Chapter Four
Trey
W e both dozed off as the plane made its way to Derek’s house. I had assumed Angelica’s oldest son lived in Silver City, but when the pilot informed us of our descent, I opened my eyes to see red dirt and stone deserts.
“How far from the airfield is Derek’s house?” I asked as we both shook off sleep.
“He has a private airfield about thirty minutes from his property. His wife will meet us there and open a portal though.”
“She’s a Witch?”
“Yes, a fairly powerful one.”
I nodded and glanced down at the way she was holding her bandaged wrist.
“How’s it feeling?”
“Sore. River is pretty good with healing magic, I’m hoping she’ll be able to do something about it,” Angelica answered.
I snatched up her carry on before she had the chance to.
“I can carry it, especially since I seem to have left my luggage in London.”
Her yawn turned into a laugh.
“I sent Max a message asking him to pick up some clothes for you. They should be there when we arrive. He flew in from the city.”
At first I assumed she meant in a plane, but then I remembered that Max had Celestial powers and therefore, an angelic form.
“How did you know my size?” I asked with a smirk.
“Oh, Mr. Park,” she gave me a playful grin, “I sized you up the second you walked in my door.”
The flirting took me entirely by surprise and I burst out with a chuckle.
“What?” she asked.
Instead of admitting how flat footed she caught me, I decided to try and keep it going.
“I didn’t think you were paying much attention,” I retorted. “Even though I’m pretty hard to miss in any room.”
“Yes, that giant ego of yours does tend to stand out.”
“Giant ego? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”
Her gorgeous eyes widened and I smirked, giving her a wink. I wasn’t sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn’t for her to glance down at my crotch and then back up at me with a shrug.
“Giant might be a stretch,” she quipped.
Then the lovely little minx turned and began to disembark, leaving me staring after her slack jawed and aroused as fuck.
“Well,” I said to myself after a moment, “I’ll just have to see what I can do to change her mind about that, won’t I?”
“My children will have questions about you,” she said when I made it off the plane.
“Just tell them I’m your boy toy.”
“I’m not sure that’s what assistants are called these days,” she said, shooting me a fiery glance over her shoulder
“Oh I see, you’re a bit uncomfortable admitting the truth,” I nodded, tapping my chin as I feigned thoughtfulness. “I’d be happy to take that burden off your shoulders. After all, I’ve always wanted to be a kept man.”
“Don’t you dare!” she said, swatting my arm.
“Do you think they’ll be scandalized?”
“It’s not me I’m worried about. You have no idea what those boys will do to you if they think we’re…well, together.”
Together, huh? I like the sound of that.
But I let it sit there, not poking it even when Angelica didn’t follow it up with anything.
“Let me make sure no one is hiding,” I offered. “Just a quick fly over.”
I shifted into my hybrid form and activated the cloaking runes on my skin right before I shot up into a cloudless sky. The dry warmth of the sun felt like heaven on my scales after the dampness of London. I had missed the heat. Once I’d soared high above the airfield, I was tempted to do more than a perimeter check. The wind over my body, the glide of being so free in an open space, it was exactly what I needed to shake off the worry of what my future might hold.
There was nothing that I could detect along the perimeter of the airfield; everything was red mountains with scrub brush and solitary paved roads surrounded by glorious emptiness.
I was just about to circle back when the whisper of a presence hit my senses. It was the smell of ozone and something otherworldly, and my blood pumped through my body as adrenaline spiked. That was the only warning I had before a huge body collided with mine and I was wrestling with a giant winged woman as we plummeted to the ground.
“Who are you?” she demanded, sharp teeth in her mouth, voice unnaturally low. “Why are you with Angelica Dearborne?”
“I’m not telling you shit.”
I raked my claws down her exposed arm and it barely made a dent in her skin.
She gave me a deep, mocking laugh.
“Wrong answer.”
Just before we hit the ground, the woman’s silver and white feathers flared out and we were climbing again, and I struggled in her iron grip. Dragons were hardly ever out matched for strength, and I had no idea what the hell this was. Unless…
“Are you a Celestial?” I asked.
“Now you’re catching up,” the woman laughed as we started to plummet again. “I really don’t want to hurt you, but if you don’t tell me what you want with Angelica, I will make a crater with you.”
