Struggling to escape his bonds, Niall glared at Remy. “You are going to be so, so sorry. Wait till my witches get here…they’ll send you as a gift to Satan—to serve as his little bitch.”
“Can you shut him up?” asked Carson.
“What the fuck is it with the fucking guard dogs? Is that all you can mumph…”
“Thanks babe,” Carson said, turning to Hunter. “We were going to warn him about not doing anything that could be considered an attack on the Keeper, but I don’t think it’s worth our breath because…excuse me, Fionn…he is fucking bat-shit crazy.”
“I agree with Carsy,” Remy said. “Once he finds out his witches can’t help him anymore, he’ll just hire new ones, which’ll put us back to square one.”
“Where’s he getting the money to do that?” asked Hunter. “Look at this place…why is he living in this shithole? Why not use part of his hoard to fix it up?”
“Some dragons do this,” said Fionn, “mainly to hide their wealth from visitors. Trust me, my cousin isn’t poor. I’m sure he has another house as fancy as my father’s chateau.”
“Why is he going after you?” asked Carson.
“Greed,” Fionn replied, “Dragons are greedy…the more they have, the more powerful they think they are. Greed has caused more wars than anything else in the dragon world. In my cousin’s case, he sees me as an easy mark…someone he can easily overpower to get my hoard—which is far bigger than his—even with the addition of his father’s.”
Catching the sadness in his mate’s voice, Hunter asked, “Pet, what’s the matter?”
Sighing, Fionn tore his eyes away from his cousin and looked up at his mate, “He’s the only family I have left. I hoped that sometime in the future we could at least be friends. But I see that’ll never happen. His hatred of me is all-consuming.”
“What do you want to do? Give him a warning and then leave him alone?” asked Hunter.
Fionn’s eyes shifted back to his cousin. Shaking his head, he said, “He’ll never leave me alone…even if I were to give him everything I have, it would never be enough. The only thing that would eventually satisfy him is my death…and he won’t give up on that…ever.” Turning his back to Niall, Fionn’s shoulders slumped as he looked up at his mate, pain written on his face.
Giving a brief nod, Hunter said, “White Knight.” Wings sprung from Hunter’s back, a silver sword appeared at his side, luminescent white light surrounded him. “Release him,” he growled to Remy.
The magical ropes fell to the ground, freeing Niall along with his voice. Intense anger radiated from him as he stared daggers at Fionn who had turned his back on him. His hatred so all-consuming, he ignored Hunter’s White Knight, and instead focused on Fionn. “Turn around, you fucking, little twat. Face me…I want to see your eyes when I tear your heart out and have taken everything from you…even your fucking mother. Oh yes, I bet you didn’t know that either,” he spit out, along with a high-pitched, deranged laugh. “I convinced Uncle Artur to stay away from your fucking mother…refuse to provide any treatment for her. I told him he’d be free…free to marry someone worthy of him…someone who could bear him a stronger heir…not a fucking weakling like you.”
Hearing a sob escape from his mate, Hunter threw his sword, his aim accurate as it flew through the air, piercing Niall’s chest and exiting through his back, his heart skewered on it. Reaching for Fionn, Hunter wrapped him in the safety of his wings, whispering in his ear while stroking his back, “It’s over, pet…over.”
Retrieving Hunter’s sword, Carson looked down at Niall, pitying the young man whose heart was filled with somuch hate he never was able to be happy. Removing the heart from the sword he looked at it for a moment before dropping it at the dragon’s feet. Handing the sword to his cousin, he said, “Let’s go home.”
~/~/~/~/~
Leaving his cousin and Fionn at their cottage, Carson took Remy’s hand, walking silently with him back to their cottage. Niall’s hateful words reminded him of the many times his father said similar ones to Jackson—far from their mother’s hearing but not from his. It was truly miraculous that his brother had come through it untarnished by the hate. Of that, he was grateful because Jackson would now be the example he would follow—to give his family the best he could.
“Do you think Fionn will be okay?” asked Remy softly.
“He has Hunter to take care of him. I know that sounds strange, but I’ve seen the difference in Fionn since Hunter became his mate. He’s a different person…so, yeah, it might take some time, but in the end, Fionn will be fine,” Carson said, quietly.
“Are you okay?” asked Remy.
Looking at his mate, Carson smiled, touched by Remy’s concern. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just needed a moment to process everything. What about you?”
“I’m good. Relieved it’s over.”
“Me too,” Carson murmured, then grinned. “So, tonight you plan to fuck me six ways to Sunday, huh?”
“You better believe it. Your power is a major turn-on.”
“Well, in that case…”
“Carsso! Remee!” Galen shouted, running towards them. “Can we play Snap again? Miz B don’t know how to.”
Kneeling down, Carson held his arms open as Galen flew into them. “Hey buddy, have you been good today?”
“Uh-huh. I did everything Miz B told me to do,” Galen said, wrapping his arms around Carson’s neck.
