Cinders took a breath as she said, “Cameras outside my windows… one in the vase, and a voice recorder in the book. The main door is for well…” She lifted one eyebrow. “One set of uninvited guests per day is my quota.”
“You record everything?” V asked.
“Everything.”
“Why?”
“Partly for park business. Disgruntled employees can be difficult at times. Partly because of why you are here. Protection.” Cinders motioned for them both to sit.
“And that is?” Attor asked as he pulled the chair back from being too close to the desk. In case he needed to change, space was preferable.
“First…” Cinders said. “I need an agreement of calm heads. Before any reactions are to be decided upon, you should hear the entire story.” Her gaze flicked between the two men as she leaned back in her chair. “Getting all antsy isn’t going to help anyone… especially Taryn.” Looking at the male who she’d seen speaking to Taryn earlier. “Are we agreed?”
Attor and V looked at each other and shrugged. “Agreed.” A single word spoken in unison.
‘Attor, keep this open, I don’t think we’re going to like what we hear.’ V let his inner beast partially alter in his brain, just enough to send his message directly to his brother’s mind, to which he saw the smallest of nods of acceptance.
Cinders took a deep breath. “I am a phoenix.” Her words bounced around the room with the potential to derail the dragons’ hard-fought peace once more.
‘Yep, told you we wouldn’t like it,’ V messaged his brother.
‘Kill her,’ was all that Attor sent back.
‘Not yet,’ V returned.
Cinders knew they were talking within themselves. “We agreed on calm heads, right?” The men both nodded so she continued, “Yes, I am phoenix, but I am not one of those phoenix.”
“Define the difference,” V spoke calmly.
Cinders shifted in her seat uncomfortably, her energy was sharpening to a level of danger as she risked it all. “I have been on the run for years. I hate what I am. I loathe what I’ve been made to do. Made to be a part of. It’s…” She shuddered. “It’s not right. When I refused to be a part of it any more, my termination was ordered, and my ordeal began.”
“You turned your back on the blaze?” V’s words were part shock, part awe. That took some balls to say no to your family.
Cinder’s nodded. “The constant hunting and killing isn’t right. Why can’t we all just live? I don’t get it?” She shrugged. “Apparently my father didn’t get it either because he signed my death warrant. He would rather have a dead daughter than a traitorous one.”
“Is this common amongst the…” Attor tried to say the word with as little hatred as possible. Obviously, if this woman had turned her back on her species, she couldn’t be all bad. “Phoenix? We have numerous dragons who choose a more humanized existence. It doesn’t put them on the termination list, though.”
Cinders shrugged with a lift of her lip. “I don’t know of any who have left and lived. The Phoenix take family very seriously.”
“Interesting. I believe we all have the choice. Keeping the secrets of the species isn’t a choice, but if you wish to live a human life…” V paused for a moment as his mind flashed to the poor soul who’d chosen a quiet life. Yet his body still ended up splattered across the Nest’s hallway. Continuing with a shake of his head, “I will still provide protection for all dragons, active or otherwise.”
Attor slapped his hands on the desk, the sudden loud clap of sound vibrated around the room like a gunshot. “How are we expected to trust you? You are, after all… still a phoenix. A species known for over a millennium to have waged an unrelenting war upon the dragon’s existence. We have lost many a warrior to wars waged by you feathered beasts. Children have screamed as their life was snuffed out by the talons of a phoenix.” Attor stood. “Yet, you sit here and claim to be different. No precedence has been laid to ever have a phoenix turn away and live. You, yourself admitted it, no one leaves the blaze. How in the fuck are you expecting us to trust you?” He took a breath. Attor was agitated and was pacing the room’s space. “You have something to do with Taryn…” His mind went back to his woman. “Is Taryn?”
‘Attor, stop pacing brother, we need her calm,’ V sent to his brother’s mind.
‘What if she’s a phoe…’ Attor couldn’t even finish the sentence.
‘She’s your mate. Chosen by the highest of powers,’ V replied
‘But… what if,’ his breath hitched at the thought.
‘Enough,’ V shouted to his mind. ‘She is your mate. End of subject.’
