Chapter 12 Backbone
BACKBONE
ASH
Ididn’t expect Raelynn to let us stay without a fight. She’d been adamant we leave before she got home, so her willingness to negotiate terms about us staying until we returned to Elyrdin surprised me.
“When she gets in, we need to convince her to let us stay,” I said, leaning forward and bracing my hands on the counter.
Cyn’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you and Zeke already got her to agree.”
“Technically, she never said yes. She said there needed to be rules,” Zeke said, rounding the counter with a soda to take the empty barstool.
“Rules?” Ezra took the offered bottle of water from Cyn and resumed studying the summoning book.
“I’m not about to let a human tell me what to do,” Cyn said, taking a seat on the stool beside Zeke. “Why can’t we just lock her in her room?”
“Cyn, think about it,” I started, meeting his eyes. “We’re asking her to let four men she doesn’t know stay in her home.”
“Four infernal men,” Zeke interjected as if that made the situation better and not worse.
“Right. Four infernal men. We’re lucky she’s willing to listen to us at all.”
“That’s another thing,” Cyn said, clenching his fists on the counter. “Why didn’t she call for help the night we showed up? Why hasn’t she contacted anyone? I mean, we’d know if she had. Someone would’ve come already.”
Ezra shook his head, looking up from the book. “What would she say? Report demons in her home? You heard what she told Zeke. If she’s seen other infernals from Niemna since she was a child, she knows how the humans would react to a report like that.”
“She did say something about being locked up,” Zeke said, drawing Cyn’s attention.
When Cyn revealed what he’d overheard from Zeke’s conversation with Raelynn, I wasn’t sure what to think.
Not only had she seen other infernals, but she’d grown up interacting with them. Knowing her mother and grandmother saw them too added another layer of mystery to the situation. Why, after multiple generations, did things progress to summoning the council’s heirs?
I believed our presence in her home was no accident. The question remained: did someone want us here, or were there other forces at work?
Cyn clicked his tongue. “She could have reported strange men in her home. She didn’t have to say shit about demons.”
“I also found it strange she only threatened to call the authorities but never followed through after you revealed your other form,” Ezra said, taking a drink.
“I suspect shock played a role. I didn’t give it much thought beyond that, but if she’ll allow us to stay until we can sort a means to return home, we can negotiate with the human. ”
“I’m not about to follow her orders.”
I straightened, crossing my arms, protective instinct flaring again. “Now isn’t the time to pick a fight. We need her.”
Cyn rolled his eyes and spun on the stool, leaning back against the counter on his elbows. “Yeah, yeah. Fine. Play nice with the human.”
I had a feeling “playing nice” wasn’t as civil as it sounded.
Cyntrix Brakeal didn’t play nice when he knew he didn’t have to.
The only time he submitted to orders was in the presence of Ezra’s father. He did it to protect Zeke from Cornaith’s wrath—he’d never let Cornaith leash him any other way.
With Cyn’s bitterness toward Raelynn, and his strange attraction to her blood, I needed to keep an eye on him. His odd behavior made me question whether something similar was affecting me, triggering my need to bond with her.
I never wanted to fight my brothers, but I couldn’t ignore the powerful compulsion to protect her. My chest ached even considering it. I didn’t fight my brothers. Ever.
She seemed like a good person. She didn’t deserve Cyn or Ezra’s ire.
The front door opened, and Zeke hopped off his stool to take bags from Raelynn’s arms as she struggled inside.
“Thanks.” She tossed her purse and keys onto the table.
She followed him into the kitchen, set the bags on the counter, and took the empty spot beside me. My heart rate sped up. I’d felt the same rush when I saw her at the mall after her absence all morning.
She slid a bag toward me, unpacking another.
“How was work?” I asked, placing the Styrofoam containers she passed to me on the counter.
“Slow. I don’t see why Shane insisted on calling me in.”
“Who’s Shane?”
She looked up at Zeke. “My boss. He’s only giving me a hard time because he didn’t get his way. I’m turning my phone off on my next day off.”
I moved the empty bags to the side of the counter. “What’d he want?”
