” As quickly as they ignited they went out. “Ellery’s in trouble? Forget getting them out of here, Lucas. Let’s go kick some hunter ass.”

“See, he has the right idea.” I turned to Lucas, annoyed.

“For the love of blood, both of you need to chill!” Lucas’s eyes flashed red, before returning to their usual blue color.

“The portal to No Man’s Land is only supposed to be opened when the rulers of the different realms meet. That I opened it once already means that the Head of Security will be here shortly, and I don’t trust Tarquin any farther than one of those humans could throw him.

"I understand why you want to go back, believe me. But the Crown Princess would only have risked this if there was no other recourse. Am I clear?” he asked.

We both nodded and he ran his hand over his face. “Quinn, go ask Darcie if she still has those bottles of mead. We’ll be needing them.”

“If you say so man, but she’s going to want something in exchange.”

“You have more to barter with than I.” Quinn chuckled and left the room. “And tell her to make herself scarce. I don’t want her caught up in this.”

Lucas turned back to the team. “Come on, we don’t have all night. Get to undressing, especially you Shifters. You’ll want to be almost naked in case you need to transform.” He grabbed my arm. “Strip down to your boxers and your jacket.”

“What? Why?”

“Alexander, I am going to do my best to get you and your friends out of here in one piece, but understand this, if I must sacrifice one or more of them to save you I will,” he whispered.

“Lucas,” I said, aghast. “How can you-”

“I don’t want to, nor am I planning on having to,” he interrupted, “but as much as losing one of them would hurt both you and her highness, losing you would destroy her. Do you understand?”

I opened and closed my mouth a few times trying to formulate a response. All I could manage was a feeble “but,” in protest.

Lucas grabbed me by both arms. “You are her anchor. You keep her sane. Without you….” Lucas shuddered and then walked away from me.

Shoes, jackets, socks, ties, six pairs of pants, numerous dress shirts and a couple undershirts piled up in Lucas’s living room. Lucas looked us over as we stripped.

“Don’t make yourselves all look identical. Your state of undress should look organic and chaotic." He handed a tie back to Scott. “Put it on, but loose.” He moved onto Matt and handed him a tie as well. “Put it around your head like a headband.”

He pointed at Ryan. “You put your dress shirt back on, but take off your pants, and you,” he pointed at Andy, “put your undershirt on inside out and backwards.” He picked up a belt and motioned to Sam. “Give me your arm.”

“What? Why?”

Lucas took the belt and managed to weave it around in a pattern on Sam’s arm and fastened it. I felt like an ass standing there in my boxers and the jacket Ellery had made me. Quinn came barreling back into the room with two liter bottles of mead and an excited Darcie hot on his heels.

“Darcie,” Lucas admonished. “You need to go.”

She waved her hand at her brother in a dismissive gesture. “Nonsense. I know exactly how to handle Tarquin. Besides, I wouldn’t miss out on seeing this amount of man flesh if you paid me.” She looked up at Quinn. “And you will pay me, Meridian, handsomely.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered as he uncorked the first bottle. “Line up guys, let’s get some liquor in you. It will make most of what you see seem like a fuzzy, weird ass dream, and if we do get caught, hide why you’re here.”

A terrible thought occurred to me. “Wait a second. Isn’t it dangerous for them to drink something from the realm?”

“Oh, these didn’t come from either Faerie realm. These came from the Scottish Highland games in Edinburgh. Human made, but strong enough to give even an Incorruptible a buzz, if you drink more than a cup.”

Quinn stopped pouring booze directly into my friends’ mouths long enough to pinch Darcie’s cheek. “Our Darcie loves herself a good tipple, don’t you?”

Darcie cocked her hip and scowled at him. The pose hiked her black and silver pinstripe nightshirt up to a dangerous height. “Almost as much as you do, Quinn.”

That was a relief. By the time I had thought to ask half the team had been dosed.

“Hey Xander, if you’re keeping your jacket on, do you mind hanging onto my phone?” Scott stepped towards me. “It’s got a voicemail from my dad on it that I don’t want to lose.”

“Sure man.” I took the phone and slipped it into one of the inner pockets.

Darcie made a small noise of pleasure. “Never mind, Quinn, we’re even.”

Scott looked in her direction as if noticing her for the first time. He looked her over and a slow grin spread across his face. “Hi, I’m Scott,” he said.

“Darcie.” She bit her lower lip. “What’s a big bad wolf like you doing in our neck of the woods?” Scott chuckled and blushed, unable to formulate a response. He just kept staring at Darcie.

“Oh god.” I shook my head, cursing our luck. “Dude, when’s your eighteenth birthday?”

“Huh?” Scott managed to tear his attention away from Darcie to look at me. “It’s next week, why?”

Lucas grabbed Scott by the arm and hauled him away, throwing Darcie into a sulk. Scott made some noises of protest and Lucas said, “she’s not going anywhere.”

“I’ll make sure he makes it out of here and you two can have a nice reunion when we’re safe, okay?” I said in an effort to placate her.

“You better.” With that she turned on her heel and stalked away.