“Taryn has nothing to do with the blaze.” Cinders words were immediate and sharpened to a pointed end. Her eyes darkened as she dared any of them to question her further.
“Why….” Attor started to ask.
Cinders stood abruptly, pushing her chair backward with enough force to cause a crack in the wall behind her desk. This movement caused both dragons to leap up, taking a stance ready for an attack. Their hands poised over hidden weapons, legs spread slightly, knees bending with a bounce as they both braced for what was interpreted as a potential attack.
Cinders face elongated to a partial beak, her screech caused the boys to cover their ears from the piercing sound. Cinders’ eyes were widened and black as the darkest coal. Her breathing had shortened into pants as she struggled to not completely change, but it was causing her body to shake.
“Calm the fuck down,” Attor said. He could hear the footsteps outside the room. The sound had caused more than just them to take cover. “Cinders… Calm. The. Fuck. Down,” he repeated firmly. “Security is about to burst through the door. Want them to see you all…” he pointed to her face, “… beaky?”
Cinders grabbed onto the desk, her face contorted as she flicked her head from side to side. Clenching her teeth as she desperately tried to pull her face back into a human form. “You will…” she groaned in pain at the forced change, “… not…” her eyes scrunched as she spat through her teeth, “… touch her.” She threw her head back as she pulled her form back entirely. Taking a deep breath as she slowly lifted her head back to a central position. Cinders’ eyes having returned to a completely human appearance, she locked them on Attor. “You will not touch her. She is under my protection.” Cinders’ words were borderline lethal. “I may have turned my back on my own family, but she is not my family. I am entrusted to protect her, and protect her I will.”
“At what cost?” V asked, his pose still held ready for attack.
Cinders turned her eyes on him. “Touch Taryn and find out. As you said, I’m still a phoenix. Don’t mess with what’s mine.”
A sudden thunderous burst of wood breaking had all three of them flick toward where the door once stood. In its place were three massive security guards holding a large metal door breaker. “Ms. Cinders,” one said. “Are you okay? A scream was heard…”
Cinders smiled softly, all signs of the deadly danger she’d just displayed vanished. “Oh, Oscar… yes, hon, I’m fine. But please, can you escort these two men off the property.” She looked at V and Attor with a smile. “Our business is over. I don’t expect to see them back here again.”
‘Time to go,’ Attor V messaged
‘But…’
‘Now…,’ V answered firmly.
V stood tall as he looked at Cinders. With a nod of his head he spoke with a voice he saved for business transactions “Truly appreciate your time, Ms. Cinders. I will certainly keep an eye out for those points you mentioned.”
Attor followed his brother’s lead as he nodded. “The pleasure was ours. We don’t need an escort. We didn’t come to ruffle any feathers. We know the way out.”
Attor and V turned and walked past the security men. They stood a few inches taller than the men supposed to provide the protection, and they were twice as wide. Not many men or women scared the brothers.
“Ma’am?” Oscar asked.
Oscar nodded as he and the other two guards went back to their own office.
“Ally?” Cinders called out. She waited until she saw her receptionist’s face pop up, motioning her to come into the office. She spoke softly, “Ally, call the maintenance people, organize a new door and a wall repair.” Her eyes glanced at the crack behind her. “Oh, and Ally?” Cinders waited for her eyes to come back from the wall crack before she continued, “You ever let strangers in my office again, and I will kill you. I will have your lifeless body put where they will never find you. Do you understand me?” Ally nodded, her face going white as the blood drained away. “Good.” Cinders lifted her voice to a happier level. “Go, call maintenance. Thank you.”
Ally walked back to her desk, her hands shook with visible fear as she reached for the phone.
“Fuck me seven ways from Sunday!” Kylee exclaimed as she walked around the spacious hotel room. “This is bigger than most people’s fucking houses. How the fuck did you get V to cough up for this?” She turned sharply, her hands held up as if to stop the world. “Did that dirty, scrotal scum bastard cheat on you? I swear if he did, I will cut his filthy, treacherous cock off with a blunt, rust-covered butcher’s cleaver. I don’t care how big that fucker is. If he hurts my girl, I will make him wish he’d never been born.”
