Dacea wound his arms around her waist and pulled her into his lap. "Only you would think not being dead was a win." Silas smiled a little too. Her logic was a little offbeat.
"That's my new year's resolution every year. Don't die. It's worked out in my favor so far." Dacea buried his head in her hair and shook with laughter. "What?" she said laughing. "It's a good resolution!"
"It is a very good resolution indeed. Now, may I ask when this meeting is?" Silas pulled them from their laughter and back to what was important.
Hailey stood from Dacea's lap and walked around to his side of the island. She filled a glass with water from the dispenser on the refrigerator and leaned against the counter beside him.
"You're kind of uptight, you know that? And you're an Asshole." She sipped her water. Silas raised an eyebrow wondering where she was going with this. "No, I'm not done. You are rude, sarcastic, cruel—"
"And I have many other fine qualities as well," he interrupted.
Hailey smiled. "I bet you do."
"May I ask, is there a point to this profile?"
"Getting there. You're impatient and narcissistic. You have no empathy and are manipulative. See the thing is, we've spent some time together and I'm sure if Alex was here he'd back me up on this. Somewhere inside of you, granted it may be buried way down in the deep abyss of your soul, there is a caring and loving part. I've seen glimpses of it so I know it's there. Continue on being Mr. Meany Pants if it makes you feel better, but I see you for what you really are and can handle your douchiness." She bumped her shoulder against his.
Silas wasn't sure what to make of her words. His lips were pressed together as he looked at her. No resentment, no anger, just stated the facts as she saw them. They were wrong but that was because of her own clouded viewpoint. In all actuality, he was much worse than the picture she painted. However, she was right in saying there was some good in him, but it was only saved for her. He barely tolerated everyone else in the world. The only time he actually liked someone was when they were beaten to a bloody pulp by his fists.
His sister smiled at him again. He nodded, telling her he heard what she had said. She could believe what she wanted to believe.
"The meeting?" he asked again.
"Tomorrow," Dacea stated.
"They are rushing it, means they are worried." Yeah, worried about Silas finding out. "I have some things to take care of before then. I'll see you both tomorrow." He pushed off the counter and began to leave when Hailey cleared her throat. Silas turned, asking "what?" with his eyes.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked.
He looked around and patted his pockets finding his phone and keys. "No, I don't think I am."
Hailey walked over to Silas and wrapped him in a hug. "See ya tomorrow." On her tip toes she kissed his cheek.
When he left, there was a smile on his face.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The Council was being held in the center city of Philadelphia. It was only a twenty minute drive from Dak's house. They didn't talk at all, hadn't most of the morning. Dak drove and Hailey looked out the window.
The night before she had slept in her own bed. After having spent most of the day together, she went back to her place to be alone. The night passed in a blur as she lost herself in a book. It was that or let her mind out of its cage and think about everything that had happened and could happen.
The meeting worried her. Hailey wasn't fearful of her life, but of her mating. If the Council denied their relationship, what would they do? Would she have to move? Could they still see each other? Or would Dak go rampaging through the room letting his dragon out? The ring around her neck weighed on her thoughts as well. If they couldn't be Mates would Dak ask for it back?
She was working on crossing that mating finish line and had just met the largest hurtle to date. How was she supposed to get over it? Hailey barely understood dragon politics and now she had to defend her love against a group of men who already had judged and condemned her.
Sleep hadn't come easy. She dreamt of being chained up from her wrists, naked from the waist up and in the center of the Council. Eight men sat in a semi-circle around her, observing, evaluating and judging Hailey. Katherine stood off to the side with a greedy smile on her face.
She struggled violently against the chains that held her. The metal cuffs dug into the delicate skin around her wrists. The first drops of blood began to trail down her forearm.
A whip cracked.
She shuddered and went completely still. The sound petrified her. Katherine pushed from the wall she had been leaning against and circled Hailey, letting the whip slither over her skin. She could feel her skin splitting open. Each and every welt tore apart. The healing Darby had worked so hard at had reversed itself. At her feet, drops of blood began to fall from her wounds.
The door behind her rattled and then a pounding from the outside brought her head up. Dak yelled from the other side to be let in. Katherine smiled at the door then moved her eyes back to Hailey. The pounding came harder. Even if she could open the doors, she didn't want Dak to see her like this.
Weak and afraid.
Katherine snapped the whip above her head. Hailey's body shook with knowledge of what was coming. The harpy circled it back and sliced the thin tail across her flesh for the first lashing.
She screamed.
Dak had wrenched her from the nightmare. He lay on her bed cradling Hailey in his lap. She later found out that he had been there in her dream banging on the doors. He had been searching for her in their dreams for weeks now. When he couldn't get in through the dream he had woken himself up and ran to her house.
Dak spent the night in her bed. He sang to help her sleep and woke at the slightest movement on her part. She didn't tell him what she dreamed about, but if he had any sense he could guess pretty easily.
She wasn't ready to talk about what had happened with anyone, including herself.
They now sat silently in the car. At breakfast he had assured her there was nothing to worry about. But in Hailey's world, there was always something to worry about.
