Page 23 of Snapped
Chapter 13 | Too Much Testosterone
Aiya paced the small empty space between the table and the fireplace in the library. Sawyer sat on one of the couches with Ian in his arms and Apollo sitting on one leg with his feet on the couch beside him, refusing to be too far away from the baby. Little Ian wasn’t fussy, per se, but he was restless, feeding off the frenzy of irritation with which his mother was permeating the room. Raven sat on the couch across from Sawyer and the boys, no less irritated but far more composed.
The three of them as well as Tanis had been in the library relaxing, reading and playing with the boys when four people in hoods burst into the room with weapons, shouting orders and threatening to hurt the boys if the adults didn’t do as directed. Ian had let loose another one of those ear-splitting shrieks, bursting a glass candleholder that sat on a shelf conveniently located right next to one of their would-be attackers. In less than a minute, Tanis and Sawyer had taken out the four hooded figures. Tanis had left them all in the library with instructions to kill first, ask questions later if anyone else came into the room in a hood. And he set off in search of Aiyan and Kaden.
Footsteps growing louder as they got closer to the library had Sawyer on his feet. He placed Ian in Raven’s arms, reaching down and picking up the Katana sword Aiya had removed from its mount on a shelf above the fireplace. Positioning his body between the door and his family, Sawyer stood, ready to pounce when the door flew open, slamming back against the wall hard enough to shake the room. Aiyan searched the room, eyes frantic. “Where’s Kaden?” he shouted.
“Fuck if I know. I thought he was with you. Where’s…” Aiya broke off when a disheveled, bloody Maeve stumbled into the room, her body supported by Tanis who was all but carrying her. “Oh my God, what happened?” Aiya rushed over to Maeve’s side. “Maeve, talk to me.” Tanis deposited his sister on the couch, Aiya and Sawyer taking over from there before grabbing Raven and hugging him, hard. Apollo climbed up onto the back of the couch, wrapping his arms around his fathers.
Maeve was relaying the evening’s events, wincing every couple of minutes as Aiya cleaned and dressed her wounds, when Mateo, Thayago and Taryn waltzed into the room, taking up all the leftover space with their shared ginormous frames. Taryn’s eyes darkened when he caught sight of Maeve. “Your mother is going to tear his fucking balls offifshe can get past Hector.”
“Yeah, what’s up with that, by the way?” Aiyan asked, coming into the room with Kaden right behind him, thank God. Aiya didn’t have the energy to devote to thinking about how pissed off and possibly murderous her brother would be if anyone laid so much as one finger on his husband. It was getting very crowded in the large library, now full of several angry men that rivaled trees with their unusually large stature.
“Too much testosterone,” Maeve mumbled, and Aiya laughed, nodding in agreement.
Mateo cleared his throat, the room quieting almost immediately. “Do we know yet what happened here tonight, or why?”
“Some of it, but not everything,” Tanis told him. “Hector is down where the guards’ quarters are in an empty room with this August guy that went after Maeve. I’m confident he’ll get the guy to talk, at least to tell him what he knew about what was supposed to happen here tonight. We don’t know for sure how many rebels got into the palace or why they attacked. What we do know is eight of them are dead, two captured alive if you include jackass downstairs with Hector, and one of the maids told Mom and Maya she’d seen a very big man that looked like a gorilla barking orders at the ones that wore the hoods.”
Aiya gasped. “Are you sure?”
Tanis nodded. “We knew this day was coming; we just didn’t know when. I can’t figure out why in the hell Cillian would lead an attack on us with so many people at the palace in preparation for the wedding.”
“He didn’t know.” Kaden spoke softly. Aiya looked his way, noting how Aiyan had one arm wrapped tightly around his husband, and he was whispering in his ear.
“Why do you think he would attack without knowledge of what he was walking into?” Thayago moved closer to Tanis.
“No one knew Mother was here. Or that there were Ambassadors from all the Houses here; it was a last-minute request. No, I think Kaden is right—he didn’t know what waited for him once he got inside. So that begs the question, what exactly did he know, and where did he get the information from?” Raven eyed his husband warily.
“I think it’s more likewhomdid he get the information from?” Thayago added. Several people in the room nodded in agreement with the statement.
Tanis snapped his fingers to get everyone’s attention. “Okay, first things first, we need to secure the palace. Thayago, Mateo, go with my father and make sure the palace grounds are clear. Sawyer, go with Aiyan and Kaden and check inside the palace, every room, every closet, every nook and cranny. If there is a mouse in Cook’s apron, I want you to kill it.” That got a few chuckles, but Tanis was oblivious, giving orders and sending everyone off to do a specific job.
Walking over to Maeve, he sat down on the coffee table, taking her chin in his hand and lifting her head to take in the two faint lines cut into her neck. His nostrils flared and he made a promise to his sister. “I’m going to whip his ass for daring to lay a hand on you.”
“What about Hector?” she asked, one eyebrow lifting. “Besides, the punch that knocked him out cold might qualify as beating his ass, brother.”
Tanis snorted. “He deserved it and you know it. And I won’t hesitate to beat Hector’s too if he gets in my way.” Maeve chuckled, shaking her head.
Standing, he moved to the other side of the table, bending down to kiss his husband and then his son on the forehead. He even kissed baby Ian on the cheek, the infant laying in Raven’s arms sleeping now that the fuss had died down. Tanis reached back, grabbing the sword Sawyer had laid on the coffee table before he left with the others and placed it on the couch beside Raven. “I need you to stay in here with the ladies and the boys. I will be fucking worthless if I’m worrying about the five of you, okay?”
Raven nodded, leaning forward for a kiss on the lips and taking the offered sword before his man left the room, locking then closing the door behind him.
