Noble Blood (17 page)

Leo’s hand covered Ruby’s, holding her to him. Jaden didn’t know if it was out of affection for the woman or to protect his mate from the big bad vampire. “I’m trying to.”

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Jaden blinked. Shane was standing, ambling through the kitchen toward Akane, who was a lot closer to the dining room now.

“I’m leaving.”

Shane shook his head. “I’m still not sure why. You’ll only fly back and eavesdrop anyway, so why not sit, be comfortable and have some of Ma’s apple pie?”

Akane snorted. “God, Farm Boy. Why not offer to let me milk the cows, because that would be so much fun.”

Shane took hold of her arm and began leading her back to the kitchen table. Akane pulled on his hold, but to Jaden’s shock she didn’t get free. “As you wish.” He set Akane down in a chair and handed her a plate. “Enjoy your pie.”

What the fuck?
Jaden had taken the hybrid with difficulty, true, but the fact that he’d just manhandled a
dragon
? That took strong to a whole new level.

Did that crazy hybrid
let
me kidnap him?

The small jump Moira gave, the speculative gleam in her eyes as she stared at her brother, let him know she’d heard his thoughts loud and clear. If Moira thought Shane had allowed Jaden to take him, then maybe Jaden was on the right track.

Akane ate her pie, her body tense. Jaden bet she was ready to bolt at the first sign that Shane’s vigilance had waned.

“Shane, be nice to the girl. She’s not used to us yet.” Aileen Dunne smiled at Akane, and the dragon suddenly looked terrified. “But I’m thinking she will be.”

“Not in this lifetime.” Akane shoveled another piece of pie in her mouth. “Thanks for the pie, though.”

Jaden almost laughed. Akane was brutally honest when cornered, and it looked like Shane had managed to push all her freak-out buttons. “All right. Let me hazard a guess. Akane, Robin sent you here to make sure I didn’t fuck up—”

“Jaden Blackthorn! Language!”

Jaden pretended to wince. It had been a very long time since he’d been scolded by a mother. “Sorry. Shane caught you and made you come inside. Did he threaten the car?”

The dragon snarled, the sound low and inhuman.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He turned to Leo. “The rest of us are here for a family meeting about the Malmaynes.”

“Kaitlynn and Cullen are dead. I thought it was over.” Leo sat, pulling a blushing Ruby into his lap. Those two were so cute together it made his fangs ache. “How wrong was I?”

“Completely.” Duncan sat, placing Moira next to him. He gestured for Jaden to take the empty chair to her left, bracketing her between them. Duncan was making a statement, but it put him dangerously close to Leo, who still didn’t look happy about how close Jaden was to his baby sister. The Sidhe was giving him some serious stink-eye. “Charles is set to try and take over the clan. If he does, he’ll begin pressuring Leo to mate with one of his daughters.”

Leo winced. “Ugh. Not those two. Constance and Cecelia are almost as bad as Kaitlynn was.”

“Not quite.” Jaden leaned forward, folding his hands on the table top. “They aren’t bat-shit crazy. They’re just mean.”

“True.” Leo glanced at Duncan, his cheeks turning pink. “No offense.”

“None taken. My sister
was
bat-shit crazy.” Duncan held Moira’s hand. “They’re also trying to set aside my bond with Moira and Jaden.”

There was silence around the Dunne table. “
Both
of them?” Leo leaned forward, staring at Duncan. “You’ve declared them
both
your mates?”

Duncan opened his mouth to respond when an explosion rocked the house. Jaden had Moira on the ground so fast he didn’t know if she even understood what had happened. He pulled Duncan down next, forcing the Sidhe over Moira. “Protect her. I’ll find out what’s going on.”

Duncan nodded, his Seeming falling away, silver stars dancing around him. “Be careful,
amoureaux
.”

“I will.” He stood and gestured toward Akane to join him. “Let’s go.”

“I’ve got the front, you get the back.” That freaky eye of hers was glowing. Golden horns peeked out of her hair. She was moments from changing into her dragon form, ready to do battle and defend the Dunnes.

He nodded and misted through the door, rematerializing on the roof of the porch. Lucky for him night had fallen while sitting in the Dunne kitchen.

That luck was offset by the blast radius around what used to be the Dunne barn. “Fuck me.”

