Chapter 29
CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE
Killian
I read the fucking Stitch that Xavier shows me.
Ordinarily, I’d give him hell over it, tease him for reading that bullshit, even though we all do. It’s a good way to keep a finger on the pulse of the city and of the mood of society.
“I haven’t heard from her.” I run a hand over my face. “This Queen Bee is big, right?”
He nods.
“No news is bad news. The rest is good. And this…is good.”
You mean for the cause or for Iris?
I pick up my whiskey and take a swallow. Then I put it down and sign, I mean, asshole, for the cause. If people are talking about it and getting it out there, we might be able to skip the whole thing with the Council.
Apart from you just throwing Iris to the wind, we still need the Council.
Yeah, he’s right, on both counts. At least, superficially.
“Setting her aside for a moment, we can use this. A spread of knowledge and awareness done organically is what we wanted. It’s a great place to start, a place where we can manipulate, put pressure on the Council and the Monarch to see us.
We could rally more of the rich around us. Who is this bee person?”
He doesn’t answer.
“C’mon, Xav. We can’t rock up to Iris’s house, can we?” I say. “We don’t know what’s going on with Iris. So maybe we can talk to this bee. Who is it?”
No one knows. That’s the point, he signs. We can’t get to them.
“Iris—”
Maybe we’ve caused her enough problems. I’ve sent a couple of DMs in the past few days. You might not be able to text her, but the DMs are locked and private by order of the Council for the Season’s members and I… He pulls a small device from his pocket. Stole one.
Irritation beats hard against my chest. And hope. “What did she say?”
Nothing.
“Fuck.”
I’m thinking if we can’t talk to the bee person directly, we try through some of our social media outlets, contact others, or maybe we try to reach her through her platform, DM her. Or him. Because it could be a guy.
And Iris… I can’t stand the fact I don’t know what’s going on or where she is. Because, fuck, I put some work into her, had her primed to be a key asset.
Not to mention the fact I want her with a need I haven’t felt before.
Xavier’s moved off to the darkest corner, as he watches the patrons, the door.
For a cold bastard he’s got a soft heart. He channeled his anger into being calculated and I’m… I’m fine.
Everyone has scars. Especially those who aren’t like Iris, privileged, pampered.
It’s part of life and we just want to make that life better for all.
Because when things are banned and pushed underground, regulation and having someone to answer to goes out the window and then kids end up beaten and hanged for crimes they could never commit.
And people end up with a dead sister and no one who pays for that crime.
I learned if the system doesn’t respect me, I don’t respect it, and I’ll use it and those who place themselves at the top to reach my goals.
Why the fuck should I care about the consequences? Why should I care about the people?
Emmie comes first.
I look at the patrons drinking.
There are only a few of the upper class that have been in tonight, but they left, maybe because of the summer storm or they’re disappointed for…who the fuck cares why. I do know with the Stitch we’ll end up having more and we might just have to be selective when they come in.
And where the fuck is Iris?
I know you’re worried, too .
“Yeah, yeah,” I mutter to myself. “About the cause.”
But Emmie’s little face when she sees Icy comes to me, and Iris’s face as she sees my kid. “Shit,” I say. “She better be fucking fine.”
He suddenly straightens. We’re about to find out.
“How? Kidnap’s not the smartest agend?—”
The door opens and rain whips in, along with a figure wrapped in a cloak, the hood covering her face.
I know the fucking cloak.
I don’t need to see the face.
Iris.
She stumbles up and I grab her arms before she does something stupid like whip the hood down.
I’m hit with a world of scent, sex and flowers. A swirl of musk and sweet spice and it almost brings me to my knees.
“You took your sweet time,” I say, aiming for humor to defuse the situation as I grapple for self-control. “There’s drama and there’s over the top.”
But she looks up at me, her eyes big beneath the shadows of the hood, and I’m aware of Xavier in my head as he makes his way to the bar. I ignore him.
“Please,” she whispers, voice thick, almost sultry. “Please, help me. I know you can.”
“Iris?”
“I need, I need…help. My family…I’m trying to hold on but…” She shakes her head. “God, I’m sorry, I…”
What is it? Is she okay? Xavier asks, coming right up to us, so she’s protected, but he reels back a moment.
Her scent is overwhelming, enticing to the kind of levels it’ll drive a man insane.
“What do you think?” I ask as she meets my gaze, eyes big and unfocused.
Xavier touches her back, and she shudders.
I glance at the patrons as Alphas start to sniff the air and look around.
Shit, we need to get her out of the bar — He stops as the door opens and two more figures, both cloaked, come in, like it’s some damned religious sect.
