Chapter 14

With anger flowing through my entire system like hot lava, I was good to go. The fog in my brain had burned off and I shook from the violence coursing through my veins.

Hugging the book to my chest, I stood in the dining room doorway and watched the men that hadn’t realized I was there. All eight of them sat at the table, grinning and joking with each other. Stupid jerks, every last one of them.

Quinton turned and smiled when he saw me. “Daxx, it’s about time, we’re starving.” He started to stand and then his eyes went to the book I was holding.

“Are all women as …” Michael stopped talking, his eyes also spotting the book.

Slowly moving into the room, I held the book up for all of them to see. All movement stopped. It was so quiet an ant walking across the floor would have echoed.

Slamming the book down on the table, I leaned over it and glared at them.

Mitz came darting into the room and then stopped.

“Mitz could you hold dinner for a few minutes?”

Her head bobbed a few times. “Of course, just tell me when you’re finished.”

“Thank you.” I waited until she left the room and then straightened up and stood with my hands on my hips. “Did all of you know?”

I looked around at each one, not one of them would make eye contact with me. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“It’s all hog spittle,” Victor muttered.

“Hog spittle? Victor, you do know what century this is right?” His green eyes connected with my own.

“Yes.”

“Good. Maybe you should update your vocabulary and say something a little more modern.”

He looked away.

“Is it?” I looked around, waiting for one of them to answer.

Leone pushed his chair back and started to get up. Determined to have my say, the raptor was out of its case and spun into the air, catching it, I stabbed it into the table beside the book.

“Fuck me,” one of them whispered.

“Fantastic.” Chase’s voice echoed the first one.

I zeroed in on him, the man that had held me with such tenderness an hour before. “Chase?”

His hazel eyes met mine, there was no hesitation. He raised a brow in query.

“The contents of this book, is it a pile of crap or is it true?”

Glancing around the table, he turned back and looked directly at me. “Do you see any wives at this table, kitten? We’re everyone a bachelor waiting for that connection.” He leaned back in his chair. “Doesn’t it strike you that in the five hundred years that Victor’s been around, or even Michael in three hundred and sixty that they’d have found mates to keep them in line?”

I looked back down at the book and then at his eyes. “It says there’s a ninth brother, where is he?”

“Your side.” Troy leaned forward on the table.

“Excuse me? What is he doing on my side?”

Quinton pushed his chair back and those brown eyes moved over me slowly. “Our father confessed his infidelity on his death bed.”

Rafael nodded. “Up until that point we thought the book was pure fiction because there were only eight of us.”

“Or the King to have nine sons hadn’t come to pass yet.” Troy said quietly.

“How old is this brother on my side?” I tried to remember what it had said, having only skimmed most of it except the part about the Cross Over Huntress Queen.

Rafael glanced to Chase, who nodded. “He’d be around three hundred.”

Grabbing the knife out of the table, I twirled it in my hand, a motion I always did while processing. “Three hundred years old?” Rafael nodded. “Three hundred—” I spun the knife thumb hold so it went in a circle. “Do you have any idea what it must be like for him to live in my world for that long?” They didn’t get it. Shaking my head, I flicked the motion of my wrist faster. “He doesn’t age. Can you imagine what it’s been like trying to hide for that long?” Leone was the only one that shook his head. “Why haven’t you looked for him?”

Chase cleared his throat. “We’ve tried.” His eyes nervously moved from the knife back to my face. “We don’t have many connections there so it’s very hard to find someone that doesn’t want to be found.”

“Damariss, could you please put the knife down?”

Snapping my neck around, I looked at Quinton and scowled at him for saying my name in front of the others. He glanced at the knife still rotating in my hand. Exhaling loudly, I put it back into its case behind me and leaned on the table. “Do you even know if this missing brother is alive?”

Victor nodded. “He is, or the symbol on the front of that book would be blackened.”

I looked down at the book between my hands.

“The two blackened leaves turned when our parents passed. There are nine green leaves and nine yellow ones.”

