Page 93 of Protect Me
Chapter23
Bracken
D’s office in the Big Top has never felt smaller than it does right now. I hate that I had to leave Sway sleeping upstairs. Hate that Duncan and I had to step away long enough to deal with this meeting, but Robert needs to be fucking handled.
Only then can we fully move on with the future we have planned with our mate.
Mate.
Not that we’ve told her as much. Knowing that she was essentially made for us would likely freak Sway the fuck out right now, and that’s not what we’re going for. Not when we finally have exactly what we’ve always wanted.
D sits behind his desk while Duncan and I stand on either side of him, waiting for the crystals to power a call that will allow us to see the head of Earth and Emerald as we ask for her blessing to slaughter a member of her House.
It seems like a big ask. Especially given the fact that the favor we’re collecting on was in exchange for a simple name and location. Nerves churn in my stomach because I know that, even if this House leader refuses us, that bastard will not walk free.
But killing him without her blessing will more than likely mean war.
A steady buzzing fills the room, and D reaches down to tap the screen. It lights up, a woman coming into view. Nikki Ward is the Chancellor of House of Earth and Emerald, and her stance says she dares anyone to challenge it. Bronze skin and eyes so dark they’re nearly black look back at us through the screen. Three men stand behind her, all of their stances telling more than words ever would.
These are her mates. The men who would burn the world down for her. I can only hope it’s a point in our favor that this woman has three men who’ve claimed her—just like we hope to do with Sway.
“Ringmaster, good to see you again,” the leader of Earth and Emerald states though her expression remains muted.
“Is it?” he quips.
“Hardly,” she retorts, “But it seemed rude to tell you that I hoped you’d never call on that favor.”
“My reputation is not that of a man who doesn’t collect on debts. My reputation is that of a man who always collects on debts,” D replies, his tone neutral. He stares back at her, commanding respect while also granting her what is owed.
“That is true,” she says. “What can I do for you?”
“As I said in the message I sent, your time is up, and I’m collecting on what is owed.”
“We fucking get it,” the man on her left snaps. “Get on with it.”
“A few weeks ago, a woman showed up on my doorstep. She’d been beaten to within an inch of her life, bloody, broken—you get the picture. Crimson Hunters chased her here with the intent to drag her back to her captor, and she requested asylum.”
“And I’m sure you took her in with open arms,” Nikki quips.
“More or less,” he replies, not at all bothered by the insult laced in her words. D doesn’t give two fucks what others think of him. In all the years I’ve known him, he never has. “Since her arrival, Crimson Hunters have been showing up at my circus, threatening my people, and trying to abduct her from my protection.”
“And how are Crimson Hunters our problem?" Niall asks. White streaks his dark hair. He clasps a hand on the back of his mate’s chair, territorial as any shifter would be. Especially a dragon.
“Because the hunters are being sent by someone in your fucking house,” I snap.
D looks at me and arches a brow. Duncan clears his throat, but we both know he’s biting his tongue too. We don’t have the fucking time to beat around the bush. Every single moment that asshole draws breath is another moment Sway is in danger.
"Interesting.” The woman leans back and crosses her arms. “Do you have a name?”
“Robert Bardot,” Duncan says.
They exchange a look, which makes my pulse speed. They know him. By fucking name. I have no idea if that makes this harder or easier.
“And the woman?” she asks.
“I don’t see how that’s relevant,” I snap.
“It is to me,” she says. “What is her name?”