He pulled into a parking garage and found a space relatively fast. Dak left the car running. "Are you ready?"
No. "I guess."
"Everything is going to be fine," he told her.
If you say so. "Ok."
They left the car and walked to the elevators. Dak held her hand, his fingers linked with hers. He was lending her strength to move forward. Hailey accepted what he gave. He hit the button for the ninth floor and the doors closed.
"Draco Law," she read beside the nine.
"It's a front for the Council. They have an office in all the major cities."
"Smart." She felt sick.
Dak pulled her into his chest and kissed her forehead. "This will be over soon and then we can go home and try out the bathtub."
"With extra bubbles?"
"And wine."
"Why don't we just skip this and go back home now?" Her hands slid under his jacket and latched together at his back.
"It's too late for that." He kissed her head again. "They already know we are here."
"Smart and sneaky."
He released her after a squeeze and straightened his jacket. One thing she had to put in the positive column for today was he looked damn fine in that suit.
The elevator informed them of their arrival at the ninth floor and they stepped out. He led her down an empty corridor of offices until they came to a conference room. Outside, he kissed her. "I love you, Hailey, Céile. Don't let them get in your head. Okay?"
She nodded.
He opened the door revealing a long table with eight men seated all along the far side. The hushed murmurs died as they entered. Only the sound of nails tapping on the hard wood of the table was left. The nails belonged to Katherine, who was seated in the very center position.
Dak pulled out a chair for Hailey and when she was settled he took the seat to her right. Katherine s
miled sweetly at him making Hailey's eye twitch. She placed her hand on top of Dak's and linked their fingers again. She felt, rather than saw everyone's eyes go to their hands that sat on the table, but Hailey only watched Katherine. Her reaction was a small satisfying snarl.
Hailey 1, Harpy Bitch 0.
"Dacea, well look at you. Dare I say, you look better than ever." The balding man seated to Katherine's left smiled. Hailey didn't like the sound of him. Lies peppered each word and he had an undertone that left her cold. "And this must be Hailey." That smile turned to her. Unable to muster up one herself, she nodded.
"Yep. That's me." Awkward as always, she thought.
"I hope you enjoy your first Council meeting."
"I doubt it. I just hope it's my only Council meeting."
His eyes twinkled with something that frightened her. "You might just get your wish."
Dak's hand had tightened on hers. She felt his scales begin to come to the surface of his skin. They were off to a great start.
"Well, why don't we begin with this Mate matter then move on to the larger issue at hand."
"Excuse me?" Dak said. "The Mate matter is the biggest thing we have to talk about today. Everything else is trivial in comparison."
The man adjusted his glasses, pushing them up on his round nose. The rest of the Council appeared to not have any say in the matter. Some looked fearful, while others were bored. The only two who seemed to care what was going on were the balding man and Katherine.
"Of course, you are right." He dipped his head. "Katherine has come to us with evidence of your mating, but yet you say that Hailey here is your Mate. Could you explain?"
"Katherine and I were mated for a short period about 750 years ago. She was not my true Mate but we continued on with the mating anyway. Shortly after, she had left me and never made contact since. My father, Quinton, had our mating diminished and hidden from the dragon public." Dak presented the facts without emotion; she imagined it was something he had done many times as the king of Red.
"How do you explain these?" Balding man laid out a sequence of photos across the table. They were the ones of Dak and Katherine at lunch. He had never seen them before but squeezed her hand, understanding that these were the ones Silas had shown her.
"Katherine showed up uninvited and unannounced in my home two weeks ago. At the time, Hailey had been kidnapped and I was spread thin in an effort to find her. After another unannounced visit, I took Katherine back to her hotel where we had lunch and talked about how we were no longer mated. I had thought she understood, but I must have been mistaken since we are all here now."
"And the kiss?"
"Was a sad attempt at seduction done entirely by Katherine."
The harpy pouted. Hailey wanted to slap that fake pout off her face with a chair.
"You say Hailey had been taken in this time?"
"Yes, we later found out Hailey had been pulled off the street and drugged by Katherine in order to get her out of the way so she could try and take her place back as my Mate."
"Interesting." He didn't sound interested. The man shot a look to Katherine. Someone hadn't told him the whole truth.
"The problem I'm having is that you say Hailey is your Mate but yet you are not official mated, is that right?"
Hailey tightened her grip on his hand. That was true and entirely her fault. Dacea nodded to the balding man. "Yes, we haven't had the ceremony yet, but as I said before, she had been missing for a week. Prior to that, she had been recovering from injuries that were caused when she broke the curse that left me all but dead." He turned to look at her and smiled. "We haven't had much time to make it official, but we will."
Hailey nodded in agreement. Soon, she thought. She'd be ready soon.
The door opened making Hailey jump. She had been so enamored in everything she hadn't thought about where Silas was until he strolled in, fashionably late. As always he was formally dressed in a three piece suit, today's flavor was grey with blue accents, and a briefcase in tow. He nodded to the council members who all looked surprised and slightly guilty, and then took the empty seat on her left. Sandwiched between two adversaries that would likely kill each other if they had the chance, Hailey had never felt safer.
"Pardon my tardiness, gentlemen. I hope I haven't held you up."
