Surprised, Cian tilted his head. “Why are you here?”
With a flourish, Romanis removed his tall, cockeyed hat and bowed. “At the request of the king, Lord Connelly. He suspected your clan would be targeted first. Asked me to keep close.” His wine-colored eyes landed on Ari. “There are over fifty Akáthartos coming. It will take all of us to defeat them.” He whistled and ten more vampires dropped from the sky, landing behind him. “Some of my people owe the Connelly clan a lifelong debt. We will fight.”
Cian shook his head. “If we make a stand, it only takes one mistake and Ari and Clara will die.”
Romanis grinned, his deep, red lips parting to reveal white fangs. “We protect the future queen.” He paused and narrowed his eyes. “And the future offspring.”
Ari palmed her stomach and raised a brow. The Gypsy King must have had a vision because as far as Cian knew, her pregnancy was a family secret.
“Clara!” Cian shouted.
Within a few seconds, she revealed herself, running until she reached the campfire.
Ari waved for her to come join them. “I think Romanis is right. Stay together, no matter what happens. I’ll keep Clara with me. I’ve got the Peacemaker.”
“No,” Cian said sharply. “Clara stays with me.”
Both Connell and Donnor turned an inquiring gaze at him.
Clara looked torn and terrified, not knowing whether to stay with Ari or join him. “I’ll stay with Ari and out of your way.”
Her beautiful brown eyes landed on him and that funny tap in his chest made him anxious. Her heart raced, as did his own, which was fucking ludicrous.
Connell growled with unease. “Ari, our kind moves fast when we’re in battle.”
She plucked her leather hat from the ground and settled it on her head. “I know. I remember the fight in the barn.”
Finished saddling their horses, the wranglers galloped into the night and away from the advancing Second Bloods.
No sign yet, but soon.
Cian, his brothers and Romanis’s kin, formed a circle.
“Both of you, get behind me,” Cian ordered at the women. “Don’t let a copy get close, Ari. They’re wicked fast. If one of them breaks through the circle, you fire.”
“I understand.” She pulled the Peacemaker from the holster and gripped it with both hands, pointing the weapon toward the ground.
Expecting Padraig or Ivanna to appear first, Cian and his brothers jerked with surprise when their máthair appeared out of the sky. After a graceful landing, she strode toward them. She wore a leather tunic and pants, black boots and a silver dagger holstered to her hip. She’d fought in the last two rebellions, her dexterity and speed a deadly but useful skill. Their first lessons in combat as batlings had come from her.
“We have a problem,” she said, stopping in front of them.
Cian chuckled. “Yeah, we know that, Mom.”
“No,” she said tersely, her gaze solid on Cian and his brothers, who stood beside each other. “Quinn broke free.”
****
Connell had hustled Lynn down the back stairs of the Vyro Creek ranch house and into the dimly lit hallway after receiving Cian’s message that they were under attack. She’d only been down here once, with Claudette. Until the fury passed, Quinn was imprisoned in the basement.
At least she wouldn’t be alone.
She followed Connell as they traipsed down the wide hallway. Forgetting it was cold down here, she rubbed her upper arms and wished she’d brought a jacket. He stopped halfway down the hall and opened the cell door to their right. The old iron screeched against the cement floor and thick hinges.
What horrified her were the sounds coming from further down the walkway from the fortified cell encased in stone.
The cell Connell ushered her into had bars like a turn-of-the-century jail house. Only the back of the cell was made of rock.
Inside, he drew her into his embrace and kissed her. “Don’t worry about my brother, the fury is making him crazy. He probably knows Ari is in danger. He’ll respond violently.”
A monstrous bang made her jump.
“Let me out, Connell!” Quinn’s voice sounded like rough gravel and something from a horror flick.
“Nay, brother, you’re a little fucked up right now, and I gotta go.” He turned his attention back to Lynn and opened his palm. An old skeleton key lay in his outstretched hand. “Put this in your back pocket. It’s the key to your cell.”
She did as he asked after plucking the key from his hand. “Why are you giving it to me?” Adrenaline made her heart race ten