City of Dragons: Of Flesh and Blood by Adrienne Wilder

nap.
    But this was Haley.
His Haley.
    “Christ, what the hell happened to you?” Farley didn’t wait for an answer and wrapped himself around her. Haley smelled of blood, hers, Human and something else…something familiar.
    Deshi filled in the blank. “She smells like Medan.” He took a step closer. “Haley? What happened?”
    Farley pushed her matted hair out of her eyes. “Talk to us.”
    “Donald…”
    Deshi said, “Who the hell is Donald?”
    Farley rolled his eyes up. “The asshole cop who beat a Submissive to death in the Tank yesterday.”
    Deshi nodded even though it was obvious he didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. “But why does she smell like Medan?” The Prince touched Haley’s hair and picked out a sliver of wood.
    “I think…” Haley clenched her jaw and pain made her face crumple. “I think she tried to come through.”
    “Come through?” Deshi tossed a look between the two of them.
    Farley said, “Medan made Haley her Enforcer.” A bad decision if there ever was one, but then they hadn’t had much of a choice.
    “God of Man, Farley. It hurts.” Haley’s shoulders hitched.
    He petted her cheek. “What hurts? Haley, what hurts?” She shook her head and curled against him, shaking.
    “Haley, did Medan explain anything to you about becoming her Enforcer?” They both looked at Deshi.
    Farley growled. “If you’re asking if we had a corporate meeting about it first, no. There wasn’t exactly a lot of time. It was kind of spur of the moment. Life and death kind of shit.” Serious enough that Farley had let the Atlanta she-bitch gut him to collect Haley’s flesh and blood.
    Deshi said, “If you stopped her from coming through, Haley, she could have left part of her
RHage
behind.”
    “Christ…” If a Male’s normal loss of control—Rage—wasn’t bad enough. A Queen’s RHage was downright deadly.
    Haley shook her head. “Why would she do this to me?”
    Deshi said, “It was probably an accident.”
    Farley said, “Yeah right, accidently on purpose maybe.”
    The Prince shook his head. “Trust me when I tell you there is no way Medan would want to leave her RHage behind for Haley to deal with alone. It could make a real mess of things.”
    Farley still had his doubts, but he’d worry about it later. Right now he needed to take care of Haley. He looked at Deshi. “You know how to fix this, right?”
    He nodded. “We need to get her upstairs.” The Jersey City Prince made as though he was going to pick her up, but Farley beat him to it. Prince or not, Haley was his first.
    Farley stomped up the steps.
    When they got to the top Haley said, “What am I supposed to do?”
    Deshi said, “You need to get rid of it.”
    “How?”
    Farley answered, “You’ll just Roll me, and I’ll take it.” Which was exactly why they needed to get back upstairs, because this was seriously going to break Haley’s cardinal rule of no sex in public. Even if she could Roll Farley without sex, he sure as hell didn’t have the will power to stop himself. Farley fumbled for the door at the landing.
    Deshi reached around and opened it for him, then said, “That’s not going to work.”
    Farley looked back at the Prince. “What the hell do you mean, it won’t work? How else is she supposed to get rid of it?” After all, that’s how she controlled his Rage.
    Deshi shook his head. “No, I mean, she can’t give it to you.”
    “Wanna bet?” Farley headed down the hall, but the Jersey City Prince caught him by the arm.
    “Listen to me. This is a Queen’s RHage. That kind of metaphysical power will shred you alive.”
    “Farley…” Haley’s grip tightened.
    Farley glared at Deshi. “Then what the fuck do you suggest we do?”
    The Prince ran a hand through his blond locks and his eyes hit the floor. “She can give it to me.”
    Farley blinked. Was he serious? “And what the hell makes you think you can handle this and I can’t?”
    “Taking on a Queen’s RHage