by Tanya Huff
“But just a little bad.”
“To a Dragon Lord!”
Who’d put their egg in something that looked like an open mouth? she wondered, straightening a row of novelty egg cups. “He plans on having Graham shoot them.”
Charlie took a moment to connect the dots. “The sorcerer plans on having Graham shoot the Dragon Lords?”
“Yeah.”
“Ignoring the fact he’s too out of it to shoot a water pistol right now, what are your plans?”
She shoved the offending egg cup to the back of the shelf and turned to face her cousin. Maybe it was time to actually have plans. “I plan to have Graham get through this in one piece, I plan to keep the city from burning down, I plan to do what I can to keep David from being tied down because some people are afraid of him, and I plan to keep the aunties out of things as long as possible because they’ve never gone along with any plan but their own.”
Charlie smiled. “There we go.”
“Interesting desk.”
Michael had paperwork spread out over the car and was bent at an awkward angle trying to get a good look at it. He straightened, one hand against his lower back when Allie came into the garage. “Are you kidding? With seven tradesmen and a leprechaun in the loft…” He paused as the constant banging got temporarily louder. “… there’s no room to spread out a paint chip let alone deal with subcontracts.”
“Well, it won’t free up much room, but I need Joe back. Charlie’s decided to get her hair dyed red.” She glanced back over her shoulder, twisting so she could see the second-floor windows. “And I have to check on Graham.”
“The loft’s coming along great, Allie, we’ll be ready for the furniture tomorrow. Thanks for asking.”
Michael wasn’t smiling when she turned to face him again. He didn’t look angry or hurt, but he did look uncharacteristically serious.
“I’m sorry. I’m just…” When she couldn’t finish, he rolled his eyes, and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her. Allie laid her head against his shirt and listened to his heart beat. If there was a place she felt safer, she hadn’t found it.
Except…
Something was off.
She thought at first maybe he’d added a little more muscle, but that wasn’t it. Her charm, her mom’s charm, Charlie’s charm-all there. And he smelled the same, although the drywall dust made her sneeze.
“Allie, did you just wipe your nose on my pocket?”
“Hey, you should be thrilled to get my snot on your plaid.”
And then she realized: it didn’t hurt anymore.
The pain of not having Michael, of knowing she would never have Michael-no happily ever after and never having enough room in the bed and ridiculously tall children with slanted fox eyes-had been with her for so long its absence should have left some kind of a void.
The total absence of void was a bit unsettling.
When she looked up, he was smiling down at her. “Does he make you happy?”
“Who?”
“The short violent dude you’re having a little mental freak about.”
“Can’t think who you mean.”
He squeezed her hard enough to make her squeak, and when he released her, she laughed-tried to laugh, it didn’t actually work that well-and said, “We have a dozen Dragon Lords hanging around, something even they believe is dangerous coming through from the UnderRealm although they’re just a little short of sharing details, and there’s a sorcerer in town I haven’t told the aunties about. And you think Graham’s on the top of my list of things to freak about?”
“I know you,” he said quietly against her hair, his breath warm and comforting. “I know you better than anyone knows you. Even Charlie. I watched you with him last night.You’re going to present him to the aunties.”
“Okay, there’s something there, sure, but I haven’t even known him for a week!”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Michael that’s…” When muscles flexed in his arms, she stopped. Thought about it for a moment. Closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Realized why there was absence of void. Thought about a future without Graham in it. Sneezed again. “Oh, my God, I am going to present him to the aunties. How could you know that?You haven’t even met him when he’s conscious!”
“I know you,” he said again. “Also my people are wise in matters of the heart.” She felt him stiffen. “Okay, wise in the matters of other people’s hearts. People we aren’t expecting to be faithful to us.”
Allie wanted to suggest that maybe he should give Brian a chance to explain except… “Did he know you were coming by? Because, everything else aside, if he thought he was going to get caught, he’d have never done something so stupid.”
“Didn’t look like he cared.”
“Maybe the light reflecting off the moons of Jupiter got in his eyes, and he thought it was you.” She could understand why Michael couldn’t put everything else aside, but Brian had been either stupid or unbelievably cruel and neither quite fit.
“Allie.”
“Sorry.”
“Besides, we’re not talking about the wreck of my love life, we’re talking about the start of yours. When’ll you take him home?”
Home. The thought of Graham and home, together, made it hard to think clearly. “Well, he has to choose, of course.”
“Formality. He’s nuts about you.”
“You could tell that by the way his bruises were rising?” Allie snorted.
“I can tell because of how he got those bruises.” He kissed the top of her head. “It’s a guy thing.”
“So he chooses, and I take him to the aunties just as soon as he’s not working for a sorcerer or that sorcerer is redeemed by stopping the something dangerous in a way I can make look altruistic.”
“Or the sorcerer gets killed by the Dragon Lords for trying to stop the something dangerous.”
“That could happen. But it wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing since Graham’s likely to feel he has to avenge him.”
