Steal the Moon(22)

“What are you?” Declan asked, no longer bothering with his weapon. “You’re not a simple vampire.”

Daniel took him by the neck and hauled him up. His voice was deep as he talked around his fangs. “I’m a king, Your Highness, and not because my mother spat me from her womb. I am a king because I kill everything between me and my crown. Do you think I will not guard what is mine? She is my queen, my wife, my companion, my precious blood, and my property. I will kill you if you so much as think about touching her again. Do I make myself clear?”

“I believe I fully understand you,” Declan agreed, surprisingly calm. He didn’t fight Daniel’s hold, didn’t kick out. He merely waited.

Daniel dropped Declan, turning from him and starting toward me. “And don’t think your brother will be returning with you. He has work to do here. Take your ass back to Faeryland.”

Daniel stalked across his small battlefield, not caring that he stepped over various groaning bodies. He was completely ignoring the fact that he had three arrows sticking out of his body. He’d taken more, but the ones that had hit his chest had come out and the wounds were already healing. It was the three that had hit his legs and gone through to the other side he was struggling with. His body couldn’t figure out which way to push the foreign object out and he seemed reluctant to deal with them himself. He reached down and pulled me off the ground. His arms went around my back and under my knees.

“Property?” I wound my arms around his neck. It was the only thing on his list of words to describe me that I had issue with.

“Well, he pissed me off,” Daniel said as he leveled one last scowl at Dev’s brother. His eyes moved down toward me as we started to float. “And you were right. Arrows fucking hurt.”

Our flight through the city was far too short for my liking. Danny didn’t speak, but he held me tight and kissed my cheek. Even as we approached the balcony of the penthouse, I could see Dev pacing and watching the sky. It was no use because Daniel shielded himself when he flew. No one could see us as we made our way through downtown Dallas. The lights were beginning to flicker around us, but I couldn’t see anything but Dev and the emotion playing on his face.

Daniel landed on the balcony. Dev turned, his eyes finding mine, and I saw a momentary relief that was quickly replaced with anger. His eyes flared when he took in Daniel.

“Dude, what the hell happened to you?” he asked as Daniel set me on my feet.

Daniel gestured to the arrows sticking out of his body. “Your brother happened to me. He got handsy with Z, and I took offense. He brought out his little bodyguards and after I took them out, we came to an agreement. He won’t touch her again, and I won’t hack him into small pieces.”

“You took out Padric?” Dev’s mouth was slightly open in surprise. He dropped to his knees in front of Daniel, inspecting the wounds.

“I don’t know who that is,” Daniel admitted. “If he was with your brother, I assure you he got his ass handed to him. Now will someone go get a knife and cut these things out of me? I know it would be easier to shove them through but the wood hurts way more than whatever they used on the tips.”

“It’s made from a rock found in Faeryland.” Dev glanced up at me with little expression on his handsome face. I noticed he hadn’t shaved. There was a sexy five-o’clock shadow across his jaw. “Give me a knife, Zoey. I know you have at least two. I inventoried the armory.”

I pulled out the knives and handed them over. Now that I was standing in the same room with him, I really wanted to say whatever it took to get through this. “Dev, I think…”

“Not now, Zoey.” He dismissed me as he started to slice through the denim of Daniel’s jeans. “I’ll handle this while you go take a shower. You smell like you waded through corpses. When you’re presentable, we can discuss how this is going to work from now on.”

“Ultimatums, Dev?” I’d told myself I would be calm, but he was starting to push my buttons.

He didn’t even look back. “Oh, yes, my mistress. There will likely be several of them. After what you put me through today, I will give you ultimatums all night long.”

Daniel grunted as Dev widened the hole on his leg made by the arrow and with a jerk pulled it out as fast as he could. The hole immediately started to heal. “Baby, calm down. We need to talk, but it isn’t going to get us anywhere if we start yelling at each other.”

But I wanted to yell. They’d been wrong. They’d spent months and months putting me in a corner, and I was so tired of being stuck. “I think I’d like to hear what Dev really has to say.”

