Queen of Death
Chapter 8

Happy New Year!

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Solana

“Should we expect another medieval greeting when we arrive this time? I just want to make sure I’m dressed appropriately,” Dean asks only half seriously. They’ve all seen how unpredictable my family’s greetings can be — anywhere from a smile and hug to outright war, and everything in between.

“They should already know we’re coming,” Tate says nonchalantly, closing his laptop and tucking it away in his backpack. “I sent them an encrypted and coded message through the Underdark so nothing could track us to this location.”

“Gods, now I know we’re definitely going to die.” Dean teases his brother and I can’t resist the grin that lifts the corners of my mouth. Tate doesn’t dignify his brother’s comments with a response, but I catch his eyes mid roll and my grin widens.

“Xander is usually up with my parents by 5am so there’s still some hope that he’s had time to replace this message, de-encrypt it, and decode it. But then again there is a reason why women rule our colony.” I’m partially joking but it is fun to wind up the guys. Like now as Dean and I scramble out of our chairs and are standing off against one another separated by the dinner table.

“Claws away, Princess,” Ace smiles against my forehead and gives me a chaste kiss. “We could always port into the tunnel and call them from there.”

“Why are we dismissing the gauntlet option so soon? I for one would love to see you all roll the dice and show up in the palace unannounced.” Hunter’s impish grin is infectious as he pulls me into his arms.

“Because if they barge in and replace you then we’ll have a whole new host of problems on our hands.” Ace looks pointedly at Hunter.

“I’d hate to kill the mood,” Tate says casually to our group, “but they got the message. Xander wants to know what time we’ll be arriving.”

“You’re sure? What was the message you sent?” Tate bristles at Eli’s questioning. Obviously perturbed by his lack of blind confidence.

“I told them that the summer Solstice would be on the 5th. As in, the five of us including Sol and minus Hunter will be arriving. They want to know what time sunrise will be, meaning what time are we arriving? Satisfied?” Tate all but snarls at Eli.

Not that we needed it, but we have clearance to port into the Grove. More specifically the Palace. Now it’s just a matter of where we should land. I trust that my family and the staff have poured through the rooms on my floor and made sure that they were safe and pristine. But the fact remains that someone has already slipped past their ranks and into my bedroom. Someone none of us thought of as a threat, which means they must have been extremely close to our inner circle.

That’s the thought that gives me pause.

We need a place to port into initially that is safe to leave Hunter in, and then we need to port out of there and into my mother’s office.

“Drop me off in the guest room on your floor. No one is expecting me to be there, so I can make sure the room remains secure,” Hunter gestures for the guys to group up and as soon as Eli finally saunters over to us, Ace ports us away from our tiny piece of paradise and back home to the Grove.

***

“I’ll never not prefer the mountains,” Dean says wistfully as he looks around over the Grove from the balcony of their guest bedroom.

I hum my agreement. Beaches are nice but there’s something about the mountains that just feels right. Like the mountains themselves resonate at the same frequency as me.

“Should I give you some privacy so you can be… one with nature?” I say to Dean with a cheeky grin and suggestive waggle of my eyebrows.

“I’d argue that the view is better from back here,” Tate’s voice sounds from behind me. When I turn around to face him, he’s standing there shamelessly staring at my ass. Desire sweeps through me in an instant as my mind conjures up memories of his hands trailing the same path his eyes are charting across my body.

I hide myself in shadows like I could slip past Tate and get back inside the room, but he follows me into the shadows and backs me gently up against the glass windows. Every kiss against my neck feels like its own branding. Dean can’t see us but he can hear us, and I enjoy watching his reactions from behind the shadows. I’m starting to see the appeal in his preference for watching.

Tate is moving down my chest as quietly as he pleases when Ace steps out onto the balcony. I know he can’t see me, but his piercing gaze holds mine all the same. He smirks knowingly before inserting himself between Tate and me with surgical precision much to Tate’s amusement.

“How do you plan to explain your scent on her to her fathers?” Ace says casually, pulling Tate and me out of the shadows.

I claw my shirt off my body, ripping it to shreds. “Oh no,” I say with flat affect, “my shirt is ruined.” Tate regards me with shrewd eyes, but doesn’t stop me from lifting his shirt off of him and slipping into it myself. “Thank you Tate, you’re my hero.” I pretend to swoon. The more I commit, the darker Ace’s eyes become.

