Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
CAELAN
Ismelled them the moment I stepped into the woods. Fury, shock, and a touch of fear rode both men as they made their way out of the place Evie had tossed them.
A fierce grin touched my lips. I wished I would have been there to see her toss their asses through the air. Two of my top wolves followed behind, Merrick and Cole. Fierce, powerful, and utterly loyal to Pack. What transpired today would stay between us and no one else.
Both men fanned out to either side.
“They’re still together,” Merrick whispered, low enough to reach only our ears.
“Easier to catch them,” Cole said, his grin edged with violence.
“Both injured.” Merrick inhaled. “Bleeding profusely. Your woman did a number on them.”
“She tossed them half a mile away from her shop,” I murmured. “The landing did most of the damage.”
“Good way to follow the law. Technically, she didn’t injure them.” Cole’s grin widened. “The ground did all the work.”
“Evie does love a technicality.” I held up a hand for silence as we prowled through the woods hunting the men who dared accost my Floromancer.
We found them a few minutes later, slogging through the trees and cursing up a blue streak.
One of them spoke, a tall and handsome shifter, not mine.
One more strike against him for trespassing in my territory without announcing his presence.
“That bitch. That fucking bitch. When I get a hold of her, I’ll show her exactly what a real man can do.
I don’t even give a shit about marrying her. ”
A cold rage settled over my body, the fury of the hunter seeking revenge. I motioned for my two wolves to circle around and block them from behind. They could try to run, but they’d find two more surprises if they did.
The other, slightly shorter and not as vocal, hissed between his teeth, one hand pressed against his rib cage. Blood seeped between the cracks of his fingers. “I dunno, man. Maybe we should leave her alone.”
The shifter snorted. “No one treats me like this and gets away with it.”
A sigh from the quieter one. “Dude. Do what you want. I’m getting the fuck out of here and finding a healer.”
I stepped out from between the trees. “Hello.”
The second stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide in his pale face. “Erm,” he said and paused before letting out a heartfelt sigh.
And then, “Fuck.”
I smiled. “It appears you know who I am.”
A nod. “One of the Shifter Lords.”
The first paused, a sharp tang of new scent in the air.
Terror.
I focused on the first. “Allow me to introduce myself to you. My name is Caelan, Lord of this territory. You’ve already met my lady.”
The smell of urine saturated the air.
My eyes went gold, casting a light on the shady forest and the man who’d dared to threaten Evie.
“Hey man,” the shifter said, raising his hands in the air and jerking back a step. “I don’t want any trouble. I saw an opportunity and took it.”
He spoke about Evie as if she were an inconvenience, not a living, breathing sentient being. The love of my life. “An opportunity,” I mused. “Who gave you said opportunity?”
“I dunno. We got an email, and it became sort of a game to see who could get her.”
He swallowed hard when he realized his choice of words.
“And did you?” I asked. “Get her?”
A flash of malice in his eyes, there and gone. “We left,” he lied.
“Oh? How did you end up here of all places? Not many people go prowling through these woods. Wolves are prevalent in Joy Springs. Mine and the natural species.” I let claws slip from my fingertips. “The smell of blood attracts predators, you know.”
He took an involuntary step back. “Look man. Like I said, we don’t want any trouble.”
The second turned and took off running. I didn’t even bother to look. My wolves would take care of him.
Sure enough, a single sharp scream came seconds later, followed by the metallic scent of blood.
I watched as an interplay of emotions played over the shifter’s face. Shock. Fear. Fury. And resignation as he calculated the odds of walking out of here alive.
“Someone should have told you, cat shifter, to never intrude on a Lord’s territory.”
He took a few more steps backward, the shifter’s heart pounding triple time.
“But even more important, is never threatening a Lord’s woman.”
This time, my smile was full of fangs, my power saturating the air.
I was on him an instant later, his scream ringing out through the still air, blood saturating the earth, a worthy sacrifice for his insult on its daughter.
I didn’t bother showering or even changing my clothes for my meeting. If the Lords wanted war, I’d give it to them. Targeting Evie was the same as targeting me, and they’d know it the moment I stepped foot into the meeting room.
I’d chosen to take Simone with me. Garrett’s presence made me itchy for violence. My Second understood and planned to make himself scarce for at least the next week.
Not that doing so would be an issue. Thalia took up far more time than any of us expected.
