Hell on Wheels (Faetal Attraction #1)

Secrets

I look at the paper again, scratching my jaw.

Rogue Olive Kelly, you and your mates are cordially invited to a formal summit.

Accept this gift of appropriate attire as a token of our respect.

Be at the infamous prison at moonrise on the next day Saturn transits to Neptune.

Attendance is mandatory.

“The prison has to be Alcatraz,” Damon says. “The family heads adore symbolism and it’s barely a half hour away.”

Archie frowns. “That place has bad juju for shifters. It’s where the Society kept their prisoners when it was open.”

“Wait!” Rogue looks at him in disbelief. “The Birdman of Alcatraz was an actual birdman? How did I not know this?”

The lion shifter shrugs and grins. “Every species has their little scary tales they frighten misbehaving children with, babe. Alcatraz is one for shifter kids because they sent the bad guys who could shift—like that famous eagle guy—there to keep them away from the humans. Legend says he got the suppression cuffs off and off he went.”

She frowns, looking uncomfortable with his answer, so I reach over and squeeze her calf. “They have to lock up criminals, just like humans do, and part of that is keeping their gifts from aiding in their escape, Dragonfly. It wouldn’t help to lock someone up if they have super strength and can bend bars, now would it?”

“I suppose not.” Rogue’s head tilts, and she gives me a serious look. “Is there a place for, like, kids? If so, none of this shit is being taught to us. You’d think as Guardians we’d need to know.”

Angelo grins. “They probably don’t tell you until you’re active, Princess, but those of us who live on the wrong side of the law know. If they’re under eighteen and out of control, they send them to Blackmoor Academy, and if they’re over eighteen, Discordia University. Unless they’ve done something unforgivable and then the Society chooses between prison on The Ramble, punishment, or death.”

Good gods, even I didn’t know that.

“I don’t know where or what any of those are,” Rogue whispers. “Our bosses are total shitheads. What if our charges end up there?”

“You’d be a failure as a Guardian and probably lose your job,” I reply as I sigh. “Let’s not worry about problems we don’t have yet.”

“Fine,” she replies as she tucks her knees up. “What about the timing? The next day Saturn transits to Neptune. Have we checked that yet?”

“It’s February 28th today, so…” I wait for D to flip through his phone impatiently. “We have until March 3rd and it’s not a Leap Year.”

“This is gonna be the longest three days ever,” Archie says as he stretches. “Because if we’re not telling Reb or our folks before this thing… it’s not gonna escape people’s notice when we show up.”

Damon and Angelo look at one another for a moment, exchanging their crazy twin shit before they turn back to the rest of us. “Luca will shit a brick—we’re in.”

“I don’t know, guys,” Rogue says as she twists her fingers. “Samara will probably be okay, but Luca and Javi’s moms are going to lose their minds. A public announcement?”

“Luca will pretend he knows and has blessed it, especially in front of all the others. He won’t want anyone to assume we feel independent enough to do this without his knowledge; it would signal to the demons that it’s time for him to step down.” Angelo bobs his brows. “Which I believe it is, but I won’t push it.”

“You’d better not,” I mutter as I roll my eyes. “We have enough bullshit on our plates right now. We don’t need you challenging your dad for his thrones in Hell or in the mob.”

“Javi? You haven’t answered me yet.” Rogue’s voice is quiet and for the first time all day, unsure.

Damn those lowly ass parents of hers for making her feel unworthy.

I scoot closer, resting my head on her leg. “Dragonfly, you know I haven’t cared what my parents think for years. If I did, I wouldn’t be a bartender; I’d be running the family business with my father.”

Her expression softens, and she puts her hand over her mouth as she chuckles. “I can’t see you as a high-powered lawyer like your mom or a CEO like your dad. You have far too much flair to be so beige.”

“Excuse me? I thought of a problem we have that no one is mentioning,” Archie interjects as he raises his hand.

The twins roll their eyes. “This isn’t high school, dummy.”

“We need matching tux shit.”

I blink, frowning as I look at the lion shifter. “What? We all have tuxes.” I pause for a moment and reconsider. “Okay, perhaps everyone but Rebel has a tux.”

“No, he’s right,” Damon says with an inaudible sigh. “We have to match her dress and they have to be perfect. If the Appalachin is some sort of fancy affair this time, we will be expected to be kitted out to match her to a tee. They took care of our girl, but if we don’t get ourselves in line, we may not be allowed in.”

“That’s why they did it with such a tight deadline,” I growl as I shake my head. “They invited us to make sure they followed protocol, but with so little time to prepare that we could be prevented from coming along.”

Motherfucker. Whoever is behind this, they know the rules inside and out.

“How do you all propose we get the pissed off asswipe to the store to pick his shit?” Archie looks at all of us, momentarily serious. “Because we know he’s racing around like a fool right now and he might dig his heels in if we won’t tell him what he wants to know.”

Rogue flops back onto the pillows behind her, closing her eyes as she groans. “I’ll text the idiot. If I ask, he’ll come even if he’s mad at me.”

