“I will take care of cleanup, and watch over Lynn’s children,” the strange dragon spoke into the charged silence. We had been absorbed in thoughts of prep and battle.
“Who the fuck are you?” I asked him, finally.
He gave me a little mysterious smile. “I’m Drake. And you are Lynn’s sister, Jillian. You have a very strange choice of lovers. Where I’m from, your affair with the druid King would be considered quite taboo.”
I just blinked at him. I really, really didn’t like Drake. The feeling was instant and almost blinding. He knew way too much about me, about us, and I didn’t care to hear anyone’s observations about my love life, not even someone whom I didn’t hate on sight. I didn’t trust him, but if he was staying and we were leaving, I decided to deal with the problem later. One thing was for certain; We wouldn’t be coming back here until I knew more about the bastard.
I smiled at him rather unpleasantly. It was no coincidence that he had rolled into town at the same time as my family. It simply couldn’t be.
I addressed Lynn, knowing even as I did so that she was in no condition to help me just then. “What were you thinking, bringing him here?”
Her eyes seemed clear enough as she stared me down. “You need to trust me on this, sister. He’s on our side. I don’t have time to explain it now, but I will tomorrow. Can you wait until then to question my judgement?”
I sighed. She’d gotten way too defensive way too fast. I knew my sister. When she got defensive, she got stubborn, and a stubborn Lynn was nothing I wanted to deal with. “Fine. Tomorrow will work, I suppose, if it all doesn’t blow up in our faces before that.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
That's Siobhan
The meeting place we’d been assigned was a large warehouse in a seedy part of town. Cars nearly filled the parking lot. Anyone driving by the place probably thought a rave was going on.
The first person I noticed when we walked into the room full of druids did not set the evening off to a good start.
Siobhan was tall and voluptuous and every bit as beautiful as I remembered. And the moment her bright green eyes met mine across the room, I knew that she hated me every bit as much as she had seven years ago. The feeling was very much mutual. She started whipping her deep red hair back repeatedly as she stared at me. I made a note to tell her that horses did the same thing when they got agitated. That might sound a little catty, but Siobhan brought me to catty in seconds flat. She and I did not have a friendly past. Ok, that’s putting it very lightly. She’d hated me from the moment she’d heard of me. I hadn’t really cared one way or the other. Until she’d poisoned me. The poison didn’t kill me, of course. It did make me throw-up my dinner. Oh yeah, and it pissed me off royally. I’d returned the favor by throwing her headfirst out of a twelve story window. It’s safe to say that didn’t help us to patch things up.
Siobhan was childhood friends with Dom and his cousins. They had also dated some years before he and I became an item. According to her, I was all that stood between them reconciling and living happily ever after. According to everyone else, they’d always just been friends and occasional bedmates. I was the only woman Dom had ever dated exclusively. I’d also heard from other sources that Dom had flat-out told her he was planning to marry me. So, all of her jilted lover angst always fell to me. Go figure.
Christian, who had entered the room right behind me, whistled softly. “This should be an interesting evening.” His whistling suddenly turned into the tune for the theme from ‘Rocky’.
I shot him a glare over my shoulder. “For you, maybe.”
“Hell yeah, for me. I’d say I have your back, but if I touch that prissy druid princess, they’ll gut me outright.”
I nodded. “Yes. You definitely need to stay out of it. It’s fine. I’m going to ignore her anyways. It’s all ancient history. If she has half a brain, she’ll pretend she didn’t see me.”
“She always had more tits than brains,” Christian muttered. Sure enough, she was striding across the room to us as he spoke. Several druids paced after her, talking rapidly. Trying to talk her out of doing anything stupid, I was sure. The room was full, mostly of men. Not surprising. Most of them wore black, with various armored vests. Christian and I were decked out the same. Not Siobhan. She wore a slinky red dress that barely covered her crotch. Oh, and it clashed with her hair.
She stopped a few feet from me, her hands clenched. “Whore,” she spat. Not a good start.
