Vampire Trinity Part 13

"I remember."

"James is widowed. Still as in love with his wife as the day they met. They were pure vanilla, the homemade, best kind. He visits her grave every week. Other than that, it's cable sports, workouts in the park with his dog, and his job here. He's one of those tough, no-nonsense males, made up of simple pleasures."

"A fortunate man, in some ways."

She nodded, pushing against his chest and accepting a boost over his leg to rise. Once there, she paced to the edge of the roof, leaned against the railing. "If things had been different for Gideon, I think he might have had that kind of life." She sighed, looked down at her hands. "The way you always described vampires and how they treated their servants, it was as if you were reading from an erotic novel, to arouse me and please us both. I never thought of the reality of it. I liked the way there was no choice given, that the servant followed the will of the Master or Mistress when he or she wanted the slave publicly displayed, shared, partic.i.p.ating in s.e.xual games. They were stories."

As he came to stand by her, she continued to stare out at the city. "That's going to be my reality, and the reality of being my servant. He can't do that. We both know it. I wouldn't ask him, let alone order him, to do it. He came to help me"-her throat thickened-"and I've pulled him under, into a world he despises. I've got to let him go. Before I completely lose who I was, the person who knows that truly forcing someone against their will is wrong."

"Letting him go is more complex than that, cher cher. Plus, it's not the real reason you're contemplating releasing him. It hurts you, the way he continues to distrust us, the way he feels about vampires. You are despairing that he'll ever change, that he'll always hate what you've become."

"G.o.d, couldn't you let me lie to myself once?"

"No more than you could allow Gideon to do so. It's not in those of our nature."

"We have to pick the flesh off the bones, take everything." Pivoting, she strode across the garden, her fists clenched. "I told you at the beginning I wanted to give Gideon as much privacy in his head as possible, and you seemed dubious about it, like a parent indulging a child who doesn't really understand the way the world is. But I wasn't ready to be that much of a vampire yet, at least when l.u.s.t wasn't part of the equation."

She shook her head. She knew all about denial and reward, boundaries and consent. She'd wanted to stick with the human etiquette on those things, at the very least until she could get her own moral code integrated with her new self. But it seemed that, every day, the one was eroding before the force of the other.

"Daegan, when he resists, those voices, the blood, override everything else. They want me to push him to breaking, not the way a Mistress wants to push a submissive into his subs.p.a.ce, not a breakthrough. They want blood, failure, destruction. Is that what we did tonight, and we were just lucky it worked out okay? Is he right to hate and fear that part of me?"

"You didn't let them override you. You didn't push him so hard that you tore him to pieces. You, Anwyn, stayed in control. Guided me, so we we didn't push him too hard. He's in new territory, he's bleeding from those old wounds, but it may help some of those wounds heal. Don't underestimate this man. There's far more there than you realize." He came to her, gripped her shoulders. "You've never been the type of woman to hide from the truth in yourself. Your predator's blood doesn't rule you. You do." didn't push him too hard. He's in new territory, he's bleeding from those old wounds, but it may help some of those wounds heal. Don't underestimate this man. There's far more there than you realize." He came to her, gripped her shoulders. "You've never been the type of woman to hide from the truth in yourself. Your predator's blood doesn't rule you. You do."

"Why are you so determined to let him kill himself?" she said, frustrated. "You'd forbid me to do anything that would endanger my life. h.e.l.l, you'd use chains or whatever force necessary to keep me away from it, even if I cursed you down to your b.a.l.l.s. s.e.xist b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"It's more than that. Anwyn, the things we did for you were because you couldn't control your seizures and reactions. You were a danger to yourself and others, and you understood that. Gideon is a warrior at a crisis of faith. You force him away from what he feels he must do, you will castrate him, and there's nothing worse to a warrior than that."

"Sounds like macho drivel that will only get him killed." She swallowed. "He matters, Daegan. Don't let him do this. You tried to convince him tonight, and I appreciate that, but he pa.s.sed the test. Now he'll be even more determined. Please, I'm begging you. You know I never beg you for anything. Help me keep him here, or at least on the plane. Keep him away from the Council."

Though regret suffused his features, Daegan shook his head. "Anwyn, I-"

"Fine, I'll do it myself. I'm stronger than he is, right? I'll wrestle him to the ground, strip him naked so he can't hide any weapons, chain him to a pole in the cargo area and tell the pilot to take him wherever he wants to go, as long as it's back to the mainland U.S. He's my servant; it's my decision."

