“Thanks, Mystia,” Cody said, giving her a hug.
“How’re my grandpups?”
“Jake and Jessica are spending some time with Daniel in Jackson’s study. I’m sure they’ll be over the moon to see you again so soon.” Cody smiled. Then, looking at the young dragon, he said, “Let me guess…Kieran dressed you.”
“How didja know?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Cody smirked. “Because you look stunning and he’s the only person I ever met who has the knack for doing that.”
Glancing down at the dark gray suit his friend picked out for him, Fionn shook his head. “He made me wear a pink shirt. I figured that was a dead giveaway.”
“Yeah, that too.” Cody laughed. “How are you feeling about today? Nervous?”
“Yeah, a little bit…no, a lot. I don’t trust my uncle.”
“We don’t either but Dylon has a plan to protect you,” Cody said, reaching for his mate’s hand. “Let’s head to his office so he can fill you in before we head to San Francisco.”
“Lead the way. Is this the Blackwood Pack’s house? It’s enormous.”
“Yes, and yes. You can pick your room later. By the way, Theo and Norm are on the second floor and Kieran and Logan will be moving to one of the suites on the first floor,” explained Cody.
“Where’s Zane?”
“Second floor, but since he’s mated now, he may move to a suite on the first floor.”
“I guess you’re pretty sure I’ll win in court today,” Fionn said.
Stopping, Cody turned to look at Fionn. “Yes, I’m positive.”
The certainty of his answer helped tamp down some of Fionn’s fear, yet he couldn’t allow himself to totally believe Cody; his uncle was a greedy liar—just as Fionn’s father had been. Entering Dylon’s office, he sat down in the chair Cody pointed to and waited to hear about the plan.
~/~/~/~/~
After Fionn had left with Mystia, Kieran joined Logan and the others. Listening to Reif describe the ancient buildings in Angelopoulos, he suddenly had an idea. “Macushla,when we go to Mykonos, we can visit Reif’s home at the same time. Oh, my gods, it would be so amazing to visit a place no one has ever seen, I mean, even my Shaman didn’t know about it, and I thought he kneweverything. Hmmm, I think we should go there first because if we go there after Mykonos, I think we’ll be too tired to really enjoy it because of all the parties at the gathering, if you get my drift, but if we go there first, we’ll be fresh and can soak everything in. What do you think? Isn’t it a fantabulous idea?”
“Ay, I would like to see it too,” Brian said.
“See, perfecto! Then Reif and Brian can come with us to Mykonos,” burbled Kieran.
Before Logan could answer, Zane and David reappeared. Holding up the bag,” Zane said, “We got everything.”
“So, did we!” Theo exclaimed, bursting into the room with Norman, who had three cardboard tubes tucked under his arm. “The lady was so helpful, making sure the maps we picked out were all from different years, well, maybe more like centuries. We weren’t sure how far back we needed to go, so pooh bear told the lady we’d take a whole bunch. Isn’t he clever?”
“Good,” said Logan. “Put everything on the table while I gather the rest of the troops.” Then, he texted Dakota and Colton to join them.
~/~/~/~/~
Sitting between Penn and Dylon at the table in the courtroom, Fionn turned his head and watched as his uncle entered, stopping short after seeing five rows of enforcers sitting behind Fionn and his lawyer. Turning to Penn, he murmured, “My uncle’s here.”
“Good,” answered Penn, opening a folder and taking out several documents.
“Where’s Cody?” Fionn asked, giving a quick glance around the room. “I thought he was going to be here, too.”
“Don’t worry about him,” Dylon replied. “Remember, don’t react to anything the asshole does. We got this.”
Lacking the confidence Dylon was projecting, Fionn sat back in his chair and concentrated on getting his riotous emotions under control. Once again, his life was in the hands of other people, some of whom certainly didn’t have his best interests in mind, and bad memories of hisfather threatened to overcome him. He swore to himself that, no matter what happened at this hearing, he would never allow anyone to wield that kind of power over him again.
“All rise!” the bailiff’s voice thundered.