“No thanks, your mates might not appreciate it.” That hissing voice had him smiling. Akane had joined him, her wings flapping silently beside him, her amber gaze narrowed on the barn. “Smell anything funny?”

He sniffed, sorting through the various scents. “Redcaps.”

“Headed this way. Guess what else is out there?”

He sniffed again. “Shit. Someone is using a salamander?” The creatures were animals, trainable but not very bright. Salamanders were one of the few things that could kill a vampire before he knew what hit him.

“Let me deal with the salamander. You take on the redcaps.”

“My pleasure.” Jaden allowed his Seeming to drop.

“There. Go.”

He saw where her claw was pointing. Three figures stalked across the ground. He recognized one of them as the redcap he’d drunk from earlier. “They’re Charles’s pets.”

“Great. We now have proof positive he’s working with the Black, if not a card-carrying member himself. We’ll deal with him later.”

Jaden nodded, not taking the time to fill her in. He already had proof positive, but this wasn’t the time and place to give out the deets on Charles’s bad boy ways. He flowed along the roof, eager for the coming fight. He waited until they were almost to the house before dropping into the middle of them, startling them all.

Once again he found himself thanking the gods that redcaps were dumber than a box of rocks. He got hold of the first redcap, determined to take him out quickly. Jaden grabbed the redcap’s head and twisted, snapping his neck. He let the redcap fall and raced toward the next one. He couldn’t afford to let them into the house.

The ground under him trembled. The redcap on his left let out a horrified screech as he was sucked into the earth through a hole the size of a pin. There should have been a fountain of blood and gore flying through the air as the redcap was essentially strung through that hole, but the immense gravity just sucked everything in until there was nothing left, not even a drop.

Sean Dunne stood on the porch, the light of battle in his eyes. He grinned down at the last redcap. “Do you want to be joining your friend?” The strong lilt of Ireland was in the leprechaun’s voice. His black hair gleamed like the richest earth, his skin showing the faintest whorls common among those whose element was the earth itself. His green eyes had darkened to the color of summer leaves.

And he looked
pissed.

Jaden damn near did a happy dance. These idiots had confronted a leprechaun on his own fucking land, threatened his family. He bowed to Sean Dunne, according him the respect he deserved. “Allow me.”

Sean, never taking his eyes from the redcap, nodded.

“Da! More on the south side!” Leo came running, golden sparks trailing behind him.

“Where’s your brother?” Sean followed his middle child around the house and out of Jaden’s sight.

Jaden pointed toward the redcap. “I know you! Didn’t I feed from you?” He licked his lips. “God, I hope you bathed today. Last time you left a nasty aftertaste.”

The redcap’s hand went to his neck, his eyes wide. “NO!” The idiot turned and ran, hand still over his neck.

I haven’t had this much fun in weeks!
Jaden pounced, bringing his prey to the ground and biting into the side of his neck with little finesse. After all, the redcap wasn’t going to survive what Jaden did to him.

When he was done, it looked like he’d be paying a little visit to Charles Malmayne’s house. It was time for Charles to die.

Duncan pulled Moira to her feet. “Come on.” He raced for the opposite side of the house, knowing the explosion had to be a diversion.

“Wait! What about Jaden?”

Duncan sidestepped her father. The fury on Sean Dunne’s face would frighten a lesser man. Duncan had faced leprechauns before, but he’d never been stupid enough to do it on their own land. What in hell was Charles thinking? He had to know this was a very bad idea. As Jaden would say, it was a move worthy of a Darwin Award.

He sped out the front door, knowing Moira could move much faster than he. “Jaden has the back. Unless I miss my guess, there will be more out front.”

She stopped struggling and joined him. “Ma!”

“I’m heading upstairs with Ruby. I’ll keep her safe.” The two women pounded up the stairs, much to Duncan’s relief. While the little human was feisty, she was no match for a redcap.

He barreled through the front door and skidded to a halt. There in front of him were three redcaps. They’d dropped their Seeming, much to his dismay.

“Oh, ew.” Moira wriggled her nose. “Those guys are hideous.”

The redcaps had thick, muscle-bound bodies and limbs both skinnier and longer than they should be. Their skin was the color of fresh toadstools and wrinkled like that of extremely old men. Gray beards partially hid their fang-filled mouths. Red eyes glared at them, filled with hate. Steely claws tipped the fingers of each hand, razor sharp and lethal. All of their teeth were sharp, their eyes too big for their faces and their noses long and pointy. On their feet were iron boots, and on their heads they wore caps dripping with fresh blood. They weren’t carrying their traditional pikes; instead, each redcap carried a gun.

