[Trent]We went up through a narrow stairway that was barely wide enough to fit me. There were downsides to how thickly built pack wolves were. I squeezed through sideways while everyone else managed it without too much discomfort.Victor took us up a couple more flights of stairs and to the roof of the building. From time to time, the impact would happen again. No one seemed to live here, because there were no concerned tenants trying to figure it out. Though, the place smelled strongly of vampires, so maybe they were out.When we reached the roof, we raced to the back, overlooking the alley, and looked down. There was a dark pile of something on the ground next to a large man. He looked like he was absolutely huge. We were looking down at him, so I couldn’t make out his features. The man walked over and knocked on the wall, then stepped back. The entire building shook.He looked impatient but wasn’t beating down the wall. Queen Maeve turned to Victor.“Would you mind helping me get down there quickly, Master Nightshade? I would hate for one of my people to damage your property.”“It would be my pleasure, Queen Maeve,” he replied with a smile.Victor swept the elf off her feet, jumped onto the ledge of the roof, and dropped out of sight. We watched as he landed a few feet from the tall man. The man turned to him and Queen Maeve, then bowed slightly.I turned to Spencer. “Do you want to stay up here, or should we join them?” I asked.“The light isn’t great. That man is massive. Do you know what he is?” Spencer asked.“From his size, probably a troll. It’s hard to tell when they’re in their glamour. They make themselves seem smaller. He probably couldn’t fit down the stairs, so got our attention some other way. From my understanding, full-blood male trolls are usually eight to nine feet tall,” I explained.He nodded. “The old stories about trolls, giants, and their lot exaggerated their sizes. Of course, if you’re only just over five feet tall and you see something that is double your height, you might imagine it bigger, too.”“So, stay or go?” I asked.“Let’s go. I want to know what’s going on, and I can’t hear anything from up here.”I put my hand out to him and he accepted it. I picked him up the same way Victor had picked up Maeve. He was human, so I didn’t want him to get hurt by the impact of our landing.Unlike a vampire, I couldn’t just drop onto the pavement. That would hurt like a son of a bіtch. Instead, I jumped from outcroppings and window sills until I reached the ground. When I set him down, he looked no worse for the action.We approached the others, who were talking to the enormous man. They stopped when we reached them. I could feel his assessing eyes as he looked me up and down.“Alpha Trent, this is Wylder Steinman. He is a troll warrior who comes from the fae realm. My friend Eru Beaumont hired him to watch over Carmen,” Queen Maeve explained.“Where were you when those things attacked her? You were supposed to watch over her. Protect her. Where were you?” I asked him.“Trent is Carmen’s Alpha. The leader of her pack,” Maeve told him.He didn’t answer. Instead, he indicated the lumpy pile. Spencer approached it and started pulling cloaks and cloths off of them. I realized it was a pile of beetle-ridden corpses. “A few got away,” Wylder answered.There were at least eight of them in the pile. Spencer looked up at the troll with shock that was quickly covered by a blank expression. It took two vampires to take one down. Rock seemed to only be able to focus on one at a time. Wylder killed eight.“My apologies. I let my emotions overtake me. Carmen is like a little sister to me. You were obviously busy,” I said.I wasn’t ashamed of my question or what I said. I didn’t have all the information, and I was worried. If Carmen had inadequate protection, I wanted to know. Of course, I never thought these things would go after her. All I was aware of was the one cult member who approached her months ago.“How did you know where to come?” Victor asked him.“There are skills trolls have that we don’t share with anyone. Abilities that run in family lines and that we use sparingly,” Wylder replied, then stopped talking.We stood there for a while before we realized he wasn’t going to say anything more. Maeve gave me a half smile and shrugged.“Trolls are not very talkative outside of their families and social circles,” she explained to us before turning back to Wylder. “Were you harmed? Do you need to see a healer?”“No.”“Did you need anything else?” Maeve asked.“What are they, and should I expect more?”“They’re called revenant beetles and they control corpses. There may be more out there, but we believe Carmen smelled like someone the beetles are hunting,” Spencer told him.The troll looked at him, then back at Maeve.“Should I expect more, Queen Maeve?”“Spencer. This makes twelve. Do you think there will be more?”“It’s possible. I don’t know how many years the demon has been here. Swarms can be up to three times this size. Some of these bodies differ from the others. I don’t think these are all vampires. They’re definitely not human, though….”Wylder crossed his arms in front of him. He didn’t look pleased by the answers he got. I could definitely understand that. If there were more of these things, it could be dangerous for others.“If she goes to visit the warlock’s house again, I’ll keep a closer eye on her.”“You know where she went today?” I asked him.“It’s my job to know where she is and keep her safe. I watched the building from the outside. If that’s all, I need to go,” Wylder said.Without waiting for an answer, he stepped out of the ring of light being cast by a door light and seemed to disappear. Part of me said I shouldn’t be shocked because of all the people I’d seen disappear like that in the last year.I went from never seeing a single person appear and disappear to seeing Echo, Marius, and Rhett do it. But it was an entirely different thing seeing someone as big as Wylder do it. Maeve saw my expression and smiled.