Dragon with the Girl Tattoo by Julia Mills
Chapter Fifteen
After spending the night making up, leaving Tessa alone in her day sleep was the hardest thing Lenn had ever done. Securing all the curtains, he decided that wasn’t enough and ended up hanging thick comforters over every window in his room and bathroom as she sat in the middle of his bed making fun of him.
“Okay, so I’m being overcautious,” he shrugged. “Some might even say paranoid.”
“That would be me.”
“But I don’t care. I’m not taking any chances. You forgave me twice. I’m not screwing up again.”
“Okay, Mr. Dragon,” she chuckled. “Whatever you say.”
Kissing her on the forehead, he whispered, “Sweet dreams, Mo ghrá.”
“Thank you,” she winked. Lifting her head and giving him another quick kiss, she teased, “Don’t get into any trouble without me.
Gently closing the door. Lennox damn near floated down the stairs to meet Pearce and Kayne. Slipping into his boots, he headed into the kitchen only to be greeted by the Demi-God’s snort of, “Well, lookie there, it’s the luckiest man on earth.”
Grinning like a fool, he could only agree, “Damn straight, I am.”
“I have to give you points for groveling like a pro. I even got a tear in my eye.” Giving a pretend sniff as he wiped under his eye, Pearce batted his lashes. “You did good, Son.”
“Yep, you might say I pulled out all the stops. From the look in Tessa’s eyes when I first showed up, she was gonna kick me to the curb.” Grabbing his favorite mug, he filled it with coffee. “I’m just glad she gave me another chance.”
“Me too,” Kayne readily agreed. “’Cause there is no way we would’ve survived your pity party.”
“Whatever.” Trying to be mad, Lenn gave it up quickly. He knew his Brethren was right. “Well, hell, you’re probably right,” he added with a shrug.
“You know he is,” Pearce agreed. “Now, hurry up, we’re gonna be late, and you’re the star of the show.”
“I’m what?” Lenn asked, grabbing his mug and a bagel as he followed the others out the door.
“I said, you’re about to be the star of the show,” Pearce repeated. “And you’d know that if you hadn’t been making nice with your beautiful Mate.”
Once again grinning from ear-to-ear, thinking about all the ways he planned to ‘make nice’ with Tessa, Lennox took the last bite of his bagel right before he and his Brethren joined the others in the Grand Hall.
“Glad you could make it, Gentlemen,” Rian cleared his throat as Max chuckled next to him while Maddox grumbled something under his breath about young’uns and the Demi-Gods who corrupt them.
“We were just getting to what we need from you Lenn,” Rory snickered. “But I told them you might be a little late since the last time I saw you you’d been on your knees beggin’ for forgiveness.”
“Yeah, so tell me, did she take ya’ back?” Maddox beamed, which actually looked a little creepy on the face of the grumpy old Dragon. “Calysta and I have a bet going. Please tell me Tessa kicked your ass and told you to go pound sand. I really don’t want to have to clean her workshop for a month. Some of the stuff she has in those jars scares the hell outta me.”
Plopping into his seat and crossing his arms over his chest, Lennox boasted, “A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”
“Ha! Is that so? The I’ll have to let you know when I see one,” the Mad Dragon howled with laughter. “Now, fess up. I got a lot riding on this.”
Before he could answer, Kayne slapped him on the back and bragged, “I happen to know firsthand that the beautiful Tessa, with eyes I wanted to get lost in…”
“Watch it,” Lenn warned, trying and failing to keep the growl out of his voice.
Laughing and squeezing his shoulder, Kayne snorted, “Just kidding, Son. You really have to lighten up.”
“Oh, I plan to lighten up, when you find your Mate and the shoe is on the other foot.”
“Yeah, well, just keep waitin’,” the Demi God chuckled. Moving on before Lenn could comment again, he added, “I happen to know for a fact, that despite her better judgement, the lovely Tessa forgave our boy here. I also happen to know that at this moment, she is sleeping like a precious little angel in his home.”
As the room erupted in catcalls and congratulations, Kayne yelled over the noise, “So, it won’t be long before we hear the pitter-pat of little paws. I’m takin’ bets on whether they’ll be covered in fur or scales.”
When the ruckus finally died down, Lenn held up his hands and motioned towards the Dragon Leader, “While I appreciate your well wishes, how about we let Rian talk?”
“Okay, but I want all the details later,” Rory whispered as the oldest O’Reilly brother began to talk, giving details on what they knew about the Cambion, along with the plan he and Max had come up with to eradicate the leaches.
“Cole watched the cabin and Callum watched the mansion all through the night and on until almost noon. Not even one Cambion returned to either location. It’s my best guess that they caught our scent and have moved their base of operation. Any ideas where that new base may be without another all-out search that will take time we simply do not have?”
Debating whether he should tell them about Tessa’s uncle, or if speaking about his Mate’s family without her there would be another betrayal, Lenn was just about to wait until he could talk to her when a soft, sleepy whisper echoed through his mind. “Tell them. T-they need… to know. I trust… you.”
With his heart filling with love, Lennox answered, “Thank you, Tessa. I love you.”
“L-love you.”
“Sleep, Mo chroí. I’ll be back soon.”
Smiling as the soft sound of her deep breaths filled his mind, Lenn waited until Max finished talking before standing and explaining, “Last night after Tessa forgave me…”
Raising his hand for everyone to stop laughing and cheering, he smiled and winked, “Stop now. Show my Mate some respect. We did actually talk.”
Clearing his throat, his cheeks heating with embarrassment as he remembered what an ass he’d been, Lenn continued to explain, “Tessa said the reason she came over here in the first place was to give us information concerning the Cambion. The Master of her Kiss, who is also the Vamp who killed my parents, and just happens to be her uncle.”
Looking around the table at the stern faces, he listened to the grumbles of the others for a second, before going on, “…which is beside the point and ancient history. Tessa wasn’t there. And as we all know, you can’t pick your family, you just have to figure out how not to kick their asses when they piss you off.”
“Oh, hell yeah,” Rory agreed with a snicker. “Nobody knows better than me.”
“Says the little brother who’s been a thorn in my side since he was born,” Rian grunted.
Too busy meeting the angry glare of several of the older Guardsmen who’d fought in that bloody battle with his parents, Lenn was too busy to pay attention to the O’Reilly brothers. He had to be sure no one – not a single one of his Brethren – held anything that had happened in the past against Tessa.
Daring to blink when he was confident on one harbored any ill will, he went on, “What is important is that she identified him from my memories. More to the point, Tessa saw Ulnac talking to some Cambion right outside Babs MacAutley’s home.”
“So, the same bastard is the cause of all of this again?” Maddox was on his feet, waving his arms around and ranting in both English and Scots Gaelic.
“Does she know where they are holed up?” Rian asked, as Max crossed his arms over his chest, raised a hand to his chin, and tapped his index finger against his lips.
Ignoring the Panther King’s questioning look, Lenn shook his head, “She has no clue. However, she did say she had a few ideas of places we can look.” Shrugging, he ran his hand through his hair as he admitted, “Unfortunately, I forgot to get the information before she drifted off to dreamland.”
“That’s not a problem,” Rian smirked. “Since you were so late getting here and it’s almost nightfall, you can talk to Tessa when she wakes, then get back to me with the information.” Looking down at the opened folder before him, he quickly added, “Oh, and as for your part of the plan…”
“Yeah?”
“I need you to be ready to take down whatever structure the Cambion are hiding in.” Leaning forward, Rian’s knuckles hit the wood of the table as he growled, “I mean blow it up, burn it down, and leave nothing but ashes in your wake.”
“That’s your specialty, Lenn” Rory cheered. “I wanna a front row seat for the fireworks.”
“It’s a deal,” Lennox chuckled.
It took until on the last rays of the setting sun could be seen over the mountains before he’d freed himself from his Brethren and was heading out of the Hall. Stepping off the last step, he groaned out loud as Max called out, “Lennox, may I have a word?”
Trying to school his features as he turned around, he waited as the Panther King came closer. Motioning for Lennox to resume his trek home, Max walked along in silence.
With every step, Lennox grew more impatient. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to the King, it was that he wanted to be done with the conversation before getting home to his waiting Mate.
Finally, when Lenn was sure he’d have to be polite and invite Max in, the King of the Big Cats started to speak. “If your Mate’s last name is Mooreland, then she is my cousin.”
Standing in the middle of the street with his jaw wide open, the Guardsman couldn’t even respond when Vulcan whooped, “Hot damn, I knew our Mate was a Queen.”