Gabriel understood the problem. As progressive as the Saints might be, they still held to the old traditions, one being that the woman riding on the back of a bike was sleeping with the guy on the front.

“That’s fine with me,” he said.

“You sure? I totally get it if you—”

“It’s fine.”

—

By the time Ricky and Olivia left, Gabriel was already on the phone, working through his own to-do list. Rose hadn’t heard from Seanna. Neither had Patrick. Yet Gabriel could not be completely certain either was telling the truth, and he was considering what to do about this as he walked from his apartment and found two fae in his hallway. Two dryads, to be precise.

“We have solved the mystery,” Alexios announced.

“Well, one of them,” Helia said.

Gabriel closed the door behind him, his hand still on the knob. “While I’m glad to hear you’ve made progress, coming to my home is not the appropriate way to communicate it to me.”

“How else were we supposed to tell you? Olivia forgot to leave us a phone number.”

Gabriel suspected Olivia had not forgotten. She didn’t trust them—understandable after their experiences with helpful fae. Nor did she quite seem to know what to make of them. They were far too flighty for Gabriel’s tastes, but the Gwynn part of him understood that this was the way of dryads and accepted it with only minor exasperation, as if they were cousins he would not choose as friends but would grant respect and consideration.

Yet that did not mean he wanted them at his home.

“My office address is listed,” he said.

“It’s Saturday,” Helia said. “No one’s there. We went by.”

“There is a message service.”

“You have an answer for everything, don’t you, Gw— Gabriel?”

“One would think you’d be pleased with our keen detective work,” Alexios added. “Your home address is not listed. Finding it—and getting inside the building—wasn’t easy.”

“I will provide you with my cell phone number. Please use it.”

“Next time. We have important news. We’ll go inside and discuss it.”

Helia nudged Alexios, subtly shook her head, and said, “That fancy car of yours is in the garage, right?”

“Yes, but—”

“We’ll talk in there. While you drive.”

“And where would I be driving?”

She grinned up at him. “To your mother, of course.”

—

Gabriel did not blithely follow the dryads to his car. He and Olivia had been betrayed by two fae in the last few months, and both times he’d felt no more than the usual mistrust he did with 99.99 percent of the human population. He needed time to think this through and plan a safe course of action.