Not telling Evie who she was, was wearing on me. We’d promised honesty, and neither of us were doing a great job. Granted, Evie’s secrecy wasn’t as harmful as mine, though I guess I could argue almost getting Garrett killed trumped any secret I was keeping.
But that wasn’t her fault. Keeping Thalia’s true identity from Evie was mine and only mine. She wouldn’t understand me keeping a promise to Cernunnos if it prevented honesty with her.
Once again, the goddamned fae had gotten me into a pickle I was unprepared for.
Rowan was the first to arrive, the familiar prickle of his magic reminding me of Evie. His eyes widened when he walked into the conference room and spotted me. A bark of laughter cracked through the room.
“Looks like the marriage scheme is off to a grand start.” He grinned and pulled out the seat next to me. His nose wrinkled as he caught a whiff of me.
“Jesus, Caelan. Couldn’t you have brought the bloody clothes with you or something?”
“It wouldn’t have the same effect.”
“Cat shifters?”
At my nod, Rowan snorted. “Bunch of assholes.”
“Evie no longer has to worry about them.”
His eyes widened a hair. “Not in the mood for a warning, I guess?”
“Nope.”
He helped himself to a cup of coffee set up in the middle of the table. “How many?”
“Two today, at least one the day before. Probably a few others she hasn’t told me about.”
Rowan winced. “How many are still standing?”
“Depends on if I find the others.” I let the violence come through in my smile.
Rowan sighed and sat back down. “I told them this was a terrible idea.”
Unsurprising Rowan had nothing to do with this.
He’d always been my staunchest ally and remained one of my closest friends, but even more importantly, he cared about Evie as much as I did, something that had almost ended in a fight or two between us.
“You know for sure it came directly from the Lords?”
To my surprise, he shook his head. “I don’t think it originated with us.”
I was afraid of that.
“I can’t tell you for sure where the suggestion came from, but we all know Ethan isn’t smart enough to come up with something like that on his own.”
We both laughed. Ethan was a Lord, so he had to be intelligent, but he’d never been crafty. Ethan controlled his territory through brute force rather than subtle manipulation or true leadership.
The man sitting beside me was the opposite. And I hoped I was too. But occasionally, I killed two people in the woods who dared hit on my woman.
Life required balance.
Footsteps came down the hall. I lowered my voice. “We need to chat once this is over.”
Rowan glanced at me. “Anything I need to know before the meeting starts?”
“Keep a close eye on Thorvin and Ethan.”
“You do like to keep things interesting, friend.” Rowan shifted his chair to put some distance between us before the other Lords arrived.
Soren entered the room a few seconds later, an eyebrow lifting as he spotted us. “Colluding already?”
“Collusion is illegal,” Rowan said, his eyes unreadable.
Soren and Rowan weren’t enemies, exactly.
None of us were. But neither were they friends.
The other Lord and I had come to an uneasy alliance.
I still didn’t trust him anywhere as near as much as I did Rowan, but he hadn’t stabbed me in the back yet, and he’d sided with me on a few important things.
However, I was still pissed off at all the Lords over what happened to Evie.
Minus Rowan. In fact, I owed him a great deal of thanks. He’s the one who got me to pull my head out of my ass over Evie, and she and I had come to a better place because of his interference.
I had already known he was a good Lord. But after what he’d done for me, I knew without a doubt, he was a good man as well.
Soren was still an unknown player, though wouldn’t life be grand if we all trusted each other?
He nodded and took a seat on the opposite side of the table. “Ethan is on the way in.”
Interesting. “We’re all scheduled today, as far as I know. We need to talk about replacing Donovan.”
“A little birdie told me one of the shifters in the running stopped by your lady’s house.” Soren’s eyes glittered with amusement. “They also told me he was so handsome it hurt to look at him.”
Rowan snorted. “If Evie fell for every pretty face, she would have been off the market long ago.”
Garrett had texted me about it the night he was shot, but only said Dario was in Joy Springs, not that he’d shown up at Evie’s house. With everything going on, I hadn’t thought to ask about it, and Evie never mentioned it.
Under the table, my fists clenched. “Did he say what he wanted?”
“He was asking about Donovan’s territory. Dario found out Evie claimed the land.”
My jaw clenched. “Curious how he found out about it. Anything we need to know, Soren?”
The Lord laughed. “I’ve never given a shit about Donovan’s territory. You know how much I love the south. Being in the middle of a winter storm in October does not appeal to me, thank you very much. However he found out, it wasn’t through me.”