Payton laughed loudly. “Nah, nothing like that. He just had business out of town. He knew Taryn needed somewhere safe, and the Ritz has excellent security. You and I are just here for shits and giggles.”
“Oh my gawd,” Kylee groaned with orgasmic pleasure as she threw herself onto a bed that just cushioned her body like gossamer wings from heaven above. “I luurve shits and giggles.”
“Don’t we all.” Payton nodded as she walked into one of the bathrooms. “Holy mother of God…” Her squeal brought Kylee and Taryn running as they all stopped dead in their tracks. “That’s the biggest bath I’ve ever seen,” Payton exclaimed.
“I claim it first,” Kylee’s words shot out quickly, as she pictured herself immersed in that glorious pool of water.
Taryn shrugged. “You can have it. I don’t like baths.” She turned away disinterested.
“One less person I have to kneecap for bath rights,” Kylee laughed.
Taryn walked back into the less formal living area. Jo and Ladon were standing by the large floor to ceiling windows, pointing out at things they saw in the incredible views. She flopped down onto the plush cream-colored sofa, the air rushing out with force, as it cradled her like a newborn babe.
Jo turned his head to the sound. “You okay?” He walked over and took a seat on a chair opposite her. It didn’t give the same level of plush comfort he’d seen with Taryn’s seat, but certainly wasn’t offensively hard.
“I guess…” she said, her words lingering in the air.
“Most women would love to be in this suite.” He laughed as he looked over and saw Kylee and Payton running from room to room, opening every door they found. Seeking hidden treasures in their own temporary kingdom.
Taryn lowered her head, her shoulders lifted and dropped with her exhale.
Jo got up, walked over and took a seat next to her. His eyebrows lifted as the sofa felt as if it had opened its arms and welcomed him directly into the arms of a goddess. “Wow! That was unexpectedly soft. If that’s the chairs, I can only imagine the beds.” Bouncing a little on the cushions, he said, “Unbelievable, Ladon.” He looked up to his brother. “We need to get these in the Nest. This shit’s crazy comfy.”
Taryn smiled as she watched Ladon join his brother on the sofa, both bouncing and wiggling, like a couple of puppies with a new blanket. “You two are funny.”
Stopping with a wiggle of his eyebrows, Jo said, “He is fun-ny.” He tilted his head to his brother who was presently crossing his eyes and lifting his lip in some weird drunk Elvis pose. “I am just fun.”
“You’re not like the others.” Taryn’s words were low, staring into his almost fully white eyes as she leaned back in the corner, bringing her legs up to her chest.
Jo noticed her moving into a position of self-protection. Body language was something the warriors were highly trained in. Best way to defend was to predict their attack first, and small tell-tale signs were often key to that. He looked down at his arms, they were heavily inked with designs of battles lost and won. Scenic spots they had called home at one time or another. Words that struck at his soul when he needed to focus. “You wouldn’t believe half of what makes me different.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean that…” Taryn pointed to his ink. A small flick up to include the piercings and unusual eye coloring. “I just meant, more… um… relaxed.” She shrugged. “I am an ink addict, too.” Pushing up her sleeve, her arm stretched out so Jo could see she was inked from wrist to as far as he could see.
Leaning over, he saw a myriad of iridescent brightly colored flowers and vines that wrapped around her wrist and rotated up her arm. “Solid sleeve?”
Taryn nodded. “Wrist to ankle… solid half of my body.”
Jo nodded in admiration. “Half? Like a personal equator line?”
“I guess.” Taryn looked down and rolled her jeans slightly so he could see the ink did indeed reach her ankle. “Makes me feel balanced. Both halves of the one person joined in perfect balance.”
“It’s a hard thing to find,” Ladon said. “Balance that is. Not ink,” he snorted. “We all have ink. Jo, as normal, always goes to extremes.” Pushing his brother’s shoulder to complete the dig at his weirdness.
“Why do you have so much?” Taryn asked Jo.
