Gideon's Promise (Sons of Judgment Book 2)

by Morgana Phoenix

  “Okay, well, I’m officially concerned.” He threw up his hands. “You haven’t been this testy since that horrible incident with those spiders finding a way into your underwear drawer.”

  Reggie shot him a dry glower. “That was last month.”

  Gideon blew out a breath. “Really? That long? Wow. I’m losing my touch.” He nudged Reggie with his elbow. “Just so you know, those suckers took days to collect. You wouldn’t think it, but they are impossible to find when you’re looking for them.”

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

  “Uh, yeah!” He shoved Reggie a little harder. “Nothing but the best for my snot nosed little brother.”

  Reggie’s frown wasn’t nearly as stern as it was supposed to be. “I’m not five anymore, dipshit.”

  Gideon hooked his arm around his brother’s neck and pulled him in. “Ah, but you will always be the same annoying shit that followed Magnus and me into that cave and got stuck.”

  Reggie groaned. “Ugh! Will you ever forget about that?”

  “Forget?” Gideon laughed. “Not even if I bonk my head and get amnesia.”

  “I was six!” Reggie protested vehemently. “You guys told me there was treasure down there.”

  “Well, we didn’t think you would be stupid enough to listen,” Gideon argued.

  “I was six!” Reggie repeated, stressing his age. “And you guys were supposed to be my brothers.”

  “Aw, Reg.” Gideon scored the top of Reggie’s head with the knuckles on his free hand, making the other man yelp and struggle to get away. “We got you out, didn’t we?”

  Reggie shoved him away and ruffled a hand through his hair, trying to straighten the tussled brown locks. “Yeah, after it got dark and Mom made you.”

  Gideon sighed. “Oh the good ol’ days.” He sighed again and glanced around them. “So, where are we going?”

  “We aren’t going anywhere.”

  Gideon shrugged, nonplussed. “Okay, so where are you going so I can follow you?”

  Reggie stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I’m going to check on Daphne.”

  “Mm, brownies.”

  He smirked when Reggie darted a bemused glance in his direction, but neither spoke as they made their way past Riley’s old apartment and continued onward towards Daphne’s dimly lit house.

  The porch light cast a sad glow over the door. The rest of the house lay in darkness. The blinds were drawn over all the windows except the large bay ones overlooking the living room. Gideon narrowed his eyes at the silence that seemed to hum through the air. Even the crickets had vacated the premises. The wind stood silent. It was as though time itself had frozen in place.

  “Uh, is this normal?” he wondered, looking over at his brother.

  Reggie moved to a thin tree sprouting from the center of the property and leaned against it. “Mom loaned me her crystals.”

  Gideon’s eyebrows went up. “You mean Grandma’s crystals?”

  Reggie frowned at him. “They were given to Mom.” He turned back to the house. “I buried them around the house.”

  Their mom had only ever made brief mentions to the ancient crystals she had inherited. They had been a present from a powerful seer and had been passed down for generations from mother to daughter. Separately, they were ordinary white stones, but together, the five formed a barrier that shielded the object within from harm.

  “Okay,” was all Gideon could think to say.

  “Mom thought it would be easier keeping Daphne safe this way rather than bring her to the manor, which I can’t do anyway.”

  “Because of the summit,” Gideon mused.

  Reggie shook his head, then shrugged. “Yes, because of that, but also because of Riley ... and me.”

  “You?”

  “Look how Octavian imprinted on Riley. It had been a complete accident. Besides, Daphne, unlike Riley, actually has family who will wonder where she is. It will draw attention if she goes missing.”

  “So what do you do when you get here?”

  “Nothing.” He exhaled deeply. “Just watch.”

  Gideon narrowed his eyes. “You don’t sneak into her bedroom at night and watch her sleep, do you?”

  Reggie snorted a laugh. “No.”

  Gideon folded his arms and stared at the house, eyes narrowed. It was eerie being so surrounded by nature and so absolutely impervious to it at the same time. He had never actually witnessed the power of the crystals before that night, but it appeared as though it formed a dome that stretched over the property. However, why it muffled sound eluded him.

