Hell on Wheels (Faetal Attraction #1)

Burn It Down

As predicted, the guys aren’t happy when we get home.

“D, what the fuck were you thinking?” Angelo snarls, stalking forward with fire in his eyes. “Someone could have attacked—that puta ? 1 broke into the rink without an issue, which means anyone could.”

Damon moves to square off with his twin, but I step between them. My wings pop free as I glare at them, then shoot a deadly look at the rest of the angry-looking men in the kitchen. “Absolutely the fuck not. I refuse to let you guys fight over or about me, especially when you’re all full of shit.”

“What?” my vengeance demon says as he frowns. “How are we wrong?”

Rebel crosses his arms over his chest, surprisingly quiet. Usually, he’s the one pissing me off with overprotective bullshit, but this time, he’s leaning against the counter with a smirk. Archie’s prowling around the room while Javier looks at me in concern as he pours drinks. That’s less shocking because his go-to for calming the room is to play the affable host.

“The rink might not be safe; that’s true. But you’re wrong to assume I’ll sign off on being cooped up here until you deem it safe. That could be a long damn time and I refuse to put my life on pause for that bitch or her mobbed up friends.” Lifting my hand, I let a fireball form in my palm, watching it shift from Damon’s blue to Angelo’s red. “Besides taking care of myself for years without babysitters, I seem to have picked up a few new tricks. I’m not a damsel in distress.”

He sighs, pursing his lips in irritation. “I didn’t say you can’t, Princess. But you don’t understand how goddamn scary it was for all of us to walk into Flo’s and see you laid out like a broken doll. It damn near took me out at the knees.”

I blink, looking at each guy for confirmation, and the devastation on their faces confirms his words. “I-I didn’t realize it was that bad.”

“Rogue, you must be blocking some of it out. You used your wings , sis. You never use your dust because it’s classified as lethal force.” Reb’s voice is hoarse as he looks at me with haunted eyes. “That should tell you how frightened you were for your life, much less how terrifying it was when we found you on the ground.”

“We can’t help being overprotective now,” Archie adds. “Since we mated with you, Wheels, that drive is pushing my cat to protect his queen. I’m sure their demons, his phoenix… and even dumbass’ Fae power… are all doing the same to them.”

Scrubbing my hands over my face, I suppress the urge to scream. I’m a big girl and I can handle damn near anything but emotional shit. No one taught me what to do with this kind of conversation; Graciella and Odhran didn’t give a flying fuck if I was well adjusted. Reb’s worse off because he’s a dude, but we didn’t have good examples like Archie did.

“Dragonfly, my parents weren’t exactly warm and you know the twins grew up with… challenges.” Javier holds out my favorite drink, the Rainbow Mule, and I give him a grateful look. “Only the big pussy over there had that advantage. So this is hard for us, too. We’re trying to respect your boundaries and act like adults versus knuckle-dragging idiots.”

“Hey!”

Archie’s protest makes me giggle, and the tension seeps out of my shoulders. “You’re right. None of us except him have experience dealing with emotions healthily. We’ve all been taught violence or rage is the way to express shit.”

“If it works, don’t fix it,” Rebel mutters with a pout. “Doing it this way isn’t fixing anything, as far as I can tell.”

Frowning at him, I shake my head. “That’s not true, actually. I’m calmer now than I was and so is Spite Boy. In fact, the vibe in the room has settled down immensely. Maybe it’s not so bad.”

Javier grins, handing Reb a Jameson. “See? We’re learning together. And maybe our girl understands why we’re so hyperactive about her safety now.”

“I do, Javi, but we have to come to a compromise. I have practice tomorrow and a match this weekend. The caged bird doesn’t sing, right?” I sip my drink with a cheerful smile, then go on. “Plus, we have to go to that damn triathlon thing. Reb and I will probably switch off during and we can’t scratch our entry.”

My step-brother blinks, cursing under his breath. “And we have to figure out what the fuck is going on with the meeting. That means we have to see and be seen so we can pump people for info.”

Angelo winces as he rubs the back of his neck. “And our parents will have to be informed one by one. No way we can go into that thing with such a big secret. If come fucking empath or spell sucker or whatever figures it out, it’ll become leverage.”

“Do we need leverage?” I ask curiously.

Damon shrugs and tugs me against his chest. “Who knows? We might and I sure as hell don’t want them to get any on us. Even my dad can’t be trusted with that kind of shit.”

This is why I don’t trust anyone—you have no idea what their motivations are until they throw their cards down.

***

The guys let our imminent trouble drop for a bit until after dinner. I was glad for it because I got to shower, change into a comfy PJ tank set, and chow down on Javi’s famous fajitas. Having some self-care time and a full belly went a long way towards helping me be less grouchy when we finished cleaning up. One by one, everyone filed into the living room, getting comfortable in the massive furniture.

“Okay. So we need to make plans or we’re gonna fuck this shit up,” I say as I look at them. “You guys are so pumped full of testosterone because of the… sex… thing that it’s making your short tempers worse.”

