Chapter 32
Chapter
Thirty-Two
B rad set up the deal. It turned out that he might not have been dealing with Iris Milner directly, but people in his firm were, and it only took a few phone calls before one of them coughed up her private phone number.
Brad glared down at the piece of paper with the digits written on it. “I’m going to have to have a very difficult conversation with Stella. This is not how I want to run my business; I don’t care how rich the client is.”
“I thought you were just a partner,” I said.
“Well, senior partner.” Brad ducked his head. “My father did start the business.”
After a long breath, considering our options, I dialed the number.
Someone picked up the other line but didn’t say anything. Iris had mirrored me before like it was as easy as breathing. Now she was doing it again, and she couldn’t even see me. Whatever else she was, she was a trained con. She might even be as good as me.
“Iris,” I said.
“You have two days and two nights left,” she said. “Why are you calling me?”
“I want to set up another meeting.” I left it there, giving her no more than that.
“Another meeting.” She said the words flat but waited before asking, “For what?”
“I have an offer that would make both of us happy.” I kept my words cool, echoing her calmness. She wanted business partners; she wanted someone who took her seriously. She wanted someone who didn’t look at her and see the echoes of her father—the ways in which she was lesser than her father.
“I’m listening.” Her words were immediate, giving me the in I needed. She might be pretending disinterest, but I had her full attention.
“Not on the phone. In person,” I said.
I waited, and after a long beat, she said, “Neutral territory.”
“You’re afraid I’m going to tear down another one of your buildings?” I asked, trying to keep the tone light but also giving her a warning. I was someone she should take seriously.
“Well, the insurance bills are getting outrageous.” It was her turn to inject teasing, and from Cassander’s narrowed eyes, he heard it as well, disliking the competition.
“There’s a diner on the edge of town.” I considered, looking around at everyone in the bar. The kids were passed out in one of the booths, but everyone else had been up nearly all night, talking in circles, arguing, until I had made the final call.
It was my head Iris wanted, after all. I should have final say where it was mounted.
“Sundown Café,” Iris agreed. “When?”
“Sunset. It’s fitting, after all.” It would also give us time to sleep, time for everybody to get their arguments out all over again so that I could ignore them and do exactly what I wanted.
“Sunset.” The line clicked to silence, and I had to pull it away from my ear to check that she had hung up.
“That gives us a few hours to rest and finish getting ready,” I said.
“It also gives her more time to prepare,” Cassander said severely. “You should have pressed her.”
I shook my head. “We all need rest.”
Cassander’s nostrils flared, but he didn’t argue again. Candy and Brad took the kids home, and my mother got in the car with us, letting me drive as she stared out the window.
Back at her house, she patted me on the cheek once, her dark eyes full of thoughts that she didn’t voice. Then she walked into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
“This is foolish,” Cassander said. “You are being foolish .”
“We’ve been over this. It’s the only way. You agreed it’s the only way.” I came close, feeling his body tense as I pressed against him. “Don’t run away now, Cass. Not now that I’ve just found you.”
“Is that something you’d say on one of your missions?” Cassander asked.
“No. That’s all me.” I met his eyes, feeling the energy of them shiver in my body, as though he was made of live electrical wire and I’d touched it straight to my heart. “Like I said, you’re the only one I don’t want to pretend with.”
“Foolish human,” Cassander growled, grabbing my hair and tugging my head down to his lips.
“Foolish dragon, I’m told,” I said, the words whispered against his lips.
He opened his mouth, plundering mine with his tongue. I pulled us backward, stumbling down the hall into my bedroom, kicking the door shut and dragging Cassander back against it until he was pressing against me, the door at my back, him at my front, protected on all sides.
Normally, my heart would be pounding at how he caged me easily, trapped me with his presence. But everything about Cassander made me feel safe.
One of his hands traced down my side, his fingers finding exposed flesh when it pushed up the hem of my shirt. I shivered—it was too much, too much and not enough. He kept up the gentle touch, tracing small circles in the sensitive flesh, moving his fingertips further along, across my stomach, then up under my shirt, pressing a palm between my nipples, growling when I tried to pull away, to pull off my shirt.
He dragged me backward, shoving me down on the bed. Then he was loosening his pants, and I arched up my hips, doing the same. He didn’t even let me get them all the way off before pouncing down on top of me. Our clothes dragged uncomfortably over sensitive skin before he wrapped both of our cocks in one hand.
The tip of his was already wet, dripping, and it wasn’t enough lube, but the friction felt perfect as he pushed us together, pressing me down. His weight on top of me was a promise. No matter what happened, he wasn’t going to let me go without a fight.
The pace he set was relentless, thrusting into me, dragging our cocks together, and I threw back my head, whimpering and moaning in pleasure. He pressed our lips together, eating every single sound I made, consuming me.
