4. Four

four

As the moments ticked past and there was no answer, my frown grew. “Crickets? Really? That’s what you’re going to give me?”

I’ll admit I wasn’t as familiar with the Lucies as I was vampire enforcers, but from the way Connor reacted to their presence, I could tell they weren’t your regular run of the mill killers for hire. These were dangerous people we were dealing with, and we’d gone toe-to-toe with them.

They’d be back. Likely in force. I’d like to have an idea as to why before that happened.

“Inara,” I demanded.

She wasn’t really going to do this, was she?

My friend glanced uncertainly in Baran’s direction, the two sharing a look before Inara’s face filled with resolve.

“Are you kidding me?” I asked in disbelief. “Inara, come on. This is me. Whatever trouble you’re in, I can help you.”

Even if we hadn’t developed a quasi-friendship, I would have put it all on the line. I owed it to her for all the times she’d saved my ass.

Inara gave a tiny shake of her head. “Sorry, Aileen. Not this time.”

Unbelievable.

“That’s it? After we just saved both your asses, that’s all you have to say?”

To her credit, Inara looked a tiny bit regretful as she faced me. “It’s best if you don’t get involved.”

“Best for who?”

Not me. That was for sure. I knew firsthand the damage I could do wandering around blindfolded. Half my too-stupid-to-live decisions were due to a lack of knowledge about a situation.

Whether she liked it or not, I was already in this. She should know me well enough by now to realize that I wasn’t going to walk away. Not when a friend of mine was in danger.

Inara’s wings fluttered, an instinctive movement despite the flash of pain I could see the action caused her.

I gritted my teeth, the desire to ask if she was okay warring with the knowledge that she wouldn’t appreciate her weakness being acknowledged.

“You, you daft vampire,” Inara growled in response to my question. “Stay out of this, Aileen. I mean it.”

“What if I refuse?”

A corona of power flared around my diminutive friend. Suddenly, her frame seemed to lengthen, her presence stretching and expanding until it filled every corner of the room. All that despite the fact that physically she never grew an inch.

I had the urge to put up a hand to shield my eyes from the searing intensity of her magic. It was like staring directly at the sun, my eyes almost tearing up despite the fact that there was no actual light coming off of her.

“Interfere and this will be the last time you see me,” Inara thundered, the power in her voice echoing like a bell that made the glass surfaces in my house shiver.

“That’s not much of a threat since from what I saw out there, it looks like you’ll be dead soon anyway,” I hissed, my frustration making me snap.

Magic crackled between Inara’s wings. She nearly levitated from the table with anger as she flashed her pointed teeth at me in threat.

Deborah stepped between the two of us, her hands lifted in a placating gesture. “Alright now. That’s enough. You’re both beginning to say things you don’t mean. Let’s take a breath and maybe a step back.”

I remained on edge, glaring at my friend a moment longer before forcing myself to relax.

Stiffly, I nodded at Deborah. “Fine.”

Some tension eased out of her stance as she checked with Inara. The pixie remained stubborn for a second longer before jerking her chin in grudging agreement.

Deborah gave a relieved smile and dropped her hands. “Good. That’s good.”

My companion looked a bit like a bobble head with how much she was nodding as she glanced between us. I was quiet; it was best to let her do the talking since I’d just start another fight if I opened my mouth again.

Figuring out what I wanted, Deborah showed a calm composure as she turned back to the pixie and the Fae. “You’re both hurt. It doesn’t make sense going back out there right now. Whatever is going on, you’re safe here for the night. Rest. Recover. Tomorrow, when everyone is feeling better, we’ll talk again.”

Inara thawed a little, some of her stubbornness easing as she took in Baran’s poor state. She must have realized how difficult it would be for him to go anywhere with his injuries.

“You’re right. We’ll stay the night.” Inara sent me a warning look. “But don’t think I’ll change my mind with a few hours of rest.”

“We’ll see,” I told her.

Things had a funny way of looking different once you put enough time and space between you and the inciting incident. I was hoping that with time Inara would see reason.

If not, I’d just have to drag the answers out of her and hope I didn’t destroy our friendship in the process.

“Great!” Deborah chirped. “I’ll get the first aid kit.”

“Don’t bother. If you want to help, bring me a couple of the flower pots on the back deck,” Inara said grudgingly.

Deborah hesitated but didn’t question the order, instead changing direction toward the deck in question and the flower pots over which Inara had threatened bodily harm should any of us so much as breathe on them.

Deciding our guests were in good hands, I turned toward the stairs. Dawn wasn’t far off and unlike the rest of my household I wouldn’t last long after the sun crested the horizon. I wanted to wash the day away and take care of a few matters before that happened.

