Eeli (The Brotherhood of Ormarr Book 3)

by Bobbie Rayne

  “What’re you two whispering about?” Zale asked as he popped his head around the corner from the dining room.

  “Nothing. Nothing. Let’s go eat,” I said quickly, waving a hand in front of me for them to go first.

  “Uh-huh. I bet,” Zale said, but he turned and disappeared back around the corner. After adjusting myself one more time, I made my way to the table and sat down between Eeli and my sister.

  “Did you have a nice nap?” my sister sing-songed once everyone was seated. Eeli’s brothers—with the exception of Azaran—all chuckled as I shot my sister a dirty look and Eeli’s face lit up scarlet.

  Azaran leaned back in his chair, his appraising eyes taking us in, before he said, “I think maybe we better discuss the sleeping arrangements.”

  “I agree,” Malachite piped in. “Kyla should take the room next to mine.”

  “Wait. What? No. That’s not what I meant at all,” Azaran said.

  Toby leaned into his mate. “We all know what you meant, Az, but they’re mates. There’s no reason they can’t share a room.”

  Azaran’s eyes flicked to Kyla, and admittedly, what she thought was a concern for me, too. It’s not that I thought my sister was unaware of sex; we’d had a few awkward conversations ourselves, and she told me kids in school were starting to do stuff, but I was her big brother.

  Before I could figure out what to say, Toby continued, “Don’t worry about Kyla. We had a nice long conversation about mates and sex. She’s good. Right, honey?”

  “Yep,” she chirped.

  “You did what?” Az asked, his face disbelieving as he turned toward his mate.

  “What? I’m a doctor, and your mate. I didn’t want Slash and Kyla to have to discuss it—ew. So I did it. It’s not that big a deal.” Toby winked at me across the table.

  Zale and Davis’s shoulders shook as they tried to control their laughter, and Eeli coughed so hard he had to reach for his glass and take a drink. Toby came to our rescue, again. “Everyone eat up, I spent hours on this meal.” He’d made chicken gyros and spanakopita from scratch. It came together easily at the end, but chopping and dicing all the ingredients had been labor intensive.

  After we’d finished our meals and began to relax back into our chairs—because Toby really was an amazing cook—Malachite said, “Anyway, Kyla, I was thinking you could take the room next to mine. It’s the biggest guest room and the one next to it is empty, so it shouldn’t be too hard to tear the wall down in between and make you your own apartment like ours.”

  “Really?” she asked, obviously excited.

  “Of course,” Zale said. “You’re Slash’s sister and a member of our family now, too. You need your own space.”

  Suddenly, what he was saying became clear to me. “You guys want us to move in with you permanently?”

  “Don’t you want to?” Eeli replied, hurt clear in his voice.

  I glanced at my sister, who was nodding her head enthusiastically, before I turned to Eeli. “Aye, of course I want to live here with you, with all of you, but what will we tell my uncle? I can’t exactly say that I’m the fated mate of a dragon rider, so Kyla and I will be living with his family now.”

  Davis said, “We could just take him out.” When he cracked his knuckles over the table, I wasn’t sure he was kidding.

  Toby waved Davis off. “We’re not taking anyone out. Az and I will go and have a polite, firm conversation with him. He wasn’t taking care of them properly, anyway. I’m sure we can discuss it like adults and make him see reason.”

  “And if not, we’ll take him out,” Zale said, much to the delight of his mate.

  Azaran muttered, “How did I lose control of this family? I have teenagers sleeping together under my roof; we’re taking out family members; Toby, where did I go wrong?”

  As soon as the laughter died down, Azaran said, “In all seriousness, we have connections with government officials. We’re always more than willing to help if they call us, so I’m sure we could easily find someone willing to help us with your uncle.” I nodded at him, relieved, and he gave me a warm smile in return.

  Malachite spoke up, “Actually, there’s something serious we need to talk about, besides the uncle issue.” He shifted in his chair and rubbed the back of his head before his gaze centered in on me. “Slash, I hate to ask you this, but it’s important. I’ll tell you why in a minute, but… how did your parents die, exactly?”

