"Goddamn it, Emma. Stay here." When she still protested, he snapped, "Did it ever occur to you that on occasion you'd be right to be afraid?"
He slammed the door on her shocked face, then tore off to the front entrance. There he stood tensed, waiting, clutching his sword -
The front door to Kinevane Castle was kicked down for the first time in history.
He looked at the kicker - a blond woman with glowing skin and pointed ears. He glanced at the fallen door, then back at her.
"Pilates," she explained with a shrug.
"Let me guess. Regin?"
When she smirked, another Valkyrie passed in front of her, marching up to him, raking her gaze over him. "Hubba, hubba," she growled with a wink. "Emma caught herself a wolf." Her eyes zeroed in on his neck where Emma had drunk earlier, and she tilted her head. "Hmmm. You wear her bite like a badge you've earned."
"And you must be the soothsayer - "
"I prefer predeterminationally abled, thank you." Her hand shot out, ripping a button from his shirt, so fast it was a blur. She'd taken the one closest to his heart, and for a moment her face turned very cold. She'd made a point - she could have gone for his heart.
Then she opened her hand and gasped in surprise. "A button!" She smiled delightedly. "You can never have enough of these!"
"How did you find this place?" he demanded of Regin.
"A phone tap, satellite imaging, and a psychic," she said, then immediately frowned. "How do you find places?"
"And the barrier?"
"That was some serious Celtic cujo mojo." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at their car. "But we also packed the most powerful witch we know, just in case." A nondescript woman waved brightly from the front seat.
"Enough of this." He stalked toward Regin. "You'll be leaving our home. Now." He raised his sword, but a blur swept past him. He twisted around and found another one perched on the grandfather clock, having landed so gracefully that the chains were undisturbed. She had a bow pulled taut, an arrow trained on him. Lucia.
Didn't matter. He wanted these creatures gone - they'd come here with one objective. He charged the door. An arrow tore through his sword arm like a bullet, exited with a rip, then buried itself a foot into the stone wall.
Severed tendons and muscles in his arm made his hand go limp. The sword clattered to the ground. Blood seeped down to his wrist. He wheeled around and found her with three arrows notched at once, bow horizontal, aiming for his neck. To take off his head.
Regin said, "You know why we're here. So don't make this get ugly."
Brows drawn, he followed her gaze down until he saw a razor-sharp sword inching up between his legs. Another Valkyrie that he'd never even seen enter wielded it from the shadows.
"Better hope Kaderin the Coldhearted doesn't sneeze with her sword like that," Nïx said with a chuckle. "Kitty-Kad, do you feel allergyish? I dunno, you look twitchy to me."
Lachlain swallowed, then chanced a glance over his shoulder. This Kaderin's eyes were blank, no feeling - only pure intent.
Lachlain had known they were vicious, but to see it, to feel it with an arrow through his arm and a sword tucked against him...
He would never let Emma near them again.
Just then, Cassandra crossed over the flattened door, warily eyeing the Valkyrie.
Lachlain snapped at her, "Why are you here now?"
"I heard talk of these...creatures cruising through the village, pumping bass and whistling at men on the street, before turning for the castle. Saw the gate mangled and thought you might need some help..." She trailed off, eyes widening at the sword.
Regin said, "Where is she, Lachlain?"
Nïx added, "We're not leaving without her. So unless you want permanent houseguests of the destructive sort, just hand her over."
"Never. You're never to see her again."
"A lot of nerve saying that when you're about to bloody Kaderin's sword," Regin said with a smirk. Then her ears twitched and her voice suddenly turned saccharine. "But what do you mean, you don't ever want us to see her again?"
"Never. I doona know how she became what she is after growing up in your vicious coven, but you'll no' get a second chance to twist her."
Regin visibly relaxed at his words. Lucia dropped down and strode to the door, casually, as if she hadn't just shot him and as if she weren't mere feet from a Lykae itching for a kill and two seconds from turning.
"Lachlain?" Emma murmured from the stairs. He twisted his head around, saw her brows drawn. They'd wanted him to repeat his decree for her benefit. "Had you always planned to keep me from my family?"
"No, no' until I met them," Lachlain explained, as though that made it better.
She surveyed the room, then her aunts. Just what had they done since that door had been kicked down? She could only imagine -
And what the hell was Cass doing here?
Chapter 21
Emma spotted Kaderin behind Lachlain, sword in place. "Kaderin," she murmured. "Annika sent you?" Kaderin was a deadly, skilled, and unfeeling assassin. A perfect killing machine, she didn't get dispatched on recovery missions. "Lower your sword, Kaderin."
Regin said, "Come down, Em, and nobody has to get hurt."
"Kad, lower it!"
Regin reluctantly nodded, and Kaderin retreated into the shadows. Lachlain immediately strode up the stairs, reaching for Emma, but she gave his hand a withering glare and shook him off. He appeared dumbfounded.
Regin cast Emma a guilty smile. "Annika just wants you away from him, Em."