Carlie was gesturing urgently, but despite the distance between them, she could see the absence of fear on her face. Inhaling deeply, she tried to force herself to relax as she quickly walked back to the house, but adrenaline was still pumping through her veins despite there being no threat, making it impossible to reclaim the calm she’d felt as she stared at the scenery.
The closer she got to the house, the louder the chaos inside got. The part of her that had been kidnapped and held captive, the part that was still on the run despite Fernandez being dead, was trying to completely freak out.
Little sparks of panic were trying to catch blaze, but the lack of fear on Carlie’s face, and the fact that the voices inside weren’t hysterical, were the only things keeping her grounded. Still, her steps were quick as she rushed toward the house.
“What in the world is going on in there?” she asked as she sprinted up the porch steps.
“A pipe burst in the kitchen, and you’re the only one who might have the knowledge to fix it.”
Nodding as she blew out a breath, she allowed her eyes to close for a moment, letting the knowledge that no one was hurt to wash over her. She walked into the house and made her way to the kitchen, the escalating argument between the other dragons becoming louder as she got closer.
Reaching the doorway, she paused, taking in the river of water gushing from under the sink. Narrowing her eyes at the women standing around arguing instead of trying to stop the tidal wave, she placed her fingers against her lips and whistled sharply, satisfaction filling her as the noise instantly died.
“Why are you guys arguing instead of doing something about this?”
Fiona shrugged. “We were waiting for you.”
Rolling her eyes, she inhaled slowly as she prayed for patience. “Carlie, turn the water off, okay? The rest of you, grab towels, mops, whatever you can, and get this mess cleaned up. I’ll take a look under the sink.”
The others immediately scattered to do her bidding, including Paisley, their de facto alpha. Paisley was hardheaded, stubborn to her core, and never took orders from anyone—but when it came to figuring out what was wrong when stuff broke, and how to fix it, she knew Olivia was the one for that job.
Ignoring the mess on the floor, she knelt down to look under the sink. The water immediately soaked her jeans, but she didn’t pay it any attention, turning on the flashlight on her cellphone so she could see better.
Her heart sank as she spotted the hole in the rusted pipe. She didn’t need her gift to tell her what was wrong, and if any of the women had bothered to look, they would have immediately known what was wrong too.
Now she just had to tell the others that she couldn’t fix it.
Fuck.
Standing, she grabbed a towel off the counter and dried her hands, ignoring her soaked pants. She wanted to stall for more time before she broke the news, but the others were looking at her expectantly, so she bit back a sigh and steeled herself for their reactions.
“We’re gonna need to call a plumber in.”
As expected, pandemonium immediately broke out, and she winced as their voices reached ear splitting decibels. Normally, Paisley, Carlie, Fiona and Sierra were calm and collected, always keeping their cool—except when they were taking shots at each other, that was.
After what they all endured with Fernandez, they’d become strong as fuck. They had to, otherwise their experiences at his and his guards’ hands would have completely broken them.
And yeah, they were all fucked up to an extent—no one could live through what they had and escape unscathed. Yet at the same time, they’d all become their strongest selves in the process. Sure, they all had triggers, flashbacks, nightmares… But there was little that could shake them now.
They’d been face to face with evil—they lived it, breathed it, felt it as their skin crawled whenever a guard was near or, Heaven forbid, touched them.
But all of that strength seemed to disappear like
it never existed when they were faced with interacting with other people.
Even with the Blood and Bone Enforcers, they held themselves separate. And they were the brave souls who rescued them. Granted, back then they were extremely raw from being held captive, and they hadn’t even begun to heal yet, so it was understandable then.
But it’d been six months since Fernandez was killed, the Enforcers declared they were safe, and the dragons moved to Montana to start their new lives.
Yet they were still far too wary and mistrusting of strangers, and they continued to isolate themselves.
“I told you guys,” Carlie said quietly. Her words were soft, but the commanding conviction behind them made everyone instantly quiet as they looked at her. “When we bought this house, I told you guys we needed to hire a contractor and fix it up. I was outvoted, and look what happened.”
Paisley frowned, her red hair glowing in the light streaming through the window. “We don’t want strangers tramping all over the house. That puts us in danger, and don’t you think we’ve had enough of that already?”
The others nodded in agreement, but Carlie shook her head. “This house is a mess. It’s falling down around our heads, and it desperately needs fixed. And what y’all are failing to see is that we’re not in danger. Not anymore.
“Fernandez is dead. The guards are dead. Everyone who knew we were there is gone, and the Enforcers are going after anyone who ever had contact with that bastard. Yet here we are, still in disguise, hiding from everything and everyone. If we stay on this track, what kind of life will we ever have? And you know what? We are letting him win right now. Even from the grave, he’s winning.”