38. Lyle

Chapter 38

Lyle

" S he's insane." Xander knocks back a shot of whiskey. "Charged straight into the barrier like a battering ram."

"She's our regina," Savage says as if Xander is an idiot. "Of course she's a bit…" He waves his hand around.

"Not insane," I say with disapproval. "She just feels things deeply. Keep your voice down." Scythe is resting with Aurelia on the pack-bed, no doubt listening to every word. I snarl, "We just told her that her father has been attempting, despite constant failure, to make her mother a breeding mule, subjecting her to Goddess knows what type of human and avian medical torture for the last fifteen years. Give me that." Snatching the crystal glass from him, I pour myself two measures and down them, letting the burn cascade down my throat. Aurelia had never self-harmed, to my knowledge. I voice that thought out loud.

"Yeah?" Xander asks. "And what would you call keeping those non-healing wounds from us just a few months ago?"

"I tried to stop her," I say. "I tried to stop her and my power didn't work. Can you imagine her power? The strength of her resolve?" I stare first at Savage, who's nodding as if he already knows, then I glance towards our bedroom. What had our mad shark seen when he was inside of her for the first time? Did he see as I do?

Savage confirms my suspicion. "I think he likes her now. I think he's fascinated by her."

The fact that he's holed up in bed with her confirms that.

"He confuses fascination with infatuation!" Xander exclaims. "She is powerful, yes, but she's also…"

"What?" Savage asks, frowning.

"Dangerous. Unstable. Have you forgotten what she did to Minnie and Titus?"

"That's why she has us," I say, carefully. Xander is also unstable right now. He hangs on a precipice himself, fighting his desire for her with his hatred. Savage and I exchange a knowing look. We also need to be observant of our dragon, whose power is so vast that even his father is wary of him. His temper had the potential to be the ruin of us all.

"And this rescue mission!" Xander exclaims, sitting forward in his seat, eyes blazing. "It's insane that we're even contemplating it. Marduk himself said it's almost impossible and we're risking our own necks for a woman who's basically dead already?—"

Savage lets out a snarl and lunges for Xander. I barely repress the urge myself, but watching Savage lay a solid punch to Xander's jaw and the subsequent crunch we all hear is satisfying.

Xander groans, "Fuck!" through his broken jaw, before setting a hand to it and letting his power flow.

Savage huffs irritably and shakes his head in dismay as he leaps off his dragon-brother. "You're really an asshole sometimes, Xan."

"Fuck you and your regin— Argh!"

He doesn't get to finish his sentence because my animus has had enough and flips his armchair backwards, sending him crashing, upside down, into the wall.

"Really, Lyle?"

"Really," I growl from my chest.

"Enough," Scythe rasps. "That's fucking enough."

Xander mutters something foul under his breath before collecting the cloth sack with his kangaroo joey from the wall and storming out.