“I don’t think you do.” Dev started on the next arrow sticking out of Daniel’s leg. “I don’t think you want to know what I think. Daniel and I have done our level best to protect you and you turn right around and make it hard on us. Do you honestly think this is the way to prove you give a shit about us?”

“Dev.” Daniel made his name an admonition.

Dev pulled the next arrow out, making Daniel groan. “I’m speaking the truth. She walked out on us. She did that.”

“Yes, and she’s got the pussy, dude. Maybe you can get pussy wherever you want, but I’m a dude who’s only wanted one pussy his whole life. You gotta deal with the pussy in a certain way.” A low groan came from Danny’s mouth. “Fuck. Don’t twist it, asshole.”

There was no headway to be made with him. I walked away through the grotto, making my way past the bedroom we shared and into the master bathroom, already planning my exit strategy. Dev didn’t need me. He had a whole harem. And Daniel had Dev now. Neither one of them needed me.

Anger thrummed through my system. Everything I’d gone through during the day served to feed my anger. He’d ignored my very real problems and then thought he could give me ultimatums.

Tossing off my clothes, I turned on the shower without bothering to wait for it to heat up. With short angry strokes, I washed every inch of my skin and then started in on my hair. I had to hold on to my anger or I would cry, and I really didn’t want to cry. As I rubbed the shampoo in, I made plans.

Staying with Sarah was an option, but that might be hard on her brand new marriage. The last thing a newlywed couple needed was a crying, depressed friend turning their couch into her own personal mourning space. I could stay with Dad, but the idea of listening to “I told you so” twenty-four seven was unpleasant. As I finished with my hair, I switched the shower off and knew I would do what I had always done when I was really lost. I would walk the bridges and hope I could forget them.

Adrenaline was still pumping through my system as I wrapped the fuzzy towel around me and walked out of the shower, already planning what I would pack. I didn’t need much, just some clothes and my gun. Halfer was still out there, and he wouldn’t care that Dev didn’t want me anymore.

“You look ready to run, my mistress.” Dev stood by the sink, his arms crossed over his chest. “Just who are you planning to run to?”

“I thought I’d spend some time with Ingrid and Halle.”

“Did you now?” He moved away from the sink, his whole being stern and authoritarian. “You thought you would just walk away and nothing else mattered except what you wanted.”

“You think I wanted to almost get my ass kicked by an undead piece of crap? You think I wanted to spend the day with your brother trying to get in my pants? You can go to hell, Dev. Oh, wait, we’ve already been there.”

I tried not to think about how much I loved him. Weariness was stamped on his face, and I wanted to smooth his hair down and kiss him until he smiled at me again. Instead, I walked past him and into the bedroom.

He followed close behind me. Daniel was stepping into sweats as I entered the room, his strong body showing no evidence of the damage it had taken. Declan hadn’t done anything Daniel couldn’t fix in a couple of minutes.

Dev gave him a caustic smile. “You win that bet, Dan. She thinks she’s running.”

Danny looked over at me, his lips a flat line. “Baby, don’t do this. You’re digging a hole.”

But it was my damn hole and there weren’t any bodyguards or people who wanted to hold me back down in my hole.

Dev didn’t seem to want to listen to Daniel any more than I did. “Before you attempt to leave, Zoey, I would like to ask you a few questions.”

Taking a deep breath, I moved to face him. “Fine, Dev, ask away.”

“What did you think you would gain by walking away today?”

That was an easy one. “I thought I would figure out what was happening to me. You didn’t seem to give a crap.”

“I will admit I mishandled the situation last night. I am very sorry about it. I should have listened to you. I can only say that dealing with your father put me in a bad mood. This morning however, is a completely different matter. You didn’t call me. Didn’t think to talk to me.”

“Oh, I did. I talked to you. You just turned out to be Declan.”

He shook his head. “And you should have called me. The minute you realized what had happened, you should have called me or Daniel.”