"Anwyn-"

"This isn't about me. It's about him. You wanted to f.u.c.k him, because that's what we do, isn't it? We find their weaknesses, and they fascinate us. We have to exploit them, use them, because this blood is all about power and dominance. I've been a vampire for barely a blink, and I already feel that way. You didn't even really care about f.u.c.king him; you just wanted to do it because he didn't want you to do it, and you wanted to prove you could make him enjoy it. Just like I got off on watching, like some sick s.e.xual predator . . ."

"It was not like that." Daegan's gaze narrowed. "And you know it."

"Don't tell me what it was like. I know it; I saw it. You're as evil as the rest of them. We have to embrace that evil. Why do we fight what we already know is part of us, in our blood?"

The shift was too quick, anger becoming something far different, and she clutched at his hands, swaying, fighting herself. No, d.a.m.n it. I don't want to do this now. No, d.a.m.n it. I don't want to do this now.

He pulled her in close to him. "Don't let them take over, Anwyn. Breathe. Let me in your mind."

She wouldn't have been able to keep him out, but later she'd appreciate his courtesy. For now, he invaded like a calming force of wind. The shadow creatures, building in volume like a lynch mob, were thrown into chaos by the disruption. Her blood heated, and she felt her fangs elongating, but she was able to dig in her heels, refuse to let them have this moment. It was stress, and she could control it. Daegan was here. In fact, he'd folded her into his arms and taken them down to the ground in the way he did, where his body caged her with solid, heated flesh and comforted her at once.

It was a near thing. Sometimes it was inevitable, nothing she could stop, but tonight she gazed up at the stars, pressed her face into Daegan's bare chest, and held on to the tail end of her sanity while those voices muttered and her blood heated to boiling, making her shake and perspiration soak through the terry cloth. But the tide was turning back, a near miss. She swallowed, digging into his forearm.

She took a deep breath, tried to calm herself. "Gideon . . . tells me things, to keep me distracted. So, tell me . . . about Gideon. You followed him for almost a year. Tell me . . . things about him I don't know. Things that will help me know which way to go."

She'd never felt so incapable of making decisions, and yet such an urgency to make some before she destroyed his life, her future, and everything she'd built.

"He's given me a gift. I don't want . . . to abuse him."

"But it's okay to abuse me?" His tone was light, though his gaze remained fastened on her face, his hands both soothing and a restraint, if needed.

She let out a m.u.f.fled snort, her body twitching but mind calming. "You need abuse . . . on occasion. Humility is a rare experience for you. So tell me more about him. What does the Council know . . . that I don't? Everything. Don't . . . pretty it up."

"Very well." His voice quiet, he stroked her back as he held her close. "In the past two years, he's killed a significant number of our kind, for a human hunter. With the exception of two, they fortunately were vampires who had racked up multiple violations of Council rules. His brother, Jacob, thank all the G.o.ds, figured out a way to channel Gideon's anger, and has been giving him the names of those who have crossed the line. Never speak that truth aloud, cher cher. I found that out through my own investigations and deductions. If the Council could prove Jacob had been doing that, it would not go well for him. Trust me when I tell you that Jacob Green and Lady Lyssa are the greatest friends to the survival of vampires, though not always to the Vampire Council.

"No vampire hunter has ever had the one-on-one kill rate Gideon Green has. You have seen our speed and strength. He succeeds because he is patient, methodical, and he figures out how to set up the vampire. He is also afraid of nothing. Not in the foolish way that would get him killed, but in the way that has kept him levelheaded in situations where plans went awry and he was caught. You have seen the scars."

She nodded, remembering the burns, the lash marks. "He's been caught twice," Daegan said. "In both cases, the vampire made a mistake, deciding to make him pay for his gall, rather than quickly dispatching him. In both instances, Gideon managed to escape and finish off the vampire who thought he could teach him a lesson."

Anwyn thought of her own burgeoning vampire strengths, the ones that had nearly killed Gideon, and those merely a whisper of the formidable powers that Daegan had demonstrated. "Oh my G.o.d," she murmured. "It's unreal. He should be dead."

"Thirteen times over. He is a remarkable man."

"d.a.m.n it, Daegan, they won't let that pa.s.s. They'll execute him."

