A Supernatural Script Inc. Book
Transcription
A Supernatural Script Inc. Book
A Supernatural Script Inc. Book Hounds of Hell: Fighting Insanity: Battle Royal Copyright © 2014 Erin R. Flynn E-book ISBN: 978-1-940036-21-2 First E-book Publication: June 2014 Cover design by Sloan Winters Editing by Jae Ashley ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission. All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental. It is fiction so facts and events may not be accurate except to the current world the book takes place in. Acknowledgements The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following trademarks mentioned in this work of fiction: Transformers: Hasbro, Inc. 4 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL **Reader Note: This is an extra companion section for Fighting Insanity: Hounds of Hell #3 that starts at the last lines of Chapter 4** Battle Royal “This is a bad idea, Canice,” I warned as I followed after him, Ronan, and Darcy when we felt Tierney and his new mate, Kellan, come back from wherever they’d been. “You have made your objections known and clearly stated them, Hugh,” Canice snapped, his accent thickening as his tempered grew. “We simply want to talk to the man for a moment in private. The way Dex tells the tale, Kellan is unstable, violent, and determined to get away at any cost. He’s Tierney’s mate which means our brother would give him just about anything, including any type of peace offering the lad could use against Tierney.” “Canice is right, Hugh,” Ronan growled, glaring at me over his shoulder. “Should we wait to see if Kellan’s so desperate to escape he kills Tierney in his sleep or have a simple conversation with the man?” I glanced at Darcy who I knew agreed with me. Their idea of a conversation meant cornering and grilling poor Kellan who wasn’t much more than a scared kid compared to four massive and three centuries old Hellhounds. Yeah, that was a fair meeting. “Stryker wants to speak with you,” Canice informed Tierney as we reached the foyer and they came in the house. “He’s over at the boarding school looking for you.” “To be continued,” our eldest brother whispered in his mate’s ear. “Hang out here a moment with my brothers and 5 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL get to know them.” He pulled away and pointed to each of us as he made the introductions. “Canice, Darcy, Hugh, and Ronan Macfayden, meet my mate, Kellan Short.” “He is short,” I chuckled as my insides twisted, studying Kellan and somehow praying he decided to go meet Rafe or something instead of staying with us if I stuck my foot in my mouth. No it wasn’t a good plan, but I never said I was quick on my feet. “Yes, good one. Never heard that before,” Kellan playfully drawled. We shared a laugh at the lame joke, and I knew mine was completely, utterly, and totally fake. I didn’t think I was the only one glancing around at my brothers. No one said anything until Tierney was well out of ear shot, and then a feather could have knocked me over when Kellan made the first move, turning towards us, and crossed his arms over his chest. “The good news is now I know what you all look like when you’re lying. Rafe planned this awesome afternoon and dinner thing with his mate so they’re not here.” “Why not play along with us a little longer and do some recon if you knew we were lying?” Ronan hedged, studying him even closer than we already were. “Let’s take this in private,” Canice cut in, ushering us to the sitting lounge right off the main entrance. I hung my head, hating I was being caught up in this, but we were a unit as a litter, so where they went, I did, even if it was into trouble. Fuck, if they robbed the bank, I’d be in the car waiting to hit the gas when they came running out. It was just who we were. Well not bank robbers. That was a bad example. I meant, in everything together. Whatever. 6 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL “Lying does nothing but bring pain and hurt. Just because you lied to me, I’m not going to start off my getting to know you four by lying,” Kellan stated, answering Ronan’s earlier question, standing behind a chair, carefully between us and him. “And Tierney would forgive his brothers for playing a prank and getting rid of him for a bit, but if you caught me lying about something as innocent as Stryker and Rafe being gone, you’d find things for me to lie about from there on when it made you believe I was bad for him.” Jesus, he’s so worried and scared he’s making sure he’s close to the door and there’s an obstacle for us to get to him. “He’s smart but in a Machiavellian kind of way,” Ronan drawled, glancing at us. “Good or bad?” But Kellan answered for