Angelic Avenger (32 page)

“Would it be too much to ask?”

They really were afraid, but I couldn’t say that I blamed them. The world as they knew it teetered on disaster and the only people they had to turn to were the ones who would annihilate them all if it all went sour.

Some choices weren’t for the faint of heart.

“We’ve got ya covered, Alex. No one comes around and messes with our own. I was planning on digging up a book in the library and hanging around. I think I’ve hit my animation quota for the next century.”

I smiled at Ben gratefully. Yep, he was definitely moving up on the Christmas list. I wonder what his taste ran in women? I’m sure Honora knew someone who might look good in a bow…

It turned out we didn’t need the entire entourage, but we took them to the movie anyway. One little girl and one woman among three hot and spicy men. Man, did that cause stares. The movie was about a talking horse and I didn’t try to follow it. Craig and Lizzy enjoyed it but Tony, Gray and I were more interested in the crowd around us. It didn’t help my case any that all the mothers missing wedding rings who had brought their children to see it clustered about where we were sitting. Lizzy certainly didn’t lack for playmates to chatter with throughout the movie.

By the time we had made it home, she was fast asleep in Craig’s arms and he carried her up to bed. Tony and Gray spoke softly in the foyer before splitting for the night. Tony to the basement where there was apparently another spare room and Gray to me where I waited at the back door, watching the moonlight cast shadows on the lawn. Neither of us spoke as he took my hand and led me to bed where we made up for our fight.

Sometimes, things work out for the best, after all.

Chapter Thirty

It took a week for Gavin to recover enough to deal with the DeFlores issue. In that time, Angie and I had reached an understanding. The pack had fallen in line behind her without much of a qualm and it didn’t take rocket science to determine the best way to make Gavin’s throne secure was to get the two of them together.

“What do you think of Gavin, Angie?”

We were drinking coffee while we waited for Gavin to finish with DeFlores so I could have him. For once, I had full sanction to do it, too. The Council of Angels had agreed his little attempt at a revolution had earned him a one-way ticket to judgment day courtesy of me. God forgive me for relishing the prospect and I hoped that Gavin gave him enough comeuppance so all I had to do was walk in and take him to his judgment.

“Well, that’s not very subtle, Bella. I expected better from you.” She laughed at me as she leaned back and curled her feet under her in the chair. “Has domestic bliss made you want to see all your single friends married off?”

I blushed. My living arrangements weren’t exactly secret, but it still embarrassed me to know it was common knowledge on the street. Good girls didn’t move in with sexy men and flaunt the fact…or at least, not in the eighties. Sometimes, I was still very much an eighties woman.

“Well, think about it. It would put an end to all the problems with the succession. Gavin hasn’t set a second because he’s still not sure who he can trust. You could help him with that. Personally, I’m voting for Teddy.”

“You just think he’s sexy.”

The tease made me laugh, but I couldn’t deny it.

“Granted, he’s nice to look at, but I’m slap full of men on my dance card. I’m thinking if you’re looking at him that way, Gavin’s a better catch.”

“Bella,” she countered with exasperation. She waved her fine blonde hair from her face and let her natural vivacity show through with a grin. “Stop matchmaking. You’re not very good at it. Gavin will find his own way and once he does, I’ll settle back into my life as I knew it.”

“That’s wishful thinking. They’ve seen you for what you are, now, honey. They’ll never let you fade back into the woodwork. How many of them catered to you or tried to court you while you were living in your father’s shadow?”

She looked away and I knew my point had been made but I pressed it in anyway.

“At least with Gavin, you’d know he wasn’t trying to date you to take over the pack. It’s already his.”

“Yes, but he could be dating me to secure his position and that’s as demeaning.”

“So what are you going to do? The wolves are the largest community in the shifter world. The Avians and the Cats rival you in numbers, but there are so many subspecies, there’s so much infighting for position, they’ll never be a cohesive group. If this little movement fractures the wolves as a group, where will you all end up? There’s not enough room for more than one king.”

“As much as I hate to agree with her, she’s right.”

