“I heard that.” Moira turned to look over Duncan’s shoulder at her family. She had to stand on tip-toe to do it. “Didn’t Mom tell you about the tribond?”
Shane continued to sit there, looking amused. He was beginning to understand why Akane was so pissed off. Leo, on the other hand, did as predicted. “What tribond?” The Sidhe’s eyes had narrowed dangerously, little golden sparks dancing along his skin.
“Leo.” Ruby took hold of her husband’s arm. “Down boy. Jaden’s one of the good guys, remember?”
Leo’s hand covered Ruby’s, holding her to him. Jaden didn’t know if it was out of affection for the woman or to protect his mate from the big bad vampire. “I’m trying to.”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Jaden blinked. Shane was standing, ambling through the kitchen toward Akane, who was a lot closer to the dining room now.
“I’m leaving.”
Shane shook his head. “I’m still not sure why. You’ll only fly back and eavesdrop anyway, so why not sit, be comfortable and have some of Ma’s apple pie?”
Akane snorted. “God, Farm Boy. Why not offer to let me milk the cows, because that would be so much fun.”
Shane took hold of her arm and began leading her back to the kitchen table. Akane pulled on his hold, but to Jaden’s shock she didn’t get free. “As you wish.” He set Akane down in a chair and handed her a plate. “Enjoy your pie.”
What the fuck? Jaden had taken the hybrid with difficulty, true, but the fact that he’d just manhandled a dragon? That took strong to a whole new level.
Did that crazy hybrid let me kidnap him?
The small jump Moira gave, the speculative gleam in her eyes as she stared at her brother, let him know she’d heard his thoughts loud and clear. If Moira thought Shane had allowed Jaden to take him, then maybe Jaden was on the right track.
Akane ate her pie, her body tense. Jaden bet she was ready to bolt at the first sign that Shane’s vigilance had waned.
“Shane, be nice to the girl. She’s not used to us yet.” Aileen Dunne smiled at Akane, and the dragon suddenly looked terrified. “But I’m thinking she will be.”
“Not in this lifetime.” Akane shoveled another piece of pie in her mouth. “Thanks for the pie, though.”
Jaden almost laughed. Akane was brutally honest when cornered, and it looked like Shane had managed to push all her freak-out buttons. “All right. Let me hazard a guess. Akane, Robin sent you here to make sure I didn’t fuck up—”
“Jaden Blackthorn! Language!”
Jaden pretended to wince. It had been a very long time since he’d been scolded by a mother. “Sorry. Shane caught you and made you come inside. Did he threaten the car?”
The dragon snarled, the sound low and inhuman.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” He turned to Leo. “The rest of us are here for a family meeting about the Malmaynes.”
“Kaitlynn and Cullen are dead. I thought it was over.” Leo sat, pulling a blushing Ruby into his lap. Those two were so cute together it made his fangs ache. “How wrong was I?”
“Completely.” Duncan sat, placing Moira next to him. He gestured for Jaden to take the empty chair to her left, bracketing her between them. Duncan was making a statement, but it put him dangerously close to Leo, who still didn’t look happy about how close Jaden was to his baby sister. The Sidhe was giving him some serious stink-eye. “Charles is set to try and take over the clan. If he does, he’ll begin pressuring Leo to mate with one of his daughters.”
Leo winced. “Ugh. Not those two. Constance and Cecelia are almost as bad as Kaitlynn was.”
“Not quite.” Jaden leaned forward, folding his hands on the table top. “They aren’t bat-shit crazy. They’re just mean.”
“True.” Leo glanced at Duncan, his cheeks turning pink. “No offense.”
“None taken. My sister was bat-shit crazy.” Duncan held Moira’s hand. “They’re also trying to set aside my bond with Moira and Jaden.”
There was silence around the Dunne table. “Both of them?” Leo leaned forward, staring at Duncan. “You’ve declared them both your mates?”
Duncan opened his mouth to respond when an explosion rocked the house. Jaden had Moira on the ground so fast he didn’t know if she even understood what had happened. He pulled Duncan down next, forcing the Sidhe over Moira. “Protect her. I’ll find out what’s going on.”
Duncan nodded, his Seeming falling away, silver stars dancing around him. “Be careful, amoureaux.”
“I will.” He stood and gestured toward Akane to join him. “Let’s go.”
“I’ve got the front, you get the back.” That freaky eye of hers was glowing. Golden horns peeked out of her hair. She was moments from changing into her dragon form, ready to do battle and defend the Dunnes.
He nodded and misted through the door, rematerializing on the roof of the porch. Lucky for him night had fallen while sitting in the Dunne kitchen.
That luck was offset by the blast radius around what used to be the Dunne barn. “Fuck me.”
“No thanks, your mates might not appreciate it.” That hissing voice had him smiling. Akane had joined him, her wings flapping silently beside him, her amber gaze narrowed on the barn. “Smell anything funny?”
He sniffed, sorting through the various scents. “Redcaps.”
“Headed this way. Guess what else is out there?”
He sniffed again. “Shit. Someone is using a salamander?” The creatures were animals, trainable but not very bright. Salamanders were one of the few things that could kill a vampire before he knew what hit him.
“Let me deal with the salamander. You take on the redcaps.”
“My pleasure.” Jaden allowed his Seeming to drop.
“There. Go.”
He saw where her claw was pointing. Three figures stalked across the ground. He recognized one of them as the redcap he’d drunk from earlier. “They’re Charles’s pets.”
“Great. We now have proof positive he’s working with the Black, if not a card-carrying member himself. We’ll deal with him later.”
Jaden nodded, not taking the time to fill her in. He already had proof positive, but this wasn’t the time and place to give out the deets on Charles’s bad boy ways. He flowed along the roof, eager for the coming fight. He waited until they were almost to the house before dropping into the middle of them, startling them all.
Once again he found himself thanking the gods that redcaps were dumber than a box of rocks. He got hold of the first redcap, determined to take him out quickly. Jaden grabbed the redcap’s head and twisted, snapping his neck. He let the redcap fall and raced toward the next one. He couldn’t afford to let them into the house.
The ground under him trembled. The redcap on his left let out a horrified screech as he was sucked into the earth through a hole the size of a pin. There should have been a fountain of blood and gore flying through the air as the redcap was essentially strung through that hole, but the immense gravity just sucked everything in until there was nothing left, not even a drop.
Sean Dunne stood on the porch, the light of battle in his eyes. He grinned down at the last redcap. “Do you want to be joining your friend?” The strong lilt of Ireland was in the leprechaun’s voice. His black hair gleamed like the richest earth, his skin showing the faintest whorls common among those whose element was the earth itself. His green eyes had darkened to the color of summer leaves.
And he looked pissed.
Jaden damn near did a happy dance. These idiots had confronted a leprechaun on his own fucking land, threatened his family. He bowed to Sean Dunne, according him the respect he deserved. “Allow me.”