In Too Deep (19 page)

“
How in the abyss did you know what I was doing?” Dacia screamed. She wasn’t fighting anymore but the iron had to burn, and the werewolves still held her.

Then Brody was at Fallon’s side, staring daggers at the Dacia. A low rumbling growl rolled out of him, making the hairs at the back of her neck stand up.

Well, so much for our relationship staying a secret.
Honestly though, Fallon was relieved. She was never good at pretending.

The wolves had probably figured out what was going on with the way he kept a protective eye on her the entire day. And now he was a mass of pissed off werewolf, radiating menace toward Dacia. Yeah, they knew the score.

“Hey Brody,” Fallon said sternly as she caught his arm before he could take a step toward Dacia. He slowly turned his head to look at her. The absolute rage burning in his eyes would have scared the hell out of her if she didn’t know exactly who his temper was directed at. “I’ve got this. Tone it down a notch.”

He nodded and calmed down as that rumble died out instantly. He was still pissed, but he no longer looked like he was ready to tear Dacia’s throat out. She was
completely floored by how quickly he chilled.

She turned back to Dacia and took a breath.
“I saw you phasing out and I knew what was coming. I’ve seen it before.” Fallon narrowed her eyes. “I don’t have the patience to play games. I may not look like much, but trust me, Dacia, you don’t want to fuck with me.”

“
And what? Now you’re just going to trust me?”

“
No. But you have one last chance to back the fuck off. Regardless of what happens between Brody and me, it has nothing to do with you. From what I hear, you’ve been playing the same game for ten years. You can’t blame me because Brody lost interest before it got started. Get over him already.”

Tears streamed down Dacia’s face.
“I never had a chance. And you’re fucking perfect.”

Perfect?
She was so far from perfect the notion would make her laugh if she wasn’t so pissed off. “I’m not. I’m the first one to admit it, but I’m not trying to force someone to have feelings they don’t have.”

Dacia sniffled
with her makeup was running down her tear-streaked face. “Now what?”

Unfortunately, they could use Dacia, and shutting her out might send her to Malachi’s side. So, Fallon gave her a steady look and asked,
“Are you going to pull any more shit? And remember, you’re in a room full of werewolves, so lying isn’t in your best interest.”

“
That’s it? You’re not going to end it?” she whined.

One brow arched.
“I thought I did. I disarmed you and knocked you on your ass. Twice. That not good enough for you?” Fallon couldn’t keep the aggravation out of her tone. “Well, do you have any more shit to pull?”

“
I could lock her up,” Hayden offered gruffly. “I think attempted murder earned her some cell time.”

Dacia glared at Hayden who just rolled his eyes.

“Come on
Sis
,” Dane snapped, and Dacia finally looked at her brother who held her right arm. “Stop being a selfish bitch for once in your goddamned life. Take a step back and look at the bigger picture. She just taught every one of us how to defend ourselves. She could have easily killed you instead of disarming you, but she didn’t. She even stopped Brody who was ready to kill you himself. Brody has found his mate, and you owe her an apology. If you can’t leave her the fuck alone, I’m sure Hayden will have no problem locking your ass in a cell.”

Mate
? Fallon froze. She hadn’t seen that one coming, but she felt the truth of the statement all the way to her heart.

* * * *

Dacia stared at her half-brother in disbelief.
Mated
? Brody was on his way to mating? After all these years, she never thought he would mate anyone. She was too late, too damned late. There was nothing she could do. She was crushed. Dane was right, and Fallon didn’t even look surprised.

Either
Brody or Fallon could have easily killed her. Half the wolves were still growling at her. Hayden locked her in iron fucking cuffs. As much as the bitter reality hurt, she needed to get over him.

Fallon folded her arms over her chest.
“Well, Dacia, are you going to stop the bullshit and learn what you need to know? You’ll be great to have in a fight against the Dales. We need to stand together, because they want to tear us apart, and you are a part of this as much as anyone else in this room.”

Dacia couldn’t believe Fallon
was giving her another chance. Brody never loved Dacia, though she wished he could, and now he was mated, or mating, or who the hell cared.