us. “Good, because I understand how people might think even if it’s not in the front of their mind. Admit it, if you had caught me in a lie, that would have been a big fat black mark against me.” “True,” he agreed, leaned forward so his arms rested on his knees. “And that’s advantageous to Tierney who’s more trusting to spot possible danger.” “Is that why you’re not sitting down?” Canice asked, looking from Kellan to the chair and back to Kellan. “You think you’re in danger?” “Nice that you just caught on, dumbass,” I growled in our shared link. “Back it down. He’s scared shitless.” “Seriously, I can see him shaking. You guys are coming on too strong. He’s here talking with us and not bolting so Dex was just bitchy he got kicked in the nuts by a soul who didn’t believe in angels and Hellhounds. Relax,” 7 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL Darcy added. Kellan seemed to mull over Canice’s question which had given us the time to yell at Canice and Ronan, but then he answered, “I don’t know, but after hearing how fast you guys are, it’s smart not to take the chance. You started this meeting with a lie. That gives me no reason to trust you.” “You can chill, Kellan. We’re on the good side here,” Darcy chuckled, and we all started to. Personally, I was just trying to take some of the tension out of the air. “Tierney is going to kill us!” I bitched in our heads. “And then I’m going to bite you each time we shift for the rest of our lives, Canice.” “Bad people fight in our militaries all the time. That’s why war crimes happen. Just because you landed on the right side of the fight doesn’t mean you’re good,” Kellan argued. We immediately stopped laughing. Shit. He wasn’t a little nervous or scared or freaked we were ganging up on him. He was scared. “My father’s whore would use every lie in the book to get me alone and she found out real fast that I didn’t care if she was bigger than me or a woman. “I’m a fighter. I would punch, kick, bite, take any chance I could to keep her away from me. The four of you have balls and you’re bigger, which means much more for me to target if need be.” “Kellan, you’ve got this all wrong. We just wanted to have some time in private to see if you’re worthy of our brother,” I hedged, his eyes wide as my heart raced. I’d hated this plan from the start, thinking our soon-to-be brother-in-law would be pissed we’d hazed or grilled him but not this. Never this. “My god! He thinks we’re going to gang rape him,” 8 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL Darcy gasped in our heads and I gave a slight nod. I was stunned speechless. “Tierney would never forgive you depending on how you want to see if I’m worthy,” Kellan blurted out. “We’re not going to touch you,” Canice growled as his hands fisted on his thighs. “We’re not monsters. We’re Tierney’s brothers.” “He needs understanding, compassion, not anger, you douche,” I snapped in my head. Canice and his fucking pride had gotten us in more pickles than I could count. “And my father’s whore tried to get me alone with lies starting when I was seventeen. I would have thought that was off limits too.” Kellan covertly glanced around the room… Except the man wasn’t good with covert as scared as he was, eyes wild and all. Ronan pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it onto the chair Kellan was standing by. “I assume you’re looking for a weapon,” he drawled, rolling his eyes. “There. I was cutting boxes so now you have a knife.” “I’m going to cut you with a knife, you cocksucker!” Darcy roared, making my head hurt. “This is not funny! He’s scared. Don’t make light of it or be a douche. He doesn’t know it or your sarcasm.” “Right. Sorry,” Ronan agreed, bobbing his head. “It’s just the idea we’re going to fucking gang bang him while we sent Tierney off on a five minute bogus errand is ridiculous.” “Not to someone who doesn’t know us, is scared, and has just been cornered like he has,” I argued, glancing at Canice as steam practically came out of my ears. “Which I warned you about. Dick. Head. Take it down or I’m so 9 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL rolling over on you when the shit hits the fan.” “We’re not going to touch you, Kellan,” Canice sighed, waving to the chair. “We just wanted to talk.” “I can talk standing.” He shook his head and leaned back into the cushions of the couch. “Wow, you are a distrusting little human.” “Four huge men lie to my mate to get me alone and him in another building, talking of seeing whether I’m worthy of their brother or not. Yeah, the thought crossed my mind. It’s called caution.” “Well, at least he’s not timid,” I joked, glancing at my family. “That should keep Tierney on his