Page 57 of Winter Unleashed

I didn’t even have to think about the answer. “I’ll report him to the Council myself.”

“Good. Now, about pixies,” she said. “They’re cunning little bastards. If they’re acting nice or helpful, do not trust them. Your power will not work on them. The best defense against them is distrust and a spray bottle full of vinegar.”

“Come again?” My eyebrows drew together, and I looked at Liam who just shrugged. “Did you just say vinegar?”

“I did. It works as a sedative on them.” The smile on her lips was mischievous and a touch evil. “If you add a little salt in the mix, it’ll burn them like acid. They’ll shrivel up and you can crush them between your fingers.”

“Uh-huh. Good to know,” I muttered. I knew I’d have to kill the pixies, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to burn them alive.

“Other than the salt, how do we kill them?” Liam asked clearly thinking along the same lines as me.

“Same way you kill anything else.” She pursed her lips and shrugged. “Knives, a fly swatter, stomp on them with your shoe. My favorite way is the salt, though.”

My face scrunched up in disgust at her obvious pleasure in killing these things. I’d recently had to kill, vampires to be specific, but I didn’t take pleasure in it like she was doing with the pixies.

“That’s nice… But a shoe? How big are these things?” I asked, remembering the shimmering dragonfly-sized being from Astrid’s yard.

“About the size of a sparrow,” she replied, holding her thumb and forefinger apart. “But they attack like wasps. They’ll be a swarm of them, so have your bottles ready. You can carry water guns full of vinegar too. Maybe one of those super soaker things.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” I nibbled my lip while trying not to laugh at the silly image of us walking around with squirt guns in holsters on our belts.

“If they get their blasted dust on you, it’ll itch like the dickens.” Her face contorted with disgust. “Nasty creatures.”

“Are they Fae creations?” I asked, unable to stop myself.

She gasped and her hand went to her chest. “I’ve never been more insulted in my life.”

Oops.“I’m sorry. I was just curious. You guys have created so many interesting beings it was a natural assumption.”

‘Interesting’ wasn’t the word I’d wanted to use, but I was trying to appease her not piss her off more.

She relaxed a little but narrowed her eyes at me. “Interesting beings, eh? Mm-hmm… No, they are not our creations. If they were, I’d be first in line to extinguish them.”

“What do we do if they dust us?” Liam asked, bringing her back to the point.

“Spray the area with vinegar and shower as soon as you can.” Her gaze shifted away from the mirror. For a second I thought she looked shocked by whatever she was looking at, but she brought her expression back to neutral before I could be sure. “I must go back to work. I’ll be in touch soon.”

“Did you catch that look on her face?” I asked Liam.

“I did. Don’t worry about her, she can take care of herself.”

“I hope so.” I nibbled my lip while trying to figure out what could possibly throw that woman off. She seemed to know everything before it even happened, so it had to be huge if it had surprised her.

“She can take care of herself,” he repeated before making his way back into his office to put the mirror away.

When he turned around again, I was still sitting on a chair on the balcony nibbling my lip to death. He crouched in front of me and rubbed his thumb over my abused lip. “Red, she will be okay.” He took my hands and pulled me to stand with him. “Whatever distracted her was not a threat. She look surprised not alarmed.”

His arms slid around my waist, and I draped mine over his shoulders. “All right. I’ll try to stop worrying then.”

He kissed me lightly, just a brush of his lips, but the heat still pooled in my core. When his lips touched mine again, I opened to him, and the kiss deepened. I moaned when his hand moved up my body to cup my breast. I pressed into his touch and felt his excitement through our close. The urge to release it from his pants had my hands moving between us.

I had the button undone and the zipper halfway down when a noise stopped me. We looked at each other with twin expressions of surprise before turning to find Astrid standing in his office with a slight smirk on her face.

“I wish I could let you finish, but Liam, you need to come with me,” she said, the humor clear in her voice.

Liam stiffened. “Is there a problem?”

“No, but I can’t explain it right now. You just need to come with me,” she insisted.