“
I’m sorry.” Dacia cried. “All right? I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I’m jealous and pissed at you, even though you haven’t done a damned thing wrong.” Her chest ached. “You haven’t done a single thing but help everyone.”

Dacia had Fallon all wrong. She was everything Brody claimed and more. Fallon was giving her yet another chance she clearly didn’t deserve.

Fallon asked, “Does that mean you’re with us?”

“
Yes. I don’t want those assholes winning either. What do I have to do to prove it?”

Fallon looked at Dane.
“Is she telling the truth?”

He closed his eyes and inhaled deep before nodding.

Hayden removed the cuffs with a warning. “Try that again, and I will lock you up.”

All Dacia could do was nod.

Then Fallon surprised her by walking over and offering her hand. Dacia took it and was pulled to her feet.

She had no words, and Fallon seemed to write off Dacia’s tantrum because she got back down to business.
This time, Dacia sucked it up and participated because it looked like she could learn a thing or two from Fallon.

Brody focused on the road as he drove Fallon to Slater’s. They were meeting with Robert, the mage she called the night before. According to Slater, the Silver Council enforcer was an old friend of his, and not an elitist like most other mages. Still, whatever had happened between Fallon and the mage was bad. He didn’t know what to think.

She was too quiet the whole ride. Neither of them seemed to know what to say, and Brody didn’t think that was a good sign. There were a million things on his mind and he wasn’t sure how to approach any of them.

He had to wonder if Fallon understood what Dane implied. She was his mate, though, and it was too late to change that. Brody knew he was falling for her, but since he never mated with Sarah, he assumed he would never mate anyone.

Brody wouldn’t have pushed so hard if he realized it was a possibility. He would have gone slower, made sure she was on the same page. The last thing he wanted to do was make her feel stuck. In a way, he supposed she was.

Then there was Dacia and that whole mess.

He
pulled into Slater’s driveway and parked. At a loss for words, he climbed out of the truck. Fallon hopped out and came around to his side. Her hands were in her pockets as she leaned against the truck, just out of reach. The light breeze stirred her hair and the evening sun gave her a fiery halo. She took his breath away.

She slowly met his gaze.
“Are we okay?”

Relief washed over him
. She wasn’t fighting. Still, there was a lot of ground to cover. “I’m still trying to figure out why you didn’t kill Dacia, or at least let Hayden arrest her for attacking you.”

A smile graced her lips, and she let out a breath.
“Made the most sense. If Hayden arrested her or we kicked her out, Malachi or one of the Dales might convince her to work for them. Then shit spirals out of control because they’ll use her against anyone and everyone they can. This way, hopefully, she grows a set and sticks with us.”

“
As much as that scares the hell out of me, I understand and respect your decision. I sure as hell wasn’t thinking that clearly. I would have ripped her open if you hadn’t stopped me.” He wasn’t sure how she managed to calm him down when he was in a rage. It was the same as Slater using his alpha voice. Brody’s body responded before he could think.

“
Yeah. Well, she’s not my favorite person. If we didn’t have the Dales to deal with, I would have handled things very differently.” She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Besides, she didn’t manage to strike me. Her attempt was pretty pathetic if you ask me.”

His mouth dropped open in surprise.
“Why does it sound as if you’ve been there, done that?”

“
I knew another air fae. She wanted someone she couldn’t have because he wanted me.” Her smile faded but she held his gaze. “That was long before I hooked up with Isaac. We were at the shop, and I was just talking with him. She was jealous.”

“
What happened?”

Fallon lifted her t-shirt to reveal the humming bird under her breast and ran her finger across the middle.
“She phased out the same way Dacia did and came at me with a blade. She knew what she was doing, and she was a hell of a lot faster than Dacia. She cut me, but I made her pay.”

Brody
dropped to a knee and saw the faint line marring the tattoo. He pressed a soft kiss to the scar before standing up. “I’m sorry.”

