Eric’s brows shot up in surprise. “Easy, girl.”
Sean’s outrage battled with laughter, and Sean settled for humor. Here he was, facing an alpha as powerful as himself or Liam, and his sweet little mate-to-be had charged out to protect him.
“She’s a little headstrong,” Sean said with a smile. “Don’t provoke her.”
“Your father told me that you were the Guardian,” Eric said.
“I am. She just likes handling my sword.”
That got him. Eric tried to keep his expression stern, but his lips twitched. Behind him, Ronan gave up and burst out laughing.
“Very funny, Sean,” Andrea said. “You still haven’t asked what he’s doing here.”
“My business is with Dylan.” Eric’s quick recovery told Sean he wasn’t about to discuss it with anyone but Dylan.
Sean gestured to the Morrissey house. “Come in, and I’ll see if I can round up Dad and my brother.”
He led Eric to the front door, but as soon as they stepped inside, Andrea was there, following them in, the sword resting on her shoulder.
“Andy-love ...”
“If you think I’m letting you walk in here, alone, with an unknown Feline, you’re crazy.”
Sean gave up. “Andrea stays. Ronan, do you mind standing guard outside?”
“Hey, you make me another mountain of pancakes, and I’ll do anything for you, Sean.” He grinned at Eric. “Sometimes he puts mini chocolate chips in them. Culinary genius.” He gave them a casual salute and left, closing the front door behind him.
Sean led Eric and Andrea to the kitchen, where the table was littered with notebooks and textbooks Connor had left behind. Andrea pushed them neatly to one side, laid the naked sword on the tabletop, and sat down. “Why don’t you make us some coffee, Sean?”
That won her another irritated look, and Eric said quickly, “I don’t need coffee.”
“I’d love a cup,” Andrea said, smiling at Sean.
Sean sat down. “You know where it is.”
Andrea remained seated. “So, are you going to tell us why you traveled all the way from Nevada to visit, Eric Warden? Especially one as high-up as you?”
Eric looked uncomfortable, also a little confused about Andrea’s role here. He’d have scented by now that she was half Fae and understand that she wasn’t an alpha female, but not why she didn’t defer to Sean or to him. Not that Andrea was going to bother to explain. This Eric might be telling the truth about his appointment with Dylan, but then again, he might be on Callum’s side. He might have other Shifters lying in wait for a chance to snatch the sword. Someone in this needed to be smart.
“I think I should wait for Dylan,” Eric said.
“How’s Callum?” Andrea asked.
Eric looked blank. “Who’s Callum?”
Sean said nothing, only sat back and watched.
“Handy that you’ve come to talk to a Shifter who hasn’t been around much lately,” Andrea said.
“I can’t help that. Dylan arranged to meet me here. We left the time vague—I didn’t know when I could get here to the minute.”
“How did you get here?” Andrea asked. “Hitchhike?”
“I have my ways.” Eric made a point of inhaling her scent. “I had no idea I was coming to be interrogated by a Fae.”
“Half Fae. To be exact, a half-Fae warrior princess.”
Andrea couldn’t help smiling when Sean tried to suppress his start. “Ah, is that why you’re such a smart-ass, love?” Sean asked.
“Could be.” Andrea fixed her gaze on Eric, meeting his green eyes without showing fear. It would be easy to fear Eric Warden, because he had power, as much power, Andrea sensed, as did the Morrisseys.
“Let me put it this way, Eric,” Andrea said. “If you’re involved in any way with gangs of human gunmen or Shifters who follow Callum, I’d advise you to stop now. This isn’t your territory, and when Sean and Liam put Callum in his place, you don’t want to be caught up in that.”
Eric’s eyes widened slightly. “Son of a bitch, what the hell is going on down here?”
“Internal problems,” Sean said. “Nothing to worry about.”
“I can see my timing is less than stellar.” Eric lifted his hands. “All right, I give you my word, Sean Morrissey, on the sun and moon, that I have nothing to do with whatever troubles you’re dealing with on your patch. I connected with Dylan on another business entirely and fixed this day to meet him.”
