Rocked by Love (Gargoyles Series) (29 page)

“But you could be wrong,” he snarled, baring his fangs at her. She found it totally unfair that he could call those up when not in his natural form just for the intimidation factor.

Of course, the fact that she knew he would rather gnaw off his own arm than actually hurt her kind of balanced out the added threat. But still.

“I could be,” she admitted, “but I’m not, so rather than waste time, let’s just move on and decide which of the three of us will attend.”

“The four Guardians will attend this dinner event,” Dag decreed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest to denote he would listen to no arguments. “If you have mistaken the target of the Order, it would be too dangerous to allow the females to attend.”

Said females turned four disbelieving gazes in his direction. Even the other Guardians had the good sense to wince and hang their brother out to dry. He’d put himself in that position, their expressions seemed to say, and he would need to dig his own way out of it.

“Oh, no, he didn’t,” Ella breathed.

Fil elbowed her in the ribs. “Shh! Do you think there’s time to make popcorn?”

“To ‘allow’ us to attend?” Kylie scooted across the rug until she could turn around and look her Guardian full in the face. Or rather, look
the
Guardian full in the face, because no way in hell was she putting her claim on anyone who spewed that kind of sexist
meshugas
. “Since when did a single one of us ‘females’ stop to ask your permission, Goliath? Because I don’t remember this conversation. I hope I was funny.”

“Damn,” Fil muttered from the sofa. “No popcorn.”

“The idea of four frail females in a room full of
nocturnis
with the threat of demons entering at any moment?” Dag leaned forward in his seat until he could nearly press his nose to Kylie’s. “It would indeed make me laugh if such a thing were a remote possibility, but as I will turn back to stone before I allow it to happen, it is not worth so much of my energy.”

The fist Kylie swung at that arrogant, testosterone-poisoned face never connected. Some kind of force field flung itself between knuckles and nose the instant before impact. Startled, Kylie looked around the room to see Wynn with her fingers pointed at them and an unhappy expression on her face.

“Not that he doesn’t deserve the hit,” the witch said, “but I refuse to waste time on his bullshit attitude. Especially since I think it’s better if
none
of us attend the dinner.”

“Why not?” Kylie snapped the question and reluctantly dropped her hand into her lap. Then, she scuttled across the floor to the opposite side of the coffee table from the sexist Guardian.

Wynn explained. “Because I think it’s a bad idea to put the Order on their guard. Magic recognizes magic. If we plunk two Guardians and two Wardens down in the middle of a dinner the
nocturnis
think they control”—she did not even pause to acknowledge Dag’s snarl of protest—“they’ll be able to sense our presence. And if that happens, then they’ll know we’re onto them and they’ll have to suspect we figured out their plan. The only logical reaction to that is to either change the plan or abandon it.”

The witch shook her head. “I’m sorry, but after all the time and energy we’ve invested in figuring this plan out, the last thing we want is for them to change it. If they do that, we’re back in the dark, and the chances of us coming up with an effective counter to the new plan become almost nil. And abandoning the plan altogether? That just means they’ll strike at another time and place, and we won’t have a warning.”

Ella nodded. “She’s right. The element of surprise is one of the biggest advantages we have going into this. If we lose that, our chances of success go way down. Yeah, they’ll sense us at the keynote address, too, but we’ll have a much bigger crowd to blend into, and by then, it will probably be too late to change their plan. They’re a lot more likely to go through with it at that stage even if they know we’re there.”

“Okay, all that makes sense,” Kylie acknowledged, “but us staying away until Sunday and then just strolling in blind does not. We need to get an idea of the layout of the room, the entrances and exits, where the stage will be set up, what pathways will be laid, how traffic will flow. All of that will not only help us figure out where they’re most likely to set the portals, it will also tell us the best ways to get people out quickly if we need to do that.”

“Which means someone will have to take a look around at some point,” Fil said. “I’m thinking Saturday afternoon or evening. For an early Sunday event that large, the convention staff is going to want to set up the room the day before at least, to give themselves plenty of time.”