I sent Connor a meaningful look, telling him without words to “keep an eye on them.” Deborah might have averted a full-blown fight, but I wasn’t giving up quite yet. Inara and I were going to have another talk once heads had cooled and the situation no longer felt so urgent.

Reading my meaning, Connor dipped his chin in acknowledgment.

Good. I knew I could count on him.

“Aileen,” Inara said, stopping me.

I paused at the base of the stairs, my heart lifting just slightly in hopes she had changed her mind and was going to give me answers.

That hope was dashed when she avoided my eyes, her body language full of guilt and regret.

“Watch out for that father of yours,” Inara warned. “If he asks something of you, run, don’t walk, the other way. You don’t owe us anything.”

It took a moment to figure out which “father” she meant. Technically, I had two. The man who’d raised me and the Fae who’d contributed his sperm to my creation. As far as I knew, Inara had never met the former. That left Brin.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said slowly, flicking a look at Baran.

The Fae gave me nothing. As closed off and guarded as a brick wall. It was totally at odds with the version of him I’d gotten used to. One who used a veneer of biting sarcasm to keep everyone except Arlan and his twin at arm’s length.

“What’s wrong, pretty vampire? Hoping for a little snack before bedtime?” Baran’s gaze turned lascivious as he ran his eyes down my body. “I don’t think I’d mind. The twin and I have a bet going as to whether you’re a screamer.”

“You mean the twin that isn’t here?”

His expression faltered.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought,” I drawled.

Something bad had happened tonight. Something that involved his twin and my roommates.

And no one was talking.

I shook my head and started up the stairs. “Connor, you’re in charge until tomorrow night.”

“Yes, Matriarch.”

There was the barest hitch in my stride before I recovered. I still wasn’t used to being referred to by that title.

Matriarch of the House. May the fates protect us.

A banging noise from the front door barely registered as I buried myself further in my covers, clinging to sleep. It wasn’t until the cacophony was followed by my name being shouted—very loud and very insistently—that I managed to rouse.

Blearily, I lifted my head from where it was buried in the recesses of my two pillows and blinked groggily at the room around me.

What was going on?

Seeing no answer conveniently sitting on my dresser or perched next to the monstera one of the pixies had relocated to my bedroom, I put my head back down and started to drift off.

The vibration from my phone ringing barely penetrated as my muscles loosened and my body relaxed.

I was somewhere between dreaming and waking when a soft tap came from my bedroom door. The person on the other side didn’t wait for an acknowledgment, cracking the door and sticking her head inside. “You might want to come down here. There are some very angry werewolves who are threatening to break down your door if you don’t.”

I groaned into my pillow. “Tell them to go away.”

At least that was what I attempted to say, what came out was closer to a garbled string of incoherent syllables than actual words.

“Aileen. Up,” Deborah ordered.

She reached for the light switch, flicking it on and off in rapid succession.

I snarled, lifting onto my elbows to fix my companion with my best death stare.

Deborah proved immune—or maybe I just wasn’t that scary. Either way she flicked the switch one last time before leaving it on. “Just so you know, my job description doesn’t involve stepping into the path of oncoming werewolves. You’ve been warned.”

She withdrew, leaving me to listen to her footsteps getting further and further away as she retreated down the hallway to her own room.

“Damn it,” I growled into my pillow.

My phone vibrating on the end table next to the bed convinced me it was time to get my ass out of bed.

I swiped it up, not bothering to change out of my night clothes as I stumbled out of my room and toward the stairs.

“What?” I snarled into the phone.

“Finally,” Caroline snapped. “I’ve been calling you for the last hour.”

“It’s daytime. I was asleep.”

Just like all good little vampires under their first century.

I was about as graceless and noisy as a herd of buffalo as I thumped down the stairs, too tired to soften my footsteps.

“That handicap of yours is incredibly inconvenient at times,” Caroline growled, sounding vexed and out of sorts.

“I’ll be sure to pass that on to whoever created my kind should I ever have the pleasure of making their acquaintance.”

I reached the bottom of the stairs and drew up short at the sight of Connor standing guard in the entranceway, still and silent, making no move to answer the front door despite someone battering away at the other side.

“Is there a reason you aren’t answering the door?” I asked.

I glanced up at Connor’s face, a little concerned over his stillness. It was a trick some of the older vampires were capable of. Essentially giving off all the life signs of a statue. If not for the modern clothes and the faintest fall and rise of his chest, I would have thought he was one in truth.