I glanced up at Troy for an answer. “What are they for?”

Tapping a silent rhythm with his finger on the table, his eyes searched out his twins then looked at me. “One color is for us, one for our mates.”

Which brought me back to where I started on all of this… “I will find your brother.” A few skeptical looks passed between them. “Hey! It’s what I do.”

I reached for the handle of my knife again, needing the comfort of touching it. “When were you going to tell me the rest of the huntress prophecy?” I didn’t look at any of them, just ran my finger over the leaves on the cover, wondering if one of them was meant for me.

“I made the decision to let you settle in and adjust before discussing it.” Troy offered in his voice of authority.

“I see.” I glanced from him to his twin, “and the part about choosing one from the throne for my mate?”

“I wanted to tell you,” Quinton said quickly.

“You should have.” He at least looked repentant. I moved around the table and then stopped behind Chase.

He turned and studied me. “Are you going to stab me, kitten?” Even though his voice was light and playful, the expression in his eyes was serious.

“I probably should.” Moving down the table, I stopped and looked at Troy. His hazel eyes were filled with apology, but his mouth didn’t say the words. Shaking my head, I continued on until I was back to the book. “What happens if this huntress doesn’t choose?”

“You condemn us to bachelorhood for evermore.” Rafael said as he looked around at his brothers.

“And the line to the throne stops.” Troy added, still taping out the beat on the table.

Opening the book, I flipped to a random page. “Seriously, none of you will marry or have children until your two rulers have their mates?”

“Only one has to…” Quinton stated matter-of-factly. “—with you.” He added quickly and then looked away.

I ignored wanting to growl and continued. “And children?” I looked around at their puzzled looks. “Surely you have sex.” That, I found was the wrong thing to say to eight males. All answered loudly and at the same time, I couldn’t pick out any one answer, but knew sex was definitely happening.

“We can only impregnate our true mate.” Victor offered with an uncomfortable expression on his face.

That the book hadn’t mentioned or if it did I’d skimmed over that part. There were other things flying around in my brain, like the fact that I wasn’t like them, how could I mate with a man that would live forever? If I did for some reason live longer, would I be the one to have the next twin rulers in two hundred plus years? How did they know someone was their true mate?

I knew they’d have answers, which is why I didn’t ask, I simply didn’t want any more information to deal with right now. “I can’t choose right now.” I said looking at the leaves on the book again.

The sound of a chair being pushed back echoed through the room. I didn’t glance up to see which one was walking over to me. A hand with the ring baring the symbol of a moon cupped my chin and tilted my face up to look at them.

I looked into Troy’s eyes they were bordering on turning red and it kind of creeped me out to know I recognized this now.

“No one is asking you to choose right now or at all for that matter.”

I nodded and closed my eyes, because I just couldn’t look into his right now. His hand dropped away. A quiet ringing sounded in the room. Realizing it was my phone; I pulled it out of my pocket and answered it.

It was Frank and I was actually relieved to hear his voice, anything to get me out of here. He talked quickly about a job. “What’s the charge?” It turned out to be minor in comparison to some of the more recent ones I’d done. “I’ll pick up the file in the morning.”

Hanging up, I turned and looked at all the eyes watching me. “Enjoy your dinner, gentlemen.”

I brushed past Troy and went back out into the hallway.

I could hear someone following me, but didn’t slow down.

“Daxx.” Quinton caught up to and touched my arm to stop me. “You need to eat, after earlier…”

My eyes moved over his face, noting he seemed to look better than the last time. The skin had tightened and the man I’d thought was a thing at first sight had a sculpted jaw and high cheekbones now. “I will when I get home, promise.”

“Home?” His brown eyes searched mine. “You’re leaving?”

I nodded. “I have a job to do and I can’t find any in possession of the device if I’m on this side.”

He stepped back. “Okay. I can come with you and help now.”

“Maybe another time, I just need some space right now, Quint. Okay?” Not waiting for a response, I walked to the hallway and leaned against the wall. Closing my eyes, I focused on home.