I calmed myself before speaking. “Siobhan. It’s pointless for us to still be fighting each other for a man that doesn’t belong to either one of us. Let’s just leave it at that.” I really was trying to defuse the situation. Honest.
If anything, it worked her up even more. “Don’t you tell me where to leave it, you dumb bitch! I’ll leave you buried in the fucking desert!” I just blinked at her for a minute. She wasn’t alone with that sentiment. Apparently my desert burial was a popular fantasy amongst the druids.
“I’d love to see you try,” I told her softly. I couldn’t help it. Seriously. When someone threatened me, and I was ninety-nine percent sure they couldn’t kill me, I had to call them on it. And I would sincerely love to see her try.
“One of these days I will.” Her voice was a purr. I’d forgotten how much I hated that venomous drawl.
I shrugged. “I’ll be waiting. Has it ever occurred to you that your problems with Dom have nothing to do with me? I left for over seven years, and it looks like all you managed to get out of him were some pity fucks.” Okay, even I thought that jab was on the bitchy side. But it felt so fucking good to say it.
She was literally quivering in rage. She was showing considerable restraint though, for her. Years ago, whenever we’d had a confrontation, half the room had had to hold her down. “They have everything to do with you. You fucked with his head. If he had never met you-”
“Um, sorry to correct you, but he’s known you all your life.”
“Luckily I was there to comfort him when you left. You were exactly what I’d always told him you were. Guess whose bed he crawled into to lick his wounds?”
The revelation stung more than a little, but I shrugged, my face serene. “Hmmm, let me think. Probably whoever was clinging closest? I’m assuming that was you? He’ll fuck anything these days, I’ve heard. Seems like he’s getting your kind of comfort from a lot of girls.”
“Even you now. Rumors are you two tore up his office. You think you’re reconciled? He’ll never care about you again. I hope you know that. He’s on to you now. I always told him you were screwing around on him. He denied it, but I knew he always suspect-”
I’m not even completely sure how it happened, but before she finished her sentence, my fist was flying through her face. Not into her face, but right through it, as though I’d been aiming at a spot a foot behind her, and her face just sorta, I don’t know, got in the way? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t gratified to see her fly back twenty feet, slamming into the wall. Though I have to admit, it wasn’t quite as fun as that time I threw her out a window.
She lay there, stunned. Every eye in the room was staring at me in shock. I wasn’t sure whether they were shocked that I’d punched her, or that I’d punched her hard enough to throw her that far. Suddenly every eye was centered behind me, on the open doorway. I didn’t turn. No way was I giving my back to the bitch after what I’d just done.
“I swear you show up just to cause trouble.” I recognized the gravelly voice instantly. Cam strode past me, going to help Siobhan to her feet, I assumed. I assumed wrong. He restrained her arms as soon as he reached her. “This ends now.” His authoritative voice commanded the room.
“You had sex with Dom?!” Christian’s voice whispered loudly behind me.
“Shut up,” I whispered, just as loudly.
“Oh my God! You really did!”
“Shut. Up.”
“You sneaky little tramp.” Christian was laughing at me.
“I’m go
ing to rip your head off!” Siobhan was screaming from across the room. I stuck my tongue out at her. It’s entirely possible that I was actually losing maturity as the years went by. Likely, even.
Suddenly she ripped free of Cam, rushing across the room. I braced for her, but Cam caught her again. Christian grabbed both of my arms from behind, pulling me farther into the room. I struggled against him, though I held back. She’d almost made it to me. I wished she had.
“If you touch her, and Dom finds out about it, he’ll punish you. As unfair as it is, none of us can harm her,” Cam was murmuring softly to Siobhan, but I heard him clearly.
“You all act so scared about that,” Siobhan responded. She sounded more calm than she looked. Then again, she wasn’t talking to me. “I poisoned her once, and he didn’t do a damned thing about it.”
“He never knew about it,” I spoke up. A room full of angry eyes turned to me. I shrugged at them. “I didn’t tell him. Unless someone else did?” I knew no one had.
