Hell on Wheels (Faetal Attraction #1)

Danger Zone

Damon was kind enough to transport the clothes and shit inside, but Reb hasn’t stopped pacing or glaring since the magical message faded into the air. It was replaced by a simple card with the writing in shiny foil, but he’s holding in one fist like he’d rather be strangling someone. Every once in a while, he pauses briefly, giving me a look of rage and puzzlement, then continues wearing a hole in the patio's pavement.

The actual issue is he hadn’t spoken since I refused to answer his shouted question.

“Man, you gotta chill,” Archie ventures as he runs his hand through his golden locks. “Rogue is allowed to have privacy.”

I’d like to shoot him a thankful look, but Reb is so hyped up it would only make things worse. My stepbrother is in full-on tantrum mode, and logic has flown completely out the goddamn window. Leaning back in the big armchair, I watch him silently because I refuse to indulge his childish behavior. I’m a grown woman and despite what he thinks, I can make decisions without running them past him.

“Privacy?!” His eyes flash brilliant rainbows as the traits of our kind escape his control. “Some motherfuckers had the gall to not only mate with my sister without speaking to me, but they’ve clearly convinced her to hide it. When I find them, they’re dead .”

Angelo snorts, elbowing Damon in the ribs. “Who knew we were transported back to King Arthur’s Court, man? Rebel thinks guys have to ask his permission for Rogue’s hand like he’s her dad .”

That gets Reb’s attention and he sputters, “I am not her father! I know that!”

“Then why are you invoking ancient tradition garbage? Even with your people, only royals do that crap in this day and age. Hell, my parents are old school as fuck and they don’t expect anyone to ask for my sister’s hand for mating.” Javi winks at me and I studiously ignore it, not wanting to enrage my stepbrother further.

Good to know, but that might not extend to their sole heir mating with a half-breed.

“None of you dicks are helping!” Rebel growls as he stops in front of the group. “Where did all your protective feelings from the past week go? Why are you suddenly okay with her doing dangerous shit while she’s got a target on her back?”

Damon arches a brow. “Why do you think this is recent? Maybe she’s been hiding her light under a bushel for a while. You know she has enough magic to hide anything she damn well pleases and mate marks aren’t always visible when clothed.”

Also good to know—my magic must be hiding them for me. Mab knows I didn’t think about them at all when Rebel burst into my room.

“And why is it dangerous?” Angelo adds. “Maybe she found hot as fuck dudes who would happily torture anyone who threatened her.”

I can’t help it; my face flushes bright pink and I have to look at the ground because I can feel their eyes on me. The girly thing pisses me off after a moment, though. This isn’t me and I don’t get all squishy. Raising my eyes, I look at each of them one by one. “Maybe she can take care of her damn self and doesn’t need rescuing. Maybe her step brother needs to back the fuck out of her sex life.”

“I agree with her,” Archie says as he leans back. “You know, lionesses are the true heads of our families. I’ve got no issues with Rogue being an in-charge badass.”

He’s my favorite today.

Reb snorts and rolls his eyes. “You just like when chicks do all the work while you lie back and do nothing.”

My lips curve. That wasn’t my experience, and I shoot Archie a wink before I finally stand up. Turning to Rebel, I tilt my head. “This has been super fun and all, but we have bigger problems than who’s plugging my holes. We haven’t discussed how we’re going to handle attending a mafia meeting or who is behind Mina and her crew trying to kill me. You’re focused on the wrong damn thing!”

The ripple of power that runs over the porch doesn’t intimidate me, but the other guys glare at their friend. Suddenly, Archie is standing, then the twins, and finally, Javi—and there're more wings and fangs than I’ve seen in this group at one time ever before. The twins are flexing their wings while Javi’s eyes blaze and Archie licks his chops and Reb is looking at them in complete puzzlement. Sighing, I let my own wings out with a menacing glare of irritation and they all stop.

Sometimes having ‘death pollen’ wings is helpful when you want people to shut the fuck up and listen.

“Put it away— all of you!” Putting my hands on my hips, I let my wings flutter menacingly as I glare. “There will be no more fighting. Rebel, you butt the hell out of my bedroom. The rest of you, I can fight my own battles, so let me do it. Got it?”

A chorus of mumbled apologies follows the abrupt changes to their forms I demanded. Smiling to myself, I tuck away the knowledge that despite some of their alpha tendencies; I have these boys by the balls whenever I choose.

I like that—a lot.

“Thank you,” I whisper. “Now, if we could start talking about that damn riddle and what the hell I’m going to do about being summoned by the heads of the mob, I’d really appreciate it.” Flopping on the lounge again, I cross my arms over my chest. “I don’t like any of this.”

Angelo tilts his head. “You’ll be fine. We’ve all got your back, Princess.”

“That’s right, Wheels. We’ll help you figure this out.” Archie walks over and drops down next to me, throwing an arm over the cushion as he pretends to ruffle my hair. “No way you’re going without us.”

Looking up in amusement, I lean my cheek against his bicep. “You mean it?”

“Of course we do, Dragonfly. I’m in, too.” Javi’s soft brown eyes say more than his words and I have to tear myself away from his gaze before Reb notices.

