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He didn’t think; didn’t hesitate. He punched his power toward Cian, and sent his sword spinning away to clatter on the floor. With her forward motion unblocked, Glenna sliced Cian’s shoulder.
“Well, shit.” Cian flicked a hand at the sword even as Glenna pulled it back in horror.
“Oh God! Oh my God. Is it bad? How bad?” She dropped her sword to rush forward.
“Back!” With another sweep of power, Hoyt had Glenna tumbling back and landing on her ass. “You want blood?” Hoyt plucked up Glenna’s discarded sword. “Come then, get mine.”
King grabbed a sword from the wall, slapped the blade against Hoyt’s. “Back off, magic boy. Now.”
“Don’t interfere,” Cian said to King. “Step away.” Slowly, Cian picked up his own sword, met Hoyt’s eyes. “You tempt me.”
“Stop it! Stop it this minute. What the hell’s wrong with you?” Regardless of the blades, Glenna pushed between the brothers. “I’ve stabbed him, for God’s sake. Let me see.”
“He attacked you.”
“He did not. He was giving me a lesson.”
“It’s nothing.” With his gaze still burning into Hoyt’s, Cian nudged Glenna aside. “Shirt’s ruined, and it’s the second I’ve trashed on your account. If I’d wanted her blood, I wouldn’t take it with a sword, waste it. But for yours, I could make an exception.”
Glenna’s breath wanted to heave, the words wanted to babble. But if she knew anything about men, she knew it would take only a flick of a finger to have these two spilling each other’s blood.
Instead she spoke sharply—annoyed female to foolish boys. “It was a mistake, an accident on all sides. I appreciate you coming to the rescue,” she said to Hoyt. “But I didn’t, and don’t need the white horse. And you—” She jabbed a finger at Cian. “You know very well what it must have looked like to him, so take it down a little. And you.” She rounded on King. “You can just stop standing over there adding to it.”
“Hey! All I did was—”
“Add more trouble,” she interrupted. “Now go, get some bandages.”
“I don’t need them.” Cian walked back to replace his sword. “I heal quickly, which is something you need to bear in mind.” He held out a hand for King’s sword. The glance Cian gave him might have been affectionate, Glenna thought. Or proud. “Unlike our irritated witch, I appreciate the gesture.”
“No big.” King handed Cian the sword, then sent Glenna a kind of sheepish shrug.
Unarmed now, Cian turned back to his brother. “You couldn’t beat me with a sword when I was human. You damn well couldn’t take me now.”
Glenna put a hand on Hoyt’s arm, felt the muscles quiver. “Put it down,” she said quietly. “This needs to stop.” She ran her hand down his arm to his wrist, then took the sword.
“The blade needs cleaning,” Cian commented.
“I’ll take care of it.” King stepped away from the wall. “I’ll toss something together for dinner while I’m at it. Got my appetite worked up.”
Even after he walked out, Glenna thought there was so much testosterone in the room she couldn’t have hacked through it with one of Cian’s battle-axes.
“Can we move on?” she said briskly. “I thought we could use the library for our war room. And considering the weapons in here, and the books on magic, warfare, vampires and demons, it seems appropriate. I’ve got some ideas—”
“I bet you do,” Cian mumbled.
“The first…” She moved to the table, picked up her crystal ball.
“Did you learn nothing the first time?” Hoyt demanded.
“I don’t want to look for her. We know where she is. Or was.” She wanted to change the mood. If there had to be tension, she thought, at least they could use it constructively.
“Others are coming, that’s what we keep being told. There will be others. I think it’s time we find some of them.”
He’d planned to do exactly that, but could hardly say so now without looking foolish. “Put that down. It’s too soon to use it after the last time.”
“I’ve cleansed and recharged it.”
“Regardless.” He turned to the fire. “We’ll do this my way.”
