The Hob (The Gray Court 4) (8 page)

“Robin.” Jaden grinned and waved toward a seat. “Cop a squat and have a cup of coffee with me.” He tilted his head, one midnight brow rising nearly into his hair. “I gather you’re here for the Yates boy?”

Robin returned Jaden’s grin. “I’m here to find out what our dear Dark Queen is up to with this mad start of hers.”

Jaden practically bounced in his seat. “Oh. Can I help? Can I? Huh? Huh? Pleeease? I’m
so bored
.”

Robin laughed, delighted. “Yes, you may.”

“Yes!” Jaden rubbed his hands together. “Akane’s gonna be
so
jealous.”

“I have something special in mind for you, in fact.”

Jaden leaned forward eagerly. “Do tell.”

“I need you to guard someone.”

Jaden whimpered.

“Someone Raven MacSweeney has taken an interest in.”

At that, Jaden’s pained expression disappeared. He sat up slowly, that quick mind of his already going over the implications. “Oh? The Fear Dearc has a girlfriend?”

The handle of Jaden’s coffee cup snapped off, overturning the cup and spilling hot coffee all over his hand. Jaden yelped and grabbed a napkin, wiping the burning liquid off his hand. He glared at Robin. “What the hell?”

Robin sat back in his chair and took a deep breath. It wouldn’t do to allow the vampire to see him shaken. Just the thought of Michaela with MacSweeney was enough to set him off.

Something was going on. Something Robin would have to deal with personally. “Perhaps I should give you my assignment and take the girl on myself.”

“The girl?” Jaden’s sudden stillness gave him pause. “Not MacSweeney?” The knowing look Jaden shot him had a tinge of fear. “Could she be the one?”

“Fate is a cruel mistress with very bad timing.”

Jaden’s brows rose. “I’ll take that as a yes. Fate has an odd way of giving you what you need when you least expect it.” Jaden smiled grimly, his gaze turning inward as he spoke to his bondmates. “Duncan and Moira say hello, and they’re willing to help protect your female. When she’s near the Fear Dearc, Duncan will keep an eye on her. Moira’s going to try and find her and make nice. I’ll watch over her when I’m not protecting Duncan.”

He hadn’t even had to order Jaden to watch Michaela. He’d volunteered, as had his bondmates. “Are they certain? The Fear Dearc is not one to fool around with, and Michaela is mortal. She would be of no help to Moira in a fight.”

Jaden waved his hand. “You watched over my bondmates when I couldn’t. It only seems fair we watch over yours. Besides, Moira’s dying to meet her. Hell, she’s already on her way out of the room. Duncan agreed she should go, and for once she didn’t argue too hard.”

Robin was, once again, touched by the generosity of the Dunne-Blackthorn family. There was only one response he could give, and he would, gladly. “You have my thanks.”

Jaden lifted his broken cup, grimacing at its emptiness. The vampire had already healed the minor burn to his hand. “You’re welcome.” He set his cup down and stood. “Moira’s made contact.” He grimaced. “She wants a pair of strap-on wings for some strange reason.”

Robin shuddered delicately.

“She also has a plan.” Jaden gave Robin a mock sympathetic look. “Be afraid.”

Robin sighed and followed the vampire. Perhaps assigning the Blackthorns to watch Michaela hadn’t been his best idea. The thought of Michaela and Moira conspiring together had his gut clenching in terror.

Alone, the women were a force of nature. Together?

Robin was in deep trouble.

“Excuse me, can you point me toward the ladies?”

Michaela pointed without even looking up.

“Ah. Thank you. Um. I was wondering, is your name Michaela?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

The woman looked relieved. “Do you know a man named Robin?”

Michaela started. “No.” But boy, did she wish she did, especially if it was
her
Robin. Too bad he was the figment of an overactive imagination.

Damn.

The redhead in front of her made a face. “Oh.” She bit her lip. “I’m looking for someone, actually. Long red hair, blue eyes, looks like someone off the cover of a romance novel. His name is Robin.”