Shit.

Duncan tried to push Moira behind him, without luck. She ducked and ran, heading around the porch. One of the redcaps took off after her, firing his gun. Duncan saw her weave her way across the ground, moving faster and faster until she was around the corner.

Duncan had to trust that Moira knew what she was doing. She knew this land almost as well as her father, and that bond would give her some power here.

He turned his attention to the two remaining redcaps. Both had lifted their guns. He had a split second to decide what he was going to do.

Do what a son of the Tuatha Dé does best. Fuck with their minds.

The echo of Jaden’s words gave him just what he needed to get moving. He dove into one of their minds, quickly reweaving what the redcap saw. Duncan now seemed to stand where his comrade did, while Duncan himself looked like the redcap’s ensorcelled partner.

As he’d hoped the redcap spun and fired on his buddy, hitting him in the head and killing him instantly. Duncan held on to the redcap’s mind, sensing its satisfaction at a job well done.

Well, shit. Their orders were to kill him. And the person he saw handing down those orders was his own uncle.

He snarled, gesturing for the redcap to follow him. They ran in the direction Moira had gone. The redcap’s orders as far as Moira was concerned were muddled. Part of the redcap wanted to kill her, to feast on her sweet blood. The other…

The other had Duncan seeing things through a filmy haze of rage. The urge to crush the redcap’s mind until nothing was left but a slobbering, mindless husk was nearly overwhelming. But he held on. If the other redcap had cornered Moira, he had plans. He’d use this redcap to destroy the other.

Then he’d crush the creature’s mind.

They turned the corner to find Moira fighting off the redcap. She was using her link to the earth to pull up rocks, hurling them at the redcap with devastating results. The redcap was bleeding from hundreds of cuts. Bruises peppered his body. One eye was swollen completely shut. Still the rocks came, pelting the redcap with all the force a major league baseball pitcher could put behind a throw.

Duncan could tell Moira was tiring. Sweat beaded her brow, and her aim seemed off. Duncan switched Moira and the other redcap in his redcap’s mind. It responded immediately, firing on the redcap menacing Moira.

The bruised redcap fell with a howl. The shot hadn’t been lethal. Duncan read the fantasy his redcap had of stripping Moira down and having her, and shuddered. He reached out and looped a fantasy through the remaining redcap’s mind. He grimaced at what the redcap considered nirvana, but he shoved the redcap there anyway and left him to rot. He would never move from that spot without being lifted. He would not eat, drink or sleep.

Duncan had sentenced him to death, and the redcap would never know how or why it had happened, not that Duncan really cared.

Moira joined him, the swirls of her skin dancing with rage. Green firelights danced around her. She was panting, strain showing in fine lines around her eyes and mouth. She rolled her shoulders. “Are there more?”

Duncan picked up the gun and aimed at the howling redcap’s head. “I hope not.” He pulled the trigger and ended the redcap’s life. “Let’s go.”

Jaden stalked around the corner of the house, his eyes glittering red and green, his claws dripping with blood. “Any more?”

“Other than the one contemplating his navel? No.”

Jaden eyed the bodies with satisfaction. “Good.” He stared up at the sky, a huge grin crossing his face. “Look up. Akane’s playing.”

Duncan looked up. “Dear gods. Is that a salamander?”

“Yup.” Jaden put an arm around each of them, pulling them close. “And that’s my partner beating the shit out of it.”

Duncan wasn’t surprised when Moira elbowed Jaden in the side. “I thought you and Akane only worked together occasionally?”

Jaden winced. “Yeah, well. Mostly I work alone, but when I partner up I usually prefer Akane. She’s all right, you know?”

“She’s mine.” Shane Dunne stepped off the corner of the porch, his gaze glued to the black and gold dragon fighting the salamander. Unlike popular myth, the dragon wasn’t much bigger than the woman had been, and most of that was wingspan. The salamander was roughly the size of a German shepherd, long and sleek and sinewy. Flames shot out of the salamander’s mouth, but the dragon was immune, darting in and out, toying with the salamander.

“Gods above. Is that a salamander?” Sean Dunne stood next to his son, staring up at the battle raging above them.