At my question, the tiniest bit of animation returned to his features. The shift so minute that it was difficult to capture in words. It was like watching someone push play after they’d been on pause. Life returning to his eyes, blood flushing the vessels below the surface of his skin. His jaw relaxing as his attention shifted to me.

“Given the identity of our visitors, I felt it best to let you handle this. You are the boss, after all.”

I gave him a grumpy look. “You remind me of that a lot.”

If he was anybody else, I’d assume he was doing it out of a sense of frustration and envy.

“I worry that you’ll forget if I don’t.”

He was probably right about that. I’d never cared about being the one in charge. My mindset had always been more along the lines of “just let me do my job and leave me alone while I do it.” I liked the doing. Not so much being the one who had to worry about every little detail and if everyone else was doing what they were supposed to. Leadership required certain skills. Liam had them. Thomas too. Me—not so much.

Hearing Caroline’s irritated mutterings from the phone I was still holding, I lifted it back to my ear as I unlocked the door. “I assume I have you to blame for this early afternoon wakeup call.”

Several someone’s shoved through the door. They would have knocked me on my ass if Connor hadn’t snagged the back of my shirt and jerked me out of the way.

“Where are they?” a male werewolf snarled, already moving deeper into my house. Another werewolf on his tail.

A third werewolf entered. Slower and quieter than the other two. Her gaze sweeping the entranceway and taking in Connor’s and my presence before moving on.

“Aileen, don’t do anything. Stay calm. I’m almost there,” Caroline urged through the phone.

I hung up, too furious at the intrusion to listen. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

I didn’t bother with the male werewolves, focusing instead on the woman I knew to be in charge.

Sondra and I had a history. Until right now, I hadn’t thought it was the sort of history that involved her and her wolves breaking into my house.

She had to know what a bad idea this was. The wolves and the vampires had a peace treaty last time I’d checked.

There was a crash from my living room and the sound of cushions being tossed.

“Anything?” Sondra called, not answering my question.

The smaller and stockier of the two werewolves tearing apart my house appeared at the end of the hallway with a shake of his head. “Their scent is here but they’re not. We couldn’t have missed them by much.”

Sondra’s gaze swung back toward mine, the brown in her eyes containing the amber glint of her wolfier side. “Where are they?”

With her hair curling wildly around her head and shoulders, it wasn’t difficult to picture Sondra as someone who turned into something with fur and sharp teeth. If anything, the addition of her wolf only made her seem more wild and untamed than she already was.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” I snapped. Though at this point, I probably wouldn’t have answered even if I did.

“You’re lying,” Sondra said, sounding very certain of herself.

Okay. That did it. I was officially angry.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” I snarled, my voice developing a dangerous rumble until I sounded like something more at home in the depths of hell than the daylight world. “You force your way into my house without explanation or permission and now you’re standing there accusing me of I don’t even know what. Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now.”

Because I could. I wasn’t the same vampire Sondra and her pack had pushed around all those years ago. I’d grown, gotten stronger as I embraced what I was.

The training with Liam and his enforcers probably hadn’t hurt either.

Connor shifted, alertness invading his limbs as he leaned forward. I knew if I gave the signal, he’d tear apart the werewolves who’d invaded our house with a brutality that would leave me scrubbing blood off the floors for weeks.

That thought was enough to force me to calm. Though it was difficult. I wanted to hurt the werewolves for this insult. I relished the idea of their pain.

A guarded look entered Sondra’s face as she finally realized the danger she and the other two were in.

It was too late to be wary though. They’d already poked the vampire.

There was a small sound from the direction of the living room as Sondra moved into position to protect the other two.

The loud thump of their hearts lured my predator from the cage I normally kept her locked in. She eyed their necks, already anticipating the warmth of their blood flooding her mouth.

“If you kill us, you’ll start a war,” Sondra said, caution finally entering her face.

Too late though. I was hungry now.

“That might have been true if the attack was unprovoked,” Connor said, taking over the conversation. “But you’ve invaded our territory.” He tilted his head at me. “And she’s the youngest yearling of this city’s master. One could say you’ve already started a war. Do you think your alpha will protect you when he finds out?”

It wasn’t lost on me that this was the second time in as many days that we’d used Thomas as a threat. Much more of this and we might actually have to reconsider our relationship with him.

Sondra eyed me. “You’ve changed. There was a time where you wanted nothing from that man.”

I flashed my fangs at her. “Maybe I just got tired of everyone who wanted to get one over at the expense of the baby vampire.”

“I never pictured you as someone who’d sell her soul for the illusion of safety.”