I reached up, dragging him down more solidly, until everything was friction and pleasure, just at the edge of pain. I sighed as I came, the explosive feeling that racked me leaving me trembling and empty.
Cassander came a moment later, breathing hot against my throat. It should have tickled, but all I could feel was his weight, the way he relaxed into me, letting me hold him, protect him like he’d done for me.
“I will bring this world down if she manages to take you from me.” I shivered at his words, as though they were a physical touch, a hand at my throat, claiming me as his.
“Yes,” I murmured.
We got up uncomfortably, showering together before collapsing back into bed. This time, my dreams were even less of a comfort. The heat inside me exploded outward, and I felt the ground rushing away, felt my back straining.
I woke up, blinking at the blank ceiling, already changing colors with the afternoon light.
Gently, I nudged Cassander. “It’s time.”
Betty waited outside with her truck. Candy and Brad were next to their expensive SUV, while my mother stood in the doorway, Riley and Junior on either side of her.
“Ma—” I wasn’t sure what to say, finally just opening my arms and wrapping her in a hug.
As soon as we left, she was supposed to get the kids out of town, taking the back gate to Candy and Brad’s house and then taking their second car and driving as far as she could until she got our all-safe call.
She was unhappy. There was nothing Mamá Reyes hated more than not being in control. But she was the only one we all mutually trusted with the children’s safety, so her job was to pack them off and get them to safety while the rest of us tried not to get me killed.
Cassander and I got in the truck with Betty, and I watched as Candy and Brad said goodbye to their children. Both of them were attempting to look calm, confident, but I could see the nervousness. Riley picked up on it, straightening her shoulders and trying for her own form of bravery, while Junior began crying hysterically as soon as they turned around.
As soon as they got into their car, Riley sprinted across the front yard, shaking off my mother’s attempt to grab her. She pounded on the passenger door until I opened it, and then she glared at me fiercely.
“You aren’t going to let them die, right?” Riley crossed her arms in front of her chest, glaring at me with all the ferocity a small child could muster.
“No,” I said. “I’m not.”
“You promise?” she asked.
“That’s not a promise he can make,” Cassander said, leaning forward from the back seat. “But I can. I give you my promise as a fae prince. Your parents will not die today.”
Riley stared at him before lowering her head in a nod and retreating back to the protection of my mother. I closed the door, and Betty started the truck, heading off toward the edge of town. At a stoplight, I turned my head, glancing over my shoulder.
“That’s not a promise you can make,” I murmured.
Cassander gazed out the front of the vehicle as though he was looking into the future. “It is,” he said firmly. “Because I made it.”
I turned and looked through the windshield, as though I could see what he was staring at. Betty pulled the truck forward. When we got to the diner, there was half a motorcycle gang out front, their rides sitting idle as they circled together, smoking and laughing with each other. Three SUVs were parked directly in front of the door, one halfway into the handicapped spot.
That answered the question of whether we were going to have an audience of civilians today.
The motorcycle club turned to stare at us, watching as our two vehicles pulled in. I sized them up quickly. They were going to be considerably more formidable than the members of Iris’s crew that I’d already fought.
“You ready?” Betty asked, her voice light. She was terrified.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said. “Just drop us off. We’ll take care of the rest.”
Betty turned to give me an annoyed look. “You might think that you are the only one affected by this, but I’ve been living under Iris Milner’s thumb for considerably longer than you. I want this taken care of as much as you do.”
I took a long breath before opening the door and stepping out. The trick was that I had to be calm about this. More calm than I’d ever been, more on top of my game than I had been on any mission ever before.
Cassander fell into step next to me, Betty just behind my left shoulder, a baseball bat held beside her like a sword. My sister and Brad got out of their SUV, both of their expressions dark.
When we walked into the diner, I pulled off my sunglasses, tucking them into my jacket pocket as I looked around. The place was entirely empty except for a table occupied at the back of the room. Iris Milner lounged on one side of the table, an older man sitting next to her. We walked toward them, and when the man looked up, I recognized him immediately.
“Silas Milner,” I said. “I heard you retired to Florida.”
He laughed as though it was a joke, but the glint in his eyes was hard. “So, the junior confidence artist came home and now is giving my baby girl a hard time.”
Beside him, Iris didn’t move, but her eyes tightened in the corners, and her lips twitched, an expression that was gone as soon as I noticed it. Iris Milner didn’t want to be anyone’s baby girl , much less this man who she was always being compared to.
I slid into the booth, Cassander next to me. Betty, Brad, and Candy all took stools at the diner countertop. My eyes flicked to the back door, where two of Milner’s people stepped out of the shadows. I recognized one of them immediately.
It was the money guy from Paris, the one who had known about the cheating girlfriend. Seeing him here, in Desert Flower, I immediately put two and two together and got the four that I should have gotten as soon as I saw his weasel face.
