Pride Before the Fall Read online

  Con laughed and came to look at Kaimana's passport. "I'll call the airline and get us another ticket," he said, holding out his hand for the driver's license. Kaimana surrendered it with a little huff, like he'd asked her for her first-born child.

  I thought of how much that last minute ticket was going to cost and prayed to the bounty gods as I dug out my wallet from my back pocket.

  Oisin beat me to it, handing Con his credit card. "You can put it on there. Do what you need to in order to ensure she has a seat next to one of us."

  "Are you sure, Oisin?" I said, wincing. This was not going to be cheap.

  He shrugged. "The trust fund I, ah...liberated...from my clan is about to run out. But I've been saving what I earn at the bar. It's fine."

  I frowned at the reminder of his family. "Will it be okay?" I asked. "Leaving the city? We'll be out of White's territory."

  He gave me a dark look. "A bit risky," he said, honest for once in his life. "But I think you underestimate White's reach."

  I narrowed my eyes at him. "Mind sharing?"

  He shook his head, smirking. "Sorry, darling. I can't tell you what he is. It would break a very old pact. You'll have to get it out of him yourself."

  Kaimana patted me on the head and skipped out of the room, probably off to go pack her few belongings.

  We needed to get her voice back. Going into my clan without a way to tell people to fuck off was a bad idea.

  But I could only handle so much at one time. And right now, I needed to make sure my sister, the only person I gave a fuck about back home, was okay.

  Chapter 3

  We reached my family's home as the sun was setting. My companions were slightly the worse for wear. I don't think any of them enjoyed flying on a commercial airplane. Kaimana had taken in everything with the nervous energy of a child experiencing something for the first time. Oisin kept shaking his hands as if they were going numb—probably because he was so far away from the earth and source of his power—and his body was tense the whole way there. And Hisashi had gone uncharacteristically quiet, his ice blue eyes taking on a brooding look that I really didn't like.

  The only one who was behaving like normal was Con. He seemed to enjoy flying and pointed out landmarks through the window in between explaining how things worked to Kaimana and fussing over Oisin and Hisashi to make sure they had enough snacks and pillows.

  Oisin had finally snapped at the human, demanding he either sit still or go bother me. So we all switched seats, putting Con between me and Kaimana and out of Oisin's reach.

  I shook my head at them all as I dragged my suitcase out of the car my family had sent for us. We needed sleep that didn't involve scrunching up in an aircraft seat, and some time to unwind. But I knew what we were going to get was a bunch of assholes acting like...well, assholes.

  I led my group of companions-who-were-definitely-not-a-pride up to the front door of the gaudy mansion and rang the doorbell. The two-story door swung open and I was greeted by a butler who looked like he had a beak, even in his human form. "Hello Cheney," I said in a flat tone. "Done anything fun lately? No? Big surprise."

  He sniffed at me with that long, hooked nose. "I'll show you to your rooms, Miss Gesa."

  I rolled my eyes. "I lived here for twenty-five years, Cheney, I think I can find my own damned bedroom."

  He raised one busy eyebrow at me. "Follow me."

  I shook my head and followed the geezer, my entourage in tow. I could feel them taking it all in as we walked past all the gleaming wood, marble and gold leaf. "It's less impressive than it looks," I commented. "Great-grandpa managed to spend all the family's money. So now all we have are 'assets.'"

  Cheney let out an offended gasp. "Oh, come off it," I said, pushing past him to open the door to my suite. "I'm amazed they manage to pay your salary. Or do you even get paid? They just tuck you back into the broom closet at the end of the day, don't they?"

  He ground his teeth. "Your mother had the cook prepare a late meal for you and your...companions. Please come down once you are settled. I'm sure she is eager to see you."

  "Yeah, yeah," I said, tossing my suitcase onto my bed. "Where is Gabbi? Is she okay?" I was here to see my sister, not speak to the thing that birthed me.

  He gave me a puzzled look. "Gabbi is...indisposed currently. You can visit with her after you speak with your mother."

  I frowned, my senses telling me he was kind of, sort of lying. Something smelled like bullshit.

  The stodgy butler turned to my friends and gestured toward the door on the far side of the room. "There is a connecting suite, if any of you are so inclined. And we have prepared three other rooms in this hall."