“He did.”
Dylan’s voice rumbled from the back door, and he walked in a moment later, hands stuffed into the pockets of his leather jacket. Eric rose to meet him, as did Sean. Andrea kept her seat.
Dylan clasped Eric’s hand and pulled the man into the brief embrace reserved for dominant males who didn’t know each other well. I welcome you, the embrace said, but don’t try anything involving my territory, mate, or cubs, or you’ll swiftly die.
Eric and Sean performed the same ritual, before Dylan moved to the kitchen and started making coffee.
“Warrior princess?” Dylan threw over his shoulder.
Andrea shrugged and didn’t answer. This was new to her, and delicate, and she didn’t relish spilling it all to Dylan.
“Andrea has a fine sense of humor,” Sean said. He sat down again, taking the seat next to Andrea’s. He rested his hand on her thigh, and Andrea suddenly felt a little less brittle.
Eric focused sudden attention on them. “Now I understand. You two are mated.”
“Not yet,” Andrea said. “Sean’s made the mate-claim, but I haven’t given him my final answer.”
Eric shook his head, grinning. “No. You’re mated.”
Even Dylan looked amused as he finished setting up the coffeepot and sat down.
“Are you mated?” Sean asked Eric.
Eric took on an empty look, the same one that Andrea’s stepfather always wore, the same one Dylan had when he talked about Sean’s mother. “Was,” Eric said. “She is gone. I have a son, Jace. He’s of age now and my third-in-command.”
Andrea heard the pride in his voice when he said the last. Not all children of alphas stayed high in the hierarchy. “Who’s your second?” Andrea asked.
“My sister.” More pride. Females didn’t always achieve such high status, not because they couldn’t be dominant, but because of archaic Shifter laws. Alpha females were rare, because alpha males were allowed to kill them.
“Cassidy lost her mate too,” Eric said. “A couple of years ago.”
Andrea felt a stab of sadness. She whispered a quick prayer, echoed by Sean and Dylan, then reached across the table and touched Eric’s strong hand. “Please send her blessings from me.”
“Thank you.” Eric’s face softened in his gratitude. “She’d appreciate that. It hit her hard.”
“Which is part of the reason you’re here,” Dylan said. “Sean knows, and Andrea ... well, she’ll know sooner or later.”
Eric nodded silently. He remained just as silent as Dylan rose to fetch the coffee that had finished brewing. Without complaint, Dylan poured four cups and brought them to the table. He didn’t offer cream or sugar since most Shifters drank it black, and Eric didn’t ask for anything.
“The Collars,” Dylan said. “That’s why Eric’s here. He heard about our ability to override the Collars, and he wants to learn it.”
“Andrea knows about it already.” Sean sent Andrea a quick glance.
“I saw a vivid demonstration by Sean,” Andrea said.
Dylan shot Sean a concerned look. “You all right?”
“Fine. I didn’t mind beating on Callum a little.”
Eric listened, brows raised. “You got a war going on?”
“Trying to prevent one,” Sean said.
“Using your half-Fae warrior princess?”
Sean gave him a little grin. “If necessary.”
Andrea took a gulp of coffee and got to her feet. “Obviously you all don’t need me here. I’ll just be going.” She to
ok up the sword, which hummed in a muted way when she touched it, like a child singing under its breath. “Back to pancakes.”
Sean, of course, followed her out. Ronan remained in place on the porch, giving them another salute from the porch swing. He’d stay, Andrea knew. Ronan was still distrustful of this stranger.
Sean didn’t reach for the sword as they walked back to Glory’s house, but let her carry it, as though she had every right to. “Should you leave your dad alone in there with him?” Andrea asked as they mounted the porch.
“Dad seems to have it under control.” Sean opened the door and went in first, checking for danger.
“You’re trusting.”
“I know Dad. He wouldn’t invite another Shiftertown leader out here if he wasn’t certain about him. Plus Eric has to know that if he makes a wrong move, Ronan will be on him, and if he gets past Ronan, he’ll have to deal with me.”
