Hidden Passions (25 page)

Jin flashed a brilliant grin. "Eavesdropping is a goal I can get behind."

They shouldered through the crowd until they reached the concrete paving around the pool. Jin was right about the wolves. They'd drawn closer to the line of faeries and then fanned out, treating the purebloods as a threat that needed containing. Tony seemed to have exited the water hastily, his gorgeous underdressed body dripping from head to toe. Because those droplets were distracting, Chris yanked his gaze away. Cass and the red dragon stood nearer to the faeries than anyone. Rick's fiancee looked calm. To the sensitive eye, however, she vibrated with tension.

Rick was vibrating too . . . with watchfulness. Though he allowed his mate to face down the party crashers, only a fool would imagine he wasn't ready to defend her.

Jin crouched down by the pool coping. "Hey, kids," she murmured to the children still in the water. "Why don't you swim this way and wait?"

They were shifter kids and aware that something was happening. Without complaint, they followed her suggestion. Chris spine snapped more alert. One of the fae was speaking.

"I am Dubh," he said. "Head of the Dragon Guild."

Chris wasn't familiar with the group. Maybe the guild was big in Faerie, where little things like extinctions weren't taken seriously. He'd have thought a dragon guild protected dragons, but to go by Cass's stiff reaction, the affiliation wasn't necessarily good news.

"I am Cass," she replied. "Keeper of the Sevryn Clutch."

She inclined her head regally, more like the Snow Queen than Snow White.

Admiration sparked in him. Cass was a single half fae against nine purebloods, but she wasn't giving them an inch. Chris abruptly understood how she'd won Tony over, and why he thought his brother was lucky. The girl dragon cawed in support of her mistress, causing the Guild head to look down at the beast and smile.

The condescension in his expression set Chris's tiger teeth on edge.

"Before you put you foot in it," Cass said, "if you've come to take these dragons back to Faerie, you'll find that plan is a non-starter."

The pureblood seemed startled by her guess. "We're the Dragon Guild."

"And I'm a free citizen of Resurrection. As are my brood. The mayor himself put them on the city rolls."

Chris concluded this information was a stumper. The Guild head blinked like a man who'd lost a staring contest but wasn't ready to cede the war. "The brood will be safer in Faerie, under our protection."

"Hardly," Cass snorted. "Faerie was so unsafe, my father--your guild member--felt compelled to conceal them here. During that time, the worst threat they faced came from
your
country, from a pair of fae who cracked your Guild's secrets. The dragons' enemies had one of your magic swords. I'd say your protection hasn't been exemplary."

This reminder didn't sit well with the proud pureblood. "Are you certain you'd have done better?"

"Look around you," Cass said. "Most of these folks would lay down their lives for this brood. They protect everyone they care about--and perfect strangers too. They don't need magical swords or secret blood oaths to goose them to it. Their hearts guide them, and their sense of justice. Resurrection is so much more than a fae creation. It belongs to its people. The Sevryn clutch is going to grow up here. They're lucky this is their home."

Chris realized she'd included his tigers in the protectors she mentioned. His clan members had drawn close to the standoff too. Whatever their differences with the wolves or amongst themselves, they set them aside to stand up for these special scaly residents.

Touched and proud, a sudden burning warmed Chris's eyes.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" the Guild head demanded. "Dragons are more complicated than house cats!"

Cass was prepared for this. "We've been working with a local foundation, the Society for the Protection of Rare Creatures." She paused to smile slyly. "I hear they have a board position open. I'm sure they'd be honored if one of your members volunteered to fill it."

That she was offering him a carrot she didn't try to hide. The Guild head glanced down at the girl dragon, who tilted her head at him. Her wings were slightly lifted, their rich red color so intense, so gorgeous it was like she was showing off.

In spite of everything, the Guild head's expression softened. "They do look healthy," he admitted. "And they're certainly socialized."

The girl dragon butted his hand and crooned a sound at him.

"Fine," he conceded, obeying her demand that he pet her head. "The Guild accepts your offer, but we'll want two board seats instead of one."

"I expect they'll make room for you," Cass said.

