Chapter 6
Rayne
My brothers and I sataround the basement as we waited for Antoine to tell us what had happened. He sat as his desk he kept down stairs as usual not even bothered that we were waiting for him.
Antoine was a hard guy to read most days but he had been unusually guarded today. Even his mind was blocked from me, giving me no inkling of what he might be thinking.
Fortunately, while I had been sleeping my brothers hadn't. Marcus and Wynn already knew what news Antoine had gathered to tell us and they weren't being shy about hiding their thoughts.
We'd been summoned.
It wasn't a surprising announcement. Our sire could summon us at any moment, and we would have to rush to where ever he asked or face his wrath. No one wanted to enrage that old Russian bastard, least of all me.
I shuddered at the thought.
"Cold, brother?" Drake grinned cheekily at me from the back of the couch where he was perched next to his twin.
I flipped him off as I rolled my eyes, choosing to focus on Antoine instead. I couldn't get all the details from Wynn and Marcus, not unless they were actively thinking about those things.
Marcus was trying to match his face with his thoughts. Blank. Empty. A black void.
Wynn, however, grumbled more about having to put up with Theresa than having to see our sire. That was a sentiment I understood very well. That woman knew no shame and spread her legs for every and any vamp that would take her... sometimes even when they didn't want to. Wynn was the idiot for thinking he needed to prove he was truly irresistible and claim every woman in our sire's house, an act that caught Theresa’s absolute attention. As sympathetic as I was, the situation was his own fucking fault.
"I'm sure you are all wondering why I have called you here after canceling tonight's festivities," Antoine droned on. He unbuttoned his jacket and slipped his hands into his pockets, but even then, he didn’t lower himself to so much as lean on his desk. "As I told Marcus and Wynn earlier today, our sire has deemed it necessary for us come home for a visit."
"You mean that he summoned us." Drake and Allister said together and then snorted, crossing their arms over their massive chests at the same time, mirror images of themselves. It was scary sometimes how alike they were on the outside but how different they were on the inside.
Drake, for example, did not think in complete sentences and tended to curse far more in his mind than out loud. He thought about his biceps... a lot.
And Allister... Well, Allister was far more complex than he would lead others to believe. His mind wasn't full of frivolous things like his brother's. More often than not, Allister was thinking about the latest book he had read or something he heard on the news. It was refreshing to listen to his thoughts after all these years with Wynn and Drake. They thought way too much about themselves and women, always women. I thought I was the young one of the family, but apparently, you didn't get over the need for sex with age or maturity, something neither of them seemed to have in abundance.
"Yes," Antoine continued as he gave the twins a warning look. "We have been summoned. We are expected next Sunday at eight."
"Fuuuuuck." Allister drew out and shook his head. "You think he gave us enough notice?"
"Right?" Wynn nodded in agreement. "I hardly have time to cancel my plans."
Drake let out a rude sound. "Plans? You mean beating off to the thought of a little blonde maid? You can do that anywhere."
"Watch it, you," Wynn frowned, his jaw tightening, "or I'll make you fuck a lamp post... again."
Drake flinched and backed down at that.
Wynn grinned smugly. "Don't forget to tell them the best part, brother."
"The best part?" Drake and Allister straightened up as they looked back to Antoine.
I can't wait to see how they react to hearing our lord and master wants to meet Piper,Wynn thought.They're going to—
"What the fuck?" I shot up from my place on my bed. "What do you mean he wants to meet Piper? No." I sliced my arm through the air and glared. "No way. This is just some ploy for Valentine to try to mess with her again. You know it is!" As I went on my tirade, I stomped over to Antoine and stared him down.
Antoine let out an impatient sigh. "Do you think we haven't thought of that? We are well aware of what the leading cause of this summons may have been. However, if we didn't want Valentine to be so interested in our human, some of us should have been a bit let territorial last time he was here." His eyes narrowed on me.
I stood my ground and took a step forward. "You surely aren't blaming me for this? If I hadn't stepped in when I had, Valentine would have bitten Piper."
"Maybe you should have let him," Marcus murmured.
I spun around and gaped at Marcus. "You can't mean that?"