And I slap a hand to my forehead as people in the bar look over, the Alphas starting to really pay fucking attention. “Bar’s closing early tonight.”
A grumble rises up, but no one argues. We close abruptly for myriad reasons. The patrons put down drinks and file out. No one wants to cross me, and they certainly don’t want the calculated pain that’ll come from Xavier.
I’m a tripwire, and fiery. He’s…he’s a different beast. He gets as furious as me, but he’ll mete it out, hide it in the coolness of his muteness, and then he’ll systematically crush someone.
They don’t want that from either of us, so they go. And then it’s us.
“Iris?” I ask, even though I know what’s going on. How the fuck can I help? My own body’s in freefall and it’s calling to her. So is Xavier’s. Even the kid who’s there with her and her sister’s keeping his distance.
And he’s a fucking Delta.
He’s signing fast with Xavier.
But before I can pry information out of Iris, she moans and doubles over.
I want her, and when I have her it’s going to be hard to control myself. It’s always been a when not if. But I thought it would be her in her non-lethal form. When she’s like this? Impossible.
“You’re her sister?” I say to the exceptionally pretty blonde. The girl nods and the guy next to her, the Delta who’s clearly a servant, stands a little too close. “She can’t be here like this.”
“Tell that to the universe.” The girl flicks me an irritated look. Then she focuses on Iris. “Iris, it’s Mari, hold on. We need you to hold on until we get you there, okay?”
Get her where? “You need to get her out of here. You know what’s happening?—”
“Yes,” The girl says sharply, more than a little of Iris showing in that sharpness. “But I can’t.”
“We’ll take you home. She needs?—”
“I know what she needs.” Mari’s firestorm whips in the air, her arm around her sister. “Not. You.”
“Drugs…” Iris groans again.
“Drugs?” I ask.
Mari’s head snaps up. “Do you have anything that can help her pain? Or push this off?”
I glance at Xavier. “No. Only contraceptives.”
“That won’t help.” She shakes her head. “We had a flat tire. Our driver is calling for a tow truck. And Iris thought…”
“Xavier will take you. Home’s best.” Xav’s got more control than me.
“No one from the Lower Side can turn up at our place. That’s scandal.” Mari rubs her sister’s back as the boy steps up to her other side.
“Mari, we need to do something,” he says. “Maybe get help with the car?”
I’m about to nod, but the girl isn’t done.
“Our brother’s furious,” she whispers, hand on the boy’s arm. “He’s had her pretty much under lock and key after the terrible things the Queen Bee wrote about her.” The girl swallows. “I’m her sister, Marigold.”
Another Omega, one with the air of floating through life, like Emmie’s mom had, except…I think Marigold’s comes from sheltering. She’s big eyed and, as she gives the place a quick once over, smart. She’s assessing, making decisions.
Then Mari sets those fiery big eyes on me.
“You’ll do.” She steps up to me. “You’re rebels, aren’t you? Part of the Shade? You want to change the way everything is?”
Freya locks the door and waits by it, one heel pushed back against the wall, her arms crossed.
“She tell you that?” I gesture at Iris. Who smells too fucking good. Xav hasn’t moved for good reason. He doesn’t want to lose his diminishing control before he gets it back in grip.
“Yes. She wanted to tell you something, wanted me to see, but she went into the first throws of heat on the way. Mom suspects she’s ready for heat, but no one figured she was this close.” The girl frowns, her robe’s hood down. “We brought her here.”
“It’s the only place,” Icy whispers, hand on my waist, and my hormones are going haywire.
Flowers. Sex. The clean scent of rain that only intensifies everything instead of dulling it.
“You can’t stay here. I’m sorry, but we can’t help.”
“She has to,” Marigold says. “Iris can’t be on the streets like this. We have to get the car fixed to get home. Or we wait for Heath, but he’ll kill her.”
Their brother sounds like a piece of work.
It’s not our problem.
But I take in the faces in front of me and think of Emmie. She loves Iris.
“Once the tire is fixed, I’m going to have to go back home and smooth this over with my brother and Mom. They’ll believe me. But Iris needs to get to Pen. It’s the best place for her now.”
I have no idea who Pen is.
She sucks in a breath. “You’ll need to take her to Pen’s. It’s out of the way, but the directions are on Iris’s phone.”
“We shouldn’t.” It’s too dangerous. “Freya?—”
“I can’t drive. You know that,” Freya stops and looks the other Delta up and down. “Do you? We can take the guys’ car.”
The Delta shakes his head.
“Me neither,” Mari says.