"Gideon has a better grasp of a vampire's mind than I expected, but I don't know why that surprises me. A successful hunter does more than have the best weapons. He learns his enemy, inside and out. He believes the Council will be far more . . . gratified . . . seeing him subservient to a vampire."

She turned her gaze to him. "So they want to see him humiliated. Owned. A true slave. Like dragging kings through the streets of Rome behind a chariot, in chains."

"Possibly. It is hard to predict. Council politics can be a maze."

"Everything in me is screaming that this is a bad idea. Daegan, if they hurt him, if they try to take him from me, I won't be able to stop a seizure. I won't be able to stop myself from doing whatever b.l.o.o.d.y, terrible, violent thing I need to do to protect him."

Lifting her up and taking a seat on the bench, he drew her to sit next to him with his arm stretched out behind her, pressing against her shoulder blades. "What you will need to do to protect him will be what you do best. Be a Mistress. That is your greatest weapon to protect him and protect yourself. The world you're about to enter is is Atlantis, one hundred times the intensity. There are no safe words, no rigidly enforced rules when it comes to the treatment of human servants except for those things that protect vampires and their society. What you have the power to do or protect is yours. But it is still the same world as Atlantis. You may not have my physical strength, Atlantis, one hundred times the intensity. There are no safe words, no rigidly enforced rules when it comes to the treatment of human servants except for those things that protect vampires and their society. What you have the power to do or protect is yours. But it is still the same world as Atlantis. You may not have my physical strength, cher cher, but I've seen you tear open shields twenty inches thick over a man's soul, and coax it to crawl to your hand. Like a wounded puppy who finally trusts a human to care for him. You use that sorceress's wisdom you have, and you'll be fine."

She wanted to believe him, didn't want his words to increase her worry, but they did. Daegan made a firm shushing noise in his throat, reminding her she couldn't get agitated, not right now. She had a legion of demon creatures in her head that they were trying to lull to sleep. The image of tiny horned gargoyles in cradles, rocking along the vine-like pathways of her neurons, came straight from his head, but she couldn't be amused. "Daegan . . ."

He put his hand on her face, stilling her. "Think of it this way. There are two scenarios if you force him to stay behind. First, that Fate outwits me, and some harm does come to you, but he wasn't there to try and help. Or Fate is kind, my sword is sharp enough, and no harm befalls you. Can you guess what happens after either one of those outcomes?"

She set her jaw, but couldn't refuse that direct gaze. "If I get hurt or killed, and he isn't allowed to be there, I'll become another Laura in his mind. That will end him. If I don't get hurt, then I obviously didn't need him, and he's as inconsequential as he believes himself to be."

"The soul is just as fragile as the body. Sometimes more."

"You wouldn't execute him if they ordered you to do it, would you?" She shifted to face him, her hands on either side of his neck.

Daegan gave her a steady look. "I would not simply do it at the Council's behest, no. Only if he leaves you and starts taking the lives of vampires like Trey again, those whose only crime in Gideon's mind is their annual kill to survive, or just being a vampire. I would have to intervene, Anwyn, as I would on behalf of any innocent."

She blew out a frustrated breath. "I want to get up, move."

"Easy, cher cher. Just another minute or two." Running his knuckles along her cheek, he fanned out his fingers to curve behind her skull, drew her head down to his shoulder. It coaxed her to slide her arms under his, fold herself close to him.

When a nearly silent sigh lifted his chest, Anwyn realized he was savoring it, a.s.suaging the need to hold her, have her sink into his arms like this. She closed her eyes, inhaled him. You really did miss me You really did miss me.

Vain woman. But his mind-voice held only amus.e.m.e.nt, and when his fingers stroked her nape, teasing sensitive nerve endings, she let out a soft noise of contentment. More than I know how to say, More than I know how to say, cher cher. I do not think I could have borne much more of your anger against me, and yet I am sure I deserve far more.

He hesitated. "Because I have promised there will be no more lies between us, you need to understand something else. If Gideon accompanies us, once he is known to be your servant, you will not be able to let him go, ever. Not officially. Servants are not allowed to leave their Masters under Council law, because of the secrets they hold, and their connection to their Master or Mistress. Only his death would be acceptable."

"Brian implied something like that, though he didn't put it that baldly." She bit her lip. "So if Gideon survives the Council, when he gets ready to leave us, we'll need a cover for that."

