Free Motor City Witch by Cindy Spencer Pape

control them with unexpected speed and skill for a halfling.
    “Greg may have mentioned the possibility of a purity plot when he called me,” Ric admitted with a wry grin. “But she’s right. At least this way, we’ve got some strength in numbers.”
    “Besides, someone needs to be here for Elise.” Meagan looked up and made a face. “Oh—hi, Des. Well, another female to talk to never hurts.”
    Ric nudged his wife toward a chair. “Anyway, we’re here. Now tell us everything.”
    “That’s going to take more coffee.” Aidan’s temples throbbed. “And a bigger headquarters than the security office. Wallis, let’s set up the library as a war room. Bring in some extra phones, a couple of computers, some scrying materials and get somebody to send up breakfast.”
    “Bronwyn and the cook are taking turns making sure somebody’s in the kitchen around the clock.” Wallis was already moving back into the security room as he spoke over his shoulder. “Standard crisis procedure, my lord.”
    Of course it was. Aidan had set up the rules himself when he’d taken over the Detroit portal four years earlier. A well-fed force was essential in any battle.
    Elise appeared in the doorway, dressed in her jeans and sweater from the night before, her black hair still damp and hanging down her back. Her expression was fierce, angry and determined. Aidan had to look closely to see the carefully banked terror behind the bravado. All she needs is a sword to be a perfect avenging angel.
    “Elise!” Meagan was out of her chair and running to hug her. “Oh, honey, I’m so, so sorry this happened!”
    “What are you doing here?” Elise tentatively returned the hug and shook her head. “Never mind. Of course you came.” She sat down between Meagan and her brother and turned to Aidan. “What news?”
    They all gathered around the library table and Aidan caught everyone up to speed while they waited for food and Wallis’s staff set up equipment. Right after breakfast arrived, the portal light blinked on again, this time heralding Toby’s return. The brownie slumped into a chair, accepted a scone and began to talk.
    “’Twas as ye feared, Cap’n.” The thickness of his brogue always increased with the amount of whisky he’d consumed and by the sound, Toby had downed several glasses while seeking out information. “There’s been a djinn seen hanging about the palace. Attached himself to the new Lord Le Faire, he has. Rumor has it, the snot-nosed lordling was offering a good bit of gold to anyone willing to come work for him who didn’t have much in the way of scruples. Built himself a small army of Unseelie sidhe—some trolls, an orc or two, a passel of goblins.”
    “So Oswald Le Faire is continuing in his father’s footsteps, is he? No great surprise. If he’s kidnapping people, I assume he’s holding them in the dungeons at his family estate.” Most of the elven lordly manors boasted working dungeons—even Oakwood.
    “Nae.” Toby hung his head morosely. “Spent the last two hours chatting up one of his housemaids. Oswald hasn’t even been back to his estate in a week or two. Wherever he has his captives stowed, ’tisn’t at his home.”
    “Damn it.” Aidan paced back and forth at one end of the table. “Where?”
    Mairead stood at the library doorway and ducked her head deferentially. “What can I do for you now, my lord?”
    Aidan saw the relief on the woman’s face when she spotted Toby. Bollocks, how had he missed the attachment between the two? “Get some sleep. Toby, you too.” Neither of the two had had more than an hour or so before hell had broken loose. “I may need you to be well rested later.”
    It was Elise who turned to her brother. “Des, have you contacted the League? What do they have to say?”
    “I found out my call to Toronto was fake,” he growled. “Somebody wanted to make sure I was out of town and knew who to contact to make it happen. There’s no record of that