“I never should have let Aileen bring you home,” Inara growled, stalking forward with an angry flounce.
“It’s a pity that nothing you might have done would have prevented my eventual cohabitation. We’re family. Family always wins out.”
“Oh yeah, does that apply to your father as well?” The telling silence from Connor coaxed a tired snicker from Inara. “That’s what I thought. Family only matters if they act like family.”
Connor bounded up the side of the ravine, causing mini landslides with every step. Any other person might have had trouble navigating the years of dead and decaying leaves that had accumulated along the hill. Connor, however, scaled it as easily as if he was out for a Sunday stroll. All the while managing not to dislodge Inara or the Fae.
Seeing he had the situation well in hand, I turned toward the house, Connor and the other two following. We were silent as we moved through the woods, listening for signs that the Lucies had returned. Thankfully, our passage proved uneventful and it wasn’t long before we broke through the tree-line.
I slowed, staring at our house.
Every window was aglow. The house looking like it had a spotlight shining on it. From the floor-to-ceiling bank of windows that followed the perimeter of my living room, to the upstairs bedrooms, and every room in between. Someone had even left the outdoor lights on.
“Was this you?” I asked Connor.
Did we need another talk about the merits of conservation and how that affected the electricity bill?
Connor squinted at the house before shaking his head. “The house was dark when I left it for my appointment.”
Appointment. As if meeting up with a hunter was an everyday occurrence for him.
I set that thought aside for later before going back to staring at the brightly lit dwelling. If he wasn’t responsible, who was?
Maybe Deborah? Our roommate and the human who served as my companion. Aka my voluntary blood bank. She’d also become a friend over the weeks since she’d started living with us.
It seemed out of character for her though.
Unless something had scared her enough to need the comfort that came from a brightly illuminated house. Like, say—a bunch of scary Fae chasing a fugitive.
“Connor,” I warned in a low voice.
Connor was already lowering his cargo to the ground.
There’s no need for such alarm, my dear. It’s only me,someone crooned in my mind.
I practically snarled at the intrusion. “Ahrun.”
Connor’s attention whipped to me. “He’s speaking telepathically with you?”
“Yes,” I ground out between gritted teeth.
And I hated it. Not even Thomas could penetrate my mental defenses unless I allowed him to.
Connor’s mouth flattened. “It seems the bond he forced is still active.”
An inconvenient truth that I’d been ignoring. At least until he shoved it in my face.
There was a tsking sound in the back of my mind.Such anger and distrust. I’m hurt, youngest. Why don’t you join me inside so we can discuss what’s upsetting you?
I glared at the house, wishing it was a certain ancient vampire who had made himself into quite the pest. “He wants us to go inside.”
It would have been nice to have been able to reject that request, but I didn’t have a death wish. Ahrun was the oldest vampire I’d ever met. I was pretty sure he was the oldest vampire, full stop. You didn’t tell someone like that no. At least not with the expectation of living a long and healthy life afterward. He was also my sire’s sire. In our world, that gave him some authority over me.
“We shouldn’t keep him waiting then,” Connor said with a calm I envied.
He had every right to resent Ahrun’s trespass on our territory considering the ancient was the one who’d orchestrated his enslavement to the Fae. That he could treat Ahrun’s presence as if it was nothing more than a minor blip in his evening made me envious.
It did make me wonder why Connor couldn’t do the same with Thomas. I guess it was due to them being father and son. Nothing got under your skin better than family.