I decided to take a chance that this was one of Angelica’s children, though I hadn’t really heard about her daughter’s powers. Every time I’d asked, Angelica had changed the subject.
“I’m her…friend.”
“Try again.”
“I’m serious!” I said, desperate to get loose since the ground was coming up fast. “I’m her partner at the Secret Archive, we’re here to get her son’s help with a very dangerous artifact!”
Just before we were about to hit the ground at an obscenely fast speed, the giant angel pulled up just enough to glide to a stop. Instead of setting me down on the ground, however, she unceremoniously dropped me. I rolled on the red dirt and came up with a snarl. My primal Dragon was roaring at me to fight back, to reclaim our honor. This being had treated us like refuse, and that would not do.
“Ava! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Angelica shouted up at her daughter, hands on hips. “You get over here right now and explain yourself.”
One moment I was seconds away from tearing after Ava, the next I was chortling at the pissed off mother tone in Angelica’s voice.
The giant angel landed and transformed a second later into a short blond woman with two full sleeves of tattoos, an off-shoulder shirt with the words “Suck it cupcake”, black pants and hot pink combat boots.
“Hey, Mom,” she said, wrapping Angelica in a hug, and then she drew back, noticing the bandage around Angelica’s wrist. “What happened? Did he do this to you?”
“No, Trey didn’t do this, it’s a long story. But more importantly, what the hell did you think you were doing?”
“Everyone’s here for River’s birthday, well except me, I’m just stopping by real quick. Anyway, Max said some shit was going down. Thought I’d make sure he was on our side,” she grinned at me as I approached, trying to pat the red dirt off my clothes. “I guess he’s cool.”
“Yes, he’s cool ,” I spat at her.
“When did you get a partner at the Archive?” Ava asked, as I hadn’t spoken at all.
Angelica arched an eyebrow at me and I shrugged.
“Would you rather I went with the other explanation?”
“No,” she said almost before I had the words out of my mouth and turned to her daughter. “Dammit, I had forgotten about River’s birthday.”
“Don’t sweat it, I think we’re all pretty used to world-ending shit going down at the worst moments. Though she seemed happy you’d be here no matter what the reason.”
Angelica’s frown deepened and I could see the shards of guilt on her face.
“I don’t get home nearly enough, I’m sorry,” she said.
“Oh my god, Mom , it’s okay,” Ava said, giving her mother’s arm a little shake. “We get it, we’re all adults juggling our own messes.”
“What messes? Are things not going well with the Vampire coalitions?”
Ava made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat and shrugged. I struggled to keep up and wondered if I’d missed the fact that one of her children was a Vampire.
“Those drama queens are always bitching about something,” Ava replied leading Angelica around the back of the hangar. “The accommodations at the conference aren’t big enough for their entourage, there’s not adequate emotion donors, they weren’t notified that the emissary from Paris would be wearing that designer too, blah blah blah.”
Ah, so she’s talking about the Succubus and Incubus factions. That makes sense…sort of.
“Ravi is dealing with it alright, but he won’t be here for this little gathering. And I’ll have to leave soon to back him up. Some of the older Vamps get a little high and mighty without my presence there to knock ‘em back down to place.”
“Who’s Ravi?” I asked as I trailed behind them.
“My husband, the Vampire King, though he hates that title,” Ava said with a grin. “He’s going to be very interested to hear about you.”
“Oh, really?”
“Hanging around Mom is like having a lightning rod for scrutiny attached to your body. So buckle up, buttercup, cause Nathan is already fuming about Mom’s new boyfriend . Alexis’ words, not mine.”
“Oh my god,” Angelica whispered, pinching the bridge of her nose. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Boy toy, then,” Ava said.
I snorted loudly, unable to hold back, and earned a glare from Angelica.
Worth it.
“He’s not my boy-anything!”
“God, Mom, relax. It’s not like any of us really thought you’d live like a nun after dad died.”
“Good to know,” she murmured.
We approached the back of the hangar where a striking Chinese woman was waiting for us.
“River,” Angelica stepped up to her and wrapped her up in a warm hug. “It’s been too long. I can’t wait to see Jacob.”
The new grandchild, I think?
