Chapter Four
Over an hour later, I was luxuriating in a jacuzzi tub in a suite just down the hall from where Sebastian had taken over one of the casino’s penthouses for his stint in Vegas.
And for a chaser had rented out the rest of the floor to accommodate all the family members who had come with him.
And there were a lot of them, making it a bit crowded in here despite the expansive accommodations.
My home was also a bit crowded these days, but it was a lot quieter and more familiar, and I would have vastly preferred to be doing this there.
But we couldn’t go back, not tonight. Not when nobody knew what was going on, whether the members of Rand who had gotten away would be showing up in force, or whether my mysterious assailants would try for a little revenge.
Well, assailant. The other two were dead, one having been a snack for the vamp, who had courteously accepted my thanks with his victim’s blood still ringing his mouth, and the other was missing a torso after my spell ate through most of it.
But the leader had gotten away, and despite every vamp and Were in the place attempting to track him, he’d left no sign.
So, we were getting a staycation at Dante’s, at least for tonight.
And by we, I meant everybody, including my little clan.
Some of Sebastian’s people had been relocated to rooms on a lower floor to accommodate us, which would have led to more bickering, except that everybody was tiptoeing around him right now and being nice to me.
Very nice. It was honestly a bit creepy. But knowing Weres, it wouldn’t last, so I decided to enjoy it while I could.
Meanwhile, Sebastian’s ranting could be heard even this far away. I couldn’t make out distinct words from down the hall and through a number of intervening doors, but the general sentiment was clear. The bardric was… displeased.
The door to the bathroom opened, and Cyrus stuck his head in. “Are you decent?”
“No.”
“Good.” He came in and sat on the side of the tub, which was big enough for two. But when I offered to make room, he declined with a sigh. “I’ll be needed shortly.”
“How bad is it?”
Something heavy was thrown against a wall down the hall, and some glass shattered. Cyrus winced slightly. “Bad. He has to put on a show for the clan elders, who are literally about to come out of their skins—”
“And is that all this is?” Because yes, Weres liked to see some savagery from their leadership, especially in times of stress, but this had been going on for a while. The bill for damages was going to be a bitch.
“No. It’s… no.” He didn’t elaborate, and after one look at his grim expression, I didn’t ask. “I was only able to get away for a moment because we need everything you can tell us about that mage.”
“I already gave you that.” It was why I’d only started my bath a few minutes ago, despite being covered in blood, much of it mine.
I’d had to be checked out by Arnou’s healer and then debriefed by Ulmer, who had done so while still in wolf form and with blood on his breath.
And then I’d had to get everybody settled into their rooms before I had a moment to myself.
Or not, I thought, as the door opened again.
“You ask her yet?” Ulmer’s human head stuck around the frame.
“Get out!” Cyrus snarled and threw a towel at him.
It was a measure of how loyal Ulmer was to the two brothers that Cyrus could get away with that, not that it worked.
Ulmer pulled the towel off his face and tossed it aside. “’Cause the bardric wants to know—”
“I know what he wants!”
“Then ask her,” Ulmer said, coming in and filling the doorway.
Cyrus looked like a man who was about to chew on some old werewolf ass, until I grabbed another towel and his arm at the same time. “Leave it.”
“Damn it, you’ve been through enough tonight! And this old bastard already had a chance—”
“To ask like three things,” Ulmer growled. “And stop acting like a goddamned human who needs to protect the little woman. Your woman is fine—”
“She is not fine!” Cyrus snapped. “You saw—”
“Yeah, I saw her eat that moron Bleddyn for dinner and have dessert of a mage or two—”
“One,” I said, wrapping myself in the massive towel. Whatever else you could say about Dante’s, they didn’t stint on the linens. “A vamp got the other.”
“Yeah, and the third got away. And that’s the problem—”
“You aren’t finished yet,” Cyrus said to me angrily as I started to get out of the tub.
“The blood’s off,” I said, which was true—mostly.
Some had dried, and I’d been trying a soak to loosen it so that it wouldn’t take any more hide when it finally came free.
But so much for that. “And Ulmer isn’t going away, and Sebastian isn’t going to calm down until we give them what they want,” I added, which Cyrus already knew.
He was just in protective mode because he hadn’t liked having to stand on the sidelines while I dueled Bleddyn.
And had liked even less the bloody mess I’d looked like after the mage fight, although most of that had been from the earlier assault by Rand.
I hadn’t pointed that out, however, as we were still trying to avoid all-out war.
Or at least, I assumed so.
“I need to get dressed,” I told Ulmer, who didn’t seem to know what to do with that piece of information.
“Out!” Cyrus said again, and Ulmer scowled.
“This is the problem with Were society,” he muttered. “Too damned human.”
But he left, although knowing him, he didn’t go far.
“You up to this?” Cyrus said softly, after the door shut again.
I looked at him, and for a second, there were two of them. Blood loss, I thought, and let my head sag onto his chest. “And if I say no?”
“Then it’s no, and they can all go to hell,” he said, as a hard but gentle hand found my hair.
It felt good, as his touch always did. Felt right, like his musk had smelled when he’d been about to hand Bleddyn his ass. Would have been a short fight, I thought, and smiled.
Even shorter than mine.
Maybe the guy got lucky.
“I’ll order room service,” Cyrus whispered. “We’ll veg out, watch some movies...”
“Sure. And everyone will be happy to leave us alone, with no interruptions.”
“They’ll be interruptions,” came faintly from Ulmer outside the door.
Cyrus snarled at it.
I sighed.
“We can watch movies tomorrow,” I told him. “Besides, I want to see Sebastian. I didn’t get to after… after.”
“The healer said not to tire yourself out—”
“I’ll be quick.”
He didn’t look happy about that, but he nodded. “I’ll order pizza for the clan from room service. We leave when it gets here.”
“Deal.”
Knowing how slow room service was around here, that should give me more time than I wanted. I started looking around for some clothes before realizing I didn’t have any. The lovely outfit I’d come in was now a heap of rags on the ballroom floor.
“Bathrobe?”
“We can do better than that,” he said, and got up to crack the door.
Only to be almost run over by a trio of girls with bags, boxes, and what looked like half a boutique in their arms.
“We knew you’d need clothes,” Sophie said breathlessly. “Although we had to guess your size!”
She looked rosy-cheeked and happy for a girl who’d just been in a huge battle a little over an hour ago. But she was nothing if not resilient, and somebody had obviously loaned her a credit card again. I tried not to think about the bill.
Although that was hard after seeing the haul.
“What is all this?” I asked because it looked like they’d bought out a store.
“Well, we didn’t know what you’d like—”
“And whether you wanted to go casual,” Jen added. “You know, an ‘I fight off attacks on my bardric daily’ kind of vibe, or dress it up a bit—”
“Oh, the last one!” Sophie said. “Those assholes are still dressed to the nines, so you can’t go in there in jeans—”
“She can go in whatever the hell she wants,” Jen said indignantly. “She ate tonight.”
“Ha! Literally,” Sophie said, pulling out dress after dress, spills of red sequins, black lace, and sapphire velvet, the latter with so many cutouts that I didn’t see how it would be possible to wear underwear with it.
Not that I had any of that currently, either.
“Although you shouldn’t have had to,” she added to me.
“You should sue the hotel. For what they charge around here, security ought to be included.”
“It is,” I said, thinking of the vamp.
“Well, obviously not enough!” Sophie was indignant. “How about this one?” she held up a sparkly, backless number that was mostly a fall of silver paillettes.
“That would show off my… everything,” I said, because it also plunged to my naval in front.
“So? Let it!” Sophie suddenly looked furious.
“I’m not at my best—”
“And why is that? Let them see the price you paid for their incompetence, not to mention cowardice! I didn’t see anybody else fighting but us and Arnou—”
“Others were fighting,” I said, remembering Sunchaser, which wasn’t even one of the larger clans, tearing me a path through Rand.
“Some of them,” Sophie grudgingly admitted. “But not all. Not most! They just stood around with their fingers up their butts—”
“Sophie!” Jen said.
“Am I wrong?” the fiery redhead challenged. “Rand was outnumbered like hell tonight, and they knew it, but they attacked anyway! Which meant they expected no one to intervene. How are we supposed to win a war when we’re this divided?”
Good question, I thought.
But someone else didn’t think so.
“Not the time.” Kimmie, who had been quietly standing on the sidelines as usual, suddenly said.
“What?” Sophie looked surprised to have been interrupted mid-rant. Maybe because, when she got up a head of steam, she could go for a while.
“I said, not the time. And stop telling Lia what to wear. She’s tired, she’s injured, and now she has to go deal with those assholes down the hall.
” She looked at me, and there was anger in the usually calm dark eyes.
“You want to go in a bathrobe, go in a bathrobe. Let ‘em know you aren’t gonna be there long.”