Michaela would have remembered someone like that. Hell, she would have been all over him. That description matched her Robin to a tee. She had a serious thing for redheads. It was Ringo’s only fault, but one she was willing to overlook due to his utter hotness and the fact that he seemed to want her too. “The closest I’ve seen is a guy in a cosplay wig dressed as InuYasha, but that wig was white. Sorry.”

“That’s okay.” The woman pointed toward Michaela’s wings. “I like them. Do they light up?”

Michaela smiled. She
loved
her bright orange and black wings. “Yup. Want to see?”

“Yes, please.”

Michaela pressed a button on her special belt, twirling around when the woman gasped.

“Where did you get those?”

Michaela shrugged. “Internet.”

The woman laughed. “My name’s Moira Malmayne-Blackthorn.”

“Pleased to meet you, Moira.”

“Same to you.”

“Are you here for the convention?”

Moira grimaced. “Nah. Business trip for one of my husbands.”

One of? “You…have two husbands.”

Moira nodded, but her open, friendly expression had begun to close off.

“How do you handle that? I mean, my mom had a hard enough time getting
one
guy to remember to lower the toilet seat. Then my brothers came, and she swears she became a duck from her butt landing in all that cold water at two a.m.”

Moira barked out a laugh, her expression easy once more. “It’s not easy keeping them in line, let me tell you. They have a habit of finding trouble wherever we go.” Moira shuffled her feet. “Actually, I have a confession to make.”

Michaela’s brows rose.

“My friend wants an introduction, so I was tasked with coming over to meet you, see if maybe you were single?”

Michaela wished she could give Moira the answer she wanted. “I’m single, but—”

“Then wait right there.” Moira dashed off before Michaela could finish her answer.

Michaela was just too damn busy to date. Being a pediatric oncology nurse at PGH consumed all her time. What little time she had left she used to pursue her hobbies, like snowboarding and MX biking. She was even taking classes in mixed martial arts, although she found herself on her ass more there than she ever did when she was learning to snowboard.

Michaela shook her head and decided to leave before Moira could find her again. The last thing she needed was some stranger trying to set her up on a blind date. She flipped open her program, then glanced at her watch. Maybe she could still make the class on fairy gardening. Someday she’d be able to afford a house with a garden, and she’d want to know what flowers to plant. Even though fairies weren’t real, the possibility that she
might
attract one was too good to ignore. She barely looked up as someone moved to block her path. “’Scuse me.”

“Leaving so soon? And Moira thought you would be interested in saying hello.”

Ringo?
Michaela glanced up into deep brown eyes filled with laughter. “Hey, you made it!” She was unable to contain her smile. Somehow, the day seemed just a little bit brighter.

Good-bye, Robin. Hello, Ringo.

“I did indeed.” Ringo took her hand and led her back to the smiling redhead. A tall, dark and handsome man stood next to Moira, his arm wrapped securely around her waist. “I’d like to introduce you to Jaden Blackthorn. Jaden, this is Michaela.”

“Charmed.” Jaden bowed, his movements eerily similar to Ringo’s.

In fact, Jaden was sporting a grin very similar to Ringo’s. Despite his obvious American Indian heritage and Ringo’s more mixed, Eurasian looks, she couldn’t help asking the obvious question. “Are you two related?”

Moira jolted as if stung, but Jaden answered easily. “Cousins.” He frowned through his smile. “Most people don’t pick up on it that quickly.”

“You move the same.” She turned to Ringo and placed her hand on his arm. “Hey, I need to get going if I’m going to catch the fairy gardening workshop.” She ignored Jaden’s muffled laugh and concentrated on Ringo. “Want to grab lunch later?” She could sleep tomorrow, right?

Ringo took her hand and kissed her wrist. It took everything in her not to shiver. “I would love to.”

“Cool. There’s this little hole-in-the-wall that has the best pizza just a block or two away.” She frowned. “You do like pizza, right?” Because a man who didn’t love pizza was not the man for her.

