Chapter 274 Chapter 274
Deacon came down the stairs and turned the corner on his heel to go out to the back of the house. The place was huge. Five bedrooms, and an apartment over the three-bay garage. He looked at the two small buildings in the fenced backyard. One looked like a small guest house.
He walked back toward the other small building, giving the two tables in the middle of the yard a look, there were no chairs. Reaching the smaller building, he opened the door and then nodded. Found the chairs. Sticking his head in, he spotted a few yard tools hanging up and that was it. Picking up a stack of chairs, he carried them over to the table and set them down beside it.
“Rearranging the yard?”
Deacon jolted and turned to see Calum standing there grinning at him.
“You know you could get yourself shot, sneaking up on me.” Deacon grinned, happy to see him.
Calum looked amused, “I wasn’t sneaking—you were just lost in that,” he waved his hand beside his head, “never-ending monologue you have going on up there.” He looked at the shed, “what are you doing?”
Rubbing his fingers over the side of his beard Deacon looked over at the shed. “Figured I’d crash in there.” He pointed to the house, “too many walls and bodies in there.”
Calum crossed his arms over his chest, “It’s going to be cozy.”
The sound of a vehicle had them both turn to see Webb pulling one of the new vans up beside the house. He hopped out and then stood there looking at it. Turning, he came toward them. “Think they’ll let me keep it? I’m loving the black.” He stopped ten feet from them, “toss me your keys, Deacon, we’re hiding three of the vehicles on this side of the fence.”
Deacon reached in his pocket and pulled them out, he tossed them to Webb.
Catching them, Webb raised both arms in the air. “And the crowd goes wild.” Without further antics, he turned and walked back toward the side of the house.
“Is he always so happy?” Deacon turned back to Calum.
He nodded, “afraid so.”
A door closed making them both turn to see Jesse standing on the veranda. “Blair’s here.”
Calum nodded, “come on, things are about to get intense.”
Following him, Deacon tried to settle his animal, because being trapped in a house with seventeen other bodies, including their mate wasn’t going to be intense enough?
Deacon stood in the kitchen, looking down into the large sunken ‘family room’. Too many bodies in one small area. Giana was sitting in a chair by herself. He presumed the woman perched on the arm of the sofa, as close as Jesse was hovering, had to be the man’s mate. He was happy with that arrangement; no males were close to his mate.
A man from the same team as Giana came over and stood beside him. He gave Deacon a quick nod, then braced his legs apart, crossing his arms over his chest.
Deacon looked around at the others, he knew a few of them, aside from his team members, Nox and York.
York Meyers was one of the few he could work with seamlessly; he was quiet and didn’t go for the posturing some of his team did. He glanced at Nox as if that proved his point. He sat there, shoulders back like he was trying to make himself seem bigger than he already was.
Out of the seventeen, Deacon recognized seven. That left ten others he’d have to sus out. His gut reflex was to trust no one. He tracked the five males he didn’t know. The tall one in the corner was doing some watching of his own. In appearance, he was probably six, seven years younger than he was himself, but his eyes—yeah, Deacon recognized the cold look in them. He’d seen some soul-draining shit in his life.
The other man with the shaggy brown hair that Calum was watching carefully had to be someone special, he’d seen Calum move to position himself between him and the window, three times now.
“Okay, let’s get some introductions out of the way so we can figure out the new timeline. How much further is this house?” He looked at Illias, who sat on the stairs.
Illias, Deacon knew. He was a techy guy, although, with the scar that ran from the side of his mouth down his neck, he knew the man hadn’t always been a behind-the-scenes tech.
“Twenty minutes,” Illias answered.
“Okay, adjust the routes and times to compensate for that.”
The woman with the long blonde hair gave the one talking an amused look, “Devin, the introductions.”
He stopped and turned to look at her. “Fuck.” He whispered, even though all the shifters would hear him. “I’m Devin, this is my lovely mate, Rayne.” He smiled at her and then held up his hand. “There will be none of that bowing shit, okay? We don’t have time for that stuff.”
The prince and the princess were here. That explained Calum’s behavior. Shouldn’t royalty stay out of sight and be surrounded by big guards? He glanced around, okay, no one would get to them with the lot that was here.