She laughed, her eyes sparkling.
“For what? You weren’t even there, baby. She was jealous because Isaac always wanted me, and she thought she could take me. She couldn’t. After that, whenever she entered a room, I sent her flying back out with a flick of my wrist.”

“
Feel free to do that to Dacia anytime.” He smoothed down her shirt. “It won’t bother me at all.”

“
I doubt Dacia will attack me again. But if I’m wrong and she does, I won’t go so easy on her.”

That brought him back to the biggest possible problem. He tipped her face up and peered into her eyes.
“Do you realize that everyone in the mill knows what I’m feeling for you now? Probably more so than you do,” he said seriously. Fallon wasn’t a wolf, and he didn’t know how much she knew about the mate bond.

She surprised him with a crooked smile.
“Good. Hiding it was a lot harder than I imagined.”

He stepped into the line of her body, drowning in her unwavering gaze.
“I fell hard for you, Fallon. I spent the whole day watching big badass werewolves and Hayden come at you. And Hayden is a lot scarier than I ever realized. All while trying to pretend like I wasn’t scared to death.” When she frowned, he shook his head and caressed her cheek. “Don’t worry. I know you can handle yourself. You’ve proved that time and time again. I just don’t want something to happen to you and I’ve seen them fight. It’s the hypothetical that scares me.”

“
Good, I feel the same way about you.” Her hand flattened over his heart. “I do, and yeah that’s terrifying. I’ll try to be less paranoid and just accept us, but I may still do something you can’t get over. And I’m sure there will be times I freak out a little—”

Brody covered her mouth with his. He loved the way she tried to pull away to finish her point, but ultimately gave in and kissed him back.
“Hush with that,” he murmured. “If one of us has a problem we’ll talk through it and figure it out.”

“
I know.” She wound her arms around his neck. “So I guess we’re official now. I’m not an exhibitionist, but we don’t have to hide.” She kissed him this time and he backed her against the truck.

* * * *

“Aw,” Jess murmured as she watched Brody and Fallon talking from the window. Slater came up from behind and took her in his arms. She grinned up at him. “Fallon is accepting that she’s falling. Now I wish I was there for the training.”

Slater chuckled.
“Yeah, you missed all the fun. Dacia actually seems sorry, if you can believe that. Everyone knows Brody and Fallon are heading toward a sealed bond.”

“
I knew they were.” She pulled his arms tighter around herself and laid her head back on his chest. “I just wish I knew about Malachi. I could have warned Robert sooner. Maybe the Council could have handled the Dales before Fallon got here.”

“
Too late to change that now.” Slater squeezed her tighter. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“
All I can say is that they wind up happy in the end.”

“
I don’t know. They look pretty happy right now.” Slater laughed softly.

Jess sighed.
“Fallon always fights against fate. Sometimes I think she stayed with Isaac as long as she did because I tried so hard to tell her what he would wind up doing.”

“
You didn’t know what finally set her off.”

“
No, but what she described was close enough to a hundred other visions I had. He was cheating on her the whole damned time, and because there was no proof, she wouldn’t believe me.” Isaac was a two faced prick. He wanted Fallon so bad that he pretended to be the perfect guy.

Slater asked,
“You haven’t seen anything that happens with the Dales?”

“
No.” She looked away, wishing she had seen something. “But they have dark mages who lock down their operation with powerful wards. I didn’t have a single vision while they had me. I think maybe that’s why I never saw anything about Malachi. Fallon messed him up pretty bad. No one thought he could live through the sun and fire.”

“
You saw him last night, probably around the time he confronted Fallon.”

“
Yeah. I have a theory. See, in my vision, he was limping and his movement was really jerky. I think he’s still messed up. Maybe they kept him under wraps until now, surrounded by the dark mages. Somehow they keep all seers from seeing them. I mean, I never had a vision about them before they took me either.”

“
Sounds logical. But you better go get them. I think Robert is nearly done on the phone and he wants to talk to Fallon.” He pressed a quick kiss to her mouth.

“
The appetizers should be ready. Can you bring them out?” She took another peek at the happy couple and saw them deep in a steamy lip lock.