“I won’t tell you this again,” Siobhan was screeching again, in my direction. “Stay away from him. If you ever touch him again, I’ll fucking kill you!”
I couldn’t help it. I smirked at her. She went crazy for a few minutes, but couldn’t get loose of the growing group of men restraining her. Christian was still the only one restraining me. I knew he was really just trying to help. He knew that if he didn’t restrain me, one of the druids would try, and things would get quickly out of hand, then. I let him get away with it, though I didn’t make it too easy.
Siobhan stilled as two figures filled the doorway. Her tantrums had brought her within arms length of it.
Lynn and Caleb studied the scene in front of them rather indifferently.
“Good,” Cam panted at Lynn when he recognized her. “Go get your sister under control, and tell her to shut her fucking mouth.” I had the urge to tell him I hadn’t even spoken for several minutes, but bit my tongue.
She didn’t obey, but she looked at me, raising a brow in question. She looked remarkably recovered from her drunken ordeal. Caleb had obviously succeeded at sobering her up. I nodded at Siobhan, who was carrying on like a maniac again. “That’s Siobhan,” I told Lynn.
Lynn’s fist met Siobhan’s face before anyone saw it coming. Siobhan finally stopped running her mouth. She was out cold. Adding insult to injury, I swear Lynn muttered, “Cunt,” at her loudly enough for all of the druids to hear. The druids wouldn’t appreciate having the C-bomb dropped on their favorite princess.
Lynn totally ignored all of the shocked looks aimed her way. Even Caleb was looking at her strangely. She just grinned at me across the room. “Man, I’ve been wanting to pop that bitch in the face for years.” Oddly enough, we were the only two in the room that laughed.
None of us were surprised when Cam ushered the four of us into another room. We’d been separated from the rest of the group like naughty children, though I’d be the first to admit that we kind of deserved it. But only kind of. Siobhan had more than kind of deserved a few punches to the face.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Wouldn't Know Functional
Christian started instigating the moment the door closed. “Jillian did the wild thing with Dom. Word is, they tore up his office.” He grinned at me while he spoke.
Caleb looked at me, disbelieving. Lynn merely raised a brow at me, though she didn’t look like she believed him, either.
I looked pointedly at the ceiling, refusing to respond.
It was the wrong approach to take. All three of them started laughing and talking at once.
“That didn’t take long,” Caleb noted.
“Wow, so you lasted a whole five minutes before you jumped him, huh?” Lynn smirked at me.
I curled my lip at them all. Bastards. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Apparently they can’t be in the same room with each other and not bang. I’m surprised you managed to keep your hands off each other at my house.” His eyes widened in realization. “Shit, did you screw him in my living room?”
I glared at him. “Bite me.”
Lynn and Christian hooted with laughter. Even Caleb was grinning.
“Sounds like someone has been,” Lynn chortled.
“Dirty girl,” Caleb said with a small smile.
“Goddammit, girl, that’s just rude. That room will never be the same now. I might need new furniture.”
“And new carpet,” I added just to torment him. He winced. “And new walls.”
“So you reconciled?” Caleb’s tone was dubious.
I shook my head. “Far from it. In fact, he hates me.”
“Well, that’s not at all dysfunctional,” Christian quipped, his tone sarcastic but annoyingly lighthearted.
I gave him that look reserved for when members of your family say something particularly dense. “Ya think? The people in this room wouldn’t know functional if it gave us all a roundhouse kick to the face.”
“Amen, Sista,” Lynn said, snapping her fingers.
“Dom and I just need to stay away from each other. I’ve known that for a long time. He’s a stick of dynamite, and I’m a blow-torch. Dysfunctional is putting it lightly.”
That depressing conclusion was enough to move them on to a new topic rather quickly.
About an hour later Christian and Caleb were comparing the sizes of their guns while Christian braided my hair. No, that’s not a joke. They did it all the time. It was the number one topic the two of them liked to talk to each other about. It was definitely a man thing.
