Coming For You

Loud thumping at my bedroom door makes my head pound and I groan. I bury my face in a warm chest, shutting my eyes tightly because I know it’s training time, but the side effects of that blasted Fairy Cart are killing me.

“Why is this door locked ? Where is everyone? Open up, Rogue! ”

I shift as my stepbrother’s angry voice deepens with his frustration. “Come back with a warrant!”

Bodies shift around me and I smile to myself, snuggling into the warmth and bevy of tasty smelling skin. This almost makes up for the horrific thumping of brain gnomes caused by my massive Fae edible binge last night. I slide my leg over another and hum under my breath.

I could definitely get used to this.

“He’s not gonna stop,” groans Archie.

The twins lift their wings, letting a little light into our cozy bubble as they growl. “Like a dog with a bone.”

“There’s a bone somewhere. Lock it down, Angelo.”

I giggle at Javi’s grumpy whisper, wiggling my toes as I stretch. That causes a chorus of groans and it only makes me smile wider. No one who knows me would ever believe that I allowed four dudes to sleep over and I’m enjoying the hell out of waking up in a pile of them.

Titania knows I barely believe it.

“What are we gonna do? You can’t just portal out to your rooms—he knows you aren’t there.” I wrinkle my nose, looking at the group for help. “And thanks to your insistence that this is a clothes free zone, Archie , you can’t beam to the front door.”

The lion shifter yawns and stretches his long limbs, giving me a sleepy grin. “This is how a pride is supposed to sleep, Wheels. Ask my mom.” His eyes widen for a second as he realizes what he said. “On second thought, don’t. I can’t imagine what horrific information she’ll share with you.”

“Samara will tell you everything , Princess. Archie will be traumatized for life,” Angelo explains.

“Now I have to ask her!” I clap my hands silently as I imagine Archie turning purple with embarrassment. “But how do we get Reb to fuck off so you can escape?”

“We could just tell him,” Damon mutters. “We won’t be able to keep it a secret forever. Maybe he’ll finally?—”

“Shhh!” Archie gives the hacker a smirk. “Let Mr. Oblivious handle his shit on his own.”

“ Rogue Olive Kelly! I’m going to break this door down if you don’t get your ass over here and open it. Last night was the third fucking time I had to track you down and you know there are assassins gunning for you!”

Full name. Yep, he’s losing it.

“ Ocupado! ” I reply, hoping to piss him off enough to start a rant that will distract him from destroying the door.

“We gotta go,” Javi says. “If he finds out like this, it’s gonna be a nightmare.”

Angelo grimaces and looks at his twin. “Do it, bro.” He watches him create an opening and leans down to kiss me roughly. “Don’t let him bully you; we’ll be back as soon as we get clothes.”

I nip his lip. “You better be. If I have to suffer his tantrums, you all do, too.”

The others take their turns marking their territory with kisses and bites, then they all slip into the swirling rip Damon created. I lie back for a minute, marveling at how fucking fast my life has flipped upside down like the Princess of Bel Air. After Mina betrayed me, I expected to crawl into a shell thicker than a dragon’s hide and stay there for a long time. My trust has never been easy to get, and no one has ever won it back once lost.

Yes, I’m aware I have ‘abandonment issues .’

The Society shrink made that very clear before I told her to get fucked.

~ Goddamnit, Kiandra Ormanda, answer me! ~

Slapping my forehead with my palm, I groan and bury my face in the pillow. That fucking idiot has no idea he shared my true name with the rest of the guys. I’m never going to hear the end of this. “ Fuck off , Reb! You are not my keeper. Why do you insist on being such a controlling dick all the time?”

The pounding stops, and he pauses. I use his brief halt to roll out of bed and walk over to my dresser. Pulling on a pair of shorts and a sports bra, I walk over to the door of my room, leaning my head against the wood. I can feel his frustration and worry through our bond, but I wait for him to speak.

“Rogue, I know I indulge Graciella and Odhran so they’ll lay off of you, and it bugs you. But I’m aware that the only people we have looking out for us are each other.”

That’s not entirely true anymore.

My chest aches a bit and I consider whether I should let him in and spill my guts. It’s unusual for him to be this expressive, and it has to be because of the hit. “Reb…”

“No, sis. The idea of someone hurting you sends me over the deep end, and I can’t stop thinking about what would have happened if we hadn’t kept our secret. You might not have called me and…”

I sigh, pulling away from the door to unlock it. When I open it, he rushes in, grabbing me in his arms and hugging tightly enough that I grunt. “Air, Reb. I need air.”

When he finally lets go, I jerk my head at the bed, walking over to sit on the edge. I look up at him when he follows, chewing on my lip as I try to decide if I should give up the ghost or let this play out a little longer before I step on the landmine. My mental health has been in tatters for days, and I’m processing a lot of change very quickly.

Is it selfish to want some happiness before I have to engage in another battle? I don’t know.

I’m about to open my mouth when I see the guys coming down the hallway in a pack of sleepy looking, sweatpants covered hotness. Every cylinder in my body fires and my mouth goes dry—I’m not sure I can handle half-naked mates wearing their dick print pants while I’m trying to be serious. In fact, I’m not sure I can handle it period without a copious amount of drool.

You try watching a blond hockey god, twin tattooed gangsters, and deliciously cut purveyor of alcohol bounce around with smirks on their faces—see if you can focus.

“I, uh…”

Reb frowns down at me, his brows drawn together in confusion. “Why do you look like someone offered you a free La Vouture Noire ? You’re a second from drooling all over yourself.”

Blinking, I shake my head to clear the image out of it so I can form sentences with a modicum of intelligence. “As sexy as that car is, I’m not sure I’m Irish enough to have such good luck.”