Her tone was dry. Grimacing, the Guild head's focus shifted to the one pureblood at the party who wasn't standing in his duck line. Chris hadn't noticed the man before. His coloring was very like Cass's--a blood relation, Chris assumed. The faerie said nothing in response to the Guild head's attention, his expression as dispassionate as Rick's fiancee's.

The Guild head returned his gaze to Cass.

"You certainly are Roald's child," he said. "He was stubborn at your age too."

Chris had a feeling that was a long time ago.

"I don't believe he's outgrown it," his daughter said.

"Hmph." The Guild head peered superciliously down his nose. "I suppose you're hoping we'll award Ceallach's protector sword to him."

"That's your business."

"Your father has new commitments. He's no longer an appropriate choice. Also, you'll need two more protectors, since you have three dragons."

The Guild head obviously enjoyed dropping what seemed to be a small bombshell. Cass shut her gaping mouth and composed herself.

"Well," she said. "I trust the Guild will select candidates both the brood and I find acceptable."

This seemed to be a smart answer. Cass's father looked at his feet and smiled.

"Keeper," said the Guild head, offering her a curt bow.

"Guild head," Cass said in the same crisp tone.

Chris guessed the negotiations were over. The Guild head turned on his heel, stalking back toward the penthouse with his entourage trailing behind him.

He didn't notice the music had fallen silent until it started up. Conversations resumed, the party sounding like one again. Tony's brother moved to his future wife and hugged her. Love lit more than their faces as they held each other.

The moment seemed too private to stare at. Chris turned away, oddly uneasy. Part of him was waiting for another shoe to drop.

"Look!" cried one of the kids who was hanging on the pool edge. "The dragons are flying!"

They were--and they weren't alone. A huge gray gargoyle, as big as a delivery van, circled the night sky above the penthouse. Tony had mentioned a gargoyle with nesting rights to his brownstone's roof. Since no one seemed surprised to see this one, Chris assumed it was him. Looking much smaller by comparison, the gold and green dragons soared in the behemoth's wake. The girl dragon cawed, took a running start on the pavers, and flapped up to join them.

She and her siblings weren't flying neophytes. Incredibly swift and agile, they kept up with the gargoyle despite the difference in their wingspans. Chris's breath caught as the brood began doing loop-de-loops. They looked like leaves tumbling: green, gold, red--one after another in a synchronized aerial ballet.

How sad it would be to lose this wild beauty from the world! The fae who'd wanted to exploit these creatures to cause death were blind to their true value. The brood made everyone around them feel more alive.

The pain of his old loss stabbed his heart center. He'd have given quite a lot for his little brothers to see these amazing beings.

"They see," said a soft calm voice inches from his ear.

Chris jerked his head around. Jin stood beside him. She couldn't have spoken. The voice he'd heard was male.

"What?" she asked, her eyes widening.

Chris wagged his head. He must have imagined it.

~

Tony grinned as Grant led the dragons in their showoffy flight. What hams they were! Scarlet, in particular, was adept at waiting to pull a trick until the roof lights spotlighted her. The kids loved the spectacle--Tony too, of course. His heart leaped with excitement each time the trio tumbled and recovered.

He was glad he hadn't missed out on seeing this wild beauty. The fae who'd wanted to use the dragons for destruction had been stupid. They had so much more value than mere reservoirs of power. Cass was right about them belonging here. Resurrectioners would protect the brood--including him, proudly.

"The Guild likes to think they control Destiny," Cass's father said.

Tony jerked. He hadn't noticed Roald come up to him. The fae was unnervingly silent, not to mention unnervingly beautiful. His profile was a statue's, his slender figure somehow epitomizing grace
and
masculinity. Luckily, the pureblood's glamour was locked up tight. Tony could do without the Viagra-like effect of his faerie dust.

"Aren't you still a member of the Guild?" he asked the disquieting quiet man.

Roald smiled faintly. "I suppose I am. Perhaps I support their ends without them knowing it."

Tony shouldn't have looked straight at him. Roald's soft blue eyes dizzied him. The pureblood seemed to be examining something
inside
Tony. No wolf would have stared like that, not without intending to challenge him.

"Uh," Tony said awkwardly. "Can I get you something, sir? Maybe a burger or a drink?"

