Chapter 4

I pushed it all aside, though, because I still thought this plan was right. I sat behind Reggie’s desk and took out my phone to start the calls.

It was almost four in the morning. I had been on the phone for hours, getting people moving. I checked up with Reggie every thirty minutes. Over the course of this mass evacuation she had relaxed somewhat. The more people that showed up at the safe house, the more she calmed down. We were putting whole families into rooms, because we weren’t sure how much space we had for non-legion mates and children and because of that, the calls were brief.

Finally, all the organizing was done and I stood up to leave, only to have my phone go off. I checked the battery and winced at the low percentage. Hopefully this would be a quick one. “Hello?” I said, grabbing my bag off the floor and preparing to leave.

“We don’t have everyone,” Reggie said.

“What? Who isn’t there?”

“Lixa, Alain, Ella and Millie,” she said. “They were supposed to show up with the other children. I was so busy with them and Henrik that I didn’t notice until just now, when I went to their room with some snacks for Millie and they weren’t there.” Her voice was level, but I knew her too well. She was pissed off at herself and nothing I said would make it any better. At the very least, I could take care of the situation to ease her worry.

“Fucking hell,” I said. I rushed out of the office and toward the elevators. “I’ll call and see what the fuck is up.”

“Okay,” she said, pure exhaustion in her voice.

I hung up without saying goodbye and cursed again at how the little red line in my battery bar glared. I pulled up the numbers and I tapped on Alain’s name. I put the phone to my ear and waited, not very patiently, as it began to ring. I was at the backdoor to the gallery when his voicemail kicked in. The message only got halfway through before my phone died.

“Motherfucking piece of shit,” I said, because sometimes you just have to curse to make things better.

In my truck, I plugged it in and hoped it came to life before I got too close to Alain’s house. I was halfway there when my phone went off loudly. I yanked it up and answered it without disconnecting the cord or glancing at the screen.

“Hello?”

“What the hell?” Reggie yelled. “I’ve been calling for ten minutes.”

“Phone died,” I said.

“What’s going on?” she asked without responding to the excuse.

“He didn’t answer. I’m headed over there now,” was all I said before disconnecting. I’d probably hear about that later. In great detail. With some four letter words thrown in. And maybe an object or two sailing toward my head.

I peeled into the neighborhood, not caring about the rubber I was leaving behind and I pulled into their driveway barely hitting the breaks in time to not smash into their garage. They’re lucky I love my truck. I wasn’t above being petty when it taught someone a valuable lesson about phones.

Namely to answer them.

I also noticed that Lixa’s motorcycle was parked on the street. There wasn’t a scratch on it. And I could hear people talking inside. None of this improved my mood, but I calmed down long enough to ring the doorbell instead of kicking the thing down. I haven’t done that in years, and I didn’t get enough credit for that.

Ella was the one who answered the door. She wore her pajamas and was barefoot. I suddenly wanted to throttle her.

She wasn’t a tall woman, so I could get a really good hold on her if I got her feet into the air. Her strawberry blonde hair was thick and loose, clearly having been brushed recently and her green eyes were clear, if slightly annoyed. Join the club, Ella. At least we can annoy each other.

“Asire?” she said. “What are you doing here?”

I barged into the house and found Lixa in a similar state of irritation. Her blue hair was standing on end, as if she had spent some time pulling on it and her matching blue eyes were spitting fire. Her tiny hands were on her hips, because I think she wanted them around Alain’s balls and squeezing, really hard. Her cheeks were red from anger.

“So, this isn’t some misunderstanding?” I asked, walking into the living room without waiting for an answer. The house looked like one with a two-year-old would. There were toys, clothes and other baby paraphernalia everywhere. The floor, the tables, the couch and the stairs all had some baby items on them. There was evidence of baby proofing all over. The light sockets, the doorknob, the gates at the bottom and top of the stairs. Yet, the house still looked neat, because all the adult stuff had to be put away unless they wanted child drool on it.

Before Lixa could say anything, there was a high pitched squeal from the couch, followed by, “SI!” yelled in baby talk. Then Millie, the two-year-old, came rushing at me. She couldn’t say my name, so she just pronounced it as ‘sigh’. I’d babysat her a dozen times and she just adored me, for reasons I’d yet to figure out.

Without missing a beat, I knelt down when she ran at me and stuck my hands under her tiny armpits, then up in the air she went with another delighted child squeal. Once she rested on my hip I said, “What’s up, Tiny Heartbreaker?” Millie, real name Mildred— I kid not —was adorable. Her parents put her in lots of dresses, and her hair was up in two strawberry blonde pigtails and her soft blue eyes were always happy. So I called her Tiny Heartbreaker, because I had little doubt she’d grow up to ruin men and women everywhere.

She smiled and pat my face with her hand.

Lixa took a deep breath and let it out, slowly. “No, no misunderstanding. I came here to escort them to the safe house, like you asked, and they’ve decided they aren’t going. I’ve spent the last two hours arguing with them and getting nowhere.”

Rule number one for arguments: Don’t hold a baby while yelling. It takes some of the intimidation out of the words.