“You do love playing with fire, Princess. But you’re lucky your family is expecting us.” A loud crack snaps through the air as Ace’s hand connects with my ass. “Work first, then play,” he purrs in my ear and I do my best not to melt into a puddle at his feet. He’s right — of course. We can get this over with and then be back in the privacy of the island.

“H, you know what to do. Text me if there’s an issue and I’ll port up,” Ace says to Hunter and then shuts the door behind him as he is the last of us to file out of the room. The guys flank me on either side as we walk down to my mom’s office. Tate and Dean on one side and Ace and Eli on the other.

The guys follow me confidently into my mother’s office. Ace moves around me to shake hands with my fathers and then takes a seat next to Dean on one of my mother’s couches.

“Well this is a pleasant surprise,” my dad Varian says as he wraps me in a warm, tight hug.

“We’re going to have to start paying them more. I could get used to my little girl being home so often,” my other dad Rohanor beams at me.

We all know he’s kidding, but I catch the slight discomfort coming off of Ace at the reminder that they’re being paid an absurd amount of money by my dads to protect me. Or maybe it’s from how close they came to being paid an equally absurd amount of money to kill Nightshade, a.k.a. me.

“If nothing else, it’ll be to reimburse them for the shirts Solana has been stealing from them to wear,” Varian says to Ro with a nod to Tate’s shirt on my body. A wicked blush stains my cheeks, heating my skin, making me feel completely exposed.

“Solana, go get changed while we meet. Maybe go down and train, I’m sure one of your brothers could use an ass kicking anyway,” my dad Ro tries to make his command sound more appealing by throwing in the added benefit of me beating up one of my brothers, but I’m not leaving this room no matter what.

“I’m perfectly fine where I am, as I am.” I sound more confident than I feel. They may be overprotective Alphas, but they’re still my dads. My very overprotective Alpha dads.

Leave it to Ace to smooth things over, one overprotective Alpha to another. “I think what Solana means is we felt it safer for her to be disguised with our scents given the incident that took place the last time we were here.”

My fathers aren’t convinced, their eyes scan over the group like they’re calculating the cost-benefit ratio of pursuing the issue further. Tate pays them absolutely no mind and wastes no time setting up his computer on the low coffee table, making himself at home in my mother’s space. My fathers are clearly incensed by how little effect their scowling has on Tate. Anyone else would be cowering under the table, but it’s going to take more than that to shake Tate.

A snort of muffled laughter drags their attention away from us and over to my mother and Xander, who must have teleported in just in time to see the show. While my father’s eyes cloud over mind-linking with each other, Dean gestures for me to sit between him and Ace across from Tate.

Eli remains standing next to the couch closest to Ace. He’s pure wolf and won’t be able to sit and relax until my fathers do.

Another curious thing happens while my fathers are linking. Xander undoes his dress shirt and puts it on my mom for her to wear, so when my mom’s and dads’ eyes finally clear, it’s all Xander can do to keep the shit eating grin off his face. Whatever his plan was must have worked, because he challenges my dads in a way only he can. “Are you going to make Mags go change now, too?”

Now my fathers are properly enflamed. “You know that’s not funny, and you know exactly why.”

My mom, on the other hand, has reached her max. “Enough you three. Fucking fledglings, all of you.” She then turns her attention to our group, giving me a knowing smirk and a wink. “I’m assuming you’re here in the flesh because whatever news you have couldn’t be shared over the phone. What’s going on?”

Xander hovers over the back of the couch over Tate, watching him work. “You’re aware Sol’s bounty was doubled?” Tate says, aiming straight for the heart of the matter.

Xander hesitates for a few moments before he nods from behind Tate. “Yes, we’re aware. But that’s not your concern. Your job is to keep her safe while we hunt.”

“Are you also aware that the bounty was increased exactly one week after the failed attempt on her life? Or that it’s public knowledge now that she’s under our protection? Or,” Tate presses when Xander opens his mouth to interject, “that her and our whereabouts are being sold in the Underdark?”

“If you have an accusation to make then make it.” Xander warns Tate with a dangerous, biting edge.

“Not an accusation,” Tate says casually. “It is a fact that someone in the palace, in your home, is betraying you.”