Page 36 of Forgotten Promise

Kailani realized he didn’t know where he was supposed to go. “Yes. It’s on Oahu, in the Hale’ekolu hotel.”

“I’ve stayed there. Really nice place.”

“Thank you, my family owns it.”

“And the waihona, that’s the treasury?”

“I think of it as the vault,” she said, “but my family calls it the waihona.”

“And we need to open it…because if headquarters falls, whatever’s inside is meant to keep the society together.” It wasn’t quite a question.

“Yes,” she agreed.

“And one of the three of us is acting Grand Master,” Preston said grimly.

“There’s something else you should know.” Kailani wished she had more facts, less conjecture, but Preston deserved to have all the details. “It’s possible that whoever attacked in Boston knows about us.”

Preston’s shoulders went stiff. “No one knows about the keyholders.”

“No one should know,” she agreed. “But it’s possible they know, and that the waihona is the next target. Someone tried to burn down the hotel an hour after I got the call.”

Preston walked over to lean against his desk. “Walk me through it, everything that’s happened.”

* * *

“Um. Sort of,” John replied to Carly’s question.

“What does that mean?” Lance asked. “Either you’re a trinity or you’re not.”

Benjamin sighed. “Our binding ceremony was bad.”

Carly burst out laughing as if he’d said something genuinely hilarious. But John noticed Lance wasn’t quite as amused.

Carly leaned toward her husband, still grinning widely, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’re going to have to let it go, Lance.”

Lance shook his head. “It’s not funny, Carly.”

She rolled her eyes but didn’t respond, turning her attention back to them. “I bet your binding ceremony wasn’t as bad as ours.”

Benjamin and John exchanged a glance, and despite the fact basically everything in their lives was still up in the air, they turned back to Carly at the same time.

“Challenge accepted,” John joked.

“Okay,” Carly started. “Once all three of our names were announced and the ceremony reached the end, Preston and Lance both kissed me. But—”

Lance scowled. “You realize there’s no way I’m going to come out of this story without looking like a complete ass.”

“Aw, I know,” she said, without the slightest amount of guilt. “That’s why I’m telling it.”

Lance narrowed his eyes, but there was no anger in his expression. He leaned toward his wife and gave her a quick, hard kiss, then said, “Just know there will be consequences for this later.”

Carly snorted. “If that’s your way of threatening to punish me, it would be just as effective to say, ‘I dare you.’”

Benjamin leaned forward in his chair, looking too interested in hearing how Lance fucked up.

“When Preston turned to kiss Lance, Lance pushed him, told him to essentially fuck off.”

John looked at Lance, who grimaced.

---