He’d been in my high school class, a year ahead of me, but in a school as small as ours, that meant he still recognized me. Which meant he’d been the one to tip them off that I wasn’t who I said I was.
I looked at Silas. “You don’t work for Green Scales. You are Green Scales.”
Silas smiled, although there was no mirth in it, and the sharp teeth in the corner of his lips showed his annoyance.
“And you are a dragon pup, about to come into his own. Right in my territory.” Silas pulled his lips back from his teeth. “Iris gave you a very generous offer of time. And here you are, abusing our favor even more.”
“Because we have a counteroffer.” I leaned back in the booth.
Looking at him now, I felt a slow burn of anger in my chest that grew into an inferno. Only years of training kept me from showing it. This was the man who had killed my father. This was the man who had left Candy and me fatherless. This was the man who had widowed my mother and turned her from a mother I recognized into someone whose care for our safety had warped into something cold and iron.
“A counteroffer?” Silas smirked. “Let’s hear it.”
“Dad—” Iris broke off at the single syllable, pressing her lips together, but I saw the worry in her eyes. She knew they were playing with fire, but Silas, with his scales, seemed unconcerned about getting burned.
“You know there is strife in the fae empire.” Cassander spoke quietly, but everyone at the table could hear. “My brother appears to have the upper hand, but I have more allies coming to me every day. He is not long for the throne.”
Silas grumbled, eyes fixed on Cassander’s face. I didn’t like how he looked at Cassander: hungry, as though he was going to consume him whole.
“I am offering you a chair. The one at the right hand of the king.” Cassander waited.
“Tempting,” Silas said. He didn’t even hesitate, and I had seen the avarice spring to life in his eyes. His hoard was power; his hoard was control. “I might even take you up on that. But I want something else as well. I want to see his head on a platter.”
Silas pointed a meaty finger at me, a gold ring glowing close to his knuckle, flashing in the fading light. He grinned.
“So, fae prince, are you going to give me what I want?” Silas leaned back in the booth, spreading one of his arms along the back so that it trailed close to Iris’s shoulder.
“And, in exchange, you let me live long enough to regain the throne? Longer than the three days promised?” Cassander asked.
I let my eyes go wide, turning to stare at Cassander, pretending this all came as a shock to me. “What are you doing? This isn’t what we agreed to.”
Silas smirked, but Iris narrowed her eyes at me, and I worried I was playing it up too much, going too hard.
“I’ll even throw in some help. We’ve acquired a lot of powerful artifacts over the past few years, thanks to our friends at the SPA.” Silas smirked at me, and I glared at him.
“Please, I thought we were friends,” I said to Cassander.
“Deal,” Cassander said, offering his palm out to Silas.
As he extended his hand, Iris’s eyes went wide. “Dad, don’t do this. This is not going to end well.”
Silas turned on her, and his eyes flashed molten orange, his breath coming hot enough that I felt it all the way across the table. “You dare to question me?”
“This deal won’t end in our favor,” Iris said delicately.
“That’s why I’m in charge of Green Scales, and you can’t even manage Desert Flower.” Silas leveled one last glare at his daughter before reaching across the table and shaking Cassander’s hand.
Around us, the air shivered, as though we were in the center of a storm.
“Your prize, Silas Milner.” Cassander snapped his fingers, and a wooden chair appeared next to our table, a photo blinking into existence in front of Silas.
Silas stared. The picture was of my head, literally on a platter. The chair… I had no idea where that came from, but it looked like a dining room.
“The chair from the right hand of the king.” Cassander smirked. “Now it is your turn.”
The heat at the table increased, as though we were out in the desert in the middle of the afternoon, the sun baking down on top of us.
“What is this?” Silas demanded, his eyes so bright I expected them to melt out of his head. “What fae trickery is this?”
“Well, from the outside”—I gestured at the chair and the picture—“it looks like you violated a contract you made with the fae. You promised them you would kill Cassander, but then you turned around and agreed to help Cassander win the throne. Those two contracts can’t be filled at the same time. They’re kind of mutually exclusive. He gave you the chair and the picture you asked for. So now, you’re in a bit of a bind. Because here’s the problem with dealing with the fae: when you break a contract with them? That fine print will get you. You’ll lose a hell of a lot more than your shirt.”
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table. “How are you planning on getting out of this one?”
Silas Milner glared at me, his mouth working silently. I smirked. Winning was the best.
After a second, I realized he wasn’t trying to talk ; his jaw was shifting in shape, like he was made of silly putty and some kid was squeezing him as hard as he could.
The back of the booth he was sitting against shattered and tore. I slapped my hand against Cassander’s shoulder, and we both scooted out as fast as we could, just moments before the table tore itself up from the ground, giving way to the immense pressure of a creature larger than three horses put together appearing.
There was a dragon in the middle of the diner, and when he threw his head back, his horns took out the lighting fixtures. He roared. Then, he lunged at us.