Free Boreal and John Grey Season 1 by Chrystalla Thoma Page B

bruises and the blood-soaked bandage on his side. A thick scar ran from his heart to his navel, as if someone had tried to carve him open.
    She hid a shudder. “Let’s get you to bed.” But he was listing forward where he sat, eyes glazed, and she caught him before he dropped. “Or you could stay here.” She nodded at the cushions. “They’re comfortable and the sofa is soft. I’ve spent lots of nights passed out here, watching TV.”
    He eyed the cushions as if they had teeth, but when she gave him a light shove, he turned awkwardly and lay down, swollen wrist held against his chest.
    “You really should have a doctor look at that,” she said. “Could be broken.”
    “It isn’t,” he muttered.
    “And how would you know?”
    “I know what broken feels like.”
    Wow, an actual conversation with Finn! Would wonders never cease. “Could be a hairline fracture. X-rays are your best friends. Besides, we’ll see how it looks in the morning.” She pulled the blankets up to his chin, patted his chest.
    His eyes widened, the pupils so dilated the blue irises looked black in the dim light from the overhead lamp. He seemed oddly vulnerable like that, tucked in like a child, his pale hair fanning around his sharp-angled face. He also looked sad and wistful. It made her want to stroke his face.
    She got up before she did anything stupid. With jerky motions, she connected her phone to the charger, and the notification of three missed calls popped immediately on the small screen. Dave .
    On cue, the phone rang. Finn gasped and she turned to see him fighting the blankets to sit up.
    Bringing the phone to her ear, she waved for him to lie back down. “Dave?”
    “Where the hell have you been?” His voice was shrill with anger, and maybe concern, but it was as hard to tell with Dave as with Finn. Men . “I’ve been calling you.”
    “Yeah, I saw. What’s up?”
    “What’s up?” Dave growled. What the hell, it wasn’t even full moon yet. “My agents have been vanishing and I couldn’t reach you, what do you think? Wouldn’t hurt to answer the phone, would it?”
    “Er, sorry.” Damn, he was right to be angry. “Look, I had to run someplace and my battery died. Wasn’t on purpose, okay?” Then his words sank in. “More have gone missing?”
    “Four more. This is getting out of hand.”
    That was an understatement. “It’s long gone out of hand, Dave. And you still owe me an explanation. What about the Gates? What about Aelfheim ? Are the elves returning?”
    A choked sound from Finn, but she kept her back to him. Missy growled from the corner of the room.
    “We don’t know for sure,” Dave muttered. “My superiors did mention the Gates, but we have no reason to believe any attempt has actually been made to open them. As far as we know, it’s only the Grey expanding and the Veil thinning.”
    “The oracle, Sarah, she mentioned guardians—”
    “Look, Ella. If anything that bad happens, if the Gates...” He paused. “Then it will be a matter for the government. International security breach. We’ll know soon enough.”
    Ella swallowed, staring at her wall without quite seeing it. “By then, it may be too late.”
    He hummed. “Without proof that the Gates opened, there’s nothing we can do. The forces are on alert. We wait and watch.”
    “You mean, wait until they kill us all.”
    “Relax,” Dave said. “We’d know if the Gates opened.”
    “Would we? How?”
    “Like we did the last time.”
    And he hung up before she had a chance to ask what he meant. Looked like she’d have to brush up on medieval Nordic epics. Joy .
    And now? Her pulse zinged in her temples. How was she ever going to sleep after such a night?
    “What do you know about Aelfheim ?” Finn rasped.
    She turned to find him glaring at her — again . Jeez, could the guy never relax? “Not as much as I’d like to. I know what the old texts say. What do you know?”
    A slight flush rose to his cheeks. “It’s a cold