Page 92 of A Trial By Blood

I sat up. “I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.”

“I know, but I…I’d love to meet up today if you’re free?”

Ronan was watching me closely, and I knew he could hear every word we were saying. I had questions, and I needed answers. He knew more about what I was and what I could do than anyone else. Maybe that knowledge could be helpful during my task, and during my magical combat trial, that is, if Death didn’t drag me into Limbo. But I was positive there was more to my bat shifter side. I just didn’t know how to harness it. “Where?”

His sigh of relief reached me through the phone. “There’s a cafe in the city, on Combes Street, Aunt Bel’s, would that work?”

“That should be fine. I can meet you at eleven.”

“I’ll be there.”

I disconnected the call and turned to Ronan. “He came to the house last night. Well, he stayed outside. He was waiting for me when you dropped me off. We spoke.”

His expression darkened. “He was waiting for you?”

“Yes.”

Ronan shook his head. “No. No way. You’re not meeting with him.”

My brows shot up. “Why not?”

“Because I don’t trust him.”

“Why?” This side of Ronan, this extreme protectiveness, was frustrating as hell, and I worked to keep my patience.

“I just don’t.”

I took in the look on his face. “Let me guess, you have the urge to disembowel him?”

His jaw tightened, and he didn’t answer. Which could only be construed as yes. “Right, I’m going to meet him, and you’re not coming.”

“Like hell,” he said and sat up, flashing his glorious, muscled chest.

As he turned more to me, the play of muscles almost had me forgetting that I was highly irritated at his high-handedness. “I have questions for him that only he can answer. I’m not looking to build a father-daughter relationship or anything like that, but this is important to me. I don’t want you standing over him making him nervous. I’ll take Willow with me.”

A stubborn look crossed his face. “I’m coming.”

“No, and if you use your power and spy on me, I’ll be pissed.”

“You wouldn’t know,” he said, that stubbornness deepening.

“Don’t give me another reason not to trust you, Ronan,” I said, and though I tried not to, I let some of the hurt I still felt over finding him in that club slip through. “And trust me, I’d know.”

The hard look on his face vanished, and he gripped the side of my throat, looking into my eyes. “I will never go there again, Rose. Never, you have my word.”

“I do trust you. I know you’ll keep that promise. But I need you to trust me as well. Do you truly think you could meet with my father and not intimidate or hurt him?”

His jaw worked. “No,” he said finally.

“So it’s settled. I’ll take Willow.”

“I don’t like this.”

I smiled up at him, trying to reassure him. His protectiveness was to the extreme, so much so, the male who had been ruled by logic for so much of his life forgot about it now completely. “I’ll be in a public place. I’ll be with my sister, who has a magic blade capable of telling her if he’s even thinking about hurting me, a sister who could, and would, kill him in a split second if she thought that was his intent.”

Despite my excellent argument, he still didn’t look convinced.

“I’ll text you when we get there and when we leave,” I added.