  Eeli gasped. “Malachite, that’s rude. Why would you ask him that out of nowhere?”

  “Slash, if it wasn’t important, I wouldn’t but…” Malachite’s eyes roamed the table before landing on Davis this time. “Didn’t you say you’d been to Shimmerside before?” Davis nodded slowly, as confused as I was. “I took Kyla into the garden today. She told me how to take care of the calma plant. She said her mom taught her and told her someday she would pass the care of it down to her.”

  “It’s called a dragonfly flower, Malachite. Sheesh,” my sister said. “But I don’t know why you guys are making such a big deal of it.”

  “That’s not possible,” Azaran said.

  Davis asked us in the most serious voice I’d ever heard from him, “What did your parents do for a living?”

  “They owned a flower shop,” I replied, understanding beginning to dawn in the dark recesses of my mind.

  “What was it called, Slash?” he asked as he leaned forward in his chair.

  “The Tilted Tulip,” I whispered, dread filling me.

  His eyes widened and he looked around the table. “That’s where we used to get our oil from. A lot of the clans used to get their oil from there.”

  Kyla started to cry next to me. “I knew it. As soon as I saw the plant this afternoon and realized that it was what they used to make the oil for the dragons, I just knew.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything to me?” I asked her as I pulled her into my arms. All of the dragons came to hover around us, chirping away, with Bo on my shoulder leaning around me to kiss the top of my sister’s head.

  “I was going to later, when we were alone,” she whispered, not low enough the others couldn’t hear her, but softly, nonetheless. “I didn’t know if we should…” she trailed off, and I knew exactly what she meant. We’d sworn to each other to never speak of that day again.

  I could feel the solid pressure of Eeli’s hand on my lower back, so I scooted around in my chair so he’d know I appreciated his support. He got up and walked behind my sister and me, and placed a hand on both of our shoulders.

  The family waited for my sister’s sobs to subside before Davis asked, “Can you tell us what happened to your parents, Slash?”

  “Christian,” I choked out around the ball of emotion lodged in my throat. “My mom would want me to tell you all that my name is Christian. That’s what family calls me. It’s what my parents named me.”

  “Okay, let’s give the kids a minute to pull themselves together. The rest of you help me take the dishes into the kitchen. When you three are ready, we’ll meet in the living room where it’s comfortable, and we’ll talk this out together—as a family,” Toby said.

  Eeli hunched down between us as the others left the room. “What can I do? You guys don’t have to go in there if you don’t want to.”

  Kyla wiped her nose, she was still sniffling, but no longer crying. “No. I want to tell your family. I think we should, Christian.” Her eyes implored me to share our secret with this family who had kidnapped us, but had also taken care of us more than we had been since our parents died.

  “You’re right.” I leaned into Eeli until the side of my head touched his forehead. “I think you guys need to know, Eeli. Especially since I’m not actually sure keeping us with you is safe.”

  “What?” Alarmed, he jerked back from me. “Not safe? I’d never let anyone hurt you, neither of you.”

  Kyla pushed me out of the way as she jumped at Eeli and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. She whispered something to him,
too softly for me to hear, which caused his face to flush. As she pulled away, she kissed his cheek and then began walking into the other room. Eeli’s eyes were round as he said, “Um, I think your sister’s okay with us being together.”

  “What did she say?” I asked curiously.

  He gave me a sweet smile and jerked me out of my chair. “Come on.”

  When we entered the living room, the atmosphere was somber. Kyla had gone to sit next to her new best friend, Kite, and all of the dragons—with the exception of Bodhi—were snuggled up to her. Bo was nestled in my arms and showed no signs of leaving. Eeli dropped into an oversized chair and pulled me down next to him, keeping our hands firmly clasped. “So first I guess I should start out confirming what Davis already guessed. My parents were killed in cold blood.” Staring into my sister’s eyes across the room, I said, “And Kyla and I were there.” Toby’s gasp echoed through the silence. I mumbled quietly, “We saw our parents die.”