A rumble slipped free from my throat, the sound transitioning into a rage filled yowl that had all of the werewolves tensing.

“I’m getting a little tired of the disrespect taking place under my own roof. I’ll give you one last chance on account of our history. Tell me why you’re here.”

Tension saturated the air between us. All it would take was a misplaced word. One wrong gesture that nudged us toward violence.

I could see the wheels in Sondra’s head turning as she considered possible outcomes, choosing and discarding solution after solution. I also saw the moment she decided against cooperating. Her wolf flooding her eyes as its shape started pushing out of her body.

“Wrong choice,” I told her, bracing.

“Stop! Stand down. All of you,” Caroline barked from the doorway behind me.

Power soaked her command, ripping through the room and forcing the obedience of all three wolves in front of us. The two males backed down immediately. With Sondra, it took a second or two longer. Her wolf retreated as she bared her teeth, but she didn’t make any more aggressive moves.

Caroline came up beside Connor and me, looking the wolves over carefully to make sure they weren’t going to do anything stupid before finally turning her attention to me. “Sorry about this, Aileen. They were supposed to wait until I got here.”

“Like that makes things better,” I snapped before I could stop myself.

It was hard to choke down my anger. The vampire wanted blood. And truthfully, I was getting a little tired of people thinking they could parade through my house without a by-your-leave.

From Connor’s stillness, I could tell he was too. They’d better have a damn good reason for this. Otherwise, friend or not; blood would flow.

“I know,” Caroline agreed. “Things got out of hand.”

There was a huff from Sondra. Caroline shot her a hard look that had the other dropping her eyes to the floor.

Until this moment, I hadn’t realized how much more dominant Caroline was than the other woman. From what I’d gathered, Sondra was in the top five, dominance-wise, of Brax’s pack. It must have been quite the hit to her ego to lose out against a wolf in her infancy. More so, considering Sondra was the one who’d turned Caroline.

It made me wonder what other secrets my friend was hiding.

“I did try to warn you,” Caroline informed me.

I waved at the patch of sunlight streaming in from the door Caroline had left open during her entrance. “It’s the middle of the afternoon.”

What did she expect?

With a frown, I scooted a little deeper into the shadows, eyeing the sunshine balefully. Although sun wasn’t supposed to hurt well fed vampires past their first few years, I’d noticed over the last few weeks that the touch of its rays had grown increasingly uncomfortable despite keeping myself well fed. Already I had welts rising on my wrist and lower arms from where it had touched me.

Thank God Thomas had outfitted the house with self-darkening windows.

Caroline shot me a look like she thought I was being ridiculous but stalked over to the door and slammed it closed. “Happy now?”

I breathed a sigh of relief. So much better.

“Ecstatic.”

“We have strayed from the topic at hand,” Connor murmured helpfully.

Caroline rolled her eyes before sobering. “The barrow was hit last night.”

Next to me, Connor went very still.

Caroline’s gaze was scrutinizing as she focused on me. I kept my face blank, letting nothing show. It wasn’t easy. Caroline knew my tells probably better than anyone. Fooling her had always been near impossible.

“You know anything about that?” she pressed.

I shook my head. “This is the first I’ve heard about it.”

Truth—but it did put Inara and Baran’s behavior into perspective.

I glanced at Connor, wondering what had happened to those two. He was supposed to be keeping an eye on them, but judging from the wolves’ reaction when they hadn’t found anyone in the living room, I was betting they were gone.

He met my gaze calmly, giving nothing away.

With an internal sigh, I looked back at Caroline. “What does that have to do with this intrusion?”

Sondra made an aborted move.

“Don’t.” Caroline cut her off with a sharp gesture. “You have no idea what she’s done for us.”

The two stared each other down, the tension that filled the room making a whine rise to the throat of the taller male.

Sondra was the first to back down.

Caroline stared at her for a second longer before turning her attention to me. “Brax and part of the pack were in the barrow when it was attacked.”

“He was captured,” I guessed.

More than that, I was betting, as I recalled the spell that had tried to ensnare Caroline last night.

No wonder it had felt familiar. Niamh. That’s where I’d encountered that type of magic before. She was a Fae princess who’d succeeded in enthralling many of the local Fae and even Nathan at one point.

It was an awful sort of magic that subsumed the will of the person, basically enslaving them.

Sondra and these two must have been the ones closest to Caroline in the pack bonds when I’d broken the enchantment that had tried to ensnare her.

“We don’t know how they did it, but somehow, they used his authority over the pack to do something to the rest. The four of us are all that are left,” Caroline explained.

