Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Efrem had picked the boys up off the beach and ferried them in the speedboat to the yacht Evie purchased last month from a Saudi prince.
A mobile house seemed the best way to meet the boys and not get caught.
She had secured a yacht with top notch security, easily afforded after a century of investments.
The vessel was complete with helipad, gym, entertainment rooms, and a huge dining facility.
For security, it had an escape launch for the speedboat, an arsenal of sonic guns that fired low-frequency sound waves capable of bursting the eardrums of approaching hostiles, a military water cannon that could sink approaching boats, and a complete missile defense system.
Each of her sons milled in their own corners, exhausted and unsettled. It’d only been a few weeks. Already, they were tortured. Not good. This curse might stretch out for much longer than a few months.
Be tough. They need you.
Evie walked to the back of the boat where Flynn gazed into the trail of waves left behind them in the moonlight. She waited for him to tell her what troubled him.
He gave her a side-eye. “I’m not as good as them at all this. I think maybe I don’t belong on their team.”
Her heart crumbled. That asshole, Willem, was trying to divide them, which would make them easier to manipulate. She should’ve anticipated this. Gently, she asked, “Them? As in your brothers? What makes you think you don’t belong?”
“I’m not as good as them. Not as fast. Not as good at fighting. I don’t understand how to fight nonhumans. They don’t—”
“Stop,” she interrupted. “Flynn…” She waited until he glanced her way.
“You are strong and smart. So smart. You understand things about technology, and you can read people and perceive their intentions in a way no one else can. Your job isn’t to know how to kill nonhumans.
Do you think Jonas or Shane understand how to get rid of demons or whatever other evils you face?
That’s Roman’s job. It sucks, but that’s his gift.
He can tell you what needs to be done. Your expertise makes you a crucial part of all of us.
Come here.” She opened her arms. “You belong right here. With me. With your brothers. Every one of them would give their life to save you. I fought werewolf hunters who would’ve destroyed both of us, but I knew you were mine the moment you looked at me. ”
“I don’t know—”
“Would you do anything to keep them alive?”
“Yes. It’s what I’m doing.”
“That feeling that makes you want to protect them is something they have for you too. It’s what makes you want to shield Jonas and punch Shane when he fusses at you for saying fuck.”
He chuckled. “He’s such a fucking goody two-shoes.”
“I don’t know where he gets it, but he’s the necessary moral compass for all of you.
He’s also the only one who can make any of you laugh when you need it.
None of us can survive without what you bring to the table.
Don’t believe Willem’s bullshit. He’s scared of all of you.
You have more reason to hate him than the others. He actively tried to destroy you.”
“I think he still wants to.” He hugged her back. “This is hard.”
“I know.” She blinked hard to force the tears to stay in her eyes.
“I’m proud of the alpha you’ve become. You care so much about being there for all of us that sometimes you forget how exceptional you are.
If you ever need me to shred some bastard to a bloody pulp, or pop a human you can’t kill, or pick you up when everything’s gone to shit, I’ll be there.
I will never give up on working to get you free of this curse. ”
He hugged her tight. “I love you.”
She sucked in a deep breath and swallowed her need to hold him for a lot longer.
Her eyes watered up, but she blinked away the moisture.
“Pull yourself together for dinner. Efrem laid out some clothes for you. This outfit is…” She gave a disdainful once-over of his T-shirt and jeans.
“You can’t wear it to dinner in my house, not if you expect to be served.
I found a new cook who’s incredible.” She always made dinner a formal event and required evening wear.
They knew it, even enjoyed it. The only occasions the family dressed down for were birthdays—if the one they celebrated wished it to be informal.
However, her sons usually kept up the formal custom.
Secretly, she knew they loved wearing the beautiful clothes as much as she did.
Flynn nodded and wandered into the heart of the ship, where a staff member would show him his room.
She wandered back to the main cabin dining area. Roman sat alone at the bar table in the corner of the room. Evie joined him and poured each of them a half glass of Scotch.
He twirled the glass in his hand. “We’re a bloody mess.
They assigned us a human to relay orders from Her Majesty.
” His eyelids drifted shut and he shook his head.
“A bloody human given the power to command us as he sees fit.” He watched the eyes swirl in his glass.
“The bastard is scared of us even though he’s protected.
He treats us like we’re monsters. We were sent to investigate a bunch of killings in Manchester.
Turned out to be a witch possessed by the demon she conjured.
That was hard, but we eliminated the witch, as ordered.
Then we had to chase after what turned out to be an injured troll in Scotland.
I didn’t think it needed to be killed, but when I asked to help it instead of eliminating it, our handler said no.
” His red-rimmed eyes met hers. “We had no choice but to end the poor creature. If we don’t do what they want or if we think something bad about the Crown or our handler, this hurts us.
” He held up his wrist where a blue tattoo banded him.
“I tried to say no. I wanted to save it. I couldn’t do—”
“You had no choice.” She hovered her hand around the tattoo, picking up the hum of terrible magic.