And yes, Christian loved braiding hair. He carried hair ties and bobby pins in his pocket on the way to any fight, doing my hair on the way. We always gave him shit, but it never fazed him. His favorite style was tight braided buns on each side of my head. He actually executed the style perfectly, and I let him get away with it. No, I hadn’t lost a bet. The buns actually worked well for fighters with long hair. Seriously. “It’s just a tinge purple at the moment,” Christian tried to comfort me as he finished up. I gave him a dirty look for even mentioning it.
Caleb was carefully adjusting the heavy shoulder harness for my battle axe. It had felt a little tight. I barely had to mention the issue before Caleb made me take it off, and started fixing it. He wouldn’t tolerate backup who didn’t have their equipment up to par, was what he always muttered right before he repaired whatever problems we were having.
Lynn and I were just getting warmed up, making men and their gun sizes jokes, when the door slammed open. Cam loomed in the doorway, his eyes settling on me with their usual loathing.
“Jillian, may I have a word with you out in the hallway?” The words were civil enough, but his tone was far from it.
I got up, curious more than anything. “Holler if you need us,” Lynn said quietly when I passed her. I nodded slightly as I left the room. I really didn’t want to leave my axe behind in that room, but I did it. I was trying to play nice, goddammit.
Cam led me down the hallway, stopping when we were out of earshot of the others. He faced me, trying to make his face blank. I could still see his contempt. I gave him my own blank look. I pulled it off much better than he did.
Cam was a bear of a man. He was Dom’s height almost exactly, but he was just…massive. His shoulders were broad and bulky with bulging muscles. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him, but he had none of Dom’s lean elegance. He was built too much like a pro wrestler, or a bulked up football player. He had the raven blue-black hair and stunning eyes that were a stamp of his bloodline. Side by side with his own brother, and even his cousin, no one could have failed to note that they were related. They were good-looking sons of bitches, I’d give them that. He loomed over me, and if anyone could have intimidated me with menacing size alone, it would have been Cam. Luckily, I was too stubborn to be intimidated. I met his gaze head-on, my stance as aggressive as his own.
“What do you want, Cam?” I’d always found it best to just be direct with Cam. He was a mean son
of a bitch, but he had always been plain-spoken as a rule.
He continued to study me for a moment. Finally, he spoke, “What I’ve always wanted. You, gone. Mav and Michael have been taken into custody for some fiasco that I know you were involved in. Siobhan had to be escorted away. You can thank yourself for losing us a valuable soldier tonight. I hope that little scene back there was worth it for you.”
I just gave him a level stare. No way was he going to make me feel bad about Siobhan leaving. “If you think she would have let it end any other way, you’re kidding yourself.”
“I didn’t see the whole altercation, but I do know that she didn’t get a shot at you. If you’re going to throw the first and only punch, you can’t exactly blame her.” I didn’t point out that Lynn had gotten a punch in too. That would hardly help my case.
He may have had a point, but frankly, I had no intention of admitting it to him. I just gave him a blank stare. “Your point?”
“My point,” he said softly, “is that you bring nothing but trouble, and I want to know if you intend to screw with Dom’s life again. He’s only seen you twice and he’s already more distracted and volatile than he’s been in years. He sent away his 3rd Lieutenant tonight, rather than you. Do you know how fucked up that is? Siobhan would die for him, it’s her job, and he sent her away after you punched her. He can’t be reasonable about you. You need to stay the fuck out of his life. Is that too much to hope for? I’d rather know up front.”
I stared at Cam for awhile, debating whether to give him a straight answer or not. We had never gotten along. He’d always been a bastard to me, even before he had a reason to be. I felt no particular obligation to put his mind at ease. Finally I did, but only to avoid more drama. “Don’t get your panties in a twist. I mean to stay as far away from him as possible.”
“I wish I could trust that. You know, don’t you, that he never would have made Arch if you had stayed together. Having anything to do with you at this point would discredit his leadership. If you have any care at all for him, you’ll stay the hell away.”
Breathing Fire (Heretic Daughters) Page 14
