Escaping Death
Chapter 4

Happy Thursday!!

It's beginning to look a lot like winter here in the East Coast!

What does December look like in your neck of the woods?

— — — — —

Solana

"You're still not going to tell me what this is about?" I try to sound casual but I know my mother picks up on my skepticism.

"You'll see soon enough," she hums and steals a piece of the apple I just sliced with one of my knives.

Runidar and Xander alert to someone walking up the stairs heading towards our lounge. My dads stand up but remain near the couch where my mom and I are sitting off to the side cloaked in the shadows.

We're shadowed mostly because mom likes to play games, and if I'm being honest I have missed doing things together with her, but the shadows also hide me from Runidar. I know he doesn't blame me for what happened, but his eyes are a sharp jab in a wound that may never close.

I'm eager for this meeting to end already, it's what stands between me and my freedom. Mom swore I'd be free to leave after this.

"You boys lost?" I can hear Runidar question three males that are now standing at the top of the stairs, but his question is really more of a warning considering he practically growled it out. Unfortunately for him, I can smell that only one of these boys is a wolf. The other two will be completely unphased by his Beta posturing.

"We're expected for a meeting." The taller of the two dragons replies. His voice is harsher than you'd expect from someone that looks the way he does. He's tall and slender, but toned with noticeable definition of his muscles. His light brown hair holds natural highlights of caramel and honey and is styled in a way that demands I run my fingers through its length.

"A meeting with whom?" Xander asks, verifying that they are actually supposed to be here and not just curious patrons that thought they could sneak up the stairs.

"Syble, sir." The same dragon speaks again.

I shoot my mom a sideways glance and she just smirks and begins to slice her own apple with an inappropriately large dagger.

Runidar and Xander lead the three boys over to where we're sitting on the far end of the lounge, but they'll only be able to see my dads as my mom and I are still shadowed.

Well what do we have here? My man-boy from the bar, Elias, and two of his friends? Colleagues? He's full of more surprises than I expected.

My dads radiate dominance, they can't help but waft it through the air around us making Elias tense briefly as he resists submitting.

"Alphas Rohanor and Varian of Shadowmoon and Twilight Grove." Runidar introduces my dads to the three guys.

"Good to meet you, sirs. I'm Dean, this is Tate and Elias," he gestures to the other two guys as they all take turns shaking my fathers' hands.

My dads gesture for their group to take a seat on the couches while Runidar and Xander simply take a step back and stand by the railing.

None of the trio makes a move. "When can we expect to meet Syble?" Dean asks plainly.

My mom dashes over to stand in front of Dean still cloaked in shadows. She studies him for a moment before uncloaking herself and nicking his jaw with her blade.

Curiously, Tate doesn't flinch but Dean and Elias both take a reflexive step back.

"Sorry for the cloak and dagger," mom grins mischievously at her own joke, licking the drops of blood from the tip of the blade.

"You have a Death Wish, Syble?" Tate asks my mother as if he were asking for the time.

My head snaps up, did he just threaten my mother? My eyes dart back and forth between the two groups, the man-boys and my parents. My dads instantly begin to growl and snarl at Tate's question, instinctively inching closer to my mother to keep her safe. I pocket my knife to watch the show, this meeting is shaping up to be more entertaining than I had expected.

Mom lifts a hand which stops my dads in their tracks but does nothing to stop them from their continued growling. "The opposite actually," she purrs at them. "We called you in to see if you could protect as well as you kill."

"There's a bounty on someone important to us. We need you to make sure no one collects on that bounty while we hunt down the person who wants her dead." My dad, Varian, further explains and gestures once more for them to take a seat.

"You want us to protect her?" Dean asks incredulously, nodding towards my mother for confirmation.

My mom raises a perfectly arched brow, "I look like I need protecting, do I?"

My dad, Ro, wraps his arms around my mom, kissing his mark on her neck, "I think you've had enough fun for tonight, princess."

Guys, gross. Get a room. I link to my parents only half seriously. They've never been shy about showing the world how much they love each other. Sometimes I envy what they have, I used to dream about a happiness like theirs. But even the sweetest dreams end when you wake up to the harsh light of day.

"Not her," my dad, Varian, says, "our daughter." He looks right at me through the shadows even though I know he can't see me, but he can smell me and he can certainly hear the increase in my heart rate at his words.

"I need a babysitter as much as mom does," I spit, uncloaking myself from the shadows.

I draw surprised looks from Dean and Elias, but not Tate. Just like when my mom appeared in front of Dean, Tate is stoic and his features remain impassive.

"Sol, we have gone over this. You are welcome to stay in the grove, but if you want freedom to travel and come and go as you please, then you're going with guards. We have it on good authority that these gentlemen are highly skilled at what they do." Ro's words rumble up from deep within his chest, he's not fucking around.

"Alphas," Elias addresses my fathers, "with all due respect, our services are usually to fulfill Death Wishes. We will take out any target...for a price. We've never taken on a protection detail."

"Think of it as doing the same job but in reverse," Varian says. "Your targets are anyone who targets our daughter, for which we will pay any price."