  They all glanced at each other and I stood back, waiting for it.

  Four sets of feet headed toward the connected suite at the same time. I snorted. "Idiots."

  Hisashi grinned and shoved Oisin and Con out of the way. Kaimana tripped him and kept walking. Oisin settled it all by stepping onto the chair by my vanity and vaulting over them all to land lightly on his feet by the adjoining door. "Children," he muttered as he opened the door and slipped inside, slamming it firmly behind him.

  I looked at Cheney to find him wearing a look like someone had just poured red wine on a white tablecloth. I patted him on the shoulder. "Just go. I'm sure you have some very important lurking to do somewhere else. I'll sort them out into rooms, eventually."

  After the butler left. I sank down onto my bed with a sigh. Kaimana smiled at the others and skipped over to sit next to me, leaning back to plant her hands on the mounds of puffy blankets with a smug smile on her face as if she was claiming the big bed.

  I laughed. "Seriously. You are all ridiculous. There are three other rooms right next door. Just go pick one and take a minute to get cleaned up. As much as I don't want to go out there, I am starving. So we're going to have to go down and eat with my mother eventually."

  Oisin strolled out of the attached suite, his hair freshly rebraided and damp around the edges as if he'd splashed his face with water. He looked like he'd just woken up from a refreshing nap, not like he'd spent hours on a plane. "What are you all doing standing around out here?"

  I rolled my eyes at him.

  "Deciding who's sleeping in Gesa's bed tonight," Hisashi said as he strolled past the fae into the adjoining suite.

  Oisin laughed. "Oh, very funny. As if that isn't obvious." He took his suitcase to my dresser and started calmly placing his clothes inside.

  I flopped back to lie on the bed. "Seriously guys, I need food. Hurry the fuck up."

  Oisin glanced at me, his expression saying what he thought of my current look. "Aren't you going to change?"

  I gave him a look of my own. "What do you think?" Sweatpants, an old concert t-shirt and sneakers were good enough for this place.

  Oisin heaved a sigh. Con glanced longingly at the suite, but he picked up his suitcase and Kaimana's and headed toward the door. "Come on. If we get our own rooms, we don't have to listen to them argue."

  Kaimana grinned at that and stood, pausing to turn and drop a light kiss on my forehead, her deep blue eyes serious.

  "I'm fine," I said, waving her away. "I just hate it here. There's...some bad blood."

  She pressed her lips together and frowned.

  Oisin brushed by her to drop a pair of clean jeans on top of my chest. It was followed by a sweater I didn't even know I owned in a rich burgundy color and a pair of clean underwear. "Strip," he demanded.

  I heaved a sigh and sat up. "Bite me."

  Kaimana patted Oisin on the head as if praising him for a good deed. He snagged her hand and kissed her fingertips playfully. "Thank you, darling. Someone has to keep her in line."

  The traitorous woman followed Con out the door.

  I glared at Oisin. "What happened to 'fuck clan?'"

  He raised his chin a notch, nose in the air like the prince he was. "Never show your enemies less than your best, dear beast."

  I muttered about c
ourt politics and haughty fae, but I stood and stripped off my clothes. I picked up the underwear he had tossed at me, a scrap of lace that might cover one butt cheek. "I hate you," I muttered. I didn't buy things like this. The little fucker was sneaky. I pulled them on anyway.

  I was standing there in a scrap of black lace, glaring at a smirking Oisin when Hisashi opened the door to the suite and strolled in, wearing a pair of honest-to-Gods slacks and a blue button-down shirt. I didn't think the guy owned anything other than hoodies and indecent kimonos. This was probably Oisin's work too. The long part of the fox’s white hair was brushed back, revealing the shaved side with the blue tattoo that I was sure was some sort of protective ward.

  Hisashi stopped in his tracks and stared, his blue eyes lightening toward silver. "Uh, hi."

  I snorted and reached for my bra, turning to glare at Oisin when I found a padded, strappy thing that matched the underwear. "Where are my actual clothes?" I demanded, waving the thing at him.

  He grinned, showing sharp canines. "I have no idea what you mean."

  I turned, opened my suitcase on the bed and stared into it, a murderous rage filing me. "I didn't pack this shit."