“Doesn’t matter. Anyway, one of my coworkers gave me a ride to pick up dinner.
” She opened the smaller containers, revealing fries, macaroni and cheese, and two deep-fried items I didn’t recognize.
“I wasn’t sure exactly what to get, but Zeke said you like fish.
” She glanced across the counter at Cyn.
He shrugged but made no attempt to thank her for considering him. At least he wasn’t arguing with her or drinking her blood. Better than what I expected from him when he said he’d play nice.
“Well, I got a few things and a family meal, so you guys have options. There’s fried tilapia, flounder, and popcorn shrimp in the bigger containers.”
I held up a small, breaded ball with green spots. “What is this?”
“Fried okra,” Ezra said, tucking a piece of paper into the book, closing it. “I tried them a few years ago when Father sent me to the region.”
Popping the little fried ball into my mouth, I hummed. Not bad.
Zeke leaned forward and snagged the only other unfamiliar food item. “Are these hush puppies?”
“What the hell is that?” Cyn took the plates I passed to him and placed them on the counter.
“A hush puppy. You haven’t had one? You’ve gotta try it! It’s like this sweet bread that humans deep-fry,” Zeke said, holding one out for Cyn to take.
“Bread? It’s not dog?”
We fell silent when Raelynn burst into laughter.
It brought relief to witness such a beautiful sound after hearing her grief yesterday. When she snorted, Zeke’s face lit up and something in my chest loosened.
“Oh my gosh, really? Humans don’t eat dogs.”
“I hear some do,” Ezra said.
“Well, the humans in this house don’t. This is a dog-friendly zone.” She paused and looked at him. “You don’t eat dogs, do you?”
Ezra’s head angled to the side as he considered her. The longer he stared, the more her shoulders tensed until she looked down at the food, unable to meet his eyes.
“No one eats dogs in this house. Rule number one,” she mumbled.
She didn’t hear him, but I stood close enough to catch Ezra’s low chuckle in response to her behavior. It seemed Raelynn amused him—a step up from the indifference he expressed only a day ago. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing yet.
Once everyone plated their food, I followed Ezra and Zeke into the living room to sit at the coffee table on the floor.
Raelynn called from the kitchen, “Drinks? We’ve got… water, soda, juice… alcohol? Do demons drink alcohol?”
Cyn turned from the counter and rolled his eyes. “Are you even old enough to drink?”
When she crossed her arms, he laughed.
“You’re not, are you? If I remember right, you have to be twenty-one in this country. At least that was the case last time I came to Earth.”
“I’m twenty-three. I’m not a child.”
“Didn’t say you were,” he said, his gaze dropping to where her crossed arms pushed up her breasts. She didn’t notice, thankfully. Her focus had shifted to Zeke.
“Did you want a drink?”
“I’ll take another soda, please.”
I stood and went to the kitchen to help her, nudging Cyn as he passed me into the living room. “You gotta cool it. She’s being amicable.”
The last thing we needed was Cyn pushing her to the edge again before we even set ground rules.
He sucked his teeth and walked off, taking a spot beside Zeke.
I took the soda from Raelynn’s hand, grabbing one for myself and a bottle of water for Ezra. “Ignore him. He’s younger than you anyway, so he doesn’t have any room to talk.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, he’s twenty-two. Zeke’s twenty-one. I thought you were younger too, to be honest.” I followed her into the living room, sitting on the edge of the sofa. “I’m not good at guessing, though, so that isn’t saying much. Besides, it doesn’t matter in Elyrdin.”
She looked up at me after taking her place on Zeke’s other side. “Why doesn’t it matter? How old are you?”
“Twenty-six. But it doesn’t matter when you live for centuries like we do. A few years mean nothing in the long run. We’re allowed to drink from age sixteen.”
“Ezra’s twenty-four,” Zeke said before shoveling macaroni in his mouth. “So you fit in the middle of us perfectly.”
“For fuck’s sake, Zeke.” Cyn pinched the bridge of his nose.
“What?”
It took a moment for the words to register, but when they did, I groaned. Zeke hadn’t meant anything, but once again, Raelynn had Cyn in a knot at the edge of his control. What was it about her?
