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“Don’t thank me yet,” Ben said with a wince. “You said to pick someone you’d never in a million years be able to guess. Well, I did exactly that.”

I glanced around for the other mystery shooter. It took him a minute to vault over the other side of the fenced yard. I frowned when my wards didn’t stop him. Then I realized who had fired the second tranquilizer dart. But the wards should have stopped Jack.

I glared at Conn who had to have altered them. He was the only one allowed to do it. I’d granted him that right long ago.

“Traitor,” I spat.

Conn stiffened before glaring at me. “He’s Fiona’s father. I was envisioning some form of supervised visitation when I changed the wards.”

I rolled my eyes at his excuse. “Fiona’s twenty, Conn.Twenty.And I told all of ya that Jack Derringer was never to set foot in my home.”

Mulan looked at Jack and then at the house. Finally, her gaze returned to me. “I will keep him outside. No worries, bestie. Celebrate chaos magick and thank goddess for success.”

The man I loathed walked toward me with a tranquilizer gun and a smirky smile. All I wanted at that moment was to see that smile on a frog’s face, but the bastard had helped take down Zara. That was a fact I would never be able to deny or change.

I turned and narrowed my gaze. “Damn ya, Ben. Ya know I’d have rather made a deal with the devil than owe Jack Derringer for a bloody thing.”

Ben grinned. “Do pagans even believe in the devil? My bad, Aran. I’ve learned something new every day since I met you. That’s a lot for an old man like me.”

“Old man, my arse. How could ya betray me like this?”

Ben pointed down at an unconscious Zara. “I did what you asked. Plus, a flock of winged men paid me a visit. They outright asked me if I had found a marksman yet. One of them suggested I use his son for the job. I honestly didn’t realize who the son was until after I’d agreed.”

I grunted in disgust. “Colonel Benson, that’s the most unbelievable lie I have ever heard.”

Ben grinned at me. “Are you saying that you know forty ways to tell it better?”

Rasmus, the most unlikely of all those present, burst out laughing. I glared at him for a moment and then decided to let it go.

Mostly.

I looked over at Jack and pointed my finger. “Stay out of my house, Jack. Ya’re not welcome.”

Jack held up his hands in surrender. “I only revealed myself so I could say thank you in person for helping me find my father.”

I made a shooing motion. “Ya’re welcome. Now go away.”

Mulan shook her staff at Jack and jingled her turtle shells. “Do as she says, handsome ex-husband, or I will turn you into rodent. Aran vowed to take guardian boy toy into her bed. Women cannot perform well when they are mad or stressed.”

Rasmus looked at me and blinked in surprise. Had the confused bastard really forgotten our exchange in the hallway earlier today? That was harsh on my ego.

“I think we should talk, Aran. I feel like I’ve missed some really big things.”

That was how I knew for certain that thereal Rasmuswas awake and aware. The guardian now wanted to talk—and to think about their being anus. Goddess forbid we find a dark room and tear each other’s clothes off. No, that would be too uncivilized. It would be too human of me to want that.

I looked down at Zara and spoke to her unconscious form. “Ya were right about one thing, Zara. All men are bastards of one sort or the other, but especially the ones who aren’t really men at all.”

Rasmus limped forward to stay beside me. “Why are you talking to her that way? She’s unconscious and can’t hear you. And when Zara wakes up, she still won’t know who you are. You did to her exactly what your kind did to me.”

I lifted my chin. “Well, I guess one guardian’s heroine is another’s worse nightmare. Now I have the same reputation with two different species.”

Seven feathered birdmen suddenly landed in the yard. While they grotesquely changed into humans, I kept my gaze on Rasmus, shook my head, and making a zipping motion across my lips. Would he get that I wanted him to keep quiet?

Surprising me, Rasmus limped away to one of the lawn chairs and sat. Conn and Mulan moved over there with him. Ben cleared his throat and inched his way toward Rasmus as well. My guardian studied the ground as if he found something fascinating there.

Then I realized The Dagda had disappeared the moment Zara got shot.

So it was only me staring down Orlin and his brethren. They looked down at Zara and back up at me. My biological grandfather gazed at me in his typically serene guardian way.