Chapter Eleven

 

“This might be the safest place, Dan, but it’s also the most uncomfortable,” Dev complained quietly. He kept his voice low because he didn’t wish to insult our hosts.

Daniel nodded at Ingrid and Halle as they lay down to sleep for the night. We were under a bridge on the outskirts of the city. It was one of those places that people had forgotten. The world had moved away from this bridge and the road over it. It was a small bridge but I found it comfortable. We had a little makeshift bed and blankets. The incline we were on actually seemed comforting to me. Danny and I had slept like this many times in the past. I could trace the summers of our teen years by how close we’d slept. When we’d been thirteen, we kept several yards apart, and we’d gradually gotten closer until our eighteenth year when Danny had given up hiding anything and I started sleeping in his arms.

“Wimp,” Daniel shot back quietly. “Z and I lived like this every summer of our lives for years. It’s not even hot, dude. I think it’s funny that we’re way more Fae than you are in this instance.”

“I’m not a troll, Daniel.” Dev squirmed as he tried to find a comfortable position. He bumped against me as he rested his head in one hand. “I’m a royal sidhe. We don’t sleep under bridges. We sleep in big, comfy beds with our warm wives and many, many servants to take care of our needs.”

“Danny’s right.” I shook my head as I looked up at Dev. “You’re a wimp. You wouldn’t have lasted a summer with us.”

“I most certainly would have,” Dev replied, a little offended. “Believe me. If I had met you when we were seventeen or so, I would have walked after you and never once complained.”

“So your seventeen-year-old self was way tougher than you at twenty-nine?” I asked, breathing in the late spring air.

“No, darling. I would have followed you without complaint because I would be trying to sleep with you.” Dev’s voice was smooth and silky in the darkness. “I would have gone through an enormous amount of discomfort to have gotten into your teenage pants. Daniel speaks of those days fondly.”

“Daniel speaks of those days in confidence,” Danny said, half laughing and smacking Dev on the forehead. My vampire smiled in the dark. He seemed to be feeling better now that we had found our godparents and settled in. He was comfortable in this world. “I loved those summers, Z. I couldn’t wait for school to let out so we could find Halle and Ingrid and just walk the bridges all summer long. Do you think our kids will do that?”

“Not if Devinshea has anything to do with it,” I joked.

Even in the dark, I could see Dev frown. “I would never stop our children from walking the bridges in the heat without any proper comforts if that is what they truly want to do. You should just be prepared that our children will be much like me.”

“Spoiled rotten?” Daniel’s voice was amused.

“Well, yes,” Dev replied. “And that will not be entirely my fault. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but Daniel isn’t exactly a hardass when his emotions are engaged. He might seem tough, but when it comes to his loved ones he’s very mushy.”

Dev seemed to have found a comfy spot on the pallet we had rolled out. He snuggled up to me, which pushed me into Daniel. I was sort of smooshed in between the boys, using Daniel’s chest for a pillow.

“Hey,” I said quietly as I felt a hand trying to find a way into my undies. I had shucked my jeans and bra and was trying to sleep in Danny’s T-shirt and my cotton underwear. Now I felt another hand working its way up to a breast. I slapped at both of them. “None of that, people.”

“What?” They managed to say it at the same time and with the same innocent tone.

“Go to sleep,” I ordered, settling in between them.

“Do you see how uncomfortable it is, Daniel?” Dev asked.

“Yes, I’m beginning to.” Daniel’s head came up and he listened intently for a moment. “Lee’s here.”

I saw the shadow of a huge wolf on the opposite wall of the bridge as my bodyguard prowled in. Zack followed him, carrying a backpack. Lee took one look at the three of us and growled low in the back of his throat.

“He wants to know why we’re sleeping under a goddamn bridge,” Zack translated and he sounded an awful lot like his brother in that moment.

Daniel sat up, regarding the wolf seriously. “We’re hiding out from Marini. He’s after Zoey, remember?”