She felt his chuckle more than she heard it. A deep rumble in his chest that made her think of tigers purring. “I’ll sit on him for you. He’s not so tough without that big gun and the small gun and the knife and the other knife and whatever that thing in his pocket was. Also, he’s got two broken ribs and he’s shrimpy. I can take him.”
There was really only one thing she could say to that. “Thank you.”
Graham was dressed when Allie got up to the apartment and sitting in one of the brown velvet armchairs. He brushed pale crumbs off his dark shirt when he saw her and heaved himself up onto his feet. He’d gotten most of his color back although the easy grace that used to define his movements would be a longer time coming. His eyes were half closed. His hair was a little greasy. He really wasn’t very tall.
But she wanted to walk into the circle of his arms and stay there.
She wanted him to say something because she couldn’t get enough of the way his voice stroked against her skin.
She wanted to fillet a Dragon Lord for having injured him.
She wanted to bake him pie.
And she was going to present him to the aunties.
They didn’t always let outside lines breed in, and she wasn’t sure if her father’s blood made another outsider a better or worse proposition.
“The man is not worth your family and mine coming to blows.”
Except he was.
“You didn’t want me to leave. All right, fine, I’m here.” He hobbled over to face her. “And you’ve proved you can keep me here. You’re badass; if I didn’t pick that up last night, I get it now.”
It took her a moment to find her voice and she didn’t manage anything close to articulate. “What?”
Graham shook his head, like he couldn’t believe her response, like he couldn’t believe she didn’t understand exactly what his problem was. She had no idea what his problem was. “You told your cousin not to let me leave.”
Why was that a
problem? “You’re hurt…”
“I’m fine!”
“No, you’re not!”
“All right, I’m not.” A muscle jumped in his jaw at the edge of a bruise. “But that’s not your call to make. You don’t get to run my life. For God’s sake, Allie, I’ve known you for less than a week!”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Maybe his meds had him confused. Or the pain. He was probably still in a fair bit of pain. “We’re good together.”
“You had me held prisoner in your fucking apartment!” A half gesture with his left arm, like maybe she’d forgotten where they were standing. “That’s not good. That’s not even some weird ass codependent definition of good.”
“But we…”
“There is no we!”
“But last night…”
“Was a mistake.”
Allie stared down at her hand. She’d reached for Graham’s arm, but he’d jerked back and now her hand was just there. Between them. Curling her fingers in, she pulled it back to her side, wet her lips, and looked up. “A mistake?”
“You don’t need me to protect you.” He threw the words at her.
This was all going wrong, but she wasn’t sure how. “Well, no, but if you choose…”
“To leave.”
“What?”
“I chose to leave, Allie. Found out I couldn’t. How about now?”
“Now?”
“If I choose to leave now, do you stop me?”
“Well, he has to choose, of course.”
“Formality. He’s nuts about you.”
Wow. When Michael was wrong, he was really, really wrong. “No.” She laced her fingers together to stop them from trembling. Stupid fingers. “I don’t want you to go, but if that’s your choice, I won’t stop you.”
“That’s my choice.”
“Your truck is parked in the alley.” Allie could barely hear Roland’s voice although he was suddenly standing beside her. “Charlie drove it home. Drove it here.” Because here wasn’t his home. Allie clamped down hard on the thought. “Your weapons are in the car. In the garage.You sure you’re fit to drive?”
The breath he took wasn’t exactly steady, but he didn’t look back as he grabbed his jacket up off the chair and headed for the door. “I’ve driven in worse shape.”
Allie stopped herself from going after him, but only just.
As he left Michael sidled past him and came into the apartment. He looked at Graham’s back, at Allie’s face, and said, “That’s it. He’s a dead man.”
Roland grabbed his sleeve. “He made his choice. You know how it works.”
“Does he?” Hope made it hard for her to breathe.
“Allie?”
“Does he know how it works?” There was a chance. He’d said the words, but how could it count as ritual if he didn’t understand? “Does he know?”
“We talked,” Roland sighed, an apology in the exhale. “He knows the men choose.”
“Oh.” She could feel the ritual wrap around her like Auntie Jane’s fingers wrapped around her wrist-unbreakable and uncaring. “Well, that’s that, then.” She waved off Michael’s reaching hand and headed for the kitchen.
“Allie? You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
She had a house full of family, and pies didn’t make themselves.
Charlie moved closer to the wall as Graham stomped off the bottom step and hauled ass toward the back door. Still shaking off the lingering effects of the Dragon Lord’s power, she took a moment to appreciate the view. He was taller when he was conscious and Allie was right, those eyes were an amazingly attractive blue even when surrounded by bruising and narrowed in a distinctly pissy scowl. “What climbed up your butt and died?”
“Ask your cousin,” he growled, yanking the door open, velvet voice rough.
“You knew she was a Gale when you started seeing her,” Charlie snorted at his back. “Don’t blame her if you’re not tall enough for the ride. Okay, fine,” she added as the door slammed and the mirror showed her standing with her elbow resting on the top of Graham’s head. “The height comment might have been a little tactless.”
