Marked By Lies: A Reverse Harem Series (The Marked Series Book 1) by Paige Orr (the red fox clan TXT) 📗

emergencies, so if I call that and ask her to confirm my story, then at least someone will know what’s happening with me.

“Yeah, not going to happen, buddy. It’s not exactly the smartest move to give you my name when I don’t know what you plan to do with the information you can dig up on me. Instead, why don’t you give me your phone and I'll call someone who can confirm it for you. Call it a compromise.”

I watch as he reaches into his pocket, before grudgingly handing me his phone. I can feel his eyes on me as I type in the number and hit the call button before putting the phone on loudspeaker. The call only rings a few times before she picks up and I’m glad that her protocol for answering on this line is to never say names.

“Hey bitch-tits, did you get what you needed for your client?”

“Yeah, I got it, but unfortunately I’ve run into a bit of a problem. You’re on loudspeaker right now and I have a Fae standing in front of me who doesn’t believe what I’ve told him, so I said to him you could confirm that I’m not lying.”

I look up at the guy holding the phone towards him to motion for him to ask his questions. I can hear Nika’s wary sigh through the line and I know that she’s going to kick my ass for getting caught, but with any luck I’ll be able to get out of here with the Prince being none the wiser.

“For such a smart woman, you can be awfully fucking stupid girl! Well, mister, ask your questions. I’ve got other clients that need me.”

“Alright then, the question is rather simple, is this woman a private investigator who is searching for an item for a client. Anything else doesn’t matter to me, there’s no love lost between me and Cailean.”

“Dude, if she was going to come up with a lie to tell you, then I’m pretty sure she could have been more creative. Now if that’s all you wanted to know, then I’m rather busy. Oh yeah, I’m going to slap you one for getting yourself into this shit slut, good money or not I told you it was a suicide mission!”

With that, she hangs up, and the stranger looks at me in amusement. I’m glad that he finds my impending beat down so funny, but I don’t have the time to let him enjoy this moment. Looking down at my watch, I realize that I’ve already been in here for over twenty minutes and I know it won’t be long till someone finds us here.

“Look dude, there’s your proof that I’m not bullshitting you, so what now?”

“Well, I think we can come to some sort of agreement, don’t you?”

“I don’t exactly have much of a choice, so why don’t you cut to the chase.”

“It’s quite simple, really. We can keep this little… incident, between us and all you have to do is a job for me. I’ll even throw in the bonus of getting you out of this place with no issues with whatever you slipped into your pocket.”

“Well, that all seems a little too easy, so what’s the catch?”

“No catch, as you probably already know, my kind are unable to lie.”

“That may be true, but that doesn’t mean you can’t twist the truth. Like I've already said though, I don’t have many options so what about I’ll agree to hear your request tomorrow but I still have the right to tell you no if I think it’ll be too dangerous for me, I am only human after all.”

His brow furrows at that which leaves me feeling confused, but I don’t have long to wonder about his reaction when the sound of footsteps reaches my ears. I scramble to my feet, looking around the room in panic before grabbing my bag from the table and rushing towards the window. Just as I’m about to open it to get out that way, I feel his arms wrapping around my waist again and my heartbeat speeds up in anxiety.

“Calm yourself little songbird. I can make sure we aren’t found. And we can discuss the finer details when I get you out of here. Now I need you to stay silent. I can only hide our presence, I can’t hide any noise you make.”

Just as the handle turns, the surrounding shadows fall over us both, blocking my sight and I have no choice but to trust this man as he guides me forwards closer to the sound of two men talking. The sound of the door closing, muffling the voices causes me to release a breath I didn't realize I was holding as the shadows drop away.

Chapter Six

 

Elias

I watch as Cailean paces behind his desk in frustration at being no closer to finding any answer about the missing Fae. I lean my back against the wall as I watch my friend losing control of himself, and I hate that I can’t do anything to help him with this. I’ve never seen him so stressed out before, especially since in public he has to seem like nothing can touch him.

Over the years, I’ve seen Cailean’s position slowly tearing him apart and I’ve felt absolutely useless. All I can do is take some of the immense stress off of his shoulders. Being the advisor to the future king of our people isn’t a simple task, but I know that there is nowhere that I’d rather be.

Since he’s been tasked with finding the missing Fae though, things just seem to be getting worse for him. We’ve investigated every avenue and turned up nothing. I’ve never even heard of something like this happening before, making all this even worse. I’ve done everything I can to keep the whispers in house,