"Are you going to continue to talk about me like I'm not sitting right the fuck here or do I get a say in any of this?" I seethe at my dads, heat beginning to build under my skin giving it a muted, red-orange glow.

"Sol, I didn't want it to come down to this but you can pick from the choices we're giving you or your mother and we will command it of you." My dad's chocolate eyes burn through mine, promising to fulfill that threat with no remorse whatsoever.

I throw my dagger at him, aiming at the stern crease between his brows but he just swats it out of the air like batting away a mosquito. With a huff of smoke I stalk off angrily towards the bar with Xander hot on my heels.

"Sol I know you don't want my opinion but I'm going to give it to you anyway." Xander says, sidling up next to me and leaning the side of his body against the bar so he can face me. "This isn't a normal bounty. You are at risk. This is your parents trying to give you some freedom. You can go anywhere you'd like — within reason, so long as they are there to guard you."

"I don't need guarding, Uncle Xander. I've been managing on my own for years, I don't understand why this bounty has them spooked." I toss back three shots in quick succession.

"What's my title, Sol?" Xander's voice is calm and gentle, but not in a patronizing way.

"You're the Head of the Queen's Guard. You're my mother's guardian." I say with no small amount of exasperation because I think I know where he's going with this.

"Does your mom need a guardian? Does she need me?" He laughs because we both know the answer is no, and my returned smile is answer enough.

"But she tolerates me, she understands that she has blind spots and that's what I'm for. I've got her back." He throws back two shots of his own, shaking his head and grimacing as the liquor goes down.

I groan dramatically, banging my head against the bar for theatrical effect. Xander bursts out in candid laughter, "you are absolutely your mother's child. So what'll it be, Princess? Locked away in the highest room of the tallest tower guarded by dragons," he grins boyishly at his joke, "or your freedom plus an entourage?"

I push at his chest hoping to at the very least knock him off balance but Xander is a stone wall when he wants to be. "You're so annoying sometimes, you know that?" I say with no heat.

"Whatever you say, kiddo. Now come on, let's go hear them out."

We rejoin the group who have now all taken their seats. I flop down next to my mom, criss-crossing my legs and tucking them underneath me.

"So, can you deliver what we require?" My dads ask the guys, they must have already gone through their vetting questions while I was talking with Xander. "Before you answer, understand that failure to keep her safe will result in the deaths of your entire little pack."

Their group takes a moment to let my dads' promise sink in before giving their answer, they don't know it yet but this one act will gain them the respect of my fathers. Too often people make promises they can't keep, or break promises at the first sign of hardship. They don't take the time to think it through and be honest with themselves before dragging others down with them.

"Sirs, we can do what you ask," Tate's words are patient and clear, the calm before the storm, "but she'll need to stay with us."

And there's the storm.

"Un-fucking-likely." I scoff. What shocks me the most is that of all the times to bite their tongues, my parents choose this moment. Not one of them thinks that what he's asking is ridiculous.

"Sol," my name on my mother's tongue is a lethal warning.

"How is house arrest with them any better than house arrest in the grove?" I'm on my feet pacing the space in front of my parents, my arms gesturing wildly as I shout.

"You can't have your cake and eat it too, Solana," my mom's voice is stern and dangerously quiet. "I think we've been exceptionally patient with you, I've given you a longer leash than your father's have liked but I won't go against them on this. Not where your life is concerned. Unfortunately I had to learn that lesson for myself the hard way." My mom's voice is barely a whisper by the last sentence.

Fuck! I hate how she always knows exactly how to get at me. She's not bringing up her scars to guilt me, she would never do that. She does it to remind me of exactly what Xander was saying, that even the strongest people have blind spots. Even my mom.

I fold my arms over my chest, look down at the floor, and let out a defeated sigh. "I stay with them and I can come and go as I please so long as they tail me?"

"Within reason, but yes that's generally what we're saying." Hope returns to my mother's tone.

"How long?"

"Until we find and kill any and everyone responsible for posting the bounty." My fathers say.

"Fine. I'm going to grab my bag, I'll meet you out front." My words are clipped with resigned irritation.

I jump the railing, cloaking myself in shadows so I can glide down towards the club's exit.

If you kill more than three of them your fathers will drag you home kicking and screaming. My mom's voice rings through our link.

Is that your subtle permission for me to kill two of them?

This isn't a punishment, Sol. Who knows? Maybe you'll surprise yourself and have fun for once. I don't need to see her face to know that she's smirking at me.

I want to believe that it's possible to do that, to be happy and carefree. But there's a scar on my soul so deep that any momentary happiness or joy I may feel gets sucked into this void, like a black hole whose gravity is inescapable, unavoidable, inevitable.

But between my shadows and my sarcasm I've been able to keep most everyone away at an arm's length, and the inevitable fed just enough that I can suffer through life convincingly enough.

— — — — —

What do we think?

Is she going to behave herself or is she going to make their lives a living hell?

Vote, Comment, and I'll see you next week!

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