  Malachite gathered Kyla into his arms as the tears began to slide down her face, again. Bo tucked up so tightly under my chin that I could barely move my head, and Eeli clutched my hand tighter, practically cutting off my circulation. Gently, Azaran asked, “What happened? How did you two end up witnessing your parents’ murder and not get harmed?”

  “We lived over the top of our family’s flower shop. The other shop owners only had the store front, but the huge field behind it was ours. Our mother spent hours out there loving on all her plants and flowers. She was so beautiful, Eeli.” I tilted my head to meet his eyes, a tear escaping my own at the memory of my mother, carefree and happy tending to her babies. He kissed my forehead, leaving his lips against my skin until I sucked in a gulp of air, leaned back, and continued, “My father had the business mind, you know? He balanced the books, scheduled the deliveries and waited on the customers inside.”

  A sob escaped Kyla, then with a small, sad smile, she said, “Dad used to say it was a good thing Mom was so busy out back with the flowers because if she spent more time in the shop she’d give all the flowers away for free.”

  I nodded. “It’s true. She used to say life was a precious gift, full of beauty that should be spread and shared.” I glanced around, but seeing that all these big, fierce men were battling tears, I leaned into Eeli’s shoulder and spoke to the ceiling. “One day, Mom said we should take a mental health day and stay home with her.”

  Softly, Kyla said, “She did that like once a month, you know? She hated being apart from us.”

  I grinned at the memory of her bouncing onto my bed that morning, ‘Christian, why don’t you and your sister stay home and play with me and Dad today? I’ll make us a big brunch, then Kyla can help me out back, and you can help Dad with moving around the new freezers.’

  I cleared my throat, then said, “Anyway, we stayed home and ate such a big breakfast that Kyla and I went up for a nap. I heard a shuffle from downstairs an hour or so later and ran into the hall. Kyla was just coming out of her room when we heard Dad say, ‘Why would our kids be home right now? It’s a school day.’ Then a voice said, ‘Fine, we’re searching in here to make sure you’re not lying that there’s no extra seeds in here, and then we’re taking both of you out back. We want to see all you have.’ Then Mom said the weirdest thing. ‘You’ll never stop them. Light and truth always prevail.’ Her voice was so…”

  As I trailed off, Kyla picked up my story. “She didn’t sound angry as much as determined. It was like when I said I couldn’t do something, and she’d gather me close, tilt my chin up and look in my eyes and say, ‘You can do anything you set your mind to, my sweet. You and your brother have treasures and strength beyond your imagination.’”

  I rested my eyes on my sister. “Exactly like that.” I shook as a kaleidoscope of my mom and dad’s different sayings and mannerisms flitted through my mind.

  Eeli let go of my hand and gathered me to his chest. After giving me a few minutes to calm down, Azaran asked, “What happened next?”

  “I grabbed Kyla and dragged her to the back room where the fire escape was. We could hear them throwing things around downstairs while they searched, and I was scared they’d come upstairs to search, too, and find us. Since Dad was obviously trying to keep us hidden, it was the only thing I could think to do. We ran down the stairs outside and over to the neighbor’s stairwell next to us. Eventually, we heard the bang of the back door, so… when we looked over there were five men, all dressed in black. We were too far to get a good look at them, but one had a deep, long scar on his face. Even from a distance I could see the hate emanating from him, he was gesturing at the—” I cut off.

  Kyla’s eyes widened. “—Christian, they were pointing at the dragonfly flowers.”

  “Damn, I knew it,” Davis said before he got up and began pacing in front of the big windows that overlooked the ocean. Zale gave his mate space, but went to stand behind Kyla, grabbing the hand not on the side next to Malachite.

  “He uh… he uh…” I said, watching as Kyla pulled free to cover her ears with her hands and bent in half so her head was in her lap as I went into the worst part. Malachite and Zale both rubbed her back as the dragons sat on and around her feet, hugging her calves. “He told the other one what to do, and he did it. He pulled out a sword and cut my father’s head off. Right there in our back yard, in my mother’s beautiful field of flowers, someone cut off my dad’s head.” I could feel my voice rising, but I couldn’t control it. I’d repressed the memory for the better part of three years. Anytime my mind wandered to that day, I jerked it back and concentrated on Kyla, on taking care of my sister in a way that would make my parents proud.