Jo paused, leaning back on the back of the chair. He propped his feet up on the expensive looking coffee table as he linked his hands across his chest. “I was born different from my brothers, ink helps me to embrace it. It’s like I’ve taken control of it. I own it. I’m different because I want to be…” Jo disclosed a little of himself to her. “Sounds crazy.”
“Crazy as a cut snake, brother,” Ladon agreed as he got up and went in search of the others.
Taryn watched his brother leave before she looked at Jo. “Doesn’t sound crazy to me. I have always felt different to my family, too.”
Jo was about to ask more when Payton and Kylee walked back into the room, followed by Ladon who was looking like he wanted to get going. He turned his head to Payton and asked, “What are you ladies up to now?”
“Well…” Payton wiggled her eyebrows. “I know a certain friend who needs some clothes. So… shopping, I guess. Then back for an afternoon of the hotel’s most indulgent treats. I have a gold card, and I’m not afraid to use it.” She chuckled.
“Do you need us?” Ladon asked. Their orders were to get them settled in the hotel. Once that was achieved, V had said it was up to Payton. If she felt no threats, then it was fine to leave and check back in with the Nest for further orders.
“I think we can handle it.” Payton winked. “I don’t think you both want to spend hours playing pack-horse as you carry our purchases around. Tell V it’s all good when you see him.”
Jo sat up, he placed a hand on Taryn’s knee and squeezed, his voice low as he said, “Different isn’t a bad thing, okay?” When she nodded, he got up and followed Ladon out of the hotel suite and toward the elevator.
“Different is exceptional. And you, you sexy mo-fo, are fucking extraordinary.” Kylee did a little bump and grind dance as she accentuated her point.
“We have clothes to buy, and a card to test.” Payton waved the gold card in the air, as all three women grinned, even Taryn’s mood lifted with the thought of free clothes. “Ten minutes, ladies, and the gold train is leaving this station,” Payton said as she went in search of the bathroom.
Ladon and Jo stood at the doors of the elevator, waiting for the steel mouth to open and let them in. Jo took a few to scope the corridor. “Only two doors?” he murmured.
Ladon
replied. “With the size of those suites, I guess two is all they fit on the top floor.”
“Makes sense. Better for security, too,” Jo was saying as his head flicked back to the doors. A ding had signaled that their lift had arrived. As the air-filled whoosh opened, Jo’s eyes locked with a woman standing on the other side. Every hair on the back of his neck stood instantly on end, an immediate, gut-reaction to attack was threatening to unleash. The next few seconds happened like a slow-motion movie. Both Ladon and Jo parted to let this mysterious woman walk out as they both walked in. Rotating to go back into the elevator, their eyes were locked and loaded, as they watched her walk through. Her eyes didn’t leave theirs either—a recognition of something more, an uneasy exchange of space.
Only the closing of the doors broke the gaze. “That was intense.” Jo spoke first to Ladon who was already grabbing his cell.
“Way too intense,” Ladon mumbled as he texted quickly to V. “Way, way, too intense for an owl.”
“I haven’t met an owl shifter before, but stories call them the ‘Keepers of Prophecies.’ Calm and softly spoken unless provoked.” His face squinted. “And we didn’t provoke. Did we provoke? I sure didn’t think I was provoking. I normally know if I do—”
“Shut up, Jo,” Ladon said as the doors slid open. “We need to check in with V.”
Jo gave his brother the finger as he walked out of the hotel. “You check in. I need a cigarette, so I’m going to be over there…” He pointed to a small park area.
“I thought you gave up?” Ladon questioned.
“Aren’t you a dumb fucker then?” Jo snorted and broke into a small run across the street.
Shaking his head, he dialed the number and waited for V to pick up.
After the encounter with Cinders, V had declared Taryn needed round the clock protection, and by default Payton and Kylee as well. Ladon and Jo had left the hotel and were headed back to the Nest, leaving the girls in Attor’s hands. He had debated it with Volos, claiming that he was the last person Taryn would want to see hanging around. V had smiled and replied that this was the perfect chance to make her see him in a different way. All while keeping his eyes open to any dangers nearby.
Depth (Apalala Clan Book 2) Page 15