toes.” Good for Kellan. I smiled at the man, hoping he saw that someone was on his side. Ronan picked up on the idea… Mostly. “He does seem a bit paranoid though,” Ronan added playfully, tilting his head as he studied Kellan. “I don’t know the full situation but enough to be freaked the fuck out. Wouldn’t you if demons and Hell were trying to collect you for their purposes through no fault of your own? How do I know you’re not demons wearing Tierney’s brothers.” “He’s got a good point there,” I immediately conceded before anyone else could say something stupid, then glanced at Canice. “That’s actually something we should bring up to the angels. Castillo had to be marked to allow the demon in him to learn all the bastard’s secrets. We should make sure there’s no way they can enter us.” God, yes—good! Anything to change the topic! “Yeah, that’s smart. Good call, Kellan,” Darcy praised with a warm smile and I’d never wanted to hug my brother more. He gave me a slight bump with his elbow, and I 10 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL knew we were so on the same page, working together. Steer the conversation elsewhere. “We don’t have red eyes. The demons that possessed those humans all had red eyes. I guess it’s their calling card.” “That’s good to know, thank you.” “Now that we’ve established we’re not demons or going to rape you, would you please sit down and we can start this over?” Canice asked nicely, his voice sounding nervous still though. “We just wanted to talk to you without Tierney here to baby you or tell us to shut it. You did try to run when you got here.” “Yes, silly me,” Kellan snickered, taking a chance and sitting in the chair after he slipped the pocket knife in his jeans. “An atheist gets abducted by a hound of Heaven— which I’d never heard of—and someone saying they’re an angel and of course never doubts that or thinks they’re crazy.” “I like his snark. He’s definitely not some doe-eyed lamb that will follow everything Tierney says and won’t be a true partner,” I blurted, trying not to laugh. “So tell us about yourself, Kellan Short,” Canice tried again. “You’ve shown you’re people smart, but are you intelligent?” “Sure, I’d love to be interviewed for the position of Tierney’s mate,” he grumbled, crossing his legs and brushing off his pants when nothing was there. “I have two masters, corporate finance and the other in business management. I graduated way early because I was brought up with tutors and have been running my father’s companies for years now.” Darcy waved Kellan quiet. “We didn’t ask if you were educated, but intelligent.” I shot Darcy a disbelieving look. 11 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL What happened to the plan of being on Kellan’s side? “I know you didn’t but just because I say yes, I’m a smarty pants doesn’t mean you’ll believe it. If you would have let me finish, I would have explained that in the three years I’ve been in charge, the companies have gone up in profits by thirty percent. I have also increased my father’s stock portfolio by forty percent, switching most things from riskier investments to sound ones though leaving the fundamental money making ones as they were.” “So you’re rich?” I grimaced, pinching the bridge of my nose. I tried to hide I wasn’t making that face and knowing me it came off looking funny but Kellan just opened the mother of all cans of worms my brothers would jump all over. “How rich?” Kellan squirmed a bit in his seat and decided to leave that one alone. “I was raised it’s rude to ask a person their income.” “Not if you’re going to be family.” Ronan lifted an eyebrow at him, daring him to counter that. He bobbed his head. “Fair enough, but I do believe that’s a conversation to have with my mate first instead of his brothers.” “He’s good. I kinda like him,” Canice chuckled, folding his hands in his lap. “At least we know he comes with a sizable dowry.” I rolled my eyes. Someone of Kellan’s age would not find that joke funny. “She knew,” Kellan whispered as all the blood left his face suddenly. “She knew he’d sold my soul. That’s why she tried to get me into bed. It would look suspicious if I suddenly died at twenty-one and she inherited everything. If she had a Short for a child, she could claim she’d never hurt the father of her child.” 