That makes me look at the others, and none of us can help smirking. How neither of them seems to realize that they’re both head over heels for one another is beyond me, but it’s going to get ugly before it gets better. I nip her knee lightly to get her attention, and she lifts her arm off of her face, looking down her body at me.

“What?”

“I think it’s interesting that the only person in this room who can get that hard-headed dick to comply is you. Don’t you think that’s interesting, Damon?”

The vengeance demon nods, looking serious. “I find it fascinating, Javier. What do you think, Archer?”

Yawning as his broad, golden body moves next to her, our leonine friend looks at her across the pillows. “I’ve always found that suspicious, Damon. She’s the only one who can piss him off with very little consequences, too. Angelo, tell us what you think.”

“Guys—”

Angelo’s wings hover over him as he crawls up the bed to look directly into my Dragonfly’s eyes. “It’s weird, Arch. And the two of them are hiding that they can mind speak, which we wouldn’t know if we hadn’t mated with her. I find it extremely contrary to their claim that they only have sister and brotherly love.”

“What should we do about this?” I murmur as I nuzzle her thigh.

“She’s got to own up and then we can work on him,” Damon replies. “We cannot go into a room full of hungry criminals and an unknown manipulator with a rift between us. They’ll all sense it and go in for the kill.”

I look at Rogue, waiting to see what her reaction is. She’s probably not ready for this, and I hate that she’s being forced to come to terms with more than she should at one time. After she mated with Damon and Angelo, she could admit to Archie and me without a lot of pondering. But being raised in the same house as Reb, despite their complete lack of blood ties, makes their shared feelings seem more taboo than they actually are. Hell, they weren’t even children together—Reck was still around back then. Accepting what she’s suppressed will be difficult, and I don’t want to push her.

But Damon is entirely correct; the predators at this event will use our division as a weapon if we allow them.

“I’ll talk to Rebel; I promise.” Her expression is firm and I give her a pleased smile. Archie leans in and wraps his arms around her as Angelo and Damon edge their way in closer as well. “You know, a girl could get used to this.”

“That is the point, Dragonfly.” I dust kisses over her skin, chuckling when Archie emits a rumbling purr of happiness. “Look, you got the kitty started.”

Archie swats at me and I duck with a laugh. “Look, birdy, I can’t help that. The lion enjoys feeling her contentment.”

“Do I have to separate you two?” Rogue asks huskily. “Because I’d hate to disrupt my comfy nest to kick both of your asses.”

“That’s okay, Princess. D and I play well together. You remember that, right?”

Fucking twins.

She wiggles a little, leaning down to give the troublemaking chaos demon a kiss. “I definitely do, but that, too, would disrupt this warm cocoon. I find it soothing and that’s something I don’t feel very often.”

“Then we’ll all be good; cross my heart,” I reply as I settle in. “Maybe we can take a little nap before we go out to find the required attire? It’s still early in the day.”

“Sounds good,” she says with a yawn. “All the shit this week has taken the wind out of my sails.”

We fall quiet, letting her lashes flutter and her body relax. I know the others are awake, but we all seem to wait until the woman we love falls asleep. When her breathing finally evens out, I look over at my best friends and whisper, “Telling Rebel is going to be a fucking nightmare. He might kill us.”

“I don’t know, Javi. We’ve been friends forever, and she had to fall for someone someday . Is he that deluded that he thought she’d never find a permanent partner? He can’t be,” Archie mumbles softly.

Damon and Angelo snort. “He definitely is.”

“Stop doing the damn twin thing.” They give me innocent smiles and I roll my eyes. “Look, I think the angle is making sure he realizes Rogue chose people he trusts—not some douchebag derby groupie or a moody bartender. We have always looked out for her and now we always will. That should make him happy.”

“Logically, yes,” Damon says as he nods. “But Rebel is rarely logical when it comes to Sparkles. He’s all emotion and rage when he thinks people aren’t doing right by her.”

“We did right by her.” Angelo huffs. “We mated with her as the Fates intended. It’s not like we banged her and ran off into the night.”

Muffling a laugh, I look at him. “Yes, but that is also logical, and Reb won’t respond to it when he’s angry.”

“Maybe we each tell him separately, admitting that we were pushed by the bond, but also that we always liked her and thought she was hands off. It’s a good parallel to his own feelings and stating out loud that we resisted because we thought it was forbidden might shake his own shit loose.”

I blink. Damon may have actually nailed it. “That… might work, D. Emotions swept us away, including Rogue, and we had to admit everything we already felt but weren’t able to act on.”

“You’re a genius, bro. I tell Luca all the time, but he never listens—no one does strategy like you.” Angelo beams and ruffles his hair.

“It helps that it’s true.” Archie winks at us and I nod. “He won’t be able to accuse anyone of lying if Rogue says it’s true. They can’t outright lie and Reb knows it.”

So we’re going to trap a Fae with his own limitations—in public.

That could go very well or very badly.