Sean’s quiet confidence always amazed her. Unlike Liam, who joked and charmed, Sean simply looked at a person with calm blue eyes, and that person fell all over himself to do whatever Sean wanted. He had power in his silences.
“Now, Andy-love, what’s this about you being Xena, Warrior Princess?”
Andrea laid the sword in the case Sean had left on the table. “Fionn told me a lot of things. Some of them might even be true.”
“At least he gave you his name.”
“Fionn Cillian. So he said. But what good does that do?” Andrea sighed, spreading her hands. “What do I know about warrior lords of Faerie?”
“You don’t have to know anything. You just need a name. Now we can look him up.”
Glory’s computer wasn’t very sophisticated, but Sean didn’t seem bothered by that as he sat at the desk in the living room and fired it up.
Andrea pulled a chair next to his. “If you plan to Google Fionn Cillian, you can’t do it from here. Glory hasn’t been given Internet clearance.”
“I don’t need the Internet.” Sean frowned at the screen as he typed in letters. “I have my own database.”
“A database bigger than the Internet?”
“No, but one much deeper and more precise.” On a black screen with a blinking cursor, Sean typed in five letters. They came out as runes, the same kind of curlicues that were on the Sword of the Guardian.
“Those are Fae runes.”
Sean leaned to study the screen in surprise. “Are they now? How about that.” As Andrea rolled her eyes, the screen blanked out. Sean typed in another set of runes. “There we go.”
The screen went blank for a few seconds before words shone out at the top: Welcome, Guardian.
“What on earth is this?” Andrea asked.
“The Guardian Network. That’s the half-assed name we gave it. It’s information that Guardians have collected over the centuries—about the Fae, the sword, Guardians, about Shifters in general. It used to be written down in a book, but when computers got practical, a Guardian in New Orleans built a database for it and input all the information. Made it searchable. Now we can add information to it when we need to or contact other Guardians through it.”
“But how do you access it without Internet?”
He smiled. “Andy-love, just because not all Shifters are allowed on the great human Internet, doesn’t mean we haven’t created our own network. You just need a server and the ability to tap into the lines. Wireless has made it even simpler. All those remote connections out there just waiting to be used.”
Andrea raised her brows. “You’re a hacker.”
“A good hacker. I can get into all kinds of places.”
“I see. That’s handy.”
“And geeky, according to Connor.”
Andrea knew she’d never explain how attractive she found geeky Sean, so she didn’t mention it. “Aren’t you worried someone will hack into your network and steal all the Guardian’s secrets?”
“Most of it isn’t secret. But only Guardians know how to use this thing, and the codes are pretty intense.”
Andrea looked at the runes that appeared in response to his tapping, the program obviously translating the standard Roman letters on the keyboard. “Okay. I believe you.”
Sean hit the Enter key, and the screen blossomed into colorful pictures, links, and columns of text. “This is everything Guardians know about Fionn Cillian.”
Andrea leaned against him to peer at the information, which was at least in English. Sean slid his arm around her waist as she read it.
Fionn Cillian was several hundred years old, the text told her. Born somewhere in Faerie in a place whose name was unpronounceable, he’d became leader of his clan when he hit his ninetieth year, fairly young for a Fae. Next came a list of what Sean said were battles won by Fionn as a general. The list was quite lengthy. By age one hundred and fifty, he’d been instrumental in winning a war that put him and his clan in control of the emperor of Faerie.
The database showed lists of various heroic deeds Fionn had performed since then, battles fought and won in the name of the emperor, honors awarded him. It listed a wife, a highborn woman from a rival clan, Sean said, but no children. Doubtless it had been a political marriage, he speculated, undertaken to end a dispute. The wife had died about a hundred years ago, leaving Fionn alone and childless.
