“That’s unnecessary,” Cian put in.
Tristan glared at his brother. “Tell that to my mate.”
“We’re getting off track.” Cale threw both his brothers a pointed look before Lucan’s presence made things even worse between the Callaghans. “We need to keep each other informed of any new developments. If this is some kind of precursor to another Campaign…”
The tension in the room jumped the second Cale voiced the same concern every one of them was feeling.
Something unfamiliar washed across Lucan’s skin, and he shivered like someone had blown an icy breath across the back of his neck.
Tristan smirked. “Scared, wraith?”
Lucan frowned. Something wasn’t right.
“Oh, that can’t be good.” Mac stared at the dance floor. “I think you guys have got a bit of a problem.”
Following Mac’s gaze, Lucan expected to see a huntress at the center of the trouble brewing below. But when the bodies packed together in the middle of the dance floor dispersed to reveal two guys staggering back to their feet, his mouth fell open at the sight of the female standing above them.
Briana.
Chapter Three
One dance. What’s the worst that could happen?
This is what Briana got for listening to Emma. Drunk Emma. The one and only sorceress who was standing at the edge of the crowd, her mouth formed in a perfectly innocent O-shape. Next to her, Sorcha and Nessa high-fived each other.
Great.
As if she needed to hand her brothers another reason to give her a hard time. At best guess she had less than a minute to fix the situation or find herself facing the Pendragon Inquisition.
Briana stared down at the two men, really wishing they’d just stay on the floor.
She knew that wasn’t going to happen. Not when one of them was the same dragon who’d approached Sorcha earlier, and not when Briana had stupidly agreed to dance with him in the first place.
Without knowing anything else about the guy, she knew he wouldn’t just walk away after getting taken down by a female. Change had been even slower to infiltrate the immortal population, and the male superiority complex was very much alive.
Maybe she should have at least held back from shredding his wingman’s shirt when the shorter gargoyle had stepped in to cover his friend’s back.
Gods, what was wrong with her?
Dancing with anyone as though Lucan would care—much less notice—was beyond juvenile.
So what if the dragon had touched her ass? She could have walked away, could have warned him about losing a few talons before overreacting and throwing him to the floor.
She exhaled slowly. She could fix this, smooth things over with alcohol. A round of drinks—or three—on her and they could all forget the minor altercation—
Emma snatched a beer out of someone’s hand and held it up. “Fight. Fight. Fight.”
Sweet Avalon.
Where was Cian when Briana actually needed him? He needed to do something with his mate before she managed to incite a full-fledged brawl.
“Just hold on a second.” Sorcha stepped up next to her.
Thank the gods. At least someone was being sensible.
The ex-huntress surveyed the two gargoyles back on their feet. “You two need to decide who’s going to take her on first.”
What?
“Rock Paper Scissors?” Nessa offered helpfully.
Forget banning swords. These two were the real problem.
“I’m not fighting anyone,” Briana hissed at Sorcha.
Nessa pouted. “Bri, you need to fight or get laid. You’re wound tighter than my Slinky.”
Everyone was wound tighter than Nessa’s Slinky. “I’m fine.” Okay, maybe fine was a slight exaggeration with Twiddle Dee and Tweedle Dragon looking at their fists like they were contemplating Nessa’s suggestion.
Nessa pouted. “Every time I’ve dropped by to give Cale a hard time lately, you’ve been too busy tinkering with your cyber toys to hang out with Sorcha and me.”
Sorcha arched a brow at Nessa. “Cale? I thought you came by to see me?”
Briana sighed inwardly.
“Getting a rise out of Cale is just a perk.” Nessa grinned, but the smile vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.
The two of them froze, and Briana’s cat growled a soft warning in her mind. Neither of the men opposite them had moved, and no other obvious threat was visible, yet…
“Stay with the lush.” Sorcha nodded to indicate their trouble-magnet sorceress, then she and Nessa melted into the crowd.
Oblivious to the potential problem, Emma took a swig of the beer in her hand, but the dragon had his head cocked as though he, too, felt something was off but couldn’t pinpoint it.
Only half the surrounding immortals seemed to notice. The rest were too busy shoving their tongues down each other’s throats.
And Briana thought Sorcha and Cale needed to get a room. Damn.
“Now I remember why the glyph looked familiar.” Emma beamed. “The Gauntlet.”
Briana gave her a blank look, trying to remember if that was supposed to mean something… Oh crap.
“How about you dance with someone who can handle a real wild cat like you?” An arm swept around Briana’s waist, drawing her back against a hard, sweaty body.
Distracted by Emma’s revelation, she managed to curb the cat’s instinctive response to do some damage, but the look on her face must have warned the other two gargoyles off. Like her friends, they disappeared into the crowd.
She would have been relieved except she’d already spotted her brothers making their way toward her. Great.
Driving her elbow into the meaty gut behind her, Briana managed to gain enough wiggle room to turn and face the moron who probably deserved to lose an arm for snapping her bra strap like a bratty twelve-year-old.
Or twenty-one-year-old. The human in front of her couldn’t be any older than that.
“Guess I don’t need to Rock Paper Scissors anyone for you.”
Definitely a moron.
“Look, buddy,” she began.
Someone put a hand on her shoulder. Out of patience, she spun and—taking a page out of Sorcha and Nessa’s book—led with her fist.
And nailed Lucan in the jaw.
Lucan’s head snapped back, the unexpected blow—and even more surprising, the force behind it—sending pain radiating up the side of his face.
Where the hell had that come from? He knew he had pissed her off—twice now—but he still hadn’t been expecting that. He wouldn’t have lowered his guard with anyone else, and yet every time he turned around Briana kept getting closer than he anticipated.
He rubbed his jaw, making sure she hadn’t dislocated anything. He definitely preferred her fussing over his injuries compared to her explosive right hook.
Straightening, he finally got a good look at her. “Briana?” She still looked human, but her claws were out and all he could pick up on when he met her gaze was pure, lethal predator.
“Bitch is crazy.” The kid behind her stumbled backward, but she didn’t acknowledge that she’d even heard him.
A smart move on the mortal’s part. Lucan really didn’t want to have to save the ignorant fool. He’d noticed how much of Briana’s animal half had surfaced in the parking lot, but that didn’t come close to the aggressive tension radiating from her now.
“He’s still standing. Couldn’t you have hit him a little harder?” Tristan squeezed past a couple who were too busy feeling each other up to make room for him, then stopped next to Lucan.