12 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL “You must come from one Hell of a fucked up family,” Ronan commented, frowning. I knew it was a slip because Ronan wasn’t mean but I wasn’t sure what I would have replied to Kellan’s outburst either. “Don’t we all,” he shot right back. “So if you really don’t have some other set agenda here, then I’m free to go and I will. Maybe we could get to know each other better later in a normal, non-confrontational way.” He stood quickly on shaky legs, my jaw falling open. I wasn’t sure what just happened, but we’d almost recovered this whole mess until whatever revelation he’d just had and now we were back in the pisser. Shit. Literally, when Tierney found out. “We’re so dead,” Darcy breathed as Kellan darted out of the room faster than any human I’d seen move in a while. “Canice, I’m going to make sure every demon roasts you good with Ronan right next to you.” “I’ll help,” I offered. “Why do you have a knife?” Tierney asked darkly from the hallway, and I jumped so bad I almost fell off the couch. “It’s your brother’s,” Kellan muttered, still loud enough for us to hear him from where we were since we were Hellhounds. “Kind of a gag situation, I guess. I’m going to go find whichever room is mine and crash. See ya.” Wow. He was a good guy not to throw us under the bus. We were still totally and completely dead but I liked Kellan. “That’s it?” he growled. “Kellan, look at me.” “No.” “What did they do? When we got here, you were 13 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL nervous and freaked out we were going to have sex, but wanted it. Now you’re finding your own room?” “Oh fuck. On top of it we blew his chance at getting laid?” Darcy whimpered in our minds. He and I glanced at each other before we hopped up off the couch. I ran to the windows and cursed when I saw they were those pretty, pretty ones that didn’t actually open. Kellan said something I didn’t quite catch as I made my mad dash that lead to nothing productive… And Darcy found a closet. Great. We could hide in there before our deaths. “I’m going to skin them alive,” Tierney snarled and burst into the sitting room. “You fucking assholes. What did you do to my mate? Stryker’s not even here so you got Kellan alone to grill him. Bad move.” “We just wanted to talk to him a bit,” Canice tried but shut it when Tierney snarled again. “He’s finding his own room now! He was staying in mine before. So I’ll ask this once—what did you assholes do to him?” “It was Canice and Ronan,” I blurted, even pointing to them, because I wasn’t already enough of a snitch. “I was against it. I even tried to help. Darcy kind of did too but then Kellan mentioned money and thought we were going to rape him. I like Kellan. Dex told us he was unstable and we were worried he was going to kill you in your sleep.” The rest of them just groaned and shook their heads. Tierney’s chest huffed as his eyes, teeth, and hands shifted into his animal’s. “I. Will. Kill. You. All.” He launched himself at Canice first, and I froze for a second, wondering if he really might do it before rushing over there to help. Canice wasn’t fighting back so much as trying to 14 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL get away and block the blows. We did deserve this after all. Ronan wrapped one arm around each of Tierney’s shoulders from behind and tried to pull him off Canice which didn’t work because all that did was give Tierney the momentum to flip over and kick Darcy in the face… And send him flying into me. “We’re so dead,” I groaned as we landed together in a heap. Tierney was the best fighter of the five of us by a mile. “Yeah, nice ramble,” he bitched, jumping back to his feet and helping me up. Just as we stood, I flinched as Ronan took an end table over his head, and seconds later, Tierney flung the leftover legs at Canice, leaving a gash in our brother’s side. “Oh shit. That’s going to hurt.” I nodded and then picked up two couch cushions as shields before rushing at Tierney. He used them against me, digging his claws into them and tossing them—me attached—across the room. Since I’d been hiding behind them, I hadn’t seen the move coming. Idiot. Canice bellowed, and I saw him trying to escape as I slid to the floor, but Tierney grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and threw him back into the room for more. God, we were so getting the shit kicked out of us. “Enough,” Ronan moaned, lifting up some stuffing from a torn cushion and waving in the air from his place on the floor. “We screwed up and we’ve taken our beating. We’re not fighting back because you know the four of us could subdue you, brother. We’re not throwing punches or doing much but bleeding.” “Not done,” Tierney snarled, grabbing Ronan by the leg and dragging him closer. 