Page 12

“Hey! Y’all waiting for me?” Brandt called out as he tapped on Kaid’s door and opened it to peek inside.

“There you are! We been waiting on you!” Kaid said.

“Bullshit, ain't nobody even thought about me. Not a single phone call to say, hey, we over here, come on over,” Brandt said.

They all laughed as Brandt walked in with Tempest following close behind, her hand in his.

“You brought some food with you?” Kaid asked.

“I came here to see what you have to eat,” Brandt said.

“Don’t let them fool you. Cristie just came back with all kinds of stuff from Bailey’s. I’m eating the last eclair now!” Hellen called out from the kitchen. “Don’t know where Cristie is, though.”

“She’s visiting with Avaleigh!” Maia said, then caught sight of the male following Brandt and Tempest inside. “Oh, dear Lord,” she said, choking on her coffee.

“What? What’s wrong?” Riley asked.

Everly turned around to see what Maia was choking about and her eyes widened. “Hel-lo! I’m awake now!” she exclaimed.

“He’s not that impressive,” Riley said.

“That’s because you’re not a woman,” Maia said.

Tempest smirked at Brandt. “Told you.”

Brandt rolled his eyes.

Valerie walked into the living room and came to a stop. “Who is that?”

“Who is who?” Delilah asked, walking up behind her.

“That!” Valerie asked, pointing at Lucien.

“Oh, my goodness!” Delilah said suggestively.

“He’s pretty,” Valerie said.

“And dangerous! I like dangerous!” Delilah said.

“I’m right here!” Kaid announced.

“You’re dangerous, too, my mate,” Delilah cooed at him.

Bam chuckled.

“This is my new friend Lucien,” Brandt announced.

“He’s staying for a while,” Tempest added.

“The hell you say,” Hellen snapped, walking out of the kitchen and past her mother and aunt to come to a stop right in front of Lucien. “I told you not to come!”

So far, Lucien had been practically unaware of every other single female in the room. But then Hellen walked in and his face morphed from one of intensity, to a slow seductive grin. “There she is.”

“What are you doing here?” Hellen demanded.

“You said ask for permission to be here, I asked.”

“And you let him stay?” Hellen demanded, turning her glare on Brandt.

“He likes me,” Lucien said. “Thinks I’m funny.”

“Oh, he’s a lot of things. Funny is not one of them,” Hellen declared to Brandt.

“He’s kind of funny,” Brandt said. “Can’t believe you didn’t save me an eclair.”

“Didn’t know you were coming. And I wouldn’t have given it to you anyway since you brought him.”

“You said to get permission, I got permission,” Lucien reiterated.

“Nobody was supposed to give him permission. He was supposed to be leaving!” Hellen shouted.

“What is she rattling on about now?” Maverik asked, walking out of the kitchen with two donuts stacked in his hand as he took a bite of them both at the same time.

“Him!” Everly said, completely involved in the presence of the new guy.

“Who are you?” Maverik demanded.

“He’s just a guy,” Hellen hurried to say.

Valerie looked from Lucien to Hellen and back again with a knowing smile. “Hellen, baby. Introduce us to your friend.”

“He’s Brandt’s friend.”

“I’m your friend, and you know it,” Lucien said.

They had a staring contest for just a few minutes before he smirked, then looked up and around the room. “Hello. I’m Lucien. I’m Hellen’s…”

“Friend. He’s my friend,” she interjected.

“Mate,” he finished. “I am Lucien and I’m Hellen’s mate.”

The women gasped. Valerie looked at her daughter and nodded slowly. “Not bad, baby girl. Not bad at all.”

“Ma! You’re not helping.”

Maverik’s eyes narrowed as he stood silently staring at Lucien while he munched on his donuts.

“Lucien, you said?” Kaid asked, walking up and extending his hand.

“Yes. Are you Kaid?” Lucien asked.

“I am.”

“I’ve asked Brandt for permission to be on his land, and I’m asking the same of you.”

“You want sanctuary?”

“No. I don’t. I just want permission to be here for a while.”

“Did I mention that Lucien is not requesting sanctuary, because he doesn’t need it. He’s just asking if he can hang out for a while,” Brandt said.

“Is that so?” Kaid asked.

“It is. Respectfully,” Lucien said.

“Boy, me and you gonna have a little talk about things,” Maverik said, striding toward Lucien. “You do not hang out with my daughter and just leave when the feeling hits you!” Maverik snarled.

Hellen looked around the room and saw the overall unnatural amount of interest in Lucien from the entire clan, her daddy about to take Lucien outside, and was overcome with panic for more than one reason.

She caught Tempest’s eye and mouthed, ‘I’m sorry’, before taking a deep breath and making an announcement to the entire clan, both generations. “Tempest is pregnant!”

Everything stopped. All the females stopped whispering about Lucien. The males stopped sizing him up, and all attention immediately shifted to Brandt and Tempest.