I put Millie down and she toddled over to her mother and grabbed her leg. She rested her face against her mother’s thigh and watched Lixa and me from behind that safe perch. She was young, but she still knew what a fight looked like. Even one that didn’t involve fists or yelling.

“Why the hell not?” I demanded.

Alain rolled his eyes and climbed to his feet. He, too, was in his pajamas, but somehow made it seem like he wore a suit. The act made me want to punch him even more. But I pushed that desire down.

“You’re overreacting,” he told me. “You and Reggie both. You’ve decided this is more dangerous because we can’t get a good look at the Family, but in reality, it isn’t any different than the other times the city’s been in danger.” He shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest.

I wanted to smack him senseless, but that would require some kind of intelligence on his part. Clearly he lacked that and the proper paternal instincts that would make him take his daughter to the safe house.

“Don’t be stupid,” I said. “There have been ten attacks in the last week and a half. You wanna know the last time that happened? Before I was even in Seattle. We’re not overreacting, we’re being cautious because we don’t want anyone to die.”

He seemed bored with me. Alain didn’t have any care for people who weren’t his mate, and his current attitude was proving it. He didn’t care that Lixa and I were just trying to keep him safe. All he saw was two girls keeping him from getting a good night’s sleep. It was only made worse by the fact I was twenty-one and Lixa was nineteen. How could we possibly know the way of the world as well as he did?

“If we’re overreacting,” I said, maintaining my cool. “Then why don’t you two just come to the safe house and humor us? What could it hurt?”

“I will not be stuffed into that house with all the others,” Ella said, sounding just as haughty as her mate. “It’s a safe house, not a camp to go and have fun in.” She rolled her eyes and then cooed at Millie who laughed and clung to her mother’s leg with all the adoration of a child.

I looked at Lixa, who had the same disbelieving expression on her face that I had on mine. If it weren’t for the child, I’d probably leave them to their fate. They knew the dangers of the city, and they were ignoring it. They’re adults, they can make their own decisions, and mistakes, as they wished.

But Millie couldn’t. I’d watched that girl grow up and I wasn’t about to leave her behind because her parents were being stupid.

“Asire,” Alain said. “We’ve been through this before. The city is technically held by Open legions. This isn’t the first time Annihilists have tried to take it from us and this won’t be the last. I’ve lived in this house for nearly two decades, and I’ll be damned if I’m run out of it by two overly cautious girls.”

“Can I hit him?” Lixa asked.

Tempting…

Alain looked at her like she was a bug on the underside of his shoe.

Even more tempting…

Lixa and I looked at each other helplessly. If they weren’t going to leave… I suppose I could gag them, throw them into the back of my truck and then take off. But there’s nothing I could do to make them stay at the safe house. So, instead I held up my hands in defeat and said, through barely suppressed disgust, “Fine. You stay here. But I want you to call Reggie, Henrik, Lixa or myself every two hours. Is that understood?”

He sneered, like he was going to say something nasty, but Lixa took a step forward, and if there was one thing we knew about her, it was that you didn’t piss her off.

Ella was the one who saved his ass. “I promise to call, even if he doesn’t.” She was slightly less difficult to work with. Ultimately, however, they were both pains in the ass. Enough so sometimes, I wished the Orphans could sign a petition that says someone is so bad they shouldn’t even be in Seattle.

“Come on, Lixa,” I said.

She huffed, unwilling to let it go like I was, but then she followed me as I made my way to the door. Outside, we stood in the snow for a while. The cold seemed to put a lid on her temper. All it did was make me look longingly at my truck. I could crank the heat and be warm within seconds. I’d already lived through freezing temperatures and stifling heat enough for one lifetime.

“I really, really don’t like them,” she eventually said.

“You don’t find pigheaded, high minded self-righteousness to be endearing?” I asked. “Strange. I thought everyone loved it.”

She laughed.

“Don’t worry, one day his words will get shoved back down his throat,” I said. “Try not to be the person who does it, though.”

“No promises.”

Couldn’t say that I’d blame her if she went off on them. We had a tendency to throw Lixa, Ella and Alain together for patrol when things went to shit. Now, Lixa only gets in like four fights a month, but still… That’s four fights a month and they make easy targets.

“I gotta call Reggie,” I said. “Hold on a minute and I’ll drive back home with you,” I said, opening my door.

“Okay,” Lixa responded. She jogged down the driveway and to her bike. She straddled it, but didn’t start the engine, content to sit there until I was ready. How she managed to drive that thing through the snow and not lose her face was beyond me. But to each their own.

Reggie picked up on the second ring. I told her everything that had gone down and she cursed their characters until I thought my ear was going to bleed. And I thought I could get vulgar…

“I’m gonna head back with Lixa,” I told her when the profanity came to a standstill.

“Fine,” she barked.

I hung up and that’s when everything went to shit.

There was the sound of glass being shattered and then Millie started wailing like I’ve never heard before. It was followed by Ella’s shouting. I threw open my door and burst out into the cold air. Lixa had already dismounted her bike without bothering to take her helmet off.

The door was locked, of course, but it was a matter of seconds to kick it down, breaking the jam and leaving splinters of wood all over the floor. The force rang up my leg, but I ignored it in lieu of more pressing matters.

The house was in utter chaos.