"Yes, we will. Though may that day never come."

"Amen," she said quietly. "But we have to be prepared for it, Daegan. He thinks he can give me half of his heart and keep back the other half from the vampire side of me, but I can't live like that. After all we've been through, even for such a short time, I'm not seeing him relenting on that, even a little bit. If that doesn't change after the Council, I'll have to go ahead and cut him loose. The longer he stays . . . the harder it is for me to face losing him. And with this blood . . ." She pressed her lips together. "The more time pa.s.ses, the more likely it is I'll refuse to let him go. He'd have to escape me, not leave."

"Let's cross this bridge first," he responded, though Anwyn knew it was an evasion, not a rea.s.surance. She swallowed over the ache in her chest.

"Daegan, you promised you'd help me protect him. No matter Fate, or his being a testosterone-poisoned warrior, or my needs, how on earth does us taking him to the Council honor that promise?"

Daegan pressed his lips to her temple, spoke against it as his fingers curled against her upper arm, stroked. "The grim reality is that the Council knows about Trey. Knowing Gideon has become your servant may change their position on that. As I've told you before, you are the only thing that may save his life." He took a firmer grip on her. "Plus, it's a two-way street, cher. cher. He does better when you're close to him, as you do with him. Taking care of you, that has become the most important thing in his life. He knows your being accepted into the vampire world will make things much easier for you. It gives him a purpose, keeps him by your side." He does better when you're close to him, as you do with him. Taking care of you, that has become the most important thing in his life. He knows your being accepted into the vampire world will make things much easier for you. It gives him a purpose, keeps him by your side."

She mulled that over. "You said you could protect me, even if I had a full-blown attack in their chambers. Does that mean you have some kind of veto power over their actions?"

"Yes and no. I exist outside of the structure of the Vampire Council and the vampire world, for reasons I mentioned at our dinner the other night. Just trust me when I say they will not act against you without my consent." The dangerous note to his voice told her that his confidence in that had nothing to do with his diplomacy skills. Even as a shiver went up her spine, she didn't doubt him.

She tilted her head up to gaze at him. "You promised to protect me from Council execution. Promise me the same protection for Gideon. Swear it."

Gazing down at her a long moment, he nodded. "I swear it. Aside from your safety, nothing will be as important to me, Anwyn Inara Naime." He put a finger over her lips when she frowned. "He and I are in agreement on this. You come first to us both. You have to live with that. But if it eases your mind, I will also tell you that he must go because that is what Fate demands, not because it is what I want, Anwyn. I would prefer to keep him safely here as well."

She mulled that over. "Will you be going with me in front of the Council, or do I do that part alone?"

Daegan cupped the side of her face. "I should have said this to you, a long time ago. Whenever you need me, I will be at your side. And I will never, ever leave you. What I do may take me from your side for short periods, but I will always come back. Unless you yourself decide you no longer want me in your life." His gaze took on a gleam she knew well enough to feel it uncurl warm fingers in her belly, tug equally at her heart and lower. "But you will have to be very, very convincing in that argument, I warn you."

As he pressed his mouth to hers, desire unfurled, telling her they would soon be stretched out on the soft patch of planted gra.s.s a few feet away. While antic.i.p.ation for that built, she held on to the rea.s.surances he'd given her, and hoped that Fate would be kind. Though it might be challenging lightning to strike her down, she felt like the G.o.ds owed her a bit of a break. She'd willingly give that break to Gideon, if it could keep his a.s.s safe to come back here. No matter what happened after that, even if she had to let him go, there would be some comfort in knowing that he walked somewhere in the world.

Carrying a major part of her heart.

11.

"YES, I get it," Gideon responded impatiently, for what felt like the hundredth time. "If any vampire looks at me, I'm supposed to tuck my head down, wring my hands and say, 'Yes, Ma.s.sa Boss.' Have I missed anything?"

Daegan threw him a speculative look over the Wall Street Journal Wall Street Journal. "You could just walk around on your knees the whole time, wearing a hair shirt on your back and nettles up your a.s.s. That might be degrading enough."

"Would you two shut up? This is marvelous." Anwyn stretched out on the lounge seat, and sighed happily. "I think we should live on this plane."

"Yeah, it's easy to fight vampires when you have all the nifty toys, like a Gulfstream. You need real skill to take them down with your wits alone."

