Still with his chin on his hand, Cahal nodded absently to Antonio. “He wants a bullet through his head for having to deal with you two, which I don’t blame him for since he’s had to do it far longer than the three of us.” He paused, eyes on Ezra’s. “What fight earlier?”
“Hmm?” Ezra grabbed a coffee when the Shifter set them down in front of us. He sipped, his nose crinkled, and he handed it to me, lifting the other one. His eyes danced to me as he took a drink, then to his dad. “What are you talking about?”
Cahal drummed his fingers on his chin. “You were asleep, and you said…,” he glanced to Antonio, “what was it exactly?”
Antonio simply growled.
Elder Merrick murmured, “I believe he stated that she wore his ass out.” He sipped from his Coke, watching me as I took a drink from my coffee.
“Ah, yes.” Cahal nodded, his eyes back to his son. “Ms Ruckler said it was in reference to a fight you had earlier. So again, what fight?”
Ezra recovered fast enough, hearing of his major oops, to state dryly, “Obviously, the one we had earlier. Fists, kicking, teeth, the whole shebang as we worked through our issues.” He turned his gaze on Antonio. “Other than a bullet needed, what were you saying?”
Cahal held up a hand, and peered toward Elder Merrick.
Elder Merrick drank from his Coke, and then smiled. “He told truth.” His arresting gaze met mine briefly when Ezra’s dad glanced away.
I knew right then he had caught me in a lie somewhere. Altering my attention to Antonio, I quickly went through what I had said, but nothing sprung out as too awful. Plus, he had to have one hell of a nose to be scenting truths, lies, and partial truths at all times. I actually had to concentrate in order to do it.
Antonio asked sharply, “Lil, are you listening?”
I jerked. “Yep.” No clue what he had said before, but I was listening now.
Elder Merrick laughed while rubbing his face, his chuckle heard this time, sounding jagged.
Ezra glared. “Do you mind? We’re tired, and you’re not helping the situation.”
“From the fight?” Elder Merrick prompted.
Ezra grunted, letting that be his answer, since he was smart enough not to answer.
Antonio held his hands up when Elder Merrick began to say something else. “Okay, I’m going to say it quickly, so,” he growled, thumping his fist on the table, “listen the f**k up.” He pointed at me. “Lil, you’re going to be training with Elder Merrick on the days you’re not babysitting, learning to use more of your strength.” Both Ezra and I stiffened at the news, and we both opened our mouths — surely to argue — but Antonio thumped his fist on the table again.
“Shut. Up.” We both still tried to speak, and he hollered, “Ezra, you’re going to start sparring with Vampires on your level of experience when you’re not babysitting.” He stood, slamming his hands on the table. “This is not a f**king request. Get that through your damn skulls.” He growled, his eyes glowing as we glared. “Do you understand?”
Yes, we understood. It was a f**king order made by Elder Farrar in the middle of a packed dining hall. Inhaling sharply, I turned my head away from him. He had never acted this way with me before. Never purposely embarrassed me, anyway. I barely withheld the childish temper tantrum of tears that wanted to erupt.
“Answer me, dammit,” he shouted. He made an odd noise in his throat and leaned down, whispering so damn quietly I barely heard him, “Or, I swear to f**king God, I will dump each of you in separate parts of the world without a f**king decent memory.”
My breath caught, and I jolted seeing his glowing hands come our way.
Ezra’s back, and mine, slammed against the back of our chairs, staying as far away from him as we possibly could. We both knew he could do exactly as he had threatened. I nodded, same as Ezra, both of us mumbling our assent as true hate and brutal fear for the man I loved filled me, who had raised me as his own.
Antonio stopped glowing, and he straightened, running a hand over his face. His golden gaze met my blue, wide one. Into the silence, which had descended on the entire dining hall, he murmured quietly, “Hate me all you wish.” He swallowed hard, gaze lowering. “Everyone who knows me does at some point.” He stalked away, chairs squeaking in all occupants’ haste to give him space.
My body was trembling watching him leave. Setting my coffee aside with a shaking hand, I cleared my throat and raised on what felt like wobbly legs to stand next to Ezra, who was already on his feet, the man I had almost lost mere moments ago. I glanced to Elder Merrick, and my voice shook slightly. “Just call my room. We can set up a time for training.”
He nodded once, his lips pinched.
Ezra rumbled quietly, “Let’s go.”
“Yeah,” I whispered, wanting nothing more than to hug not only him, but also Pearl and Jack, and tell them how much I loved them. “Let’s go.”
A hard and repetitive knocking at the door woke us.
I wasn’t sure how long the person had been banging for, but Ezra’s head snapped up from my shoulder at the racket. He blinked sleepily, as if he didn’t know what had woken him. His eyes found mine, and they stilled, a slow smile crossing his features.
The knocking came again.
I chuckled at his startled expression, and pointed up at the wall where he couldn’t see, positioned as he was. “It’s for you.” I rolled and saw we had only been napping for an hour since we had hightailed it from the dining hall. Pulling the blanket over my shoulders, I muttered, “It may be your dad on the hunt, since he was trying to catch us slipping at lunch.”
Again, the thumping sounded.
“Shit,” he muttered, quickly pulling away from me, scooting backward off the bed…and falling straight on his ass when he landed on the headboard, no longer in its correct place.
Appropriately, I slapped a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing aloud.
I heard a rumbled curse, then the headboard creaked and he popped up at the end of the bed. He grabbed his shirt he had removed, yanking it over his head as he maneuvered his way through the debris of our earlier bout. The pounding came again, and Ezra picked up his pace, running his hands through his bed hair before opening the door.
Jack burst past him, muttering, “It’s about damn time! I lost my key…” His tirade waned to an inaudible whisper, his brown eyes darting from place to place as Ezra and I both froze. We hadn’t planned to hide it from Jack and Pearl, but we had hoped to find them after our nap and explain before they saw the mess our first joining had created. Ever so gradually, I saw it cross his features: awareness for what had transpired, as he viewed Ezra, and then me. “Well,” he cracked his neck, “I wondered when this would finally happen.”