Page 105 of My Haven
She pulled Arlo off her mate and gently handed him off to Troy. She looked up at her mate. “I love you, but I hate it here.”
Caiden nodded slowly. “I understand.”
“I wish we could live in Éire Danu, that wasn’t as scary,” she whispered and buried herself as close to his body as she could physically get.
Kyran walked over dusting off her backpack. He handed it to her. “What would make you feel safe living here?” he asked.
She was about to answer when they heard the sound of marching feet heading toward them. From the direction of the castle, the Witches’ Council appeared looking harried. From the opposite direction, the Elder Council was approaching, his father striding toward them, his face twisted in anger.
They converged at the site where the enforcer building used to be.
“Caiden Ironwood, you’re under arrest for murder!” Ruadh shouted, pointing to where Thax was still draped over the iron bars like a macabre decoration.
“You do not have the authority to make any arrests!” his father yelled back, placing himself between the Witches’ Council and his sons.
“How dare you!” Ruadh exclaimed, pointing a finger in Marshall’s face.
Daia pulled Ruadh back. “Elder Ironwood, you are obviously acting from a heightened emotional state. But even you cannot deny your sons acted rashly.”
“Rashly?” Kal Galloway, the shifter elder for Storm Keep demanded. “If my mate was taken from me, I would have been flinging body parts, not whole bodies at your windows.”
Caiden eyed the rest of the Elder Council. Mr. Compton stood off to one side, breathing hard. The older man must have run to intercept and update the Elder Council on all he heard. Caiden turned to Thane, then cut his eyes to Mr. Compton. Seconds later a hazy mist effectively made the man invisible. He saw Heath break away from his unit heading toward Mr. Compton.
Caiden sighed in relief. Heath would get the older man quickly and secretly to safety. He would never want the man punished for helping to save his mate.
“No matter how you spin this, killing a man for detaining someone is murder,” Varan said, pointing to where the units were standing at attention. “Caiden, you abused your authority ordering your men to kill for you.”
Aiden stepped forward, his muscled body still expanded with his anger. “They acted onmyauthority not his. I gave the order to do whatever was necessary to retrieve a unit warrior’s mate. Your enforcers caused their own deaths when they refused to hand her over.”
Varan took a step back from Aiden. “You do not have the authority to give orders to unit warriors in Storm Keep.”
Aiden’s eyes shifted to pure black. “Since when?” he asked, his voice deepening.
Varan looked to Thad, who stepped forward. “What my council brother means, is that we were under the impression that your position was nominal in nature. Giving orders whilst in Storm Keep oversteps your bounds.”
Aiden swung his head to look at Thad. “I beg your pardon?”
His father moved to stand next to Aiden. “The position of Unit Commander is respected by all four pillar cities. He alone makes decisions that affect all the units. He alone dictates their training and positions. In the event of a tied vote between Elders, his is the deciding vote. How dare you call him a nominal leader?”
Thad placed a hand over his heart. “We do things slightly different here in Storm Keep. The people trust the Witches’ Council to look out for their best interests. Genevieve was a human walking around our city with no escort. How were the enforcers to know she meant no harm? Murdering people without allowing a chance for dialogue is why our people want to move away from how things have always been done,” he said loudly, in a well-modulated voice.
Caiden felt the shift in the atmosphere. The people around them that had, at first, looked indignant that Genevieve had been taken, now looked at the unit warriors warily.
“And what would you have done if my daughter had had her mind wiped as they planned?” his father asked.
“Do you have proof that was going to happen?” Thad asked, reasonably.
“Nothing definitive,” Marshall replied.
Aiden stepped in front of Marshall. “The orders came from me. If anyone, regardless of whatever position they hold in our world, takes the mate of a unit warrior, I will act swiftly and without remorse. No one, and I do mean no one, hurts my warriors. Do we have an understanding?” Aiden asked, leaning over the smaller man.
Thad swallowed hard, his eyes cutting to Marshall, then back up to Aiden. “And I would have you understand that we have laws here you cannot ignore.”
Aiden’s smile was vicious. “I will obey any law passed by the Elder Council, as they are the ruling body responsible for creating and enforcing laws in our world,” he shot back.
Thad’s expression tightened. “I see.”
Marshall turned to Aiden. “Can you see to it that the unit warriors post notices across the city, that any law issued by the Witches’ Council needs to be approved by the Elder Council and until that approval is secured, any law set forth by the Witches’ Council can be ignored.”