“He and the twins are actually with Tessa’s mother and sister for the weekend. Tessa and I needed the time off. But what happened to your wrist?”
River’s eyes narrowed on me and I held up my hands.
“It wasn’t me, except for wrapping it up, I had nothing to do with it.”
“He didn’t,” Angelica said. “It’s a long story and I’ll fill you all in, but if you could maybe look at it?”
“Let me scan it now, I can adjust the portal to ensure it doesn’t jostle it if it’s broken.”
A bright light shone from River’s palm and she ran it over the wounded wrist.
“Just a sprain. You’ll need to ice and rest it, and I can place some healing runes on your bandages to speed things up.”
“Thank you, dear.”
“Alright, we all ready to go? No bags?”
“Uh…it’s a long story too,” I said.
River’s eyes darted between Angelica and me, and she turned back to Angelica.
“So, is he your boyfriend?”
“Fucking hell,” Angelica said with an exasperated sigh.
A wide grin stretched across my face and I extended my hand to her, knowing full well that this was annoying the shit out of Angelica.
“Trey Park,” I said. “Pleasure to meet you.”
“Why are you so dirty?” River asked
“Ava decided to make me feel welcome.”
“Hey, in my defense, no one said anything about him being a Dragon.”
River’s eyes took on a razor sharp assessing glint as she looked over my tattoos.
“I see,” she said, and I got the impression she really did.
Another former agent? I knew Derek had married a Witch, but a former Archive agent? That’s interesting.
“Let’s get to the house. I know Derek and Nathan are very interested to meet you.”
I refused to feel nervous about this, especially since I’d already overcome one hurdle. In spite of the initial meeting, I thought Ava might actually like me.
River opened the portal with an ease that surprised me and she looked back with a grin.
“We have a semi-permanent portal set up and cloaked. It’s just easier to get to and from the airfield that way.”
I nodded and stepped through, my ears popping a little in the process. We went from one desert landscape to another. But instead of the hangar and plane, I was looking a huge ranch style home with a wraparound porch. There was a flower garden to the left side of the walkway that led to the front door, and a sprawling vegetable garden to the right. In the vegetable garden, bending over a beautiful raised bed of tomatoes was an elderly man wearing a straw hat and overalls. He waved to River, calling out to her in Spanish. She answered him with a chuckle, the language rolling off her tongue.
A gorgeous mountain range was in the distance to the west and back of the house and I couldn’t wait to see the sunset over those peaks. The porch had several groupings of tables and chairs, and one very cozy looking swing that I glimpsed around one side. Under the ceiling of the porch hung lanterns at equal intervals and I assumed they were as much for decoration as pest control when the bugs came out at night.
The front door led us into an entry with a staircase back and to the left. There was also a doorway that led to what appeared to be a wing of the house with bright rooms and large windows. To the right was a series of doorways probably to the kitchen, dining room and various dens and such.
“We’re home!” River called out.
Footsteps sounded and deep male voices blended with them. If it hadn’t been for the scent telling me these males were her offspring, I would’ve been posturing to let them know that Angelica was mine. As it was, I still felt a bit protective; the mystical side of me sensing other beings of power and activating my need to ensure my mate was safe.
The first person to appear was a curvy blond woman with flushed cheeks who wrapped Angelica in a hug, followed by a tall, dark haired male with bright eyes and a swagger in his step.
“Tessa, Nathan,” Angelica said with warmth, receiving a kiss on the cheek from her son.
Next was a whirlwind of a woman in a tiny package and auburn hair who barreled into Angelica.
“Hello, Alexis,” Angelica laughed.
“Oh my god, it’s good to see you! And I see you’ve brought your friend ,” she said, using quotation marks and casting an assessing stare my way.
Angelica didn’t even cringe at Alexis’ insinuating tone which told me that either it would only encourage the woman or it was just par for the course, or both.
“Yes, this is—”
“Trey Park, Dragon, aged three hundred and forty-two. Presumptive King of the royal line of Avalon,” came a sonorous voice. “Father recently deceased, no living siblings. Ally of the Secret Archive dating back one hundred years.”
I looked up in shock, and not a little anger at having the details of my family just spewed out like that. A mountain of a man stood a bit behind Nathan, massive arms crossed over his chest, straining the fabric of his plain white t-shirt.
“Um, Trey, this is my son, Max,” Angelica said, attempting to bring a little normalcy back to the situation. “He usually has better manners than to just announce personal information like that.”
“He’s been researching all day,” Alexis said with an arched eyebrow. “I told him he needed to relax, it’s not like you would date someone who was a total psycho.”
“Except for our dear old father,” Nathan said.
“He didn’t start out that way,” Tessa said.
“True, but who knows, it could be her type.”
“Thank you, Nathan,” Angelica said, though it didn’t sound like she was grateful at all.
He gave her grin and raised a glass I hadn’t noticed before in his hand.
“You’re welcome, Mother.”
A rhythmic thumping preceded a third man walking out of the hall to the left and River gave him a quick peck on the mouth. I assumed that this had to be Derek. He had gray at his temples, and light scars scattered across his face and forearms. He would’ve easily been as tall as Nathan, though neither brother reached the height or breadth of Max. Except Derek was leaning on a black and red cane that had runic symbols carved up the length, which made his posture stoop just a little.
He took one look around and sighed.
“Let me guess, Max went spouting what he discovered in his research.”
“Bingo,” Alexis said, and then when Max gave her a withering stare, “What? You brought this on yourself, honey. I told you not to start with that. Do we need another lesson in social skills?”
Max cracked a grin behind his beard.
“Only if they’re private.”
“Ugh,” Nathan rolled his eyes.
“Well, that’s my cue to leave,” Ava said, giving her mother a quick hug. “Gotta fly to Vegas, have fun everyone.”
She ran to each brother and spouse for hugs and then patted me on the shoulder, leaning in with a conspiratorial whisper. “Just remember, their barks are worse than their bites. Treat her right and they’ll only give you a moderately hard time.”
I chuckled.
“Noted, thanks.”
She took one step and then backed up.
“Oh, and just so we’re on the same page, I won’t be calling you Dad .”
Nathan choked on his drink, Angelica gasped and looked at her daughter with horror. I let out a barking laugh at the unexpected information and nodded.
“Jesus, Ava,” Derek murmured.
“Good to know,” I managed to say.
“Great!” She looked at everyone and waved, “Bye, family!”
When the door closed, a thick silence descended, with everyone either giving nervous smiles my way, glaring, or doing their best not to look at me at all.
“Well,” Tessa started, “why don’t we all go in the living room and have some drinks before dinner?”
“Good idea,” Nathan said, guiding his wife that direction straight away.
“I need to do a healing spell on your mother’s wrist first,” River said.
The words were a bomb going off.
That stopped Nathan in his tracks, Max actually growled at me and his eyes gleamed gold. Derek gripped his cane like he was about to wield it against me and my temper flared. What kind of male did they think I was? Had this happened to her before? Did she have a habit of dating men that did this to her?
The thoughts fanned the flames of frustration, and I started to feel the heat under my skin.
“I wouldn’t lay a hand on your mother,” I said, my primal side coming through in a growling, deep voice.
I don’t know how she knew to do it, but Angelica put her hand on my arm and squeezed. It diffused my anger faster than anything ever had, especially when her hand slid down to grasp my hand. All three of her sons noticed and then looked at her, waiting for an explanation.
“There was an attack on the penthouse, and,” she held up her bandaged wrist as all three opened their mouths to ask questions. “I will explain, but not until River has taken care of this and I get a very large glass of scotch.”
“I can take care of that,” Nathan said quickly.
“And let’s get you comfortable,” Tessa said, coming alongside Angelica.
She was about to lead her to what I assumed was the living room when Tessa gave me a questioning look, as if she were asking permission. It was then I realized I’d been holding on stubbornly to Angelica’s hand.
I let go but kept close to Angelica all the same, eliciting some dark looks from Derek and Max.
A part of me appreciated their protectiveness, it was only right. Angelica was an incredible woman and it spoke volumes about her sons that they loved her so much. But the other side of me, the one that was growling under my skin, was deeply offended that anyone would think I’d lay a hand on my mate.
They don’t know me. So I’ll show them how much she means to me. And maybe seeing that, earning their approval will sway Angelica to give us a chance.
One look at the sons, as we all took our seats in the living room, however, told me I had my work cut out for me.