I drummed my fingers against his chest as I looked away, reconsidering my open communication policy. Perhaps I could live with the motto “need to know” after all.
"I have reason to think they're in town," I admitted.
Might as well, the horse was already out of the barn and wreaking havoc on the countryside.
"What reason is that,a chuisle mo chroí?" Liam voice was carefully controlled, but I could see the storm clouds brewing in his eyes.
I shrugged, sending him a smile that was little more than a grimace. "One of them might have tried to kidnap and/or kill me. We're not quite sure which he was going for."
His fangs snapped down, his eyes glowing bright blue. A blast of cold air rolled off him, causing my nipples to peak.
I patted his chest in what I hoped was a soothing manner, letting him have his moment. In his shoes, my reaction to learning someone had tried to take him would probably have been similar.
Hell, I'd killed the Fae who tried to enthrall him at the end of last year.
"And you're just telling me this now?" he asked.
I rolled my eyes. "Connor and I handled it."
His eyes flared. "Not entirely if you're asking me about it."
"As a precaution," I clarified. "Technically, we're not one hundred percent sure Umbrella Man was a member of the Scattered."
"What made you consider the possibility he was?"
I winced. He wasn't going to like this. His views on the book were well known and not complimentary.
"The book," I confessed.
His lip curled. "Of course, it was the book."
"It's been pretty spot on until now." I didn't know why I was defending the thing when I had more than my own fair share of problems with it.
"Fae artifacts can be dangerous," Liam instructed. "They are powerful, yes, but there is more than one story of how they've caused their owner's downfall."
He wasn't telling me anything I didn't know.
"I promise to treat anything it tells me with a grain of salt," I said seriously.
My lips twitched as his expression grew grumpier at the sight of my amusement.
He lifted up. "That's it. You're going to train more."
I slammed my open palm into the inside of his elbow. His arm collapsed under him. "Maybe so, old man, but not tonight."
Liam regarded me dourly from where he was face down on his pillow. "I miss the days when you were afraid of me."
I leaned over and nipped the tip of his ear. "That's because you're a weirdo with control issues."
Liam's arm swept up, snagging me around the neck. He maneuvered me onto my back next to him, tangling his legs with mine. They were effective at pinning me into place as he draped one arm across my stomach.
"We both know what I really need is to be two centuries older," I told him.
I could get faster, deadlier with a weapon, but that would only do so much. There were things out there that weapons wouldn't kill.
The kind of power that both Thomas and Liam wielded took time to develop. There were no shortcuts.
Most of the time I was fine with that. I was content with my life and had no intention of wading in the same ocean as the big dogs. Unfortunately, the big dogs kept wanting to play with me.
