“Why you?” Kali asked, trying to inject a mocking tone into her voice instead of the rage she felt. “What’s so special about you? You don’t look up to the job from where I’m standing.”
“I am the best,” the miniature pixie said with an arrogant sniff. “I grabbed the Oracle, transported her to a place with no paranormal creatures, and silenced her.”
“But you failed, because she passed her knowledge on to humans.” Kali tilted her head, lifting the jar to look more closely at the pixie. She could see the annoyance even on such a tiny face, but a theory was starting to solidify in her mind, and she decided to try and get confirmation. “You’re cleaning up your own mess. Nobody even knows you’re doing this. That’s why the assassinations weren’t simultaneous. You’ve been doing this on your own.”
The pixie didn’t say anything, but Kali could see the woman’s fear now. It seemed pretty obvious that she had no backup. It was likely that no one would even notice that the pixie was missing—at least not for a while.
“Can pixies starve to death?”
“No,” the pixie said with a half laugh that didn’t quite hide her terror. “Unlike humans, we are not fragile creatures.”
“Good to know,” Kali said as she turned to her men. “How long will the wards stay in place?”
“Indefinitely,” Alex said with a grim smile. Kali could sense the anger both her men were feeling toward the conscienceless assassin.
“Good,” Kali said. She lifted the microphone away from the jar, glanced around the room, and finally settled on the cupboard under the kitchen sink. She found an old ceramic sugar container large enough to place the glass jar inside. The pixie was doing some sort of tantrum, but without the amplified sound Kali could barely hear a thing. “Maybe a few years of solitary confinement will help you to see the error of your ways. Good-bye, Conni.”
She placed the lid on the pottery jar, placed the pottery under the sink, and closed the cupboard door. She turned to her men.
“Let’s go home.”
Chapter Eight
Kali glanced around her kitchen and wondered how everything that had happened in the past few days could suddenly feel like a dream. With Ronan and Alex in another room it almost felt like none of it had happened.
“You okay, sis?” Dave asked as he stepped into the small area.
“I think so,” she said honestly.
“I want you to move in with Ronan.” It was obvious that her brother had been beside himself with worry, and so she knew without a shadow of a doubt that he wanted her to move in with Ronan so that he could protect her. This wasn’t another of Dave’s lousy matchmaking moves. Although, considering that the last guy he’d set her up with was one of the two guys she was hopelessly in love with now, maybe his instincts hadn’t been so lousy after all. “Even with the pixie locked away, there is no guarantee that you’ll be safe. Alex says the wards will hold her, but he and Ronan don’t want to alert anyone else to her whereabouts. The fewer people who know what happened to her or where she is the less likely she is to escape.” He crossed his arms and gave her his worried-big-brother look. “But it’s probably only a matter of time before someone else connects the dots and decides to finish what she started.”
“I know all of that,” she said quietly, trying not to convey her annoyance. Dave was just being her big brother and trying to protect her. He probably had no way of knowing how unbalanced she felt.
“Or would you rather move in with Alex?” Dave asked with a sympathetic smile. Hell, maybe he did know. She’d never really been able to hide anything from the brother who’d protected her all her life.
Smiling softly, she tried to find words to reassure him without quite confessing that she loved both Ronan and Alex. But again her big brother proved how well he knew her.
“Go talk to them.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “And know that whatever way you choose to live your life you will always have my love and support.” Tears blurred her vision, and she hugged her brother fiercely. After a few moments he laughed quietly. “If nothing else, it will make Thanksgiving rather interesting this year.” She nodded, gave him a watery smile, and watched as he let himself out the front door.
“Dave heading home?” Ronan asked. She nodded. “Good, Alex and I want to run a few decisions by you.”
“Decisions? Like what?”
“Like where we’re going to live, beautiful,” Alex said from the doorway of the living area. Her heart did a strange little tap dance before she could remind herself that they were only talking about protecting her long term. The three of them would probably have wild monkey sex to pass the time, but it was just fun. It wasn’t the true relationship her heart wanted.