  “How long do you stay for?” he wondered.

  Reggie pursed his lips. “You know, I kind of miss having Magnus following me. At least he kept out of sight and left me alone.”

  Gideon looked at his younger brother. “Do you want to be left alone?”

  “Yes!” Reggie said at once.

  Hurt, but unwilling to show it, Gideon shrugged. “Fine.”

  Leaving the other man watching after him, Gideon moved away from the tree and, rather than turning down the driveway towards home, he made his way to the front steps of the house.

  Reggie heaved himself away from the tree. “What are you doing?”

  “Leaving you alone,” Gideon said over his shoulder as he crossed the lawn.

  “Gideon!”

  “Can’t hear you!”

  “Gid...” Giving up on his attempts, Reggie bolted forward.

  Sensing his brother was about to stop him, Gideon ran, taking the stairs to the front door two at a time. He hit the doorbell before Reggie could reach him.

  “I’m going to beat the hell out of you!” Reggie threatened, coming to a halt at the foot of the steps.

  “I thought you wanted to be left alone,” Gideon taunted.

  Reggie’s fingers curled into fists, but before he could use them, the front door flew open.

  The man that glowered at them through narrowed, sleep crusted eyes was a whopping seven feet with arms the size of tree trunks and an aura of someone not wholly against beating a man to death. He wore a blue wife beater and plaid boxers. And socks, Gideon noted with a strange sense of amusement—he never understood people who slept in their socks.

  “Who the fuck are you?” the guy demanded.

  “I’m Gideon,” Gideon said, pressing a palm flat to his chest. “This here is my little brother, Reggie. We’re looking for Daphne.”

  “We’re not!” Reggie snapped, glaring almost as hard as the guy, who Gideon guessed was one of Daphne’s many brothers.

  “We are,” Gideon insisted, giving the guy his most charming smile.

  “Are you serious right now?” the guy said. “It’s two in the fucking morning. No way in hell I’m letting you clowns—”

  “Daniel?”

  Gideon sensed Reggie stiffen a split second before Daphne came into view, looking adorably rumpled and sleep tussled in a long t-shirt nightgown that went to her knees and had a giant, smiling teddy bear on the front. Her wild riot of orange curls fell in tangles around her shoulders and over her face. She stopped next to her brother, coming just a little past his elbow.

  “Who is it?” She blinked gray eyes in surprise at the sight of Gideon. But the surprise melted quickly into concern. “Gideon? What is it?” Ignoring her brother’s growl, she shoved open the screen door, narrowly smacking Gideon in the face. “What’s wrong? Where’s Reggie?” Her gaze shot past Gideon to where Reggie still stood at the bottom of the steps, hand a white fist around the iron railing. The relief at the sight of him had her shoulders slumping, but it didn’t last. “What happened? Is it Riley?”

  Gideon put his hand up, stopping her. “Riley’s fine.”

  She exhaled slowly. “Okay...” She dampened her lips and forced an unsteady hand back through her hair, shoving the tendrils away from her face. “If everything’s okay, then what are you doing here?”

  “You know these guys?” her brother demanded, moving to rest a hand on his
sister’s shoulder and draw her back into the house.

  Tucking a curl behind her ear, she nodded. “Yeah, it’s okay. They’re ... okay.”

  Gideon would have arched a brow at the comment, but Daniel was watching him a little too closely.

  “It’s two in the damn morning, Daph. They need to go.”

  She touched her brother’s arm lightly. “I got this. It’s okay. I promise. I’m safe with them,” she added when he continued to look doubtful. “They’re Riley’s brother in laws.”

  That only seemed to confuse Daniel all the more. “What the hell are they doing here?”

  “Well, that’s what I’m trying to find out,” she replied shortly. “Can you, I dunno, give us a minute?”

  Daniel’s eyes narrowed to thin slits. “Can I ... are you kidding? I’m not leaving you alone with them. They might try something funny.”