We both jumped as we turned to find Gavin lurking in the doorway. I wondered how much he’d heard, but decided the damage was already done. If the seed of consideration had been sown, then they could both be mad at me for a little while.

“Well, I’ll leave the two of you to discuss how to keep the wolves safe while I go do my thing. Did you make him hurt a little, for me?”

“Of course.” Gavin’s smile was full of teeth and I glanced down to see his knuckles were still scuffed from the encounter. “I understand I owe you a boon. Be careful how you collect it.”

I cocked my head and looked at him. He’d give a certain bit of latitude for the price of his life; however, there was a limit to it.

“Well, Raphael hasn’t come knocking to tell me what the cost is going to be. When he does, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

“You do that,” he agreed amicably enough as he stepped into the room.

I knew I was dismissed and set down my coffee cup. I didn’t bother with good-byes as I slipped out of the room to find Teddy waiting to take me to the object of my assignment. His hips held a satisfied swagger, which told me more than anything that he’d seen to it DeFlores had paid for his crime.

“You’ll tend to the body?”

He looked at me and his dark eyes were hard as he nodded. “We’ve already arranged for a crematorium. We’ll crush the bones so there will be nothing left to find. There will be no honors on the bones.”

I knew I liked him for a reason. He understood things. Opening the door, he motioned me through and closed it behind me. He didn’t make any move to come in with me because he understood I didn’t need someone to watch over me.

DeFlores looked a little worse for the wear from his week in the hands of the enemy. There was fresh blood on his face when he turned to me. His sneer twisted the bruises on his face enough so he looked like a beaten puppy. I wanted to feel sorry for him, but I couldn’t muster the feeling, bit of a soul or not. The bastard deserved every ounce of pain he’s been handed…and then some.

“So they’ve sent you to finish the job, have they? Not wolf enough to do it themselves.”

“I’d be careful about baiting them, buddy. I’m the easier way to die. I asked for the privilege and the Council has publicly sanctioned it, so you can’t even quibble about assassination.”

“Do you think it’ll end with me? I’m just the first one who had enough courage to stand up for the rights due us.”

He turned and spit out a bloody tooth.

“Courage? You had a death wish. That doesn’t count as courage in my book.”

“No matter how you want to look at it, the movement is started and my death will only add fuel to it. Will you kill them all?”

“If I have to.”

I hated to admit he was right. Things had already gotten started whether I wanted to deal with it or not.

Instead of fighting me, he offered me his hand. He was ready to die. On one hand, that made it easy. I didn’t have to kill him to get his soul. On the other, it was plain creepy to harvest his soul and have it rest easily inside me.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to carry him long as I stepped into the bright light sent to carry him to his rewards.

The week that followed was a whirlwind of trying to make Turel come out of hiding without much luck. Unaccompanied jaunts with Lizzy were longer and I found myself really enjoying having her underfoot. Gray went back to work and was doing everything in his power to stall her case to give us time. Craig was hanging around during the days as the babysitter. I keep telling him he was made for fatherhood, but he laughed at me.

Tony and Honora still wouldn’t stay in the same room, but I couldn’t say I blamed either one. Personally, I’d rather have stayed out of it, but the situation was becoming more uncomfortable to Gray, which bled over to me. Funny how things work that way. My solution? Throw them together to the point they were going to explode and have it out. It had sounded like a good plan, but I’d underestimated their strength of will. So far, they were unfailingly polite during practice sessions, but were still not speaking at gatherings beyond that. One would walk into the room, the other would walk out.

One thing was clear: he still loved her. I wasn’t so sure how she felt about him, but I was betting I could take Tony’s love for Honora to the bank. I wished they’d get on with it. The strain of the two of them was beginning to cast a pall on the band.

Practice sessions had become the highlight of the evenings. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to the punch-drunk feeling of that much angel magic floating around, but at least I got to go home with one of them. We’d put off taping the demo for three weeks because Tony wanted to play on it and he needed time to reconnect with the band. Tony and I had reached a truce. He still didn’t like me, but I suppose I’d grow on him if Gray kept me around long enough. In general, life was good.