15 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL “Shit,” he hissed before some heavy and expensive looking lamp came crashing down on his body. He barely had time to throw up his hands to protect himself but I’d guess Ronan would be picking glass out of his hair for weeks. I had just gotten to my feet when I saw something coming my way, and I gasped, holding up my hands to stop Tierney. “Wait! I think that’s a Rembrandt!” Apparently that didn’t matter. He cracked me with it and I felt wet gooeyness on my noggin as I went right back down. Then I heard a loud thunk and a groan, looking up to see Tierney pulling back a sliver tray from the sideboard and Darcy’s eyes rolling up in his head as he slumped to the ground. Shit. I’d take the painting over that any day. Tierney used several more available weapons on the others before choosing a massive crystal vase and focusing back on me. I whimpered and scooted back towards the wall. “I’m sorry! I’ll make it right, I swear on our family name! I’ll get Kellan a pony. I’ll rub his feet or whatever he wants. We will fix this, brother. Please stop beating us. We did it out of love for you.” He paused, the vase lifted and poised for my head or somewhere else vital to my survival. “You have to,” he rasped as he dropped the vase, rubbing his hand over his chest as his features shifted back to normal. “I’m falling in love with him. I need him. Get him back. Please get him back for me.” “We will,” I promised as I tried to get to my feet. I slid right back down, probably on my own blood and broken glass. The second time, Tierney reached out and plucked me up, setting me on my feet. “We will get him back for 16 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL you.” My brother nodded and turned to the others. I blinked at the room for a moment, stunned at what I saw now that I wasn’t simply focused at my survival. “Wow,” Tierney breathed, taking the disaster in. “I did all of this?” “No, technically our bodies did but you just used us as the force to break the shit on,” Ronan quipped. “Could someone look for my spleen please? I think it’s somewhere by the fireplace.” “Along with my nuts,” Canice groaned. “Really, Tierney? I thought we always swore no groin shots. You had to fucking crack me in the sac with a table?” “Is that why you fled screaming like a kid?” Darcy chuckled, spitting blood on the floor before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “More like hobbled, but yeah,” Canice drawled as he grabbed the sofa and pulled himself up. “When I realized he was willing to go that far, fuck, it was every man for himself and I ran.” “You’re a bastard. This was your idea,” I growled. “Dex said Kellan was unstable, violent, and determined to get away at any cost,” Canice repeated for Tierney’s benefit since we’d already heard it. “I was worried. I didn’t know he was traumatized and whatever else. I thought a quick sit down to make sure he didn’t slice Tierney’s jugular in his sleep would be something we could all laugh at next week. Not that he’d freak and assume we were dragging him off to gang rape him in the front room of Rafe’s house.” “He’s been hurt bad,” Tierney muttered, rubbing his hands over his face. “Well now he’s got family at his back,” Ronan stated 17 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL firmly as he crawled to his feet. “No one’s getting close enough to hurt him again.” He groaned and wiped some blood out of his eyes. “Once we heal maybe. Until then we might be kind of useless.” “I need something to drink,” Darcy coughed, shaking his head. “I swear I got a carton of ash in my lungs when you hit me with that fireplace bucket.” I winced again. Damn. I hadn’t gotten it the worst, that was for damn sure. It was hard not to smile at that. Maybe squealing right away wasn’t a bad plan. We slowly trudged out into the hallway, limping, bleeding, and half alive, but still able to make our way to the kitchen. We heard people laughing. I made it to the swinging door first and pushed it open—only to see Boris Markova smack Kellan’s back… Close enough to where I couldn’t tell if it had actually been his ass. Granted, there was quite a height difference, but most people smacked each other on the shoulder or upper back. And Kellan stumbled into Jurek Markova… All of the Markovas surrounding our brother’s mate. “I would have paid to see that,” Petro chuckled deeply, his arm raising to touch Kellan but most of it blocked from our view because all of us were in the doorway now. “Biting, hitting, and balls are such and interesting combo.” “Yeah, I wouldn’t say that,” Kellan muttered, clearing his throat and stepping away from Jurek enough that I could see he wasn’t joking with the others. “What’s going on here?” I demanded as adrenaline shot through my body. I stormed into the room, grabbing the first Markova nearest to me and pushing him aside so I could see Kellan fully. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” His eyebrows scrunched together and he nodded. “I’m 18 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL fine. We were just—” “We were just talking with the cute human, Irishman,” Boris growled, shoving me away and moving in front of Kellan. Clearly telling me to stop cock blocking them. “He asked Kellan what was going on, Russian,” Ronan snapped, pushing Boris harder than needed so the man went flying into the kitchen wall. “And that human is Tierney’s mate, so not sure why the six of you were circling one new arrival, talking about biting, hitting, and balls, but you fucking touch him, and I promise you that we’ll do worse to your mother fucking balls.” “Try it and we’ll end you,” Feodor snarled as he shoved Canice. I swallowed loudly and realized we were going to get into another fight and we were going to lose. There were six of them, five of us, and we’d just been in one. And this time it wouldn’t be for play and Kellan could get hurt. “Get Kellan out and call Castillo!” I bellowed in my brothers’ heads as I did the only thing I could think of. I launched myself at Jurek, Nikita, and Petro who were all standing by the big bay windows. Just as before we went flying through them, I saw Canice pick Kellan up like a football and head towards the back door. We landed in a heap, half in, half out of the house, and I smiled because at least they broke my fall. The three of them had a much, much harder landing. Except then one of them kicked me off them and I went flying. But that kind of worked too because I crashed into Boris and Feodor who collided with the island counter with a sickening snap. Canice jumped back into the fight so I knew Kellan was at least safe. I ended up matched with Georgi seconds later, and 19 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL fuck, that man had arms like goddamn Transformer ones. Seriously, they had to be part car or something, because when he punched me in the face, I felt the vibrations through my whole body. But again I didn’t have it the worst—Tierney was taking on Boris and Feodor. Ouch! “Stop this!” Castillo bellowed as he appeared in the middle of all of us. Suddenly I couldn’t move. The good news was neither could Georgi, and he was inches from punching me in the chest, and with guns like he had that might have actually stopped my damn heart. I watched as Castillo stared at our heads in turn, knowing he was reading our thoughts. It took seconds and then he sighed. “This is a very big misunderstanding. The Markova brothers were teasing Kellan about his interactions with Dex when Dex rescued him. They heard about it. They did nothing wrong. Kellan is Tierney’s mate, they respect that. Boris, Tierney, stay and speak with me. Everyone else, I will release you but leave, go cool off, and I will clean up this mess. Rafe does not deserve to come home and find his kitchen destroyed.” He let us go and it was weird, as if we’d been dropped on our feet so we didn’t continue all the action we’d started in when he’d frozen us… So I didn’t get punched. Yay! Tierney nodded to the back door, and we filed out that way, muttering our apologies to Castillo and the Markovas as we left, grabbing some supplies as we did. Shit, I really did hurt everywhere now. Even my boo-boos had boo-boos. And we still had to fix things between Kellan and Tierney. Fuck me. 20 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL **** Kellan I stood slowly as I watched four of the five Macfayden brothers stumble out onto the terrace where Canice had dropped me off and told me holler for Castillo when the fight had broken out. All of them except my mate. The one I was most worried about. And what a sight the four of them made! Ronan was picking glass out of his hair and ears. Hugh had blood running from a cut on his head and another on his shoulder that still had a piece of what looked like a picture or window frame coming out of it. Darcy was covered in ash and soot, kept coughing and adjusting his neck while blood ran down his leg as his torn jeans half hung off his body. Then there was Canice… Canice looked as if he had just gotten off a horse he’d been on for a month, walking on the balls of his feet in a weird, weird way. And there was a massive gash in his side. I glanced at the door again as I started breathing funny. “Tierney’s fine,” Ronan assured me as he handed Darcy a bottle of water. “He’s working out the misunderstanding with Boris and Castillo.” “What the fuck happened in there?” I asked, my heart calming down a bit after I heard he was okay at least. “We—well, I thought—” Hugh started but then cleared his throat and winced. “You looked…” “Oh for fuck’s sake, just spit it out!” I demanded as I moved my hands to my hips and was twenty seconds from 21 