  Oisin patted my shoulder. "I know. Clearly you didn't plan. But don't worry, I did."

  I didn't know what to say. I was torn between laughing and choking him to death.

  Hisashi drifted closer and a shiver of his cool magic danced over my exposed skin. Silvery eyes traveled over my body and I shuddered. I was a shifter, for fuck's sake. We weren't modest when it came to nudity. But suddenly, I couldn't breathe.

  Oisin's sly smile was pure evil. "Are we going to dinner, or playing with your fox, Gesa? Do make up your mind."

  I snarled at him, ripping my gaze away from Hisashi as I stuffed my boobs into a device that made B's into D's.

  Hisashi drifted over to me, crossing behind me, his fingers trailing over the lace band across my ribs. "Here." He reached up and adjusted the straps, taking his time to run his fingers up across my shoulder to my collar bones and back. His body pressed close to mine from behind as he reached around me to adjust me inside the bra, his big hands cupping my suddenly too-hot flesh.

  I lifted my head to find Oisin reclining in a nearby chair, watching with fire in his emerald eyes. Son of a bitch, he was such a master manipulator. "You can go down to dinner," I told the fae with a serious face. "I think Hisashi and I will stay up here."

  Oisin smirked, not fazed by the threat.

  Hisashi pressed a lingering kiss to my bare shoulder. "Sounds like a plan to me."

  I shook my head. "You know, we did come here for a reason. Priorities, guys." Even if my own traitorous body was right there with them, waiting for the fun times to start.

  Hisashi's hands dropped to my hips, but he didn't step away. Oisin stayed right where he was, his eyes challenging me.

  Damn them both.

  The door opened and Con and Kaimana came in. I froze. Hisashi's arm came around my waist to keep me from bolting, his big hand stroking lightly over my abs.

  Con closed the door and strolled over to lean against the bedpost. "Oh, is this what we're doing now? I thought we were going to dinner, but...." He started unbuttoning his shirt and I rolled my eyes, shoving Hisashi's hands off me and reaching for my sweater.

  I pulled the shirt on over my head to a chorus of laughter and disappointed sighs. When my head popped out the neck of the shirt, I started, finding a pair of dark blue eyes right in front of my face. Kaimana pulled the sweater down, smoothing the soft weave over my skin with her hands, her movements exaggerated as she demonstrated that she wanted to help me get dressed too. She stepped closer, slipping a leg between mine and tilting her head in invitation, her expression filled with humor, but also with heat.

  I shook my head and dropped a quick kiss on her soft lips. I couldn't help it, damn it. I pulled away to find pants. "Assholes. Every single one of you."

  Con chuckled, caressing my back as he turned us toward the door. "Maybe. But what would you be doing without us right now?"

  I shuddered at the thought. Gods. I'd probably be sick and miserable, stuck between self-loathing and anger. Instead, I just wanted to go home. To our home. With...my pride.

  Motherfucker.

  I heaved a sigh and led the deranged group to their doom.

  Chapter 4

  Dinner was a festive affair. My mother sat at the head of a gaudy, oversized dining table that had carved gryphons for legs. The glittering golden light of the expensive chandelier above her illuminated her blond hair and the diamonds shining against her golden skin. Ida always managed to exude an essence that was all gryphon—somehow both upper crust elite, and strong and sturdy as a rock. She looked down her cultured nose at all of us, as if the household pet had dragged in a dead rodent and laid it at her feet.

  I grinned and gulped the expensive red wine Cheney had so thoughtfully put in my glass. "Can I get some whiskey?" I asked him in a not-so-quiet whisper when he leaned in to place my plate in front of me. "I'm gonna need some whiskey."

  The butler tutted. "After dinner, Miss Gesa."

  I frowned at him and cut into my roast, mouth watering when the meat bled a little on my plate. It might suck fucking monkey balls being back home, but at least the food was good.

  Oisin poked at his chunk of meat with one lip curled up in distaste. Con politely picked at the corners of his, where the meat was cooked...ish. Kaimana and Hisashi dug in like normal carnivores. I sighed and put my fork down. Seriously. The bitch made even a simple dinner into a slight.