“And this risks the same problem of detection as attendance at the dinner,” Dag grumbled.

“Not necessarily,” Spar said, his gaze turning to Kylie. “While I do feel a small aura around your Kylie, she has not yet been Warden long enough to read as one. Her magic has such a unique flavor to it that it does not make one think of the Guild at all, especially not from any distance. I think she might pass entirely undetected, or if not, as merely an untrained human with potential. Someone might target her for recruitment, but I doubt they would perceive her as a threat.”

Kylie thought of the possibility of a
nocturni
attempting to lure her to the dark side as they had with Dennis Ott and his girlfriend. “Yeah, that would go well for everyone.”

“Wynn is the other logical choice,” Knox growled, not sounding happy with his own conclusion. “As much as I dislike the idea of sending you into such a nest of vipers without me by your side, you are the most likely to pass beneath their notice. Your magical energy still reads at first glance as witch, not as Warden. You should be able to pass as nothing more than a witch with a strong interest in the environmental actions the conference will be espousing.”

“I agree.” Wynn smiled and leaned over to kiss him lightly. “But you get special brownie points for figuring it out on your own and not pouting about it too much.”

Fil stifled a smirk. You know, eventually. “Alrighty then, so if Kylie and Wynn are going to be our advance team, when do we send them in to reconnoiter?”

“The conference opens Friday afternoon, with the welcome dinner that evening. Since we’ve put the kibosh on attending the dinner, we definitely have to be there on Saturday, preferably early, or after the fuss I made getting on the list, it’s going to look weird.”

“Well, nothing says we have to spend the whole day there,” Wynn said. “We can show up early to check in, disappear for a while, and go back when we think we have the best chance to get a look at the keynote room setup. At an event that big, it’s easy for people to assume you’re just at one of the other sessions if they don’t see you in theirs.”

“Yeah, that could work in our favor.”

“Gathering our information on Saturday will not allow us a great deal of time to set up our defenses,” Kees observed. “We will need to strategize the best method to deal with the attacks we expect and make plans that require only fine adjustments to the details in order to operate successfully.”

“Agreed. And you in particular have a lot to learn,” Wynn said, fixing her gaze on Kylie. “Have you been practicing the things I showed you?”

“Me?”

“No, the other brand-new Warden in the room.” Her tone could teach dry to a desert. “Ella, Fil, and I have all experienced battle with the
nocturnis.
We know what to expect, but you don’t. Those exercises I taught you are going to become really important really fast.”

“Yes, I’ve been practicing. Every day even.”

“Good.” The witch pushed to her feet and motioned for the other women to join her. “Because the girls and I are going to have to teach you a few tricks. The
nocturnis
fight dirty, and they like to fight with magic. We’re going to give you a crash course in self-defense and show you what you need to know to help us either stop those portals from opening, or take them out fast, if they do manage to form. Got it?”

All at once, the reality of everything they had been talking about for the past month came crashing down on Kylie’s head. She felt a whole lot like her cartoon namesake right after the Acme contraption blew up in his face. She wondered vaguely if her ears were smoking.

But Kylie also knew that defeating her adversary meant a lot more than roast Road Runner for dinner. If she and her new friends failed to counter the Order’s planned attack, people would die. Hundreds of people, if not thousands. How could a person live with herself if she didn’t do every single thing in her power to prevent such a tragedy from happening?

She didn’t know, but she knew that she could not. She hadn’t been raised that way, she wasn’t built that way, and she wasn’t going down that way. Not without a fight.

Taking a deep breath, Kylie pushed to her feet and squared her shoulders. “Well, then, let’s get started.”

*   *   *

Oy vey iz mir!

“Now I know the real reason why they call Wynn a witch.” Kylie groaned and collapsed back onto her mattress way, way,
way
after she would have preferred to appear there. “She’s like the Genghis Khan of teachers. I swear by all that’s holy, I wasn’t this tired and sore after the one time I let Bran talk me into that fitness boot camp class. In fact, I think if that instructor met Wynn, he would have run away screaming.”

