Free Crave the Night by Sharon Ashwood, Michele Hauf, Patti O'Shea, Lori Devoti

can’t be happening!” Lila said,
her voice just above a whisper. Shy, secretive fey showing
themselves on camera? Had the world gone mad?
    “ It’s happening, Lila. It’s happening
as we speak.”
    “ Sacred Titania!” She felt suddenly
sick.
    “ I’m sorry about the press, but
publicity is the one medicine Masterson can’t stomach. If enough
people know what he’s up to, he’ll be forced to do the right
thing.”
    “ You did this?” Her voice held a
universe of shock.
    Rafe nodded, his face grave.
    Lila was silent for a long moment. When she
spoke, her words were quiet. “Masterson made me swear to keep it
secret. This is the last thing he wanted.”
    “ Too bad. I didn’t promise him
anything.”
    “ My father . . .” She trailed off, and
buried her face in her hands. “You don’t understand. It’s not just
Masterson who wanted secrecy. This much attention will be like
death to the fey.”
    “ They’ll get over it when they get to
keep their homes,” Rafe said bluntly. “It’s the only way to work
through this. The vampires and shapeshifters came out of hiding
when it became clear living off the grid just wasn’t possible
anymore.”
    “ Tell me again how this will help us?”
She heard the tears in her voice, and winced.
    “ There’s such a thing as squatter’s
rights. With the right lawyers, the fey can get the law on their
side.”
    “ We don’t have lawyers. We don’t
recognize human law.”
    Rafe shook his head. “You need to start.
I’ll give you the names of some legal firms. A lot of lawyers are
vampires, no pun intended. They’re used to working on inter-species
cases.”
    Hope flickered to life in Lila’s breast, but
then died. “Maybe that will solve the legal side of things, but
when the humans know where we are, they’ll come hunting us. There’s
always some fool who wants a pot of gold or a love spell and will
stop at nothing to get it.”
    Rafe put a gentle hand on her arm. “The
wolves love the woodland as much as the fey. Let us run unharmed in
your wild places, and you will have a patrol against unwanted
visitors.”
    Lila tried to digest this, but the
cameras swerved toward a fleshy man arguing at the top of his
lungs, red-faced and sweating. He was casually dressed, but would
have looked more comfortable in an air-conditioned
boardroom.
Masterson
. So that
explained the noise in the background of their phone
call.
    And he was screaming at her father.
The king of the fey was the personification of tall, pale elegance
but, by the stiff way he held himself, he was on the verge of
screaming himself.
Oh,
no
.
    A reporter shoved her microphone into
Masterson’s face. “You’ve been accused of buying political favor
that secured Masterson Corporation’s logging license without the
requisite environmental impact scans. Can you comment on that?”
    Masterson spluttered.
    The reporter turned to Lila’s father, who
eyed the microphone as if it might turn into an adder. “Mister, um,
King, can you tell us what arrangements have been made for your
people when you leave this forest?”
    Her father focused intense green eyes on the
camera. “None whatsoever. We were not consulted. We have no
intention of leaving.” He turned his face away, as if dismissing
the outside world.
    “ What if you’re forced to go?” the
reporter demanded.
    The king gave her a weary glance. “We don’t
know how.”
    Lila felt as much as heard her father’s
voice. It held profound sadness, but most of all it held
resignation. The world was changing faster than the fey.
    “ Are you going to fight
back?”
    The king gave the cameras a look, but did
not answer. Lila knew why. The kind of power it would take to beat
Masterson’s machines by force would turn Gilden Wood into a
nightmare of wild magic. Lila’s plan was the only way for the fey
to survive.
    Rafe touched her arm. “We’re on the same
side, Lila. Masterson’s the enemy, not me.”
    She stood up, too agitated to sit.