Archie snorts. “Tell me about it. I almost took a dude’s head off at practice today. He was being a dick, but no more than usual.”

Great. There’s another fucking thing for me to worry about.

“That’s my point. We have to engage the damn logic brains, not the lizard ones.” I wink at him playfully and he rolls his eyes, but nods. “Damon, find a notebook or something. We have to write all the shit we have going on and what we’re doing.”

The submissive demon smiles at me as he hops up, following my order without a word. Angelo laughs, shaking his head. “Oh, Princess. You’ve got my twin wrapped around your pinky like a promise string.”

“As if he’s complaining,” I shoot back. He holds up his hands, still smirking as we all wait for D to get back. When he does, he hands me a small black hard cover journal and a pen. Perfect. “Thanks, baby. This is exactly what I needed.”

“Alright, alright. Enough praise,” Reb grunts. “You have the right idea; let’s get all of this shit down and assign tasks.”

Normally, he hates when I organize shit like this. Did he have a fucking personality transplant with that orgasm last night?

“First order of business is finding out why the families are gathering.” I tap the pen against my lips. “I assume D and Angelo are working the demon mob. What other angles can we try?”

Archie raises his hand, and I glare. “Relax, Wheels. I can ask my dads if they will do a little recon. They all have jobs where they come in contact with less than legal transactions.”

“Your dads are a good idea,” Rebel muses. “Since they work in places either known or rumored to be owned by various bands of supe criminals, they might hear shit we wouldn’t. That’s outside of Harley’s position on the local Council.”

“Hell yeah. And you know they’re all good at being casual with their inquiries. Mom would skin them if she thought they were taking risks and they know it.”

My lips curve up. “Your mom is pretty damn awesome, Arch. I love that she cares for all of you idiots and your rough and tumble dads. I really might ask her for tips when we tell her.”

His face goes white and the others laugh as he fidgets in his chair. “No fair, Wheels. That’s dirty pool.”

“Ahem,” Javier interrupts. “We’re getting off-topic again.”

“Right,” I sigh. It’d be nice to just have time to enjoy being with them all when everyone is getting along, but nooo… We have to figure out how to keep people from killing us. Bullshit. “So we’re going to ferret out info on the Appalachin. What about telling the parents? Sounds like we have to get it done quickly.”

That makes Rebel pale—which is saying something because he’s already practically a damn ghost outside of his ink. “We’re not?—”

“Hell no,” I cut it. “Fuck Graciella. I mean the others’ families. If our supposed parents find out through gossip, I don’t give a shit.”

“I like it when you’re spicy, Princess.” Angelo pulls his phone out and looks at it. “I think ours will have to be first in line. My father is demanding Damon and I attend this cocktail thing on Friday. I think we need to bring you so no one gets… ideas.”

“Ideas?” My eyes narrow as I look at the twins.

“Our mother loves trying to set us up with high-level demonesses at these things. They’ve always been disappointed that we don’t partake in their blatant offers,” Damon grumbles. “As if either of us would ever touch people tied to our parents’ empires or associates. It would only bind us tighter, and that’s not what we want.”

“I fucking dare someone to lay a finger on you,” I hiss under my breath. “I’m in the mood to smack a bitch as it is.”

Angelo claps his hands in delight, then grins. “We’re definitely going now. I’ve always wanted to see my mother turn into a fucking time bomb on legs because someone refuses to bow to her whims. You can all come—a Gemini party makes Mardi Gras look like it’s thrown by a church group.”

“Fine. Back on topic now?” Javi winks at me, and I scribble things in the notebook under different headings.

He’s doing a great job of making sure everything stays in balance.

“What about Archie’s folks? We know they won’t be mad, but I’d rather tell them before J’s. No offense, man, but your folks are creepy,” Rebel says with a shiver. “How fiery birds are so damn cold, I don’t know.”

“They’re the phoenix version of old East Coast money,” Javier says with a shrug. “Emotionless, moneyed, and so snobby that you wonder exactly what is shoved that far up their ass to make them that stiff.”

I wrinkle my nose, remembering the last time I was at an event where they attended. Javi’s mother looked at everyone at Graciella’s garden party like they were beneath her. I’m not looking forward to having her turn that scorn on me, especially because she’ll be lucky if I don’t kick her skinny ass. “Maybe we should wait until we’ve handled the other two before we approach your folks. I’m really not sure I’m ready for that yet.”

Javi sighs, but he nods. “I agree. We need time to bond further and get Rebel in before we see them. My guess is they won’t be able to push back as hard if the bond is complete.”

“So, what are we going to do about the race?”

My gaze swivels to my step-brother and I shrug. “We win it, of course. What the fuck else would we do?”

“That’s going to go over well.” Angelo rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “I guess we’re going scorched earth with the Stuhlls then, huh?”

“They’re paying my ex-bestie to torture me.” I rise to my feet, putting my hands on my hips as I look at each of them. “I’m going to burn all of those motherfuckers to the ground. Any questions?”

Their silence is my answer, and I love it.