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL stomping my foot. His eyes went wide and he nodded. “I thought they were taking liberties with you and you’re our family now.” I blinked at him, stunned. Then I almost laughed. I couldn’t believe I’d been scared of these big softies, especially when Ronan cooed at Darcy when his brother whimpered because Ronan was sticking tissues up the man’s bleeding nostrils. “What, you thought they were going to gang rape me like I insinuated you guys were?” I hedged, wanting to at least pump them for information about my safety and the people here. “What? No!” Huge exclaimed and then grabbed his head. “No, nothing like that. No one here would ever do that, Kellan. It looked like Boris smacked your ass maybe. And you seemed really uncomfortable like they were laying on the heavy flirting.” “And then they were talking about biting and balls and I didn’t think about Dex,” Ronan admitted, groaning as he pulled a piece of glass out of his neck. “Plus, Boris was a douche like we were blocking his game, and you were so upset we were trying to talk to you the last thing you need is six Russians grouping up to put the moves on you, and I was grumpy already, so yeah, I got pissed.” “Wow. Just wow,” I breathed, instantly forgiving them for earlier. “I can’t believe you guys jumped in like that to defend and help me. I mean look at you. All this abuse and beating you took from fighting them. I can’t believe this is from one quick fight like that.” “Sure, let’s go with that.” Ronan smirked before he collapsed to the ground, moaning. “Yup, all from the fight in the kitchen.” 22 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL “Uh-huh, nothing else,” Darcy agreed, taking his brother’s lead and laying down in the grass. “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. This is from six Russians versus five Irishmen.” Okay, I might have missed a lot, but even I knew there was some private joke going on. Whatever, they could keep their brotherly secrets. “What do they feed those Russians?” Hugh whined as he slowly lowered himself to his knees. He then did a face plant with a whoosh as the air left his lungs. “Seriously? Did you see Georgi’s arms? Fucking guns, man!” “I hurt everywhere,” Canice bitched as he joined his brothers. “I mean everywhere. I think my boys are in my throat.” “Well my honor and virtue are safe,” I chuckled as I knelt between them. I picked up one of the bottles of water and started nursing them. “We’re really sorry, Kellan,” Hugh mumbled. He lifted his head and glanced around, cursing under his breath. Then he grabbed a fistful of grass and handed it to me. “Here, it’s not an apology without a gift. I’m sorry, Kellan.” “Grass, really?” I drawled but still took it from him. “Oh, wait, I have one of those weed flowers,” Ronan offered, picking it and holding it out to me. “Dandelions, you tosser,” Darcy snickered. “Yeah, those. We’ll do better tomorrow.” I took it from him and nodded, not letting them off the hook just yet. “It’s a good start.” But I did nurse them a bit before Tierney and Castillo joined us. Castillo said their punishment for being idiots was to suffer their injuries and they all agreed. While they talked, I snuck off, once I knew 23 FIGHTING INSANITY: BATTLE ROYAL Tierney was really okay. I felt his eyes on me as I walked away, my feet feeling heavier and heavier with each step. I wanted nothing more than to run into his arms. But this was two big drama blowouts just with his family in one day. I really, really did need that space now. I think it wasn’t more than I deserved to ask for. The End About the Author Flynn has always been interested in the darker aspects of life and mythologies—especially vampires, shifters, the occult, and anything paranormal—ignoring the nuns at her grammar school who thought her a demon worshiper. Her outward appearance and personality doesn't exactly fall in line with her twisted humor either, and Flynn gets a kick out of people's initial reaction to how "normal" she is. So, after publishing over 100 titles under various names, it is finally time to unleash the evil twin, allowing Flynn the freedom to pursue the darker side of her imagination. FlynnEire.com Blog | Facebook | Twitter Supernatural Script Inc. Other Titles by Flynn Eire WARRIOR CAMP Love’s Deceit Love’s Indecision Love’s Denial SHIFTING REALITY The Coming Storm Whirlwind Revolution Unavoidable Turbulence Misery Hailing Down OPEN ENDED VOYAGE Recapturing the Illusion WOLF HAREM Second Chance Bite Spencer’s Secret Dying Assassin The Final Addition SEXLECTION Shifter for Sale HOUNDS OF HELL Avoiding Hell’s Gate Switching Teams Fighting Insanity Defeating Fear Becoming Family