Oliver laughed, but Penelope heard the hint of fear. “No, you’d be doing me a favor.”
“Is that what you want?” Obsidian stood tall, crossed his arms over his chest. “You want me to send you back?”
Penelope expected Oliver to jump at the opportunity, but her brother didn’t say a word. He simply stood there, staring.
“I’ll let you think on that for a little while,” Obsidian told him, holding out his hand for Penelope to join him. “But I’m only going to say this one more time. You disrespect myamsouelotone more time, your new residence will be the dungeon. Understood?”
She probably should’ve appreciated Obsidian coming to her rescue, but Penelope felt sorry for her brother. For whatever reason, he’d never liked her, and she honestly had no idea why that was. Any time she tried to broach the subject, he waved her off and called her crazy. Yet he never denied it.
“Let’s eat,” Obsidian stated, taking her hand and leading her back into the dining room.
All eyes were averted when she came in, but despite her efforts, she knew they’d all heard what had happened.
And she didn’t want to know what they thought of her now.
Chapter Eighteen
Monday, August 5, 2019
They’d made it through the weekend without anymajor incidents, so Obsidian considered it a success. While he was still waiting for the demons to make a move, Penelope was proving to be a wonderful distraction. She seemed to have settled in nicely and he couldn’t deny waking up every night to her in his bed was quickly becoming the highlight of his existence.
While he attempted to be of help to his brothers, Penelope had spent time with Winnie while Oliver had kept his distance. As far as Obsidian could tell, the male had gotten the message and he valued his life.
Not that he would kill the human, but he definitely wasn’t above locking him in one of the rooms below ground. He couldn’t fathom what Penelope could’ve done to make her brother so angry, so Obsidian figured it was no fault of hers. If he was right, the male was fighting his own demons, whatever those may be, and rather than owning up to his mistakes, he preferred to lay blame. Since his sister was the closest to him, she suffered.
One thing he did notice was that Penelope kept her distance. He had to wonder if that was due to the empathy she was plagued with or something else. Obsidian didn’t even need to be an empath to feel the waves of anger that rolled off the human. For Penelope, putting space between them was likely a coping mechanism.
Obsidian headed toward the sunroom at the back of the house. He found Stygian and Eclipse reclined on the sofa, feet up on the coffee table as they stared at the television above them.
“Where is everyone?” he asked his brothers.
“Penelope and Winnie talked them into a movie. They’re up in the theater,” Stygian said.
“WatchingEnd Game,” Eclipse added. “I’ve seen it a dozen times. Opted out this go-round.”
Obsidian grinned. Aphotic would be proud to know Obsidian had mated with a Marvel fan.
He dropped onto the empty sofa. “Any news?”
“On Perfidious?” Stygian’s gaze never left the television. “Nope.”
Glancing up, Obsidian watched the cars speeding along the track. Formula One was Stygian’s jam. The male would watch the race live on Sunday and again on Monday, as though he’d possibly missed something.
Eclipse looked over. “However, there was a tip on the message board. It sounds like the vampires are seeing an influx of Shadow Beasts. Word is they took out the alpha.”
Obsidian sat up, stared at his brother. “And Kaj?”
“I had Miklós do some digging. He’s alive. Sounds like he’s reluctant, but he’s taking on the role of alpha.”
Obsidian breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t seen Kaj in a couple of years, not since they’d taken the male in when he’d been injured.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Obsidian inquired.
“Miklós left a message for him. Told him we’re here if he needs us. No response yet.”
Good. The vampires had always stepped in when they’d needed them, and Obsidian would do the same. Considering they were the only ally with enough manpower to be of help, he figured the give-and-take was a beneficial arrangement.
Staring at the screen, Obsidian tried to relax, but it was futile. He couldn’t fight the heat consuming him, though he’d spent the better part of the night attempting to. As it was, Penelope was enduring theamnighrelatively well. On a scale of one to ten, he figured they were skating somewhere in the middle at this point, but it was amping up in intensity with every passing day.