Lee growled again and once more Zack spoke for his older brother. “And you hate motels why?”

Dev fielded that one. He was very serious about his answer. “There are many reasons for that, Lee. They don’t have a mini bar, for one. And the beds there are not very large. The mattresses are of an inferior quality…”

Zack didn’t have to translate for Lee this time.

“Well, you don’t have to be rude,” Dev said, turning to me. “He’s your wolf, Zoey. Handle him.”

“Lee, this really is the best place.” I used my most reasonable voice. “No one will think to look for us here. We can get to the airport easily, and Marini won’t even know we left. Also Ingrid is really good with glamours. She’s going to help me and Dev since Danny will be flying on his own.”

“I hate airplanes,” Danny explained. “They give me the creeps. It’s not natural.”

I shook my head. “Because flying on your own at thirty thousand feet is completely normal.”

“I would take you with me, baby, but Dev passed out at twenty thousand feet and then Zack had to give him CPR. It wasn’t a successful experiment.” Daniel yawned. It would be dawn soon and we hadn’t fed him from Dev’s magic. He would be out all day.

“I never, ever want to know what the two of you do when you’re alone,” I said, horrified, and then turned back to the werewolf. “It’s just tonight and tomorrow night, then we’ll get in a comfy jet. The good news is we have beef jerky.”

Albert had included it in our traveling bags. It was Lee’s favorite.

The wolf barked once and then lay down, his head on his enormous paws. He sighed and his eyes closed.

“He says the beef jerky better be good and he’s staying in wolf form because it’s more comfortable,” Zack interpreted. He saw all three of us looking at him and shrugged. “He mostly just growled throughout my childhood. I learned to translate. It was a survival skill.”

Zack smiled and tossed his pack down before setting himself on the ground without a complaint.

Dev wrapped himself around me from behind and I lay my head on Daniel’s chest. I snuggled down, loving the feel of them around me. Then a hand started caressing my ass.

“Dev,” I hissed.

“Go to sleep, Dev,” Daniel commanded with a chuckle. “She’s not playing with us tonight.”

“I am very uncomfortable, Daniel,” Dev pouted back, though he settled his arm around my waist. “I pick the next hideout.”

“Deal,” Daniel agreed as he drifted off to sleep.

 

* * * *

 

Two days later, I looked curiously at my husband. “You’re staring again.”

I’d been trying to sleep. The seat on the private jet was surprisingly comfortable, and I’d had some anxiety dreams the last couple of days. I was weary and the flight was really long. I thought I’d take a nap, but I kept feeling Dev’s eyes on me.

“I’m trying to get used to you as a blonde,” he admitted.

Touching the small amulet that hung around my neck, I had to admit I understood the feeling. Ingrid had worked up glamours for Dev and myself over the two days we spent with the trolls. It was odd to look at the stranger staring at me when I caught my reflection, but Daniel had been serious about taking every precaution while we were still in the same city Marini was in.

“I think the eyes bother me more,” Dev said, looking me over thoughtfully. Though he’d sent Nim and Stewart across the pond on a commercial jet, he preferred to travel in his company’s Boeing. No muss, no fuss, and absolutely no security to worry about. Regular airport security might have had problems with some of our luggage. “I’m used to your hazel eyes. Brown doesn’t suit you. And the breasts bug the crap out of me. Why did she have to make them so small?”

“I’m supposed to be incognito.” It wasn’t any easier for me to look at him. At first I thought it might be kind of fun, but I didn’t like the way the glamour dulled Dev’s natural shine. I realized how much comfort we took from the familiar.

“I thought I would enjoy this,” Dev frowned. “I thought we could slip away and enjoy joining the mile high club, but it feels like cheating. Maybe we could take off the amulets while we’re….”