Realizing what Cyn’s words meant when he caught her eye, Raelynn choked on her food and smacked her chest twice.
Zeke’s eyes widened with understanding. “I didn’t mean—”
“He knows you didn’t mean that,” I said. “He’s being an ass.”
Raelynn took a long drink of her soda and cleared her throat, accepting the napkin I offered to wipe her mouth. “Thanks.”
“I’m not being an ass. Zeke’s the one fawning over her. I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to put her between you two.”
“Wait a minute,” she said, holding her hands up. “That ain’t happening.”
Cyn aimed his scowl in her direction. “What? Too good for an infernal?”
Her lips parted in surprise.
I glared at Cyn. “He doesn’t mean that.”
He looked at me. “No? Don’t tell me you don’t want to fuck her. Might as well see if you’ve got a shot now.”
At his crass words, the room went still. Even Ezra set his utensils down to stare at Cyn.
I couldn’t explain it, but Cyn became increasingly volatile the longer we remained on Earth. I’d never heard of him behaving in such a way during his previous visits, but I’d never witnessed it firsthand.
Zeke placed his fork on the table and looked at Cyn in disbelief. “Why are you acting like this?”
“Like what? I’m an infernal. It’s what we do, right?”
“No, it’s not.”
“This isn’t gonna work,” Raelynn said, turning her attention to me.
“I’m sorry. I know you and Zeke wanted me to consider it, and I really wanted to try because I hate the situation you’re in, but…
” She glanced at Cyn out of the corner of her eye.
“I can’t do this. With Grandma and everything…
I can’t.” Her voice softened. “I’m sorry.
Please find somewhere else to stay.” She looked down at her lap as if ashamed to reject us.
The pain that bloomed in my chest took me by surprise.
“What? No,” Zeke said, turning and grasping her hands in his. “Please give us a chance.”
“Seriously? I told you to lock her in her room and be done with it. This is ridiculous. She’s a human and we’re infernal royalty. She’s lucky to even be alive.”
“Cyntrix. That’s enough,” Ezra said, voice hard and cold.
Raelynn stared at Zeke, taking in his pleading look, her own softening. Something shifted then, and her eyes hardened. Shaking off his hands, she stood and stepped around him to move behind Cyn. When he turned and looked up at her, she fisted her hands at her side. “Get up.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said… Get. Up.”
He chuckled like her sudden stern voice amused him, but he still pushed off the floor and rose to his feet.
Raelynn’s height meant she didn’t need to look up much to meet Cyn’s gaze, but he stepped into her space, bringing his face close to hers. The calculated move forced her to angle her head back, making her appear smaller.
Every muscle in my body went taut, and I started to stand.
Ezra lifted his hand to stop me.
A wicked grin spread across Cyn’s face. “I’m up. Now what?”
With Cyn’s instability, and the obvious challenge Raelynn presented to him, it wouldn’t take much to set him off.
As much as I wanted to intervene, I trusted Ezra. If he didn’t think I should interfere, then I wouldn’t. He outranked us but never ordered us around without just cause. If he wanted to stop me, I trusted he had reason—even if I didn’t like the rising tension in the air.
Raelynn’s eyes closed, and she took a slow, deliberate breath.
When she opened them again, she lifted her hand and pointed to the side.
“This is my home.” She jabbed Cyn in the chest with her finger.
“You will respect me in my home.” Another jab.
“You will follow the rules we’ll figure out together, or you will leave.
Without them.” She pointed in our direction.
“You will not force me to punish them because you’re an insufferable ass.
” She jabbed him one final time. “You’re not an heir to anything here. ”
I chuckled, biting the pad of my thumb. I hadn’t expected her to stand up to Cyn that way, and Zeke’s gaping mouth said he hadn’t either.
Cyn stepped forward, forcing Raelynn back as his body pressed against hers. He continued moving until her back met the wall.
Ezra’s eyes met mine, and he shook his head.
At this point, I was curious how Raelynn would handle Cyn acting out, so I leaned back against the sofa and crossed my arms to enjoy the show.
Still, if he stepped out of line, I’d move. Ezra knew that as well as I did.