“Wheels, very few people we know are as Irish as you and dipshit over here. Speaking of which, why the fuck were you pounding on her door loud enough to wake the dead?” Archie winks at me over my stepbrother’s shoulder.

Turning to the doorway, Reb glowers. “I’ll pound whatever I want. You fuckers were nowhere to be found and with her disappearing last night— again— while I talked with Sariah, I’m not taking any chances. Where the hell were you?”

Javi shrugs, giving him an innocent look. “Sleeping off the hangover in the game room, man. Didn’t you check the first floor?”

“We were all there,” Damon and Angelo add. They aren’t sporting the angelic expressions my other two mates are, but they look mostly sincere.

Demons, after all.

“No,” Reb mutters as he sits down next to me on the bed. “I guess you all went down after I passed out. Watching my little sister is wearing me the fuck out.”

The twins smirk as they reply, “She’s wearing us out, too.”

Those fuckers. I might stab all of them now.

“Since Rebel gave back my Fae blade after the rave, I’d watch talking about me as if I’m not here. I’m quite handy with a knife, boys.” My smile is sickly sweet and Javi chokes for a second, making me grin even more broadly. “I have no problem demonstrating for all of you.”

“I knew I was going to regret stealing that back from Graciella’s safe while you trained with Archie. You’ve had it one goddamn day and you’re threatening everyone with it.” Rebel rolls his eyes and flops back onto the bed to put his hands on his face.

“We’re safe,” Damon says confidently. “You don’t have anywhere to tuck it in that get-up. Nice try, Sparkles.”

I wave my hand, and the blade appears in my palm. “This blade? This one right here?”

Archie groans. “Fuck, it’s like a troll club or a mer-trident. They can summon it. I hate that!”

“Yup.” I look over at Rebel as he wallows on my sheets. It occurs to me that if he scents the others, we’re not going to be able to choose when we tell him—he’ll know. “Get off my bed, Reb. It’s time for breakfast and then we train. I don’t know why my room is the new clubhouse, but get out—all of you.”

He rolls to his feet, holding a hand out, and I let him pull me up. All of my physical injuries are healed, though my wings are still iffy, but that doesn’t mean I’ll reject help when offered. As we walk to the stairs, the sounds of The Addams Family echo in the foyer. Someone is leaning on the doorbell, and Reb looks at our group, scratching his head.

“Anyone expecting a delivery?”

We shake our heads, jogging down the stairs behind him to see who’s there. He flings the door open, and the porch is empty save a huge white box with a bright purple bow. My name is scrawled across one side in fancy calligraphy, but there’s no return address. I bend down, making sure it isn’t leaking magic or worse… something liquid… but it’s clean.

“What in the name of Eris is this?” Javi mutters.

The twins frown at one another, doing some weird internal thing where they seem to communicate only in facial expressions. When they turn back to us, Angelo’s eyes are flickering a little. “This is an invitation.”

“A what?” I look at the cartoonish package, yet again wondering if it’s got ACME stamped somewhere I can’t see.

“It’s an invitation, Sparkles. The various gangs, crews, and mobs in the city are justifiably concerned about security. When they want to call an Appalachin, they send unconnected messengers with boxes like this to the leaders or people they want to attend. Everything on or in this box will tell us where, when, and who wants to have a summit, though it won’t be obvious. You have to work for it.”

“Luca’s done it before. Damon helped build the riddles for the boxes and I arranged the delivery. That’s how we know,” Angelo adds.

“Is it a trap?” Rebel tilts his head. “I mean, someone has a hit out on her.”

They shake their heads and this time, Angelo takes over. “Not packaged like this. It’s a sacred code, and if one of the leaders breaks it, blood will run in the streets because it will destroy all the treaties and detentes. That’s bad for business because it will draw the Society’s attention and they’ll send in Guardians, sweepers, and agents to clean house before the humans get tipped off.”

“Take it inside—maybe we should open it in the rink in the basement. That’s got the thickest shielding and is the least likely to get destroyed if it blows up,” I suggest.

“Uh, no, Princess. Something that big could take the entire house down if we take it underground. Damon, portal it to the backyard without lifting it. We don’t want to activate any weird tripwires if this is a fake. The rest of you come with me to the patio and we’ll see what the hell this means.”

Everyone follows his instructions—even me—because none of us have the background to argue. When we meet D in the middle of the concrete, he sighs. “Undo the bow, Sparkles. Usually they have a magic user place a spell on them so no one but the intended recipient can find out what’s inside.”

Just fucking great. If it goes boom, I’m blue spaghetti sauce.

Walking up to the package, I pull the purple ribbon and it falls to the ground. The sides of the box fall apart to reveal a fluffy ball gown with various accessories stacked on top of it. When I lift the sparkling flower crown off of the pile, glitter shoots into the air and a magical script appears in front of me like skywriting.

Rogue Olive Kelly, you and your mates are cordially invited to a formal summit.

Accept this gift of appropriate attire as a token of our respect.

Be at the infamous prison at moonrise on the next day that Saturn transits to Neptune.

Attendance is mandatory.

I stare at the words sparkling in the air for a moment, unable to even form a coherent thought. Graciella is right—I really was born under a bad sign. I look at all of them and shrug. “Looks like I’m meeting up with the heads of Bay City’s crime syndicates, boys. We might have to up our training game.”

Angelo and Damon share a worried look, Javi sighs, and Archie shrugs as he nods at the knife flying over my palm as I spin it. “Wheels, I think they just made the dumbest mistake possible—they underestimated you.”

“Now I’m coming for them,” I smirk. “And they even invited me to do so.”

Suddenly Reb turns to glare at all of us. “Who the hell does it mean by mates ?!!”

That’s how the mob tattled about my sex life to my stepbrother.