As she stepped inside the room, Maggie glanced uneasily around. Carly sat on Niklas’s lap, his arms snug around her as he nuzzled the side of her neck. Kyanna bustled near the counter, turning when she heard Maggie enter, a measuring cup in her hand. Xander sat at the table, balancing a lethal looking dagger as long as his forearm on the tip of his finger by the dagger’s point. She offered Xander a tightlipped nod of appreciation.
Kyanna caught the exchange. Casting a suspicious gaze at Xander, she asked, “Is that where you went? Tell me you didn’t bully her into coming down if she wasn’t ready.”
“She was ready,” Xander said, deadpan.
“You yelled at her, didn’t you?” Kyanna crossed her arms and shook her head in obvious disappointment. Before Maggie could offer protest, Kyanna insisted, “Apologize.”
Maggie thrust a hand up, frantically shaking her head. “Oh, no—”
“It’s okay, Maggie,” Kyanna interrupted, watching Xander. Xander stared back, unmoving but for the tiny tic that had begun in his cheek. “Tell her you’re sorry for yelling at her, Xander. She’s had a…a rough day. If she’d rather not have to deal with us, then—”
“Kyanna!” Maggie snapped in exasperation, gaining a startled look from both women. Both demons, of course, remained unfazed. “Xander didn’t yell at me.” Technically, he hadn’t shouted. Just used a very…ah, very stern voice. “And I was ready to come down.” Her attention skated to Xander, just long enough to connect meaningfully before she glanced back to Kyanna. “I was pouting.” Somehow, she didn’t think Kyanna would take it at all well that Xander had been the one to helpfully point out that fact. “But I’m done now. I still have a lot of work ahead of me.” She offered the room at large a small smile. “And I’m hungry.”
“Oh. Oh! Well, then,” Kyanna said with a brilliant smile. She hurried to the oven, grabbed up a hot pad, and bent down to pull out a pan of dinner rolls. “We’re just getting ready to eat, and there’s food aplenty. Carly always cooks enough for a small army. Maggie, would you mind getting the lemonade from the refrigerator? Xander, the chicken should be done now. Would you mind?”
Maggie glanced at Xander one more time before she went to do as Kyanna asked. Xander met her glance and nodded his head ever so slightly. A slight crease formed in his cheek as the very edge of his mouth curled up a tiny bit. She hoped that was approval glinting in his eyes as he turned to head out the back door.
A short while later, as the small group sat around the table digging into the tasty food, Xander’s phone rang.
Maggie watched as he flipped his phone to his ear and barked, “Yeah?”
His brow knitted in a deep frown as he stared absently at the salt shaker. “When?” Silence. “No.”
More silence.
“Need backup?” Xander had transferred his attention to his plate. He listened for a moment more, then thumbed the phone off and shoved it into his pocket. He picked his fork up, took a bite of roasted potato, and chewed slowly.
“Well,” Kyanna finally demanded on behalf of the room at large, “who was that? Sebastian?”
“Yeah,” Xander said before scooping up another bite.
Kyanna growled, and the next thing Maggie knew, a wadded up linen napkin went sailing through the air to smack Xander in the face.
Xander looked up, his expression incredulous. “What happened to your precious table manners, Kyanna?”
“Stop making me pull teeth, demon,” Kyanna snapped, glaring at her mate. “Is he all right? Did he find the Guardian’s descendant? Does he need help?”
“Found her, and then lost her again.”
“I’m sorry, who is Sebastian?” Maggie asked. Hadn’t Kyanna mentioned him before? Had he been the blond in her vision? Everything was fast becoming a jumbled mess lately.
“Vengeance,” Niklas supplied.
“He’s really a very sweet guy,” Carly rushed to assure her. “You’ll love him. Great sense of humor. So considerate. Looks a lot like that guy who plays that Norse god in those Marvel movies.”
Beside her, Niklas growled, and his eyes narrowed. “A Norse god?”
“Well, he kind of does look like one, actually,” Kyanna agreed with a helpless shrug.
That earned a fierce scowl from Xander. “And you’ve seen so many of those, have you?”
“I don’t think I’ll be leaving you with Sebastian anymore,” Niklas snapped in Carly’s direction. “He doesn’t need any more women in his harem.”
Carly shot Maggie a mischievous grin. “Oh, I don’t know. What do you think, Kyanna? If there was ever a harem to join, that would be the one to—”
She wasn’t given the chance to finish. Niklas snatched her from her seat and dragged her across his lap. Holding tight to the squirming, protesting woman in his arms, he kissed her into submission. Kissed her senseless. By the time he was finished staking his claim, they were both breathing heavily and the room held a new kind of tension.
With one last searing look, Niklas deposited Carly unceremoniously back onto her own seat. Color rode high on her cheeks. She looked slightly dazed as she searched the table for something.