Anger kept him moving across the courtyard, out into the garage for his gear, and, with his weapons wrapped in his vest, out into the alley for his truck. If she’d started with an apology. If she’d even realized how much she’d overreacted by locking him up like a… like a pet not trusted in traffic. Like one of those little lap dogs that needed to be protected. He didn’t realize just how angry he’d been until she didn’t seem to understand why he should have a problem with it.
There was another little spurt of anger when he found his keys dangling in the ignition. But hey, the Gales probably didn’t have to worry about car theft. Probably had charms that sent potential car thieves straight to the police babbling confessions in the hope that a raving gang of little old ladies didn’t suddenly appear and force pie on them.
Pain kept the anger hot as he drove. Too goddamned many potholes. Shifting was a bitch.
It faded a little when he took a moment to pull his thoughts together parked in his spot behind the office.
This was going to be a killer debrief.
Hard to justify what he’d done to the boss. How he’d reacted.
Roland rubbed the faint scar along the edge of his jaw.“It’s complicated.”
Yeah. No shit.
If the Dragon Lord had killed Allie, the old women would have flocked to the city. It had been established beyond a doubt that old women in the city before the emergence, at the same time as the Dragon Lords, would most likely be fatal. He took the shot thinking he was preventing that.
Except…
He hadn’t been thinking at all.
Not thinking of consequences. Or responsibilities. Not thinking of anything but keeping Allie safe.
And, God help him, it didn’t matter that he’d known her for less than a week, he’d make the same choice again.
Complicated.
“The men choose.”
“I don’t want you to go, but if that’s your choice, I won’t stop you.”
That wasn’t…
He hadn’t…
He fumbled his phone out of his pocket. “I had every goddamned right to be angry,” he muttered.
“You knew she was a Gale when you started seeing her.”
What if he chose to change his mind?
The number he had for her connected him with a library in Kamloops.
And a bar in Hamilton.
And a grocery store in St. Johns.
“You idiot!” The overhead lights flickered and the air in Kalynchuk’s office smelled of copper and ash. “If I’d wanted them to know of your existence, I’d have had you taking potshots at them as they arrived!”
Graham kept his eyes on the desk. Experience had taught him that meeting a sorcerer’s gaze when he was angry was painfully stupid. “At least we know for certain they have to trace the shot to find me. I’ll have one free shot, then I’ll start firing at anything that comes too close.”
“You’ll take as many shots as you need to destroy the creature!”
“I’ll only need one.”
“You missed last night.”
“He changed as I pulled the trigger. I know how to compensate for that now.” Which was a damned good thing since there was no way to tell what shape the boss’ enemy would be wearing when he emerged. The dragon would be easier to hit but harder to kill.
Just at the edge of his vision, blunt fingers drummed on an open copy of The Western Star. “So you’re saying last night was a trial run?”
“I’m saying we can apply what I learned last night to raise our chance of success at the emergence.”
“Can we?”
There were dark stains up under the two fingernails Graham could see. It was likely another pigeon had come too close to the trap on the window while he was gone. “Yes.”
“Then it’s convenient you decided to betray me f
or that Gale girl.”
“If she’d been killed, her family would have arrived to investigate.”
“So you did it to protect me from old women?”
The sarcasm pulled his head up although he locked his gaze on the calendar the Oriental House Restaurant & Lounge over on 8th had sent to the paper last Christmas. “No. I did it to protect her.” In all the years he’d worked for Kalynchuk, he’d never lied to him; he wasn’t about to start now. “But it also protected you.”
The sorcerer snorted. “Convenient. The question becomes, how do I know I can depend on you? The odds are good that the next time you do something stupid for her, it won’t benefit me.”
“Why are you smiling?”
“You did something stupid for me.” Bending forward, she kissed him gently.
Both his ankles throbbed in time to his pulse. The support from his boots was all that kept him standing. “I ended it this morning.”
“Ended it? I don’t think so. If you’ll recall, your relationship with her is my insurance policy.”
“It wasn’t a relationship, you said so yourself.”
“And you’re not a thirteen-year-old girl!” Kalynchuk snapped. “Keep her interested in what you can do with your dick, don’t take her shopping for curtains! She’s a Gale; they don’t believe in hearts and flowers unless the heart’s on a plate and the flowers have thorns! Go back there and apologize. I want her under surveillance.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It is if I tell you it is.”
Graham noted the warning, but he’d already worked out how to make it simple enough for his boss to accept. “The Dragon Lords have her under surveillance. One of them was in the store this morning.”
“In the store? While you were in the apartment?”
“She was asking them not to burn down the city while we’re all waiting for the inevitable confrontation.”
“You’re certain of that?”
He only had Roland’s word for it, but… “Yes.”
“Interesting.” Kalynchuk started drumming out a new rhythm, a little slower. A lot more speculative. “In the store today after she chased them off you last night. They’re clearly amused by her.”