“No.” This wasn’t a thing we could just take off and put back on. There was a magical incantation to make the amulet work, and while Dev might be able to get his back on, I would never get it right. I’m crap when it comes to magic. “We’re almost there, baby. Once we get to Hugo’s place in London, we can just be ourselves again. You know Danny is worried that Marini will have men watching for us at the airports now that he knows his little plan to kidnap me failed. Even the private ones.”

Chad had sent Neil a text letting us know that Marini was aware I’d slipped out of his grasp and he wasn’t happy about the situation. There was no going back now. Our only sanctuary was with Daniel’s supporters.

Hugo Wells was a vampire who lived in London. He’d been deeply involved in the rebellion plans Daniel’s rising had crushed. He was now a strong supporter of Daniel’s bid to take over the Council. He’d offered us safe haven while we were in England.

Neil turned in his seat. “I’m with Dev on this one, Z. You look weird.”

“I look weird?” I asked my BFF. “You’re a ginger. You look like Conan O’Brien.”

Neil, or rather ginger Neil, huffed a little. “Hey, I rock this glamour. Lee is the one who looks really freaky. He looks like he’s twelve, and who decided Zack should be an old man?”

“I lost at Rock, Paper, Scissors,” Zack explained as the plane began its descent.

“He always picks rock,” Lee grumbled.

“Next time, I’ll pick paper,” Zack vowed.

Neil was shaking his head as he frowned. “He won’t. He’ll think that we’ll think he’s picking paper and go with scissors, so he’ll go with rock. He does it every time. It’s kind of sad.”

“Well, I don’t get the difference.” Lee never actually opened his eyes. He’d slept almost the entire time we’d been in the air. The only time my wolf managed to rouse himself was for the excellent lunch we’d been served. “You all still smell the same to me.”

I took a deep breath because while I didn’t mind the flight, I wasn’t real fond of the taking off and landing process. I just wanted to get to the ground. Dev reached over to take my hand. Even though he stared at me from brown eyes, I knew that smile.

“I’ll be glad to get back to being me,” I said.

“I’ll be glad to get back to doing you,” Dev whispered, but it didn’t matter because both Neil and Zack laughed. Dev didn’t care. “I can’t believe you made me go without for days. How did you and Daniel go without sex for entire summers at a time?”

“We didn’t,” I replied with a self-deprecating grimace. “We were a lot younger, Dev. We were much less discriminating.”

Dev’s eyes lit with amusement. “Ah, you made do with quickies under a convenient bush.”

I laughed at the memory. “It wasn’t comfortable. I was often stuck between a rock and a hard place. I mean that literally. There were rocks and Danny was a hard place.”

Dev brought my hand to his lips. “Well, I promise, my lovely wife, that I will provide you with a nice comfy bed. I gave Hugo a list of the things we’ll need. Your every comfort will be seen to. I’m back in charge now.”

The sad thing was I bet Danny was happy about it, too. Dev had spoiled us both. We were used to living in his world. I sighed at that thought because we weren’t going to be in Dev’s world anymore. The minute we entered Hugo Wells’s home, we would be in Vampire society and have to deal with everything that went with it.

“What’s wrong, lover?” Dev asked.

“I suppose this Hugo Wells is an older vampire.”

Dev’s smile was weak. He knew where I was going. “Yes, my love. He is old, but he’s also an academic. I will have to be circumspect, but he will likely prove tolerant. He knows we sleep together but we can’t rub his face in the fact that we’re together even when Daniel isn’t around. He won’t understand. But, Zoey, in the privacy of our bedroom, there will be nothing to stop us. Daniel will join us this evening, and I’m sure after his long flight he’ll need some comforting.”

I nodded, not mentioning how much I hated playing these games. Dev knew. The plane was in steep descent and I could see the city. London was huge and I got excited for the first time.

“Cool,” Neil said, looking out his window.

“I see Big Ben, Lee.” Zack tried to point out the enormous clock to his brother.