Andrea took in the information in amazement. She’d always pictured Faerie as a misty place of white trees and mountains, with Fae hanging out in gauzy robes, riding unicorns, hunting with hawks, and doing other Fae-like activities. The database was showing her a real place full of intrigue and power shifts, alliances and relationships, reminding her of what she’d read about shoguns in historic Japan. The land of the Fae stretched back thousands of years, and she was seeing history as complex and intricate as that of Shifters or humans.
Sean clicked on a link that revealed pictures of Fionn Cillian—line drawings and paintings, because Fae didn’t have photography.
“That’s our guy,” Sean said, looking at the haughty face and dark eyes that were like windows to eternity.
“See any resemblance to me?” Andrea asked.
“Hard to say. He’s very much a Fae, and you, love, are a hell of a lot sexier than he is.”
“Hmm, maybe you should check his underwear.”
“I’m thinking I shouldn’t be getting within a hundred miles of his underwear. If he wears any.”
Andrea’s smile faded. “All right, so we know he’s who he says he is. But how do I know that he’s my father? I don’t see any record of me in here.”
“There wouldn’t be, would there, if he wanted to keep you secret?”
Andrea pointed at the computer. “Where does that info come from?”
“Various sources, but it’s all official records or personal observation by Guardians over the centuries. If this Fae didn’t want anyone to know about you and your mother, there won’t be any record of you.”
“How does he expect me to believe him, then?”
Sean gave her a quiet look, no teasing or anger. “You want to believe him, don’t you?”
“I want to know.”
“Don’t worry, love. We’ll find out.”
“I don’t see how.”
“We’ll wrap his ponytail around his neck and threaten to strangle him with it unless he tells us what we want to know.”
Andrea started laughing. “I’d like to see you doing that to a Fae warrior. He looks pretty tough.”
“Then I’ll pull him into this world. He’d be weaker here, what with all the iron around. I could stuff him into Dad’s pickup and drive him around until he talks.”
“I think I’d pay to see that.” Andrea leaned against him, wishing her anger and confusion would drain away. “Why are you helping me, Sean?”
With one touch of a key, Sean shut off the database. “I’m curious too, love. I want to know what this Fionn is up to.”
“I mean with everything. You admitted last night that you first claimed me because you thought it would be your only
chance to have a mate, and there I was all helpless.”
Sean chuckled, eyes warming. “The day you are helpless, love, is the day the moon falls out of the sky.”
“Very funny.”
Sean nuzzled Andrea’s hair, his breath hot on her scalp. “Maybe it was the reason why I jumped at the chance for the mate-claim before I met you, but not after. Love, I want you for my mate because you have eyes the color of smoke. Because you are wicked sexy, because you’re fearless and have a smart-ass mouth, and because you kiss like fire. Why wouldn’t I want a woman like you around me the rest of my life?”
He could melt stone, this one. He smelled good too, musk and heat and the soap from his shower.
“You could charm a girl,” she said. “You and your Irish accent and beguiling flattery.”
“It’s not flattery, Andrea. I want you. I want to touch and hold you. I want to keep you safe. I’m wanting you in my life.”
“In that case ....” Andrea stopped, her heart beating so hard she could barely get the words out. “In that case, Sean, let’s have the mate blessing and get it over with.”
Sean’s blue eyes blazed with his sudden smile. “Andrea, love, you like to ask for trouble.” He stood up so suddenly she nearly fell, but he caught her hands, lifting her to her feet. “But all right. The sun is high, and Dad is here.” His smile went positively sinful. “I say we go have us a mate blessing.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“You sure about this, Sean?” Liam asked.
“Just get on with it.”
Liam had arrived home in record time after Dylan had called him with the news. The rest of the family had materialized as well, as though they’d all been hanging on their cell phones, waiting for the call.
“It’s always best to make certain.” Liam was grinning at Sean, an excited light in his eyes. A few feet away, Kim fixed a garland of flowers to Andrea’s hair, the two young women chattering animatedly about whatever women liked to chatter about at these times.
“He’s sure,” Connor said. He wrapped lanky arms around Sean from behind and squeezed hard. “We’ll have more and more cubs, and it will be a grand thing. Is she already pregnant, Sean?”