“Then there’s Willem. He’s still a despicable shit. What he did to Jonas…” He buried his face in his hands. “He threw him at the witch. It was his test to see what she’d do. She hurt him, of course, because Jonas wasn’t ready. None of us were ready.”
She wrapped her arms around him.
He rested his head on her shoulder. “I thought we escaped Willem.”
“We did. You are ten times more powerful than him now. If he throws a punch at you, knock him the fuck out and leave him behind for the next witch to torture.”
“He’s scared of us. He made our handler order all of us not to kill each other, but it was more to protect Willem from the rest of us. He wasn’t required to make the same promise.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t leave him behind. You will fight back when he does things to hurt you.” She released him and steeled herself. “I need you to do something for me. This may be the hardest thing of your life.”
Fear flashed through his eyes.
“You must be their leader. Keep your brothers united. Keep them tight up here.” She tapped her head. “Especially when Willem is going to try to divide you.”
He sagged. “I thought you were going to ask me to never see you again until we’re free of the curse. I can keep them together. That’s easy.”
She smiled to herself. “Darling, no curse is going to keep me out of your lives.” She looked him over. “You look nice in that suit. Go gather everyone for dinner. Make sure they’re dressed. I’m going to change for the evening.”
Once in her long black gown, she made her grand entrance to stand at the head of the table.
“Welcome to our first full moon meal after…the incident. In the boxes in front of each of you are gifts from Efrem and me. We spent the last few weeks doing a little black market shopping. The round pendants are authentic hexenspiegels. Wear them. They deflect evil curses and spells. Useful for witches and mages. Maybe not useful against artifacts.”
Each of them put on their pendant.
She continued, “I had a dagger fashioned by the elves deep in the high mountain of Naga Parbat for each of you. The blade is unbreakable by any nonhuman in existence and imbued with the light of the Vedic god, Surya. I was promised it should cut through bespelled bindings and kill even the evilest of demons, wraiths, vampires, or necromancers. When you pick up your dagger, say these words to make it so it answers only to you. Any others who try to touch your dagger will be burned by the light. Please recite: Haec pugio mea erit et unicum meum.” This dagger be mine and only mine.
Once they were done binding their daggers, she met Efrem’s gaze where he sat at the opposite head of the table.
Then she glanced around. “These bastards in England seek to divide you. You will use your strengths to work together. Roman understands nonhumans and their abilities like no other. Ky, you can master any weapon. Flynn, you are a wiz at technology and understanding a being’s intentions.
Jonas, you must work on your ability to intuit and see into the future, but never let Willem know you can do this.
By using it, you can outsmart him.” She grinned.
“And Shane. You are my precious baby, a moral compass to keep the rest from getting lost.”
“This is so hard,” Jonas grumped.
Ky looked defeated.
Shane looked offended. “A moral compass? Ky gets to be the ninja warrior. Roman is the walking encyclopedia of how to kill nonhumans. Even Flynn has a much cooler gift than me with techno stuff.”
She slammed her palm on the tabletop. Everyone jumped.
“I raised all of you to be better than this. You got outmaneuvered and cursed. Shame on each of you for believing anything your father says. He’s a selfish, toxic shit.
” She pressed her hands together and took a cleansing breath.
“Now, we move on. We figure out how to untangle this mess. As of right now, we will be a step ahead. We must be. We will meet once a month on the full moon. Efrem is going to work out with Roman how to communicate where to meet us. Efrem and I must keep moving to avoid Willem and your handlers finding us. Willem can never know where you go on the full moons. He may suspect, but he’s not welcome.
Your handler can’t know. This is going to be a dangerous, probably impossible game. ”
“It’ll be hard to meet once every three to four weeks,” Roman said.
“We may need to distract Willem or lead him astray to keep him away. The full moon is when all of you are the most vulnerable to seduction and being taken advantage of. I will have you here with us. I’ll provide you with suppression injections so you can avoid the moon’s lure becoming too potent.
If you so choose, I have drugs to knock yourselves out for the night. ”
They all grabbed their wine in preparation for the usual toast.
“I’m not done,” she commanded. Everyone put down their glasses in unison.
“You will wear condoms with humans and stay away from lycans in heat until we get this curse removed. Scratch that.” She waved her hand.
“You will wear condoms at all times. That’s the rule.
I have a bad feeling you wouldn’t know if a lycan was in heat or not.
” She pointed at Flynn. “Don’t give me that look.
I will not have some half-baked floozy romance you into giving me a grandchild while you’re under some ridiculous curse.
They might have you give the child to them for training or torture or who knows what. ”
Flynn’s cheeks flushed.
Roman and Ky chuckled.
Under his breath, Shane said, “She hasn’t forgiven you for hooking up while she was buying black market ammo last year.”
“Damned right I haven’t,” Evie ground out.
“I needed you to be ready with the car. Instead, you saw a piece of ass you couldn’t resist.” The few snickers around the table made her point a finger at each of them until she got silence.
“Condoms with anyone is the rule. This is more than a rule. It’s a commandment.
On full moons, you are here. We will protect you.
This one night every few weeks will be your place to recharge. ” She raised her glass.
All followed.
“Alla famiglia.” To family.