Page 5 of Retribution

It had been an inexcusable spectacle.

“Chep?” came a voice. “What’s happening?”

Bennet turned in the direction of the question, seeing Aidric, Britt, and Dirk walking up. The query had come from Aidric and Bennet had opened his mouth to answer when a chorus of curses rose up from behind the slammed door.

Bennet pointed to the panel.

“Monty and Stefan tried to welcome Gerard,” he said. “Their overture was rejected.”

All eyes turned to the man standing a few feet away. Gerard de Velt stepped forward, completely unflustered, and looked at the three knights as if expecting some foolery from them, also. His dark brow was furrowed, his strangely colored eyes full of suspicion.

“If you think to attack me, then know I will not make an easy target,” he said. “I am prepared.”

Aidric held up a hand to ease him. “There will be no attack, I assure you,” he said. “There should not have even been this one, but Payton-Forrester and de Lohr seemed to have other ideas. Though they meant no real harm, I find that behavior appalling. You have my apologies.”

With that, he marched over to the door and yanked it open to find Stefan and Orion standing there. Orion had a big bump on his forehead and Stefan was nursing a bloodied nose.

Aidric scowled.

“What were you two thinking?” he demanded. “This is not how we welcome another member of the Six. Not in the least.”

Big and blond and handsome, Orion was trying very hard not to appear remorseful. “It was done with affection, I assure you,” he said, looking at Gerard. “Our families are old allies in the north. Manny and I have known each other for many years. It was simply my way of greeting him, but it seems that he was ready for me. A pity. It could have been fun.”

Aidric rolled his eyes at the use of the nickname. “You will address him respectfully.”

Orion looked at him as if he was the one with the problem. “I have addressed him with perfect respect,” he said. “Manmeat and I understand one another. That moniker came about long before I used it and it will continue long after my bones are in the ground. If he does not like me to use it, then all he need do is tell me.”

Aidric was going from irritated to angry at that point. Orion had the power to annoy the hell out of him—and it was a power he had with the entire group, in fact. Exasperated, Aidric looked at Britt and Dirk, silently demanding their opinions on the matter, then Gerard spoke quietly.

Firmly, but quietly.

Like rolling thunder.

“You were an incorrigible child and I see that has not changed,” he said to Orion. “No one liked you back then and I suspect no one likes you now. You continue to prove yourself a fool, Orion.”

There was a threat in that statement. No warmth or recognition of the allyship that Orion was so free in announcing. For a moment, no one was sure how Orion was going to react to the statement. He simply stared at Gerard, the weight of the moment bearing down on all of them. Aidric began to wonder if they were about to have a fight on their hands. For men who needed to trust one another with their lives in this tightly knit group, such animosity would not work.

Someone would have to go.

Abruptly, Orion broke into a grin.

“I am madly in love with you, you idiot,” he said, going to Gerard and cupping the man’s face affectionately. “How dare you speak so cruelly to me. We were the best of friends for years and you know it.”

He was virtually manhandling Gerard’s head in his overt attempt at affection and the others held their breath, waiting for Gerard to cuff him, but Gerard merely broke into a weak grin.

“The next time you try to ambush me, I will not be so kind to you,” he said, throwing his arm around Orion’s neck in a rough gesture of camaraderie. “I will break some bones, so do not test me again.”

Orion was quite happy to let the man hug him. “I cannot promise that.”

“Then you are in for some pain.”

That had Orion laughing. Sensing that perhaps all was well with them, even if it was in a rather rough-and-tumble way, Aidric motioned toward the chamber that was the gathering place for the Guard of Six.

“Inside,” he told them, moving the men along. “There is much to discuss between us all.”

With Orion and Gerard half dragging each other inside the building, they were followed by Stefan, and then Bennet, who looked both concerned and appalled by their behavior. Britt followed Bennet, leaving Dirk and Aidric to bring up the rear.

“Christ,” Dirk muttered. “I thought we were going to have some trouble.”