Lucien started laughing, then turned to see a very angry Tempest and an irritated Brandt glaring at him and Hellen. “Hey, it wasn’t me,” he said, holding his hands up.

“The hell, Hellen?!” Brandt demanded.

“Right back at you!” Hellen shouted. “You are so wrong for this!”

“Like you aren’t?!” Brandt yelled, taking a step toward Hellen.

Lucien moved so quickly, if they’d not been shifters, they wouldn’t have seen it. He was just suddenly standing in front of Hellen with his back to her, as he faced Brandt. “You really don’t want to do that,” Lucien said, threat and lethal intent dripping from his words.

Brandt stopped just short of Lucien. “Neither do you.”

“She was wrong, she knows that. I know that. But you’re not going to lay your hands on her.”

Riley leaned over toward Maia whispering to her. “We really need to visit more often. I forgot how entertaining it can be around here.”

Maia nodded, but kept her eyes glued to the two males staring each other down.

“We’ve fought all our lives. We all have,” Brandt said, casting his glance around for others in his generation. “We’re going to solve this like we usually do.”

“Fine with me, move Lucien. Haven’t had a good fight in a long time,” Hellen snapped.

“You will not touch my female. I’m asking you respectfully to back away before I lose all sense of reason,” Lucien snarled.

“They fight like siblings. By the end of it, they all join in. It’s not what you’re thinking.

But here’s what’s going to happen today,” Delilah said, inserting herself smoothly between the two males.

“You are going to sit over there,” she said, charmingly yet insistently to Lucien while her Dragon demanded complete attention as she pointed toward the sofa Everly was currently sitting on.

“And you two are going to sit over there,” she said to Brandt and Tempest, pointing to a different sofa opposite the first.

Nobody moved.

“I meant now!” Delilah demanded, her Dragon clearly present.

Tempest calmly eyed Delilah, who simply smiled at Tempest. “Please,” she said, winking at Tempest.

Tempest moved forward and squeezed Brandt’s hand before she led him over to sit where Delilah had indicated.

Delilah turned to Lucien and gestured toward the sofa Everly and Bam sat on.

Lucien looked at Hellen. “You coming?”

“She has an apology to offer,” Delilah said.

“I’m not apologizing until Brandt does. He did this on purpose.”

“You weren’t supposed to get your ass in a sling!” Brandt growled. “It was supposed to be funny, and they’d have met him anyway eventually.”

“You don’t fuck with people’s lives, Brandt. It’s not funny,” Hellen said.

“You good?” Lucien asked Hellen.

Hellen shot him a sullen look.

“Because I can stand here all day if necessary,” he added.

“I’m good. You can go sit. It’s always best to do what Aunt Delilah says. She’s got an Ice Dragon in there. Nobody wants to be that cold.”

Lucien pointed toward the empty space beside Everly. “I’ll be right there. Behaving myself.” He walked over and took a seat beside Everly.

The front door opened and a pretty girl with dark hair, and brightly colored paint splatters covering her clothes and arms walked in.

“Hey, everybody! Sorry I’m late.” Her gaze swept the room and figured out quickly that something was on the verge of exploding, or imploding depending on your point-of-view. “What did I miss?” she asked.

“Your brother’s an ass,” Hellen said.

“Yeah, well, we know that. It’s why he’s good at what he does,” Daisy said.

“Your cousin is an ass!” Brandt countered.

“Look, if this is going to work in any fashion, you have got to understand that I’m not going to have her talked to or about like that,” Lucien said to Brandt.

“You as much as called me the same!” Hellen accused.

“I can say it, but nobody else better say it!” Lucien growled.

“Oh! And who’s this?” Daisy asked.

Lucien turned his attention to her and smiled that wickedly charming smile of his. “Hi. I’m Lucien.”

“Nice to meet you, Lucien.”

“Thank you! I’m not sure everyone else is impressed.”

“I’m not!” Hellen informed the room.

“Too bad. You get what you get,” Lucien said.

“Oh, I see. He’s yours,” Daisy said to Hellen as she made her way across the room to take a seat beside Lucien.

“He’s Brandt’s. Brandt said he could stay, not me.”

Lucien smiled politely as Daisy sat down and extended her hand. “Nice to meet you. Good luck,” she offered genuinely.

Holding Daisy’s hand in his briefly, Lucien regarded her curiously, before Hellen’s voice caught his attention.

“I’m sorry, Tempest. I didn’t mean to throw you under the bus, but since Brandt just did the same to me I couldn’t think of any other way to shift attention from Lucien and myself.”

“I’m angry with you. But I understand. I’ll be better later. Maybe,” Tempest said.

“What did I miss?” a little girl, who looked a whole lot like Hellen asked as she wandered into the room, bringing most of the accusations to a halt, or at least transforming them to a friendlier level.

“Not a thing, little miss I-have-to-know-everything,” Valerie said.