  “I’ll have you know I’m a perfect gentleman,” Gideon retorted. “Besides, I’m already spoken for by a very scary woman with a fetish for knives so the last thing a smart man like myself would ever do is try anything funny with another woman.”

  His reassurance didn’t work. If anything, Daniel only appeared all the more adamant they were crazy.

  “They’re clearly drunk,” he decided.

  “He’s not drunk,” Daphne assured him. “He’s always like this. Just let me talk to them. Please, Danny.”

  With a look that said very clearly that he wasn’t happy about the decision, Daniel pinned Gideon with a sneer that could kill a man.

  “I’m just in the next room,” he said. “You try anything stupid, I’ll rip out every bone in your body and use you as a hand puppet.”

  Gideon cringed. “That’s disgusting!”

  Daniel smirked. “You’ve been warned.”

  With a final once over, Daniel slide past Daphne and disappeared somewhere deeper into the house.

  “Sorry about that,” Daphne murmured. “He’s a little overprotective.”

  “A little?”

  She chuckled. “I’m the baby.” It was said as though that explained everything, and maybe it did. Gideon had to respect a guy that protected his family that fiercely. “So what are you guys doing here?”

  “Reggie’s here because he really likes the paint job on your house,” Gideon explained. “But I’m here because I would like a word.” Gently, he took her elbow and led her over the threshold. He shut the screen door quietly behind her and propelled her down the stairs to where Reggie stood watching them. Once she was standing on the last step, Gideon faced her. “Riley went on her first hunt last week.”

  Daphne’s eyes went wide with excitement. They shot from Gideon to Reggie like they were offering her an early Christmas present.

  “Wait, does that mean...”

  “No!” Reggie barked at once. He bared his teeth at Gideon. “What are you doing?”

  Gideon put up a hand to stop his brother before he flipped his shit. “I could have done this behind your back,” he told the other man. “But I didn’t. I wanted you to hear this, too. I think she’s ready—”

  “No!” Reggie snarled.

  “She’s ready!” Gideon insisted.

  “One hunt does not mean she’s ready,” Reggie said. “Jesus Christ, Gideon! You should have talked to me first.”

  “Why?” Daphne speared her hands on her hips. “Because I can’t make this decision by myself?”

  “This has nothing to do with you,” Reggie replied sharply. “This is about Riley and whether or not she’s ready, which she’s not.” He confronted his brother once more. “She’s not ready, Gideon!”

  “She is,” Gideon softened his tone. “She has far more control than she thinks she does.”

  Reggie shifted. He may not have been consciously aware of it, but he positioned himself in front of Daphne. “How can you say that after what she did to Valkyrie?” He shook his head. “I won’t let you risk Daphne’s safety. Riley’s fed, which means she’s stronger than before. It will be nearly impossible to stop her.”

  “We’ll all be there,” Gideon explained, which had Reggie’s eyes narrowing.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  Gideon blinked. “What?”

  Reggie crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance. “Why is it so important Daphne be there?”

  “Because Riley needs it.”

  Rage flared behind Reggie’s eyes. “Then take her to a fucking park! Leave Daphne out of this!”

  “It’s not the same!” Gideon snapped. “She won’t work as hard to control herself if it’s people she doesn’t know.” He paused, moistened his lips. “When she fed, she was in complete control. She was lucid. I think that’s because she wanted to kill them—”

  “Riley killed someone?” Daphne gasped.

  Gideon ignored her, keeping his focus on Reggie. “She found a medium between herself and her hunger. The last time she saw Daphne, she had literally just been turned. She hadn’t fed and everything was new. It’s different now.”

  Reggie shook his head. “No. I won’t let you do this. Find someone else.”

  “I’ll do it.”

  Reggie whirled around to face a determined Daphne. “You don’t know what you’re saying!”

  Daphne straightened her shoulders and met his gaze squarely. “Riley won’t hurt me. Besides,” she smiled at him, “you’ll be there, right?”

  There was no mistaking the absolute fury that swept off Reggie like a sandstorm. The heat of it was scorching. Gideon expected him to explode ... literally. But he gave a stiff nod as the muscles in his jaw flexed and his nostrils flared.

