Page 37

“No. I thought you said the angel saved you.”

“He did, but now I know the beings in the Dagda stone would have brought me back to life. Ezra and I were in a duel to the death. I might have died temporarily, but he would have died permanently. Andshe,” I said, pointing to the alleged sister, “might not be trying to kill me now because her brotherbrought shame to his family. Instead, my mercy has allowed him to play the victim.”

Ben shook his head in disgust. “You’re going to need a vacation to get over your vacation.”

I was, and he didn’t need to keep pointing it out. I felt wimpy enough.

“Call the Shadow Breakers, Ben. Ask them to assign an enforcer to my case so they can find out officially if there is a contract on me. If there is, I’ll work with the enforcer to end this. Once that person arrives, I suggest ya stay out of it. Ya won’t like their methods of taking care of things.”

“What are you planning to do with Ezra’s fairy sister?”

“I’m going to use her as a bargaining chip. Or kill her if she tries to kill me again.”

And if I was in a vengeful mood, I’d drain her power and give it to One of The Three so he could restore the other two mages.

Then I’d have three beings to deal with instead of one, but also three times the backup.

Conn came through the front door, frowning. I hoped he and Mulan weren’t fighting. His glare turned to land on me, and I nearly sighed.

“We’re doing a security meeting in the blue house in an hour,” he said. Then he switched his glare to Ben. “You’re welcome to stay, but there may be yelling. Are you and your witch wife moving in?”

“I haven’t convinced her. She’s put some serious wards around our house.”

“Fine,” Conn said, not sounding fine at all.

Ben blinked and stepped away. “I’d stay for the meeting, but I have some important calls to make. If there’s anything I can do to help you feel more safe, Aran, just text me. Consider yourself on permanent leave until the Ezra issue is resolved. Man-made guardians are easier to fight than evil fairies with revenge motives.”

I didn’t disagree with that statement. Since Conn didn’t correct Ben, I didn’t argue either.

I knew being put on leave was necessary, but my ego stung from it anyway. It felt like I was being imprisoned in my house for both dying and not dying.

Ben left pretty quickly when I stopped commenting. I ignored a seething Conn and stood watching my boss until he exited. My fellow Shadow Breakers had equipped a windowless van once used to collect trolls with at least six gunmen and a couple of guards who doubled as drivers.

I’d seen it when Ben arrived. Henry had someone watching the van to make sure Ben’s people never got out.

The massive house was being turned into a fortress. All we lacked was a moat full of magickal alligators to scare future visitors.

I rubbed my forehead. I also must have sighed because a growling Conn pulled me into his arms. The whine slipped out during the hug. “I miss the times when all we had to do was fight demons.”

“We will find out who is after you and kill them so they can never succeed.”

I nodded against his chest and pulled back to look into his angry eyes. “Don’t let this cause problems for Mulan and ya. My guilt is big enough already. I’m sorry I had to call ya away from her last night.”

“Why did you not call a sword when you first saw her?”

I pulled out of his arms and walked away from him. “Because I thought I was overreacting. This is my home. I felt no bad vibes from her and felt mostly safe.”

“That’s not like you,” Conn said.

I blew out a breath. “Fine. I had sex brain, okay? I was humming because of my happy hormones and had gone to get a book to read.”

“You should feel safe in those circumstances,” Conn said.

I walked back and patted his cheek. He was unshaven and looked ready to explode. “Ezra fooled me for years.”

“He fooled me as well. I thought he wanted you more than he wanted to fulfill his fairy obligations. I could feel his high level of lust whenever he was near you. It never went away.”

“As egotistical as it sounds, I must have believed a little of that myself because not for one moment would I have believed he would try to kill me for my power. Ezra came at me with an energy sword before I believed.”