CHAPTER SEVEN
Dalia
“Welcome, Enya.” I give her a warm smile as she steps into the room, but I can’t seem to stop my eyes from moving back to the riders.
“Let me guess—I’m the last one to arrive?” She laughs because she’s always the last to arrive. It’s a running joke that she’d be late to her own funeral.
It’s made funnier because she can’t die since she’s a phoenix. Well, she can die temporarily but never permanently.
I close the door behind her. “You are.”
She frowns. “This is serious.”
“What gave you that idea?” I ask her with a smile to soften my words before letting it fall away. “Yeah, it is. Come on, have a seat, and we can get started.”
I walk toward the front of the room to join my sisters as Enya heads for her seat.
Once I reach them, Morrigan steps forward and clears her throat. The conversation around us dies down as all eyes turn to her.
“We’re sorry to call you in tonight, but this is urgent. As you can see, we have some newcomers with us—Der kopflose Reiter. They’ve come with a warning for Iero.”
I step forward. “Before we dive into all of it, I’d like to introduce you to Titan, Steel, and Blaze. As I’m sure you can tell from their cuts, they’re with the Headless Riders MC. Steel is the president, Titan is the sergeant at arms, and Blaze is the road captain. Will each of you introduce yourselves?”
Enya is the first to speak, flipping her long blonde hair over her shoulders. “I’m Enya, a phoenix.”
“Amaya, a selkie.” She bows her head toward the riders.
The others slowly go around the room, giving their names and supernatural types.
The gargoyle, Halsten; the frost giant, Frost; the siren, Coda; the vampire, Sable; the necromancer, Keres; and Jaeden—the stone coat.
The eleven of us in this room have been here since the very beginning. While my sisters and I are the founders, the eight of them helped build Iero just as much as we did.
“It’s nice to meet you all,” Steel says, and I imagine him inclining his head slightly, but who the fuck knows what he’s doing since I can’t see it.
Nope, I’m not bitter about that at all.
“What message of danger do you carry to us?” Amaya’s attention locks on the three riders, and it’s clear she knows the purpose of these supernaturals—even if I hadn’t when I met them.
Blaze clears his throat before explaining the dream.
“Renwick?” Sable hisses, her dark brown hair flying around her as she jumps to her feet. “He must die.”
I snort, holding my hand up to cut her off. “I’m all for the asshole dying, but you need to understand that he’s coming for me. I’m willing to leave—with my sisters, as they’ve made it clear they won’t allow me to leave on my own—to keep Iero safe. Our people don’t need to be caught up in a battle that I caused.”
“Do you really think so little of us? Of the people we’ve welcomed into Iero?” Coda asks with a cocked eyebrow, his voice still melodic despite the bite of anger.
“What? No, I just want to keep everyone safe?—”
“And we want to keep you safe,” Halsten rumbles. “Your fight is our fight.”
There are murmurs of agreement as everyone around the table nods.
Tears fill my eyes as I look around the room. I knew they would have my back, but I hate that I’m the cause of what’s coming.
“We might not know everything he did to you, Dalia, but we were here for the aftermath,” Keres says quietly. “We will never let him get his hands on you again.”
Steel clears his throat. “The rest of our club is on the way. They should be here within the next few hours. We plan to fight alongside you, but would it be beneficial to know what we’re dealing with? Why is he so insistent that you’re his? I’m sure it’s nothing you want to talk about…”