"Which is why I find myself amazed you're still alive. But then I remember there has always been special guardian angels for half-wits."

Anwyn rolled her eyes, hopped off the seat. Daegan emitted a mock growl as she crash-landed in his lap, crumpling his paper beneath her pretty a.s.s, snugly encased in a dark skirt. "If you two boys don't behave, I'm going to spank you both and tell the stewardess not to give you any cookies."

"After that maneuver, I think you're the one who needs the spanking." In a quick twist, Daegan had her flipped, despite her shriek of outrage, and swatted her.

Seeing that generous bottom wobble under his smack made Gideon harden, even as their casual playfulness ruefully amused him. And hurt. He couldn't bring himself to be part of it.

There was too much going on with him, inside and out. Anwyn's internal demons had been planted in her. His were of his own making. Since the wine and cheese night's revelation about Laura, and the weapons room thing he really didn't know how to cla.s.sify, he'd been carrying a darkness on his mind. He couldn't shake it. Anwyn wanted to talk him through it, but there was nothing to talk about. When she eased off, he expected it was because Daegan had convinced her it would be best to let him work it out. The vamp's accurate intuition rankled Gideon as well. Everything was making him cranky, but then, he'd warned them he was an unlivable b.a.s.t.a.r.d, right?

Gideon remembered the determined look in Anwyn's eyes, the grip of her hands during that intense moment on the mats. She'd ordered him as a Mistress to believe he was hers, not just in that moment, but forever, and he didn't know whether to be dismayed or consider it f.u.c.king hilarious, the way his heart had leaped at the idea, wanting to believe it like he was a gullible kid.

He wanted to tell himself she was lying, or that she didn't know what she was saying. After all, he'd been around long enough to know things usually lasted only as long as they were beneficial to everyone involved. How much he might be needing her . . . and possibly other things . . . was irrelevant to her future needs. And of course that wasn't the f.u.c.king point. They all knew he had his line in the sand. Though it seemed forces beyond his control kept dragging him over it, that was because he knew she really needed him right now, and he'd do things he wouldn't normally do to handle that. But in the long run, he couldn't be what she needed. They all knew it, and he was getting d.a.m.n sick and tired of having to repeat it. To himself most of all.

The only sure thing was this meeting. Getting her through this, making sure she was okay. Whatever happened after that, happened. It was time to stop brooding over it. Jesus, there was a gorgeous woman flitting around the cabin in a playful, flirtatious mood and he was crazy about her. Why was he wasting time on the inevitable, instead of maximizing every moment?

She'd struggled out of Daegan's grasp and was now stalking Gideon, where he sat slouched in his seat, eyes half-closed. She had to know he was alert and watching her, but she made the dash anyway at human speed. As she tried to leap upon him as she had Daegan, he rolled out of her way, making a few seconds' headway before she tackled him and they rolled to the plane floor, she laughing, and he with an armful of female. In a way too adorable to resist, she settled down on his chest with a contented feline sigh, as if ready for a nap.

"You seem in a good mood," he ventured.

"I've made an executive decision. I refuse to overinflate the situation. If they're the all-powerful Council, how long will I really have to be around them? I wouldn't think this validation would take more than fifteen or twenty minutes, unless it's like some Catholic ritual that can take hours. And then anyone would go insane during it."

"Spoken like a true lapsed Catholic," Daegan said dryly.

Gideon thought it was amazing, how many people she could be. She had a playful side, a temptress face, and sometimes she acted like an outright girlfriend. Or friend. Then, in a heartbeat, she could become the cool, tantalizing Mistress or the scary, out-of-control vampire, calling up a wariness in him as well as a need to protect, watch out for her.

Much as he hated to admit it, Daegan had been right to let her know about Gideon's decision to join them for this, sooner rather than later. Despite Brian's injections, she'd had three seizures in the couple of days before they packed up to go to the Council. Getting it out of her system had probably helped. She'd tried in various ways to talk Gideon out of going, but maybe Daegan had asked her to ease up on that as well, because she hadn't mentioned it in the last twenty-four hours. Good. Her failure to dissuade him just upset her more, and Gideon wasn't budging on it, especially knowing that she needed his physical presence to keep that blood and those voices under control.