  "Cheney," I called, beckoning him over to my side of the table again. "We need a salad, some fresh fruit, and a piece of roast that is massively overcooked please."

  The butler straightened to do as he was asked, his good training not allowing him to question my request. But he did hesitate long enough to glance at the thing that birthed me for approval. She gave us both an innocent look. "Oh...is there something wrong with dinner, Gesa? It's your favorite?"

  I gritted my teeth and refused to rise to her baiting. "Tastes change," I said flatly. I shoved my delicious meat away unfinished and waited for my fucking salad. Her lips compressed to a thin line, but then she shook it off and turned to speak with Hisashi on her left as Cheney scurried off to do as he was told. "It's been a long time since I met a kitsune," she said to the fox with a motherly smile. "Aren't you incredibly young to be so far away from your parents?" She flicked her gold eyes my way. “Why, Gesa, he’s practically a baby.”

  The fox flicked his ice blue eyes my way, but he didn't growl at my mother. Pity. "I'm not that young, ma'am. And I'm not a kitsune," he said, deep voice polite, but with an undercurrent to it that my mother blithely ignored. "I'm a nine-tailed fox."

  She raised a perfectly plucked blond eyebrow and smoothed the skirt of her gold dress. "Oh?" She reached out and patted his forearm where it rested on the table. "You poor thing."

  Hisashi's square jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth. "Ma'am?"

  She shook her head sadly. "It must be terrible, knowing you'll die so young. And if you've traveled here, that means your family hasn't even had the decency to find you a shrine!"

  Spots of color rose on his bone-white cheeks, and I felt a cool caress of spirit energy. His eyes looked haunted. "With all due respect, lady," he said, dropping the "ma'am" act, "you've got your facts wrong." He speared a piece of bloody meat and ate it, showing his sharp canines as he chewed.

  I wondered what this shrine business was, but I certainly wasn't going to ask about it now. I glared at my mother. Going after the youngest one at the table was low, even for her. "Leave him alone, Ida."

  She gave me another innocent look. "Oh, Gesa, don't get all ruffled. I'm only trying to get to know your...friends a little better."

  She didn't say it, for a whole different reason than me. I didn't want a pride because it reminded me of my arrogant fucking clan and their medieval traditions. She didn't want me to have a pride because females didn't
have prides. And a pride full of misfit non-gryphons would be an abomination.

  But she sure as hell wasn’t going to let me off the hook for shunning the male gryphon she’d tried to marry me off to.

  Cheney arrived, along with another server, bearing bowls of salad and fruit. He placed an overcooked piece of meat in front of me. I shoved it over to Con on my left. All the meat eaters in our group arranged their fruit closer to Oisin. And I got up and blatantly dumped my bowl of salad onto his plate, so he had a mound of greenery in front of him.

  My fae gave me a sly smile and helped himself to a strawberry.

  Con gave me brown doe eyes and dug into his cooked meat and salad with gusto.

  I glared across the table at my mother. But she was already turning to Oisin on her right. "Oh, that's right," she said in a voice dripping with false apology. "I forgot the forest folk are so...squeamish about meat."

  He raised a red brow at her as he delicately arranged his salad to his liking. "Do not concern yourself madam," he said, his voice light and breezy as if he were holding court. "I hardly expect a clan of beasts to understand the finer points of etiquette." It wasn't that Oisin wouldn't eat meat. He just preferred to hunt it himself.

  She narrowed her eyes at him. I knew what she saw. Oisin looked so delicate and soft—nothing like the males my mother was used to dealing with. I could have told her not to even try to verbally prod the fae. He was going to murder her with words. But I was going to enjoy that show, so I sat back and finished my wine.

  "And how," she asked, cutting up her meat. "Does a fae princeling end up in the company of beasts? Shouldn't a... boy like you be off impregnating mortals and endangering others for sport?" She made a disbelieving sound. "I would think Gesa would be beneath your social tier after leaving her clan in disgrace."

  Oisin flipped his intricately braided hair over his shoulder, drawing attention to his almost feminine beauty. He picked up his wine glass, taking a sip and then setting it down far away from him, as if the expensive aged vintage was sub-par. "You are correct," he said softly, twisting her words. "Your clan is a disgrace. You should do something about that, if you are as powerful as you like to pretend."