Page 26 of Courting Mayhem

“I’ve ordered battle armor for you and your fathers,” Derek replied.

“You have? Why?”

“I take care of my people,” Derek said.

I laughed. “How gullible do you think I am?”

“What makes you so suspicious of me simply providing you and your fathers with the proper armor?”

“Gee, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because no one does anything for free. There’s always a cost and I’m not willing to pay it.”

Derek frowned. “I only want to protect you.”

“I don’t believe you,” I said sweetly.

Derek gave me an enigmatic smile. “Guess I’ll have to try harder to prove it.”

“Don’t waste your time.”

The snake ground to a stop.

“I think we’ve found the blockage.” Derek reversed the snake. With an earsplitting screech out popped a shredded, purple wig.

My eyes widened in horror. “Damn. He really did flush it down the toilet.”

“Is Jacob responsible for this?” Derek demanded.

I instinctively took a step back. Yikes! He’d give Zarek a run for his money in the scary as hell category. “Ah. Well. I’m not sure.” Like I would rat Poppa Jacob out.

Poof! Derek vanished.

I linked with Poppa Jacob. “The war commander is heading your way and he isn’t happy.”

“We will deal with him.” Poppa Jacob broke the link.

Glad he was so confident. I had a bad feeling the shit was about to hit the fan. I looked around incinerator and sighed. Once again, I was left with a mess. I summoned the cleaning bots.

Derek teleported back in holding Papi Sten and Poppa Jacob by the scruff of their necks. Their feet weren’t touching the floor.

My jaw dropped. I couldn’t decide who was more surprised. Me or them?

Derek shook them violently. “Do I have your attention now?”

My fathers managed to nod their heads.

“You are cleaning this up.” Derek hurled them into the gunk.

Thwap!They slid face first across the floor.

Holy shit! How strong was the war commander?

“You!” Derek’s furious gaze speared me. “Out!” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

I dropped into a combat stance. “I won’t let you hurt my fathers.”

“Sweetheart, if I wanted to hurt your fathers there is nothing you could do to stop me.”

“I’ll admit I might have underestimated you, but they are my family.”

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