"Sir, we're about three hours to landing." The pilot's voice came through the intercom. As Daegan acknowledged the information, Anwyn sighed, stretched and rose to her knees over Gideon. She gave him a seductive, I'll-f.u.c.k-your-brains-out-later smile he was sure was intended to fog his wits. Of course, it was possible it was a facade. She was getting better at smoke-screening her emotions, if not blocking him entirely. He wondered if she was burying her worries farther beneath the surface than he could reach to help rea.s.sure him him.

The thought of her wasting time to protect his sensibilities made him scowl, but he admitted he was wound up about as tight as he could get right now. On top of his emotional s.h.i.t storm and despite his determination to be here, he had a strong aversion to walking into the stronghold of some of the most powerful vampires in existence. He'd brought all of his weapons, including his flamethrower and a crate of incendiary grenades, but Daegan had made it clear he'd have to leave pretty much everything but a couple favorite knives on the plane. When he argued he would be helpless to defend Anwyn, Daegan of course reminded him sharply that was his his job. Gideon was merely the meal on legs. Her anchor. Ballast. job. Gideon was merely the meal on legs. Her anchor. Ballast.

Self-pity didn't sit well right now, so he took his seat again and frowned out the window, hating the gut-gripping antic.i.p.ation. He wanted to go kill something. When things hurt or ached too badly, that always helped, at least temporarily.

"You look like a dour toad over there. Tell me one thing you do do like about the Council." Anwyn settled back on her lounge, c.o.c.king a brow in his direction. "The power of positive thinking, you know." like about the Council." Anwyn settled back on her lounge, c.o.c.king a brow in his direction. "The power of positive thinking, you know."

"I'm positive they can't be trusted," he retorted mildly. Indulging himself and pleasing her, he tracked the way she folded her attractive legs on the cushions. It was simply impossible for a male mind not to imagine them bare and wrapped around his hips. She gave him a speculative look, moistening her lips.

"He's never actually met the Council. Not formally." Daegan's attention was back on his paper. "When he and his army of hunters tried to blow them up at the last Gathering, they didn't stop for introductions. Rather rude. It's a double-edged sword that I wasn't tracking you then," he added. "I could have alerted the Council of the plot against them before that group of vampires created such destruction. And maybe saved some of your far-too-gullible hunters."

Gideon shifted into a more combative stance in the chair and leveled a dagger look at the vampire. "Come to think about it, there is one thing I like about the Council. They don't whine or launch sentimental revenge raids when a human takes them out. They live by survival of the fittest. If a human can take you out, you didn't deserve to make it. I do appreciate that kind of misguided sense of superiority."

"I don't doubt that," Daegan observed. "Considering if they did did have a sentimental desire for revenge, you'd have been hunted down and killed a dozen times over, in a variety of painful and creative ways." have a sentimental desire for revenge, you'd have been hunted down and killed a dozen times over, in a variety of painful and creative ways."

"See? I do do appreciate that. In a very positive way." Gideon gave him a gimlet eye. "I'd expect you to be happy about that as well, since you seem into the whole justice-versus-vengeance thing. How do you define the difference, Obi-Wan?" appreciate that. In a very positive way." Gideon gave him a gimlet eye. "I'd expect you to be happy about that as well, since you seem into the whole justice-versus-vengeance thing. How do you define the difference, Obi-Wan?"

Unexpectedly, Daegan didn't volley with a wisea.s.s comment. Instead he set the paper aside and leaned forward, giving him a direct look, an even tone. "There is justice, and there is nature, Gideon. A being who kills another for sustenance, that is nature. A being who kills more than they need to kill, because of the pleasure of it, that is wrong. That is when justice or karma comes in. Justice is premeditated. Karma is Nature's way of handling it, because Nature always retaliates against excess, though not always in the time or fashion we wish." He considered Gideon with his shrewd look. "Sometimes a man may become the hand of justice through his vengeance, because of a wrongdoing against him or those he loves. That's a precarious decision for the soul, though. If vengeance is ruling the heart, it's best to let karma take care of the wrongdoer, even if you take the necessary steps to ensure the evil doesn't happen again."

"So when the Council sends you to lop off heads, I guess you go meditate on a mountain about it, or some s.h.i.t like that."

"Something like that. I've told you before, I'm not their yard dog." Daegan lifted a brow, his dark eyes cooling, a warning. "It's more appropriate to think of me as a consultant."