I was right then. Whatever I had done with Caroline had spilled over into her pack links. Sondra, because she was Caroline’s maker. The other two must have some link to Sondra too.

“That doesn’t explain what you’re doing in my house.”

Caroline nodded. “We tracked a scent here.”

“You mean those three tracked a scent here.”

Come to think of it. Why had she come separately? And how had she managed to call me since I had her phone?

Caroline gave me a repressive look. “Come on, Aileen. You know what I’m after.”

“Do I?”

“I told you she wouldn’t help us,” Sondra interjected.

“You haven’t given me much of a reason to, have you?” I shot back.

Caroline may have been my best friend, but these other three were practically strangers to me. Strangers who’d shoved their way into my house. Call me petty, but I tended to take umbrage at that.

“Enough. You’ve already made things more difficult than they needed to be. I told you to wait until I arrived,” Caroline growled.

“We didn’t have time for you to catch up,” Sondra answered. “Time is of the essence.”

Caroline stopped just short of rolling her eyes as she focused on me. “Aileen, we know one of the barrow lord’s twins came here. Hand him over.”

“Or what?”

What would my best friend do if I refused?

I’d really like to know.

“Don’t be like that. There’s no ‘or what’. As a friend, I’m asking you to help me.”

My anger thawed a little. Enough so I no longer felt like picking a fight.

“I don’t know why you want Baran, but I doubt he had anything to do with the barrow’s fall. When we found him last night, he was being chased by Fae. We barely drove them off.”

“These Fae—what did they look like?” Sondra interjected.

I was tempted not to answer since I was still a little peeved about her earlier presumption, but for Caroline’s sake I played nice. “Smug. Arrogant. They really thought we’d roll over and let them do whatever they wanted.”

Just thinking about it was enough to make me angry all over again.

“What was it you called them?” I asked Connor.

“The Luigseach.”

“Ah, right. The Lucies.”

Sondra’s indrawn breath and the way her gaze immediately found Caroline’s told me she recognized the name. “The High King’s agents.”

Caroline’s nod was grim. “This is worse than we thought.”

“What do we do now?” the stockier werewolf asked.

Resolution settled on Caroline’s features. “Same thing as before. Track down Brax and the rest and save them.”

“How?” Sondra asked. “We don’t even know where they’ve gone.”

Despite the pessimism in her words, I could tell it was frustration and fear feeding her cynicism rather than a desire to give up. Sondra was scared for her pack, and it was making her aggressive and reckless in a way that was unlike her.

“That’s why we were hoping to speak to Baran,” Caroline told me almost apologetically.

I nodded, looking up at Connor in question.

He fixated on the wall next to Caroline with an expression that I would have called grumpy if it had been on any other person.

“Connor?” I called, my voice rising at the end in question.

Why did it feel like he was avoiding me?

“You’re being awful quiet. Got something to add?”

The lack of response confirmed my fears. He was avoiding me. The bastard.

I poked him in the side, really drilling my finger in to get my point across. I might as well not have bothered since his abs were like granite, leaving my finger feeling bruised. I was pretty sure it hurt me more than it hurt him.

“What are you not telling me? Where are Inara and Baran?” I asked.

By now, I had a guess, but I wanted to hear it in his own words.

His jaw worked back and forth in a rare show of frustration before he finally dropped his gaze to mine. “They may have snuck away shortly after dawn.”

“How is that possible?”

This was Connor we were talking about. He didn’t have my same vulnerabilities to the sun. With his extensive experience and general badassness, he should have been perfectly capable of keeping an eye on them.

“I may have overlooked a few things regarding the pixie.”

Ah. I see.

“She got the drop on you.”

Oh, the blow to his ego that he must have felt.

If it had been any other circumstances, I might not have fought off my urge to laugh.

“When we find her again, we will have to add a few more ground rules to our list,” he said with all the ruffled dignity he could muster.

“I wasn’t aware we had ground rules.”

“I plan to make them,” he declared.

Good luck with that. I couldn’t see the pixies responding well to being dictated to.

That was if they survived whatever was going on.

With that dire thought in my mind, I glanced over to find devastation on all four of the werewolves’ faces.

“That’s it, then. Our pack is gone,” the taller wolf whispered.

This time Sondra and Caroline didn’t correct him.

I sighed, taking pity on them. “It’s not over yet. Let me reach out to some of my contacts to see if I can get you an answer.”

It was a long shot, but I’d gotten lucky before.

“Thanks, Aileen,” Caroline said softly.

I could have told her she owed me one, but in reality, there was no way of telling who owed who anymore.