Lee shifted in his seat but resumed his light snoring as we passed over the city proper and into the suburbs where the small private airport was located. We would be driven back into the city where Hugo’s home was.

Neil’s strange eyes were excited as he grinned back at me. “We have to do that thing where we try to get the guards with the fuzzy hats to smile.”

“When all of this is done, I think we should do some traveling,” Dev said as we touched down in the private airfield. “I would like to go on a vacation that doesn’t end in gunplay or me getting stabbed in the gut. Perhaps someplace tropical. Daniel could use a tan.”

Knowing Dev, that meant he would probably buy us an island. It would be worth it to just lie around in a bikini and drink fruity drinks and not worry about who was going to try to kill us next.

Dev helped me up as the door to the plane was being opened. We would depart right on the tarmac, and I could see the limo Dev had ordered already pulling up. I saw the driver from the window. He was a tall, strong-looking man who might be able to double as muscle. He stood beside the limo that waited to take us into the city.

Lee stretched as he woke up. He took a deep breath and then he was on his feet, his eyes wide and his hand going for his gun.

“Close that door!” he yelled at Zack, who was just starting to head out.

“What?” I asked as Dev started to push me down. He wanted me on my knees, safely out of the range of the windows and whatever bullets might pass through them.

“We’re surrounded,” Lee said.

Dev looked out the window, shaking his head. “I only see the driver.”

“There’s at least ten of them,” Lee said as Zack pulled the door closed.

“Shit,” Dev cursed.

I peered over a chair out the window. Sure enough, Lee was right. Two men carrying rifles came out of the limo. Two more flanked the plane, and I watched as three came up from hiding spots in the long grass by the airfield.

“Who the hell sent them?” Neil asked, crouching down beside me.

“Louis.” Tears filled my eyes because I was about to be taken in. How would I keep Marini from killing my wolves? My heart thundered in my chest. He would keep Dev alive, but he would try to kill my wolves. I couldn’t take that. I couldn’t imagine a world without Neil and Lee and Zack. They were my family.

“If you’re referring to the head of the Vampire Council, I assure you he has nothing to do with my Order,” the pilot said, opening the cockpit door. He stood there with a Glock in his hand. “Get that door open,” he ordered Zack. “These bullets are silver. I’m not sure just how many of you they will work on, but I know if you take me out, the others will simply blow up the plane and that should work.”

“What do you want?” Dev asked tightly.

“For starters, we want your kind to stop attempting to bring about the apocalypse,” the pilot said in a crisp British accent he hadn’t had before. “You will not be allowed to wake the wizard.”

“So much for keeping things quiet,” Lee said, crossing his arms defensively.

I heard three thuds against the side of the plane as soldiers slapped C-4 against the side. Guess they were serious about blowing us up.

“I’m going to kill Stewart if I see him again,” Dev promised.

“I’ll help you,” I offered as Dev helped me up.

“My wife is human and has nothing whatsoever to do with this little plot of mine,” Dev lied. “If you would allow her to go, I would be more than happy to answer any questions you have. We’re seeking out Merlin for peaceful reasons, I assure you. We can explain everything.”

“I doubt she’s innocent, Mr. Quinn,” the pilot said. “And if you want to live, your explanations had better be excellent. Now get that door open or I’ll give them the signal to blow the plane sky high. Do not doubt my resolve. I joined the Order at sixteen and have devoted my life to our cause. A death in the line of duty is one of my greatest ambitions.”

Dev nodded, and Zack pushed the door open again.

Lee glared at the pilot. “If we’re going to die, I would rather take you with me.”

“I have no intention of killing anyone if you follow orders,” the pilot explained. “We have questions we want answered. We would prefer to talk to you first. We’re not animals. Now move if you want to keep your heads on your bodies.”

Dev squeezed my hand as we passed the pilot. I studied our welcome party. There were ten of them, each with a high-powered rifle in his hands.

Looked like gunplay was definitely on the itinerary for this vacation.