“Fine, fine!” Rebel throws his hands in the air in frustration. “Okay, we’ll all help. Damon, if you and Ang have done this before, you need to tell us what kind of shit happens at these Appalachins. We can’t have her going in blind.”

I grin to myself. Score one for me. I’ve distracted him from the mate thing.

If only I can keep that going until after we deal with one of our two major issues that involve dangerous people who might end my life.

When we finally head inside to get food, I’m no less worried than I was before the twins started educating us on how these summits work.

The premise seems lovely with the boxes and the dress, but once everyone arrives at the location, all bets are off. There’s a dinner, a dance, and then the heads of the family disappear for a meeting. Depending on what grievances are aired, not everyone who entered may leave in one piece—or alive. The meeting may be a premise to kill someone, host a fight club, or even sell parts of their empires to another. It’s a giant free-for-all and being specifically invited when I’m not part of that world is not a good sign.

Rebel damn near lost his shit several times and my head is throbbing from refereeing all of their fights. The boys allowed me to defend myself when he came after me, but that didn’t mean they didn’t back me up. Their support almost led to fistfights, and I had to step in between Reb and his friends several times.

Would it be easier to just tell him? Maybe he’d lay off.

“No, it wouldn’t. It might even make it worse and I can’t lose the one person who's been in my life the longest,” I mutter. Javi said he was making dinner, so I head for the living room and fling myself on the giant couch with a groan. “The truth will have to wait.”

All my Fae instincts go bonkers internally when I voice that. We bend the rules and skirt around the truth, but we don’t lie. I’m pushing it by using omission as an excuse, but if he asks me directly, I won’t be able to avoid telling him.

“Don’t worry, Sparkles,” Damon murmurs as he comes over to sit next to me. “We’ll break it to him little by little. None of us want to hurt Rebel and we know you don’t, either.”

Archie hands him a beer and me a soda as he joins us, flanking my other side. “Besides, we all know the problem isn’t telling him. It’s that he?—”

“Shut it, dude,” Angelo says as he plops down on the end of my ottoman. “Not your place.”

“Fine,” Archie mumbles. “But it’s making everything worse and you know it.”

“What’s making things worse?” My brows furrow as I look at them all. “Tell me.”

“We can’t, Princess.”

That makes me even more irritated, and I sigh. “Today is not nearly as fucking nice as this morning was. I’m not happy.”

Amused looks are my reply, and I turn to Rebel again, watching him grit his jaw angrily. I don’t want to cause him this much pain, but I’m still coming to terms with all this in my head. Having him go bonkers and get into a giant fistfight with his best friends is not on my list of things I want to experience. We have too many outside forces conspiring against us; we can’t eat ourselves from the inside. So I wait until he finally joins us in the living room and lean forward with my forearms on my knees.

“Reb, I know you’re upset with me for not telling you what happened. But you know me. I’m still struggling with the concept, much less the reality of the whole situation. When you add Mina’s betrayal and the mob to the equation, I don’t have the spoons to give you what you need. You understand that, right?”

His eyes soften and he sighs as he rakes a hand through his bright green hair. “Fine. I get it. You’re overwhelmed and we’re both emotionally stunted. But this isn’t the end of this conversation, Rogue Olive Kelly.”

I give him a grin. “I accept your terms, Rebel Elvis Kelly. Now can we please go back to planning how to deal with my ex-bestie and her crew? I’d much prefer to plan violence than this feelings shit.”

My stepbrother rolls his eyes, but he nods and his friends let out groans of approval. He glares at them one at a time, but not one of my mates backs down. That makes me feel a hell of a lot better because this isn’t even a blip on the radar compared to how nuclear he’ll get when he hears the truth. “Angelo, has your dad texted you back yet?”

Good question.

The demon pulls his phone out and scrolls for a moment. “All he said was he didn’t order this one and his staff is working to find out where the call came from.”

“I don’t like that,” Damon murmurs. “A mysterious meeting and anonymous request? This feels like a trap, but I can’t decide if it’s for us or if it has to do with the family.”

“Has your dad done something insane we should all know about?” Rebel asks drily. “You’re supposed to keep us informed if family business might affect the rest of us.”

Angelo shakes his head, furrowing his brow as he looks at his phone. “I know. But nothing out of the ordinary is going on at the moment. He’s making deals and defending turf, but nothing that would make any of the others demand a sit down.”

“Nothing they’re not doing, too.” Damon shrugs. “It’s pretty quiet on that front. If something is going on that’s bigger, it’s being hidden. And Luca would lose his shit if his spies weren’t reporting every detail.”

“Okay. Not Luca and his goons. Mina and her followers aren’t powerful enough to be doing this shit without someone backing them. There must be a puppet master involved and whoever it is either has the sway to arrange this or friends who could. Agreed?” I lean back against the pillowy couch and Archie’s arm slips behind me to rub the crown of my head with his fingers.

Probably not the smartest move if we want to keep our secret, but damned if I want him to stop.

“Agreed,” Rebel says as he frowns. “If that’s the case, then we have some serious detective work to do before this fucking thing. We have no idea who we can trust if they’re this deeply embedded.”

Javi interrupts us, calling out from the kitchen. “Food’s ready. We can discuss this more while we eat.”

I’m not gonna say ‘no’ to that.