Jess almost hated to interrupt. She
stepped outside and hurried down the steps. “Finally.”

Brody jumped and gave her a sheepish look while Fallon raised one scarlet brow at her.

“Let me guess.” Fallon smirked, entwining her fingers in Brody’s. “You’ve known for a while that we were going to wind up together?”

Jess nodded enthusiastically.
“Pretty much since the day I met Brody. So, see? I can keep big things to myself.”

“
I bet you told Jamie,” Fallon challenged.

“
Okay, well duh, I tell her everything. And Slater, of course. No one told either of you though.” Jess was jumping up and down inside. If anyone deserved a slice of happiness, Fallon did.

Brody chuckled.
“She didn’t tell Adam. Just set you up with the job a month before you drove up here, and that was two weeks before their other artist announced they were moving away.”

Fallon looked up at Brody an
d then back at her with a shrug. “Considering the results, I guess I can forgive you.” She rolled her eyes but they sparkled with humor.

Jess wanted to fist pump
, but contained herself. “Come on, Robert has some questions, and I have a few myself.”

“
Figured you would.” Fallon pulled Brody toward the door and they followed Jess inside.

* * * *

Fallon was nervous about Brody meeting Robert. Brody seemed to figure out at least part of what Malachi made Robert do to her. He dropped it when she asked, but she knew he had to wonder. She wasn’t sure she could explain how or why she still trusted Robert or Tremaine after everything.

At least Robert was the only one there. Tremaine blamed a lot of what happened with the Dales on the Silver Council and quit. She didn’t know the whole story, but a lot of people thought
most of the Council was corrupt and had their own agenda. Fallon wouldn’t go that far, but with the exception of Robert, she tried to steer clear of Council.

Robert and Slater carried trays of Jess’ appetizers in from the kitchen. As always, Robert was dressed in a tailored suit and his blond waves were precisely styled. Jess moved to take his tray.

Fallon stopped just inside the door and prayed Brody didn’t go all caveman.

Robert came over to give her a quick hug and stepped back with a warm smile.
“Good to see you, Fallon.”

Fallon immediately took Brody’s hand, prepared for the whole possessive vibe most weres put out when their lover, mate, girlfriend, hell sometimes even friends
received any kind of attention from the opposite sex. Brody surprised her. He was completely mellow. Isaac always freaked out whenever Gabriel so much as patted her on the back.

Goddess, she knew she needed to stop comparing Brody to anyone.

Fallon managed a smile. “Hi Robert. This is Brody Dean, Slater’s second. And this is Robert McCallister a long-time friend and Silver Council Enforcer.”

“
Pleasure to meet you, Brody. Slater tells me nothing but good things about you. I’ve known him for the better part of fifty years.”

“
I didn’t realize you spent much time out here,” Fallon said casually.

“
Actually, I was stationed out here about twenty years ago.” An old pain echoed in his tone, which meant Edenton was where everything fell apart with Liz. They had each told her part of the story. They both blamed themselves when the blame was really on Robert’s brother. Robert smoothed the front of his jacket down and met her gaze. “I hear you let the half-fae who attacked you off the hook, even though she came at you with a cursed blade.”

Fallon crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes.
“Come on, Robert, you know as well as I do that Malachi would take that as an opportunity to turn her on us. I sent the blade with Dakota. He thinks he might be able to break the curse.”

“
Point taken. As usual, you’re right. If he can’t remove the curse, I know someone who can,” Robert offered.

“
Can I get anyone a drink?” Jess asked.

* * * *

Several minutes later, everyone had a drink and was settled in the living room. Robert was not what Brody expected. He wore a tailored suit and styled hair, looking like he stepped out of a GQ ad, but he was easy going and friendly. He clearly cared about Fallon in a platonic manner.

Fallon leaned forward and popped another bacon wrapped scallop in her mouth.
“Mmm, so good,” she murmured.

Robert chuckled.
“I swear you have an appetite like a were. I have to wonder if it’s because you can shift.”