Hailey tried, but couldn't help herself and snickered. Dak kicked her foot under the table.
"Please continue," Silas told them as he pulled some folders from the briefcase.
*****
"Silas, we were not expecting you," Wendell began. Of course they hadn't been expecting him; this was supposed to be a secret meeting. How many other meetings had they had behind his back?
"No? Funny, I thought I was to sit in on all Council meetings or had I read your contract wrong, Wendell?" Silas gave him a look that reminded him who gave him his position on the Council.
"Of course, but this was an emergency session, we hadn't thought you would be able to make it."
"You would have known that I could make it if someone would have thought to inform me." The look of discomfort was on the face of every member. "Besides, I have a personal interest in this matter."
"Because of Dacea," Wendell stated.
"No, because of Hailey." A soft buzz of voices ran down the line of dragons. "You see, she is my sister and I am here to represent her in whatever matters she is involved in." The buzz became louder as he slid the folder containing Hailey's birth and adoption records across the walnut table.
Katherine grabbed the folder before Wendell could and opened it up flipping madly through the paperwork. Silas sat back with a smile and watched them scurry.
Wendell had to fight to get the papers from Katherine. Silas could see her mind turning, trying to find a way to twist this into her advantage. Her fault, as was one of most, was she didn't do her homework. If she had, this wouldn't have been such a surprise. "It seems you have done your research, Silas. Hailey does seem to be your relation."
"So are we done here?" Silas snapped his briefcase shut.
"Not exactly. Before you had arrived we were hearing Dacea's recollection of the events that brought us all together. Did you know that your sister here is to be mated to Dacea?" Wendell acted like this was breaking news.
"Yes, and they have my blessing." Well that got them all to shut up. The gossip train would be alive tonight.
"Oh. Oh right. I guess you would know."
"Dacea is still mated to me," Katherine cried. "He can't mate that whore."
Hailey jumped forward out of her chair. Silas and Dacea each grabbed an arm and pulled her back into her seat. His sister was a feisty one.
"The mating was annulled. My father saw to it." Dacea spat the words back across the table.
"He must not have done a very good job of clearing it." Wendell handed over a very old document. Dacea briefly looked at it and handed it to Silas. It appeared to be a copy of the mating contract done around the time Dacea and Katherine would have had the ceremony. This was bad news for the happy couple.
Good news to him however. Maybe he wouldn't have to be family with Dacea after all.
"That could have been made up at any time," Dacea argued.
"It could have, but wasn't," Katherine said.
"I'm sorry Dacea, but we cannot allow you to continue on with your mating to Hailey when you are mated to Katherine."
Chapter Twenty-Six
If Hailey hadn't been relying on him to keep it together, Dacea would have slaughtered them all where they sat. Beside him she shook slightly. He didn't know if it was from fear or anger. He smelled both on her. Regardless it was his fault; he had told her everything was going to be fine.
This was far from fine.
"I want the mating admonished," he demanded.
"We can't do that."
"Yes. You can." He had been out of the political ring for three years and that was not nearly enough time to change the laws that had been set in their race for generations. The
Council had the ability to abolish a mating. It wasn't common and very much looked down upon, but it was possible.
"Our laws clearly state that we cannot—"
"I don't give a rat's ass about what you think your laws say. I know you can eliminate this or have you forgotten that I ran Red for the better part of 100 years?" He had to let go of Hailey's hand or risk crushing it. "If you don't take care of this, I will no longer be associated with this Council." Out of the corner of his eye, Dacea saw Hailey's eyes go wide. She hadn't expected that. Hell, he hadn't known he was considering it until he said it. But it was the truth. If he couldn't have her under their laws, then he would find new ones.
"You have no authority anymore, Dacea. Red is no longer in your power."
Silas tapped a knuckle to the desk gaining the attention of the table. "Hold that thought." He stood and spoke to someone outside. When the door opened a dragon, who Dacea had not seen in years, stepped inside.
He was thrown for a moment. Kin, he thought. His cousin Erik had grown up. Gone was the wee lad chasing college girls, in his place stood a young man who had apparently discovered there were other stores in the mall besides Hollister. His shirt was pressed, his tie knotted and the middle button of his jacket fastened.
"Erik, it's good to see you." Dacea looked a little harder at the dragon. When he understood, a smile tilted at the corner of his lips. "So you're the bastard they conned into ruling, huh?" He never had any curiosity as to who was running Red, but he was pleased to see Erik had been the one chosen. The man always had a good head on his shoulders even if he tended to think with his dick.
"I am, Sir," Erik said with a bow. "And I am glad to see you alive."
"There is no need for that." But Dacea knew what he was doing. His life was about to get infinitely more complicated. "Erik this is Hailey, my Mate." The trio of men poignantly ignored the Council on the other side of the table.
Erik smiled and clapped Dacea on the shoulder. "It's about time. Hailey, please, stay where you are," he extended a hand, "it is a pleasure to meet you."
Hailey shook his hand and tried her best at a smile. Dacea commended her on her brave face. "Likewise," her voiced scratched out.
The Hailey Holloway Complete Series Page 34