“It’s his glamour. All fae can conceal themselves using their glamour. It can even cover scents in some species. All of our warriors have experience in concealing themselves this way. It enables them to move covertly,” Maeve explained.“That makes for an even more frightening picture of fae. I appreciate our alliance more and more,” Victor replied with a chuckle.“What’s important right now is getting these bodies into the morgue. Some of these aren’t vampires. I need someone who can tell me what they are. It will give us a good idea of what we might see in there. Revenant beetles make their hosts stronger while they’re feeding on the corpse because the beetle can’t defend itself,” Spencer told us.“I can carry three or four. What about you, Victor?” I asked.“I am not as broad as you. I could probably manage three. More would be difficult. Spencer, if you can get one and Alpha Trent can carry four, we should be able to get them all in.”“Sure,” he replied.“Was it accidental or on purpose that no one considered me?” Maeve asked.“If you could conceal what is going on from prying eyes and block the doors open, we’d appreciate it, Queen Maeve. I didn’t want to have you distracted while keeping people from seeing us,” Victor said.He seemed to be confident in what he said. There was nothing to imply that he had just thought that up. Perhaps he’d been considering that the whole time. I hadn’t even considered having her help. Carrying corpses wasn’t something I thought a woman would want to do.Maeve waved her hand and went to lift the board on the cement stairs leading down to the basement morgue. Victor helped load bodies onto me and we managed four. We were still wearing the masks Maeve made, so I didn’t know if they stunk as much as the bodies in the morgue.Once Spencer helped Victor get his three, he picked up the remaining body and headed down the stairs. I didn’t enjoy being unable to see my feet on the semi-unfamiliar stairs. We made it down without anyone getting hurt.We lined up the bodies on the floor. The vampire attendants didn’t look happy but started tagging the corpses. Maeve looked sympathetic to them and started using her magic to create masks for them, too.As I set the last one down, I said a brief prayer to the goddess for them. Even if they forsook her, she wouldn’t do the same to them. The goddess loved all her children, even those who didn’t love her.“I’ll need a couple of days to examine and assess these bodies. I can give you an idea of how many more beetles we can expect after that. I’ll need a place where I can dissect the beetles. A place to burn them afterward would be a good idea,” Spencer said.“We can make sure you have all of that,” Victor replied.Maeve handed the masks to the vampires, and they looked grateful as they put them on and blocked the scent of the beetles. It would make it a lot easier for them.“I’ll get together a few fae to make more masks to be kept here. If this is going to be a common occurrence, we want to make sure those who work here can keep doing their jobs,” she told us.“Do we need to contact Rhett?” I asked.“I’ll call him and talk to him about what happened tonight. He will need to be careful, as he would smell more like his guest than anyone else. If you could talk to Austin about anything he noticed that was out of the ordinary, it would be helpful. I can imagine he will be shaken up for a while,” Victor said.He had a point, but it felt like I wasn’t being given much to do. My spy's punishment led to less detailed and helpful reports. I knew they were worried that it compromised him. That didn’t mean the pack wasn’t important.“Victor–”“Alpha, your phone rang, and you silenced it without even checking it. None of us would have done that. That’s the connection to your pack and family. I understand that this is serious and you’re determined to get to the end of it, but you also need to take care of your family and pack.“What if it was your wife? Or if something had happened in the pack? What if something hurt your people? You’re dedicated and focused, but you have more people to take care of than Maeve and I do. I want you to go home and look at your priorities. Our territories are important, but our families and those we protect are more so,” Victor told me, with a disappointed expression.I looked over at Maeve. Her mouth tightened into a thin line. My shoulders slumped a little. I’d barely slept because I was trying to stay up in case Victor had something or needed my help. I spent most of my time trying to put together battle configurations based on the information our spies were bringing us.Pulling my phone out, I looked at who called. It was Mike. There was a text message that followed. I must not have been paying attention. Beth went into labor and he was taking her to the pack hospital.“I have to go. My Beta’s mate is in labor,” I told them.They both grinned. I knew fae liked children and Gray told me how much Victor was looking forward to Echo’s baby. Because it was likely his baby, I understood, but Victor seemed happy for my Beta and his mate.“Let us know how it goes,” Maeve said. “Go, be safe.”I nodded and left the morgue. As I rushed out to my car, I messaged Mike that I was on my way and apologized for not answering his call. There was no answer as I reached my car and got in. I prayed to the goddess before I started the car. Please let one of Mike’s children be our future Beta.