The music seemed to break the spell that held her still. Ruth blinked and lifted the glass to her mouth for a careful sip. She paused and drank another swallow before she put it down.

“That is lovely,” she said. “Am I going to need someone to drive me home after I drink it?”

Uncle Mike, who’d bustled past us without a glance a couple of times, paused at her question. He dragged over a chair from another table and joined us.

He had a glass that looked and smelled very much like Ruth’s. He hadn’t been carrying it a moment ago, and I hadn’t seen him pick it up. Usually he was more circumspect about using magic, especially in front of the enemy.

“Not if you only have one, Ruth Gillman,” he said. “This is mead of my own making. I won’t deny there’s some powerful spirit in’t, but it will do you no ill.” I felt the magic in his words, but I was sure she hadn’t. Since I was sure that the magic was attached to his guarantee, I let it pass without challenge.

“And,” he continued, “not if you eat some of my lovely stew for lunch. We have sandwiches and such, but the stew is the best thing on the menu today.”

For the rest of lunch, Uncle Mike set out to charm Ruth Gillman. Only once more did I catch a whiff of magic emanating from him. This time it was to amp up the power of his smile, and I tapped my toe against his leg.

He shot me an apologetic glance. “Habit,” he told me.

“What is?” Ruth asked.

“Flirting with pretty ladies,” he said.

“I’m married,” she told him. “And happy.”

“My favorite kind,” he said. “Happy is a wonderful thing. Tell me about your wife?”

She had not told him that she had a wife. That told me that the fae might not let the humans know who or what was coming to their meeting, but they knew an awful lot about who the government was sending.

My phone rang. I glanced down at it. “I have to take this call,” I said, slanting a concerned look at Ruth. She didn’t see it, but Uncle Mike did.

“She’ll be safe as houses with me,” he promised.

“Where did that come from?” asked Ruth. “‘Safe as houses,’ I mean. I’ve heard it all my life and never understood it.”

With Uncle Mike’s promise to play guardian, I abandoned Ruth in the land of the fae, though not without misgivings. I answered the phone while I walked.

“Sorry,” I said. “It’s too loud in here. Give me a second and I’ll be outside.”

I stepped outside to, well, not silence—that area of town has a lot of noise—but it was quieter than inside the bar.

“Zack,” I said. “How can I help you?”

“I’m not sure,” he said. “I’m not really sure there’s anything wrong. But Warren left this morning in a big hurry. Kyle just got back.”

When Warren and Adam together had tried to get Kyle to stay safe at the pack house, he’d just looked at them. When he left for home, Zack and Warren had gone with him. Kyle might be just human, but making him stay would have taken more threat from either Adam or Warren than either of them was willing to be responsible for.

“Isn’t it early for him to be home from work?” I asked.

Zack said, “Kyle took the afternoon off because he and Warren were supposed to go out shopping for a new bed. He can’t reach him by phone—the phone is off. We both think that it’s not like Warren, but Kyle is too angry to worry.”

Zack, our submissive wolf, lived with Warren, third in the pack, and Warren’s boyfriend, Kyle. Zack wasn’t gay, but he’d come to us damaged and everyone felt better with him living with someone in the pack—and Kyle’s house was bigger than ours.

Kyle and Warren had both taken him under their protection. It was cute that most of the pack was more afraid of Kyle. It wasn’t that anyone in the pack would hurt Zack. But if someone inadvertently scared him . . . well, if Kyle was around, they would never do it again.

“I’ll try to call Adam, but if you can’t reach Warren, likely Adam will be in the same boat,” I told Zack.

Maybe the president had stopped in, I thought. They take away people’s cell phones when the president’s around, right? Something that big might be a good reason for why Warren had turned off his phone and not told Zack what was up.

Or maybe it was just another boring meeting, but the president would be a better story. And it had a better chance of pouring water on Kyle’s temper than just a meeting.

I called Adam and, not unexpectedly, got his voice message. I hung up and called Zack back.

“I can’t get through, either, but the pack bonds feel fine. So I don’t think anything is wrong.”

“Okay,” Zack said. “I’ll let Kyle know.”

“If he decides to be worried instead of mad, you could call Hauptman Security. They won’t be able to tell him anything.” I paused. “Wait. They might be able to tell me more than they could either of you. I’ll do that, too.”

Hauptman Security answered on the second ring.

“Hey, Mercy,” said Jim.

“Hey,” I said. “Is the boss around?”

“Nah,” he told me. “He and most of the crew—that crew, if you know what I mean—got called out this morning. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“No,” I told him. “Thanks.” “That crew” had to be the werewolves.

I called and told Zack that all seemed quiet on the Hauptman Security front. I promised to let him and Kyle know if I heard anything before they did.

By the time I got back to Ruth, there was food on the table. We ate, Uncle Mike flirted—and I realized that I didn’t see this side of Uncle Mike very often anymore. There was a time when I wouldn’t have known there was another side to him.

Ruth polished off her mead—which she told Uncle Mike she usually didn’t like. We both ate the last of the stew and homemade bread and said our good-byes.

Ruth stood by her car for a moment, looking thoughtful. Then she looked at me. “Was I bespelled?”

“Nope,” I told her. “He can, but he doesn’t. Won’t do it at his place of business.” I didn’t feel obligated to tell her that he’d started to—because I believed Uncle Mike that he hadn’t done it intentionally.

“He was funny and kind,” she said.

“Mostly people are just people when you get to know them,” I told her. “Even fae people.”

“Did you plan this with him?”