Elfhome

The intelligent part of him was terrified that she might because his dick would agree in an instant. And the intelligent part knew that it would be a bad, bad thing. The half-oni wanted a seat at the in-crowd’s Round Table. Pittsburgh was a Wind Clan town, and the way things were going, it was going to stay that way. Windwolf had hinted that the Stone Clan domana were chosen by their clan to be sacrificial lambs. Someone had picked Jewel Tear for shits and giggles because she was Windwolf’s ex. Now that she had lost all her sekasha, she was in danger of becoming as much a social leper as Forest Moss. Yeah, part of him wanted to be her knight in shining armor and save her from that whole mess, but that was the little head talking. Teaming up with Jewel Tear would be throwing his people in a tar pit.

Of course it might be just his little head talking to assume she would even ask. She might be planning on digging a big hole and burying him in it as soon as they got close to Pittsburgh. She might not want the other elves to find out she was screwing the oni spawn. Once she was safe in town, she would have no more need of him as a boy toy. If she still “needed” him, it would be as muscle, and Tommy didn’t want to set his family up to be anyone’s goons. All he wanted for his family was to live in peace.

But that took Tommy back to how Jin was right, which only made him even more annoyed. Jin claimed that you had to create peace first before you could live in it. Tommy had already proven Jin right once by saving Windwolf from Malice. He was proving it again by taking Jewel Tear back to Pittsburgh with detailed information about where the oni forces were located. He thought he could make his stand once and retreat to the back line and let the elves duke it out. Obviously he was going to have sit at the damn Round Table, be an ally, and be part of the war effort if he was going to protect his family.

The question was, whose knight in shining armor was he going to be?

He still didn’t know the answer to that question when they reached train tracks and his hidden hoverbike.

#

Nor did he know when they rumbled through Pittsburgh. There were gossamers hanging over the faire grounds, unloading hordes of elves in Stone Clan black. Fire Clan red surrounded the field. There was no sign of Wind Clan blue.

What the hell happened while he was gone?

They thread their way through the royal forces, drawing stares. Jewel Tear was tucked behind him, pressed tight and arms around him. Spot was balanced on in front of him, legs and feet dangling over the handlebar. They found Prince True Flame at a tent, leaning over a table covered with maps.

“Where’s Wolf Who Rules?” Tommy asked. He wanted Windwolf there when Jewel Tear gave the oni position. He wanted the elves to unite and kick oni butt — not each other’s.

Prince True Flame ignored him, staring at Jewel Tear’s shorn hair. “Are you hurt, child?”

“Where is Wolf?” Jewel Tear flipped through the maps on the table. “He should hear what I have to say. And who is arriving?”

“Darkness, Sunder and Cana Lily.”

The names meant nothing to Tommy but Jewel Tear’s eyes went wide.

“They sent two Harbingers!” Jewel Tear gasped.

He did know what Harbingers were. They were the seasoned warlords that the elves had used to fight the oni on Earth. There had been a dozen that kicked oni butt back to Onihida while the elves pulled down the pathways between Earth and Elfhome. Tommy could guess which two of the three were the Harbingers. One of these things is not like the others.

“The sekasha demanded that the Stone Clan send veterans,” Prince True Flame said.

“We’ll need them.” Jewel Tear found the map she wanted and traced the train track as it slashed through wilderness. “The oni have strongholds built deep in the wilderness that they access by train.” She marked a point on the train tracks and ran her fingers southward. “The camps are south enough that we wouldn’t see them via gossamer as we come in from Aum Renau. I counted four in all, but there could be more. There were thousands of warriors at each camp, wargs, and horrors. They also have another whelping pen.”

Jewel Tear shivered only slightly but Prince True Flame caught it.

The prince flicked a hand to signal a female Wyvern forward. “My people will see you to the hospice to be cared for.”

Such a polite way of saying that she would be given an abortion.

“There is no need.” Jewel Tear tried to wave off the Wyvern. “I was not raped. They did not have time.”

Only a lifetime serving his brutal father allowed Tommy to keep surprise off this face. If Jewel Tear was truly fertile, they’d done it more than enough times to almost guarantee that she was pregnant. She could have stayed quiet and let their assumptions stand and be rid of any child he’d gotten on her.

“You have been battered and sorely used.” The female warrior chided Jewel Tear like a mother dealing with a cranky child.