something.
“Ya a plonker, Ronan,” the first said as he removed his hand.
“I’m not going to cuss out the King, Rian,” he snapped. “I was just going to make a point about how for all of our faults we would be good protection for our mate.” Then he looked to Rylan. “That’s all. We were able to get past ya guards. That’s all I was going to say.
“And I mean no disrespect. But we have a powerful gift that we can access easily. Ya saw how easy it was for us to keep our mate from falling. We’ve got enough chips against us, we don’t need that one too. We know how to fight. We’re good in a fight. We’ve trained hard and can handle ourselves. We’re fast. We’ve almost tied Rory in races. We can help protect Bevin.”
“Except other than the day your farm was attacked then?” Rylan asked with a raised eyebrow. Wow.
Chapter 4
There were several gasps at the question, and I shot him a horrible look. That wasn’t fair and he knew it. What the hell was going on with him?
“How could ya bring that up?” Brian whispered in horror as he stared at Rylan like he was the enemy. Which was weird because they seemed very understanding of Rylan’s position until then.
“No, it be fair of him to ask,” Rian said sharply, effectively silencing his family. I don’t know if he realized he was doing it, but he hugged me tighter as if needing the comfort. Ronan moved closer so he could touch me too, and it was so loving.
“It is?” Rylan asked, his eyebrows shooting up. Then he schooled his features and settled. “Explain what you mean besides trying to side with me so I might be lenient.”
“We brought up that we could fight. Ronan said we were fast, we could protect Bevin. We were attacked and ya weren’t there so it’s fair to ask how we handled ourselves,” Rian answered. “The answer is we were on the other side of the farm. When we heard Finn screaming for everyone we took off towards home. We got there just as the others did, and we were maybe three times as far away.”
“We realized they were going in through the back because that was the closest entrance, but our father’s swords were over the mantle and towards the front of the house,” Ronan said quietly. “We went in that way and grabbed them.”
“So you killed the demons?” Rylan asked, curious now. Knowing him, he knew the answer and was checking to see if they would be honest with him.
“No,” Ronan answered. “Dillon was there and he’s killed hundreds. He’s better trained and could handle the situation better. I tossed him the sword I had.
“And I tossed the other to me da because he was in the thick of it while me other da tried to save Ma,” Rian added. “Knowing how to fight means knowing when to let someone better equipped step in.”
“Agreed,” Rylan said as he looked them both over. “Why aren’t you warriors?”
“Not broad enough,” Ronan chuckled, shaking his head. “Apparently we not be broad enough in the shoulders and chest. After our transition and we shot up, we went with our das to the warriors’ compound in our part of the world, and they said we’d never make it through training. We were tall but not of the frame where we could bulk up. That we’d be useless in a fight.”
“Their loss. If you’re smart enough to handle yourselves as you did, get into the palace against two finely trained warriors, and almost as fast as Rory, you would have done a great job,” Rylan said, shaking his head. “Muscle doesn’t always make the winner in battle.” He glanced between my mates and I cringed. “Fine, I concede your point that you can help protect Bevin. And I apologize for being crass but he’s my family and the only threat I see in the room to him is you.”
“We understand,” Rian whispered as his eyes filled with tears. I realized both of my mates were bobbing their heads in defeat. Oh hell no.
“Please, my King, spare them,” I begged as I pulled away from them and
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley