Page 18 of Midnight of Ashes
A man with dark skin and wearing a perfectly tailored suit reclined on the couch. He took a sip of an amber liquid as he studied me. “Interesting.”
“Fionn,” the woman chided, amusement in her voice.
A second man scowled in my direction. He wore khakis and a preppy sweater. The combination of that with his blond hair and blue eyes made him seem like he’d be more at home at a yacht club. “This is highly inappropriate,” he chastised. “You should’ve called us immediately.”
Cillian lounged on the couch looking entirely unruffled. “There’s no law stating we need to inform you that we’ve found our mate, Arthur.”
Movement caught my attention as a fourth man shoved off the bar and stalked forward. He, too, wore a suit. He had silver threaded through his dark hair, and his tanned skin held lines around his eyes. But something told me those lines weren’t from smiling.
“He’s right, Cillian.” The man’s voice sent a chill skating down my spine. “The council must be informed when a new dragon is found.” He flashed me a smile. Everything about it was fake, from the too-white teeth to the strained muscles in his cheeks. “After all, we can’t have Hayden being brainwashed before she’s had a chance to choose her future for herself.”
Maddox let out a low growl.
The man’s smile only grew. “Careful, Maddox. I might see that as a sign of aggression.”
Cillian wrapped his hand around a crystal glass. “I think it’s you who might need to be careful, Nolan. It sounded like you were insulting me and my family.”
There was a flicker of something in Nolan’s expression. Anger? Fear? I wasn’t entirely sure.
Nolan waved Cillian off. “Nothing of the sort. But it is my responsibility to let Hayden know she has choices. My responsibility is to introduce her to other hordes who are looking for a mate. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”
10
CILLIAN
My dragon pushed against my skin, surging to the surface and desperately trying to break free. He wanted to annihilate the man who stood in our living room, threatening to take our mate. He wanted to unsheathe his claws and spill Nolan’s intestines out onto the rug.
I forced my beast down.
We had to play this smart. Nolan certainly was. He knew that if he got under our skin and one of us snapped, he’d have cause to remove Hayden from our care. I wasn’t about to give him that.
I pushed to my feet, crossing in front of Nolan and straight to Hayden. Knox stepped back, giving me space. My hand slipped beneath her gorgeous blonde tendrils, and I squeezed her neck.
It was a possessive hold. Every dragon in the room would recognize it as such. Everyone except Hayden.
She tipped her head back, looking up at me with such sweet submission. But there was fear and uncertainty in those hypnotizing violet eyes. The fact that Nolan had put those emotions there had me wanting to gut him all over again.
I dipped my head, brushing my lips across Hayden’s. It was a blatant fuck you to the council, but I didn’t give a damn.
Hayden melted into me, and I had to fight the urge to throw her over my shoulder and run fast and far. Everything in me wanted to create distance from the threat all around us.
I forced myself to pull away from Hayden’s mouth, her taste, and her jasmine and fresh dew scent. I knew my eyes had likely gone dark, but it couldn’t be helped. “Hayden is free to meet whomever she would like. And she’s also free to opt out of those meetings.”
Nolan’s brown eyes swirled gold. “You don’t have a say in that.”
“Boys,” Mona warned, uncrossing and recrossing her legs. “Let’s not allow this conversation to devolve.”
Nolan flicked her a look of annoyance, and as much as Mona pissed me off at times, I wanted to buy her a bottle of the god-awful vodka she favored. His focus returned to me. “Cillian needs to be reminded of his place. He already executed an alpha, a king of one of the hordes, without council authorization.”
My body went rigid as fury blazed through me. My beast pulled at the reins, dying to break free. “I killed my father when he attempted to slay my little brother. When he almost succeeded.”
I could still see the blast of alpha fire hit Declan in the chest, see his body fall, his mate weeping over him. I wished I could’ve killed Patrick over and over again. But even if I could do it every day for the rest of my life, it wouldn’t satiate my anger.
Hayden’s hand fisted in my button-down, her muscles tensing as she looked up at me in question.
Nolan picked up on it instantly. He grinned at her. “Your so-called mate didn’t tell you that he murdered his father?”
Maddox let out another growl. “You’re the only ones who let people get away with murder around here.”
