Hope rubbed her left eye. Even though the bomb was gone, her head still ached a little bit. “Great. All right, let’s put a report together, and I’ll submit it to both my father and Dage. We may just have to shoot their satellites out of the sky.”
It was tantamount to declaring war, but considering the Kurjans had fired upon the Seven and blown up their headquarters, she had a feeling war had already begun. “I believe we’re at war,” she said honestly, her gut hurting.
Everyone in the room nodded. All right, so at least they were onthe same page.
“Everybody stay on your current tasks,” she said. She turned and walked out of the room to find two guards waiting at the front door. “Apparently I have an escort,” she said dryly to nobodyin particular.
They were both huge and silent, a pair that she recognized but didn’t know well. They walked along the path to the lake, and she entered through the rear entrance of Realm headquarters to find her father and Dage and Talen arguing loudly with her uncles Garrett and Logan.
Huh. It was more power than she had ever seen in one place at one time, and at the moment, it was angry power. She thought about leaving, just returning to her house, but instead stood there and put her hands on her hips. When nobody seemed to notice her, she finally whistled loudly.
In unison, five hard, dangerous, intelligent gazesfocused on her.
She forced a smile. “Hello, male relatives of mine.”
It was interesting to see Talen and Garrett arguing, considering they pretty much looked like the same person, as father and son. Same with Zane and Logan, who were brothers. Dage stood apart from everyone as usual, but as the king of pretty much everybody, that wasn’t out of the ordinary.
“Apparently, I’m some sort of strategic mastermind,” she drawled. “How about y’all tell me what you boys are arguing about.” Considering they were all her relatives and all older than she was, her comment showed a lot of bravado, but she was in no moodfor theatrics.
Her father spoke first. “That’s quite the offer, Hope. But the Seven are here, and they’re having ameeting and...”
Ah, now she got it. “The Seven don’t want the three of you in there.” Garrett and Logan were members of the Seven, but the other threemales were not.
She indicated Dage, the King of the Realm; Zane, the king of the demon nation; and Talen, Dage’s younger brother and the most stubborn and yet strategically brilliant soldier ever born.
“Exactly.” Talen was the one who answered her.
“Well.” She looked at Garrett and Logan. “I guess you two were sent to deliver thebad news, huh?”
It wasn’t funny. She should not feel amusement, and her lips should not be twitching. She tried to keep a straight face when all she wanted to do was chuckle. There was something about incredibly stubborn and dangerous males that was just cute when they got all riled up with each other, especially if they were family.
“We don’t need any additional energy in the strategic meeting,” Garrett said slowly. “We’ve got the Seven, we’ve got the three Keys, and now we have the Lock. We’ve been busy creating bombs armed with their blood in the hope that we can kill Ulric with them. Now we need to plan the attack, and don’t worry, just the soldiers are going. Hope deserves to be part of the planning, and we need herbrain, anyway.”
“You are not taking my daughter into that group without me there,” Zane growled, threat in every syllable of his words.
A shiver danced down Hope’s spine, and she lost the smile and all ofthe amusement.
Dage’s chin lowered in a way that would have anybody backing away. Anybody except for his nephews. “I’m the King of the Realm. Anything that happens in this entire world is my business. Especially”—he flicked his gaze toward Hope—“when it involves my niece.”
Talen just started walking toward the door.“Done talking.”
Garrett threw his hands up, while Logan cracked a smile. “Told you we wouldn’t talk him out of it,” he said.
“Shut up,” Garrett said, following his father.
Zane gestured Hope in front of him. “Let’s go. Let’s see whatthey’re up to.”
Hope was more curious than anything else. Though she remained in contact with the members of the Seven, she didn’t think they had any additional knowledge beyond what she had compiled. In other words, nobody knew howto kill Ulric.
She walked down one flight of stairs to the largest conference room. All members of the Seven were now inside, as well as Dage, Zane, Talen, and Hope. At the far end of the table sat the three Keys: Mercy, a half fairy mated to Hope’s uncle Logan Kyllwood; Grace, an enhanced female mated to the ancient Adare O’Cearbhaill; and Dessie, an enhanced female and Ulric’s possible Intended, who was mated toUncle Garrett.
The three females couldn’t be more dissimilar in looks and temperament, and yet they all had the birthmark with the mystical key. Logan sat next to Mercy in an unmistakably protective stance.
“Howdy, Lock,” Mercy said, kicking back in her chair, her mismatched green and blackeyes twinkling.
“Hi, Aunt Mercy,” Hope returned, grinning. The stunning woman wasn’t old enough tobe Hope’s aunt.
Dessie smiled. “We’re finally going to figure all of this out.”