"I am well," Roald declined. "This won't be painless. Please remember you chose this the moment you first touched your brother's gauntlet and it shocked you."

"Huh?" Tony said. He remembered being zapped by Rick's brass knuckles, but not that he'd chosen anything. Mostly, he remembered being annoyed by yet more proof that Rick was the special one.

He wasn't going to get an explanation. The cryptic faerie had walked away.

Roald stopped at one of the roof's lushly green areas of grass. Mystified, Tony watched him crouch down and pat the turf like it was an animal. Then he straightened and stepped onto it. Three small cypresses grew in pots nearby. If he'd believed Cass's father was a drama hound, he'd have said the trees made a good backdrop.

"Excuse me," Roald said. "Could I have everyone's attention?"

He didn't raise his voice, nor was he someone anyone answered to. All the same, every person there stopped what they were doing and turned to him.

"What is it, Dad?" Cass asked.

He smiled with such tenderness Tony remembered faeries could be fathers too.

"Do you trust me, daughter?" he asked.

"Of course I do."

"Do you trust those men from the Dragon Guild?"

"Sort of?" she said, making it a question.

Her father smiled. "I think you and the dragons deserve better than 'sort of.' I propose that here and now, with your friends and allies to bear witness, we settle the matter of who shall carry Ceallach's sword for you."

"Can you do that, sir?" Rick asked, his arm around Cass's shoulder. Tony knew his brother well. He could tell Rick was a teensy bit wary.

"Long ago," Roald said, "when the Sevryn clutch was given into my keeping, I was entrusted with the magic that calls new protectors. Rick, your gauntlet's previous owner, who died at Ceallach's hand, called you to the position. Fortunately, the ranks of those who guard may be swelled without souls passing."

"We are the guardians!" Tony's nephew Ethan burst out without warning. Puffing out his little chest, he used the growly voice he thought made him sound adult. "We protect the dragons! We defend the innocent!"

Oh Lord
, Tony thought. The five-year-old was quoting
Mini-Dragons to the Rescue
.

Super-powerful he might be, but Roald hadn't anticipated this interruption. He made Tony warm to him, at least a little, by looking as if he were about to laugh.

"That is correct, young man," he said.

Truly excited now, Ethan started to roar some more. Maria caught him first and covered up his mouth.

"Um," Cass said, looking like she wanted to laugh as well. "I assume you have a candidate in mind."

"The candidate calls himself," Roald said. "But I believe the dragons and the gauntlet agree."

Hm
, Tony thought.
I wonder who he means
.

Roald looked at him and grinned.

Tony admitted it: he should have seen that coming.

"Me?" he asked, gobsmacked.

"Oh yes!" Cass exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Tony would be perfect."

This was flattering, but Tony . . . perfect? Tony a protector like his brother? He turned to Rick, who appeared as pleased as Cass.

"If it's what you want," he said. "I'm sure you'd be great at it."

"Do you wish this, wolf?" Cass's father asked formally.

Tony suspected this wasn't a time to hem or haw. Sensing something was happening that involved them, the dragons dropped in a nimble three-stage landing to the pool deck. Verdi wore his mischievous face, the one that signaled he was about to steal a person's only pair of dress shoes and fly away with them. Auric bumped his sister's side, and--as siblings do--she bumped him back harder. The dragons were miraculous but also a handful. Was Tony ready to help his brother and Cass shoulder the responsibility?

Of course I am
, he thought.
I'm already doing it
.

Nothing could have stopped him from defending them with his life. Roald just wanted to know if he'd say a couple words to make it official.

"I do wish it," he answered the pureblood.

Somewhat prosaically, Roald pulled an object from his trouser pocket. Tony expected to see brass knuckles, but Roald was balancing a silvery-gold arm cuff on the flat of his palm. Tony assumed it was the same thingamabob he'd showed him at Jin Levine's estate, just in a different shape. Stretching six inches from rim to rim, the electrum was decorated with obscure chicken-scratchy glyphs.

"This is the protector's gauntlet," Roald said quietly, every eye and ear in his audience fixed on him. "It is the symbol of a guardian's oath and his aid in fulfilling it. Place your hands atop it and allow the power of the earth and sky to consecrate your intent."