  “Jesus, Christian.” Toby was instantly on the side of the chair, tears rolling down his face.

  “And your mom?” Davis choked from by the window. “I knew your parents, Christian. They were wonderful people. I am so sorry. What happened to your mom?”

  “After she screamed, a sound like I’d never heard before, she yelled, ‘This changes nothing.’”

  “The man who’d been standing over the dragonfly flower, the one with the scar, said, ‘Oh yeah?’ Then he poured gasoline all over that whole plot of land, while another held my mom by her arms and made her watch. She sobbed the whole time, and then the man casually walked away while striking a match and tossing it back over his shoulder. The flowers immediately caught on fire, and then the man…” I swallowed my grief, pushed past the pain, and said, “The man walked over and plunged a knife into my mom’s belly.” Zale pressed a kiss to the top of Kyla’s head and walked to Davis who had crouched down, leaning his elbows on his knees, and gripped his own head, body shaking.

  “And then they laughed,” Kyla cried out as she sat up, her right hand going up to clutch the silver heart charm on her necklace. “They killed my parents, and as my mother crawled on her belly to get to my dad’s body, a trail of blood following her slow movements, they laughed.”

  There was no longer a dry eye in the room. I couldn’t bear to see my pain reflected in Eeli’s face, as I knew it would be, so I concentrated on Azaran as I concluded, “We didn’t even see them leave. As the field started to burn, they began to glance around—for what, I don’t know. But I yanked Kyla back up against the neighbor’s back wall where we were hiding. My dad had protected us, and I wasn’t going to let them slaughter us, too. By the time I peeked out, the dragonfly flower patch was completely engulfed in flames. Luckily, one of the other store owners had called 9-1-1, and the fire trucks arrived before it claimed my parents’ bodies. Kyla and I waited until we heard the sounds of the sirens before sneaking around the other side of the building so we could pretend that Mom had sent us to run an errand and hadn’t been home at all. We were too terrified to tell the police what we saw. The men had been so creepy, and we didn’t know why anyone would come after our parents; flower store owners. Because we never saw the men leave, I was so scared one of them saw us running around the building that I dyed my and Kyla’s hair as soon as I got a ch
ance.” I shrugged. “It all seems pretty lame now, like, if they knew where to find my parents and that they had a son and daughter, I’m sure it wouldn’t have…” I trailed off again, choosing to focus on feeling stupid for our “disguises” instead of the loss.

  Eeli nudged my shoulder. “Bodhi says her ma’cordhe is smart and brave. She’s so happy you’re ours.”

  “Thanks, Bodhi.” I hugged her close, kissing her cheeks several times in a row like she always did with mine. She chirped back at me before sighing. As Eeli pulled me and Bodhi under his neck, he asked, “Was that why you started going by Slash, too? To hide?”

  “No,” I whispered into the room, where the only sounds were those of sniffles. “Kyla and I swore to never mention that day again. It was too painful to think about, too much to have seen. Our pain was so alive and real, and we needed to forget. But I didn’t ever want to forget my mother and her joy for life. The way she celebrated every moment of the day, so”—for the first time since this conversation started, Kyla giggled—“I started going by the name of her favorite musician from high school. She always cracked us up when his band’s songs came on and she danced around.”

  Davis’s head jerked up as he snorted. “You’re kidding, right? You’re not talking about a top hat wearing base player are you?” Kyla giggled harder as she nodded her head. “Dude, you’re so badass,” he said as he walked over, holding his fist up to pound it out. And it’s just what we needed, that moment of silliness, to keep Kyla and me from slipping into a depression. That night, for the first time since our parents were killed, Kyla and I spent hours sharing stories about our parents. We got to remind each other of things we’d forgotten, too. Toby got out the stuff and we made sundaes, then Davis shared stories of his clan, and how he’d known my parents.

  18

  Eeli

  There was a soft knock on my bedroom door, so I said, “Come in.”

  Malachite popped his head in and looked around my room. “Where’s Christian?”