  “I’ll be there.”

  After assuring them she would drop by later that day, Daphne left them as she climbed back into the house and closed the door. Gideon waited until he heard the quiet click of locks before turning away.

  He had been expecting the attack, and yet it took him completely by surprise. He hit the ground hard on his side. All the air left his lungs and a crippling pain rocketed up his arm to his shoulder. But it was all quickly forgotten when he was grabbed and jerked violently onto his back. The fist caught him in the jaw with the momentum of a charging bull. Stars exploded across his vision and blood filled his mouth.

  “You had no fucking right!” Reggie roared into his face. “She’s my mate!”

  “Wouldn’t hurt her...” Gideon tried to work out around the throbbing.

  “You don’t give a shit who you hurt.” Reggie tightened his hold around Gideon’s shirt front. “You think everything’s one big fucking joke. You always have. But not this time. You stay away from her, Gideon.”

  It wasn’t until much later when Gideon had dumped his exhausted and sore body onto his bed with a very large glass of whiskey that he felt the spear of annoyance. Why did everyone think he was an asshole that only looked out for himself? It was insulting if not severely offensive, especially coming from his family. He would never deliberately put Daphne in harm’s way, not unless he was absolutely certain and while he wasn’t, because nothing in life was ever really absolutely certain, he knew Riley would fight against the hunger. The men at the park had been animals. Their death was not a loss to anyone. And while it was forbidden for them to meddle in human affairs and while it was their job to stop those who posed a threat to mankind, Gideon felt no loss, or obligation to take action. Valkyrie had been right about that much; the only way Riley would learn to control her thirst was to get out there and feed and learn for herself when it was time to pull back.

  The strigoi feeding process was a complex one, one they kept strictly between clans. Had Riley been accepted into a coven and had she had the protection of her maker, she would have been taught how to feed, how to hunt, how to mold into normal society. That was taken away from her when her maker, not only never had any intention of making her, but was later killed. It was up to her family to help her through this. The last time he checked, Gideon was her family.

  Pushing upright and holding his d
rink aloft, Gideon sat up. He toed off his boots and let them fall carelessly to the floor. He set his drink down on the nightstand and lifted a hand to his bruised jaw.

  “Bastard,” he grumbled, grimacing.

  He pushed to his feet and shuffled into the bathroom, leaving a long trail of clothes behind him. He shut the door behind him and stepped into the shower.

  The clothes were gone when he left the steaming cubical with only a towel around his waist. In their place was Imogen, standing in the open doors of his very unusual closet, holding up a set of shiny, titanium handcuffs. The look on her face, slack-jawed, wide eyed wonder with a mixture of awe and embarrassment was priceless.

  “All I can say is ... be thankful you didn’t open the third drawer.”

  Imogen jumped so high, she nearly brushed the frame. The cuffs hit the floor at her feet with a noisy clatter that made Gideon cringe.

  “Easy,” he scolded playfully. “Those are delicate.”

  Fumbling around an apology, Imogen swooped down and snatched the steel rings back up only to drop them a second time, making Gideon snicker.

  He crossed the room to her and picked them up himself.

  “I am so sorry!”

  She staggered back, giving him room to maneuver around her and replace the cuffs neatly on its bed of velvet inside the hidden compartment he himself had built inside the closet. He snapped the drawer shut.

  “Naughty girl, what were you looking for?”

  Face the color of a freshly ripened tomato, Imogen practically tripped over herself trying to get out of his way. “I ... it ... I wasn’t...”

  He turned to her slowly once he was certain the wood paneling had closed seamlessly around the compartment he kept carefully away from the ever watchful eyes of his mother, and brothers. And while he was fairly open about his more ... unusual preferences in the bedroom, the extent of it, he was fairly confident would horrify his mother. So he kept it hidden, tucked away from sight in the bowels of his closet.

  Now his secret was out.

  “So?” he said, raising an eyebrow.

  Imogen’s mouth opened and closed several times before any actual words came out. “I ... I was putting away laundry?”