“I adore it.”

Michaela relaxed. “Excellent.” She turned to Moira and her husband. “Do you three want to join us?”

“Ah.” Moira exchanged a quick look with Jaden. “We’ll have to talk to Duncan, but if Ringo has no objection, we’d love to.”

Michaela heard the odd emphasis Moira put on Ringo’s name but decided to let it pass, at least for now. He’d explain it when he was ready. Why he would lie about his name she didn’t know, but his vibe hadn’t changed. Ringo was no danger to her. If anything, she felt a hundred times safer when he was nearby.

Speaking of feeling safe… “Hey, do you have any idea what happened earlier? All the bulbs blew out.”

Moira nodded, looking suddenly pale. “It was freaky.”

“I swear I’m going to be brushing bulb glass out of my hair for weeks.”

Moira eyed Michaela’s long brown hair and nodded in sympathy, absently fingering her curls. “I know what you mean.”

“Didn’t you need to hit the ladies?”

Moira nodded furiously. “Like babies need boobies.”

Jaden doubled over, laughter erupting from him.

Moira merely rolled her eyes at him. “I’ll be right back,
a ghra
.”

“That sounds sweet. What does it mean?” Michaela followed Moira toward the ladies’ room. She was going to miss the flower gardening workshop, but that was okay. Her new friend was married to Ringo’s cousin and seemed to know some of his secrets.

Moira blew Jaden a kiss, which he returned despite his continuing laughter. “It means ‘my love’.”

Michaela couldn’t help it. She risked a glance at Ringo only to find him watching her, an odd expression on his face. She nearly tripped over her own feet when she realized what it was.

Longing.

Robin waited until Jaden was done laughing before gently placing his hand on the nape of his Blade’s neck. “What were you thinking?”

Jaden gulped, his laughter suddenly gone. Good. Despite his affection for the boy, it wouldn’t do to let him think he could get away with something as vital as mucking about in the Hob’s plans. “That she’d trust us more if she knew we were associated with you, since you mentioned you’d already met her.”

Robin paused a beat, letting Jaden’s fear ramp up. Had he mentioned that? He couldn’t remember. While he was not entirely displeased by Jaden’s actions or logic, openly making friends with Michaela right where the delegation sat had not been in his game plan. It was not the best way to keep her safe, but it was too late now, had possibly been too late when she’d been attacked by the redcaps.

That and his honest, if misguided, intentions were what saved Jaden’s life.

He scraped his nail across Jaden’s neck, drawing a minimal amount of blood, just enough to express his dissatisfaction. “I had thought to keep our surveillance secret.”

“If we’re right and she’s yours, she’ll need something a little more upfront. If we don’t let it be known right off the bat that she’s protected and off-limits, someone might make a move on her before we can get to her in order to hurt you.”

Robin tilted his head, acknowledging Jaden’s facts without outright saying he might be right. It was a tricky thing, protecting the truebonds of the powerful.

Robin bit back a gasp.

Truebond?
He had been certain she was his bondmate, but a truebond? A truebond was a bond so deep, none but the gods themselves could break it.

He stared at the small room Michaela had disappeared into and bit back a growl as Cecelia Malmayne sauntered in, neat as you please. The urge to run in and rip her blonde head from her neck before she could give Michaela so much as a shiver of unease was intense.

It was official. Robin was fucked, and not in the good way. And to make his day even more interesting, the mirror in his pocket began to vibrate.

Oberon wanted his report, and Robin had literally nothing to give him but an insane brunette who might or might not be his truebond.

Chapter Seven

“How go the negotiations?”

Oberon waited a beat while Robin, strange looking with brown eyes and hair, tilted his head in thought. “Kael is still in the room. It appears the preliminary pleasantries are over, but I have been unable to enter. I have, however, managed to make contact with Jaden and Moira Blackthorn. They’ve promised to keep me apprised of the goings-on via Duncan, so in essence we have two spies within.”