My biggest problem was the wedding fiasco. Honora had thrown herself into it wholeheartedly. I’d never had a true-blue girlfriend before, and I was realizing how complicated they could be. No matter how much I tried to discourage her, she kept picking up steam. Somehow, I ended up with a June wedding date and was in the haggling phase over flowers. She thought lilies were more appropriate than my favorite anthuriums. Unfortunately, I liked what I liked, so she’d have to concede that one point.

How had this happened, again? Oh yeah, Lizzy. We couldn’t blow our cover until we caught Turel and could set her up in her new life. If I kept reminding myself of that, I could find the willpower to distance myself from this wild fantasy that so wasn’t going to happen. I hoped, anyway. The more Honora dragged me along, the more I wanted it to be real. Silly me, I know, but I couldn’t stop myself from dreaming. It was hard to stand there in a wedding dress and not think about the ‘what if’ scenarios.

Maybe, if I’d not been late for meeting up with Honora at the house for yet another round of said dress shopping, I’d have been paying more attention when I opened the door. As it was, the shouting took me by surprise. It took a moment for me to identify Honora’s voice since I’d never heard her mad before. I made a mental note to try to avoid it in the future as I made a beeline through the house and into the kitchen, finding Honora and Tony standing with the island between them. From the look of things, they were trying to scream over each other, so I whistled sharply and silence fell as they both looked at me. Tony, for all his faults, looked tortured and I felt badly for him. Honora might be my friend, but she was in a fine fury. A smart man would have run away. Tony, bless his heart, wasn’t that smart.

“You two need a referee if you’re going to start going around and around like that.”

“Don’t comment unless you’re volunteering.”

I blinked and realized Tony had finally reached his breaking point. Now we were getting somewhere. I stifled my glee as I dropped my keys on the island before strolling over to the fridge for a diet Coke. However this worked out, anything was better than the way they’d been walking on eggshells around each other. As much as I liked them both, they really needed to have this fight and get it out in the open so they could get over it.

“Sure, someone needs to. It might as well be me since you can’t kill me.”

Tony looked at me with a shocked expression while Honora laughed. I’m sure she thought I was joking even if Tony knew I was being flippant. The tension between them dropped a fraction and I leaned against the counter expectantly.

“Want to bring me up to speed.”

Tony waved a hand to Honora and I had to hand it to him, he was trying to be as neutral as possible. I wonder how bad she had blasted on him before I got here. There wasn’t anything I could do about it now but hope the fallout wouldn’t be too horrific.

Honora opened her mouth, and then shut it. The wind abruptly fell out of her sails and she looked more than a little forlorn while she decided where to start. I sympathized, but wasn’t really sure what to do. She might let her temper get the better of her when they were alone, but saying the same thing in the presence of a witness was an entirely different matter.

“There’s nothing to say.”

“To hell there isn’t,” Tony snapped back at her and the air between them sizzled with the angry tension once again.

“Fine,” she shot back at him, “Tony here seems to think we should pick up where we left off before he skipped town…”

“I didn’t skip town. You kicked me out and where else was I supposed to go? You
told
me to go home.”

“I told you I needed space to figure out what I wanted. I didn’t tell you to leave me and fly back to Texas on the next available flight.”

“Well, you made it clear…”

“Whoa—” I fought the smile that threatened. They were so not over each other and that meant there was hope for a happy ending. When had I started playing Suzie Matchmaker? Turning to Honora, I figured she was the best place to start. “What happened then is on the both of you, so let’s stop tossing blame on each other. Neither one of you is the injured party. The fault can be handed out equally between you. You had a fight and you kicked him out, assuming he’d move in with Gray to give you time to think, right?”

“Well…yeah.” Honora’s face showed her puzzlement.

“Instead, he went home and that pissed you off. So, you bounced into your relationship with Andy, which in turn, upset Tony.”

Turning to him, I shook my head.

“When you heard about her moving on so quickly, you got good and mad. Instead of coming back, you sulked all the way out there. Why?”