More than six hours had passed since the kaffeeklatsch in the living room, and Kylie was really regretting those
kichlach
. Her stomach had been roiling since twenty minutes into Wynn’s magical workout and showed no imminent signs of stopping. Everyone was waiting downstairs for dinner, and just the thought of food made Kylie close her eyes and swallow hard.

She felt the bed dip as Dag settled on the edge beside her and fought not to groan. Maybe she should have collapsed on the bathroom floor. Sure it was hard, but it didn’t move, and if worse came to worst, she would be a whole lot closer to the toilet. Much less chance of a mess.

“Poor baby,” he murmured. She felt a huge, rough hand settle gently on her forehead, and she had to admit the sensation was soothing. The initial coolness of his skin quickly faded into a comforting heat that made her relax almost against her will. “Did you learn anything useful?”

“You mean aside from the fact that Felicity
really
hates being called Filly-Willy, Wynn is a secret agent for the Spanish Inquisition, and Ella packs a hell of a magical punch for such a sweet-looking person?” She sighed. “Yeah, I learned that I really might not be cut out for this woman-of-power stuff. If those three chicks downstairs are like the high-powered rifle of magical offense, I’m like a squirt gun. Not a Super Soaker or anything cool, but one of those old-fashioned water pistols that barely get your target wet and yet manage to leak all over your hand every time you pull the trigger.”

She heard—and felt,
oy!
—Dag chuckle beside her, but she just didn’t have the energy to hit him. All she could manage was to flip him a very small bird. Like the hummingbird of middle fingers, only a lot less energetic. A dead hummingbird.

“Do not worry, little one. I have every confidence that you will prove most adept as a Warden with a bit more training and a little practice. You forget, this is your first real attempt at using magic. Every new skill takes time to learn.”

Forcing her eyelids open, she looked up to eye Dag suspiciously. “That’s a very mature and rational statement from a hunk of rock who came within a flea’s whisker of calling me ‘the little woman’ and ordered me into the kitchen a few hours ago.”

Dag heaved a great sigh and shifted to stretch out on the bed beside her. She noted how carefully he moved to keep the disturbance to her to a minimum. Not that it got him off her shitlist, but she noticed it.

“Yes, I have thought over what I said to you earlier,” he admitted, “and I have come to regret my words.”

“Really? Do tell.”

“I owe you an apology. By attempting to forbid you from attending the conference dinner, I insulted you deeply. I belittled your abilities not only to take care of yourself and defend your own safety, but even your ability to assess a situation and to decide for yourself the inherent risks, the possible rewards, and the weight of one in relation to the value of the other. For this, I am sorry.”

Pushing to her elbows, Kylie looked at him with her skepticism sitting right on the tip of her nose. “Who told you to say all that? Did they make you practice?”

Dag gave a rueful chuckle and tugged her to his side. Carefully. “They did not. It is true that the others did initially point out that my attitude may have offended you. They also let me know that they had learned very quickly from their own mates that human females are both sturdier than they look and fierce in their independence, which I should have recognized on my own. But once I grew calmer, I not only saw the reason for your anger but the justification for it as well. I reacted badly to the idea of sending you into danger, and I allowed my fear to control me.”

She kept her narrowed gaze on him, but felt herself softening. “When did you become so enlightened?”

He grinned and leaned close to kiss her. “When I feared that your anger for me would lead you to keep me from your bed this evening.”

Kylie scoffed. “Typical.” Settling once more onto the mattress, she allowed herself to snuggle against her Guardian’s side. “You know, right after I recovered from Wynn’s school of magical suffering, I was planning to come find you and skin you alive for the way you acted.”

“I know. This is why I came to you and commenced groveling with all due speed.”

“Groveling?” She tilted her head to look at him. “I heard an apology, but I don’t recall any groveling.”

Dag shifted to one elbow and loomed over her, resting his other hand on the mattress beside her head. “Oh, no? Then what is it that you consider to be groveling, little human?”

His smoke-and-stone voice rasped against her like a caress, sending shivers straight through her to pool low in her belly. “Well,” she purred, fighting a smile, “it usually starts on your knees…”