Xan let out a frustrated sigh as she watched Xion stare out the window. Her sister had been become very quiet and introverted the past few days. Xan knew why; little Xion wasn't used to being confined indoors. While the sheer size of the manor was more than enough to keep anyone from getting antsy, Xion thrived when she was able to go outside. Before this mess with Sherlaine started, they took long walks at least twice a week and went on small outings every weekend. Xan made sure her sister socialized and saw as much of the outside world as she could. With this situation, there was no hope of a walk or even a small trip to the flea market. Xion was quickly becoming a depressed child and Xan refused to have it.
She would have spoken to any of the many brothers inhabiting the house, but it seemed that with Lindsay and Alauria's arrival, their plans against Sherlaine kicked into high gear, making it near impossible for her to get any of the brothers alone. That wasn't completely true; she'd spent every nigh this week with Liam, and it seemed that every night was better than the last. They didn't do much talking, which probably was good given their propensity to enrage each other, but when they did speak, they shared stories about their most epic battles, trading tactics and comparing battle scars.
Well, she showed him hers, and he pointed out the areas that would have been severely marked had not had extraordinary healing abilities. They'd only made love one time since the night she gave into him; there seemed to be a need to simply be together, especially since they did not have any time to even greet one another during the day. Xan preferred things this way; there was no pressure to make things serious between them, but there was a budding anticipation in the pit of her stomach when Xion fell asleep.
Xion. Xan looked over at her sister and felt her heart sink at the longing look in the child's eyes as she stared out of the window. Her depression seemed to mount with each day; where Xion once sought refuge in the expansive library, she now refused to leave their room, claiming that she was tired and wanted to sleep. Getting her to go to the kitchen was an ongoing battle; she also claimed that she wasn't hungry. Xan didn't think much of it at first, but when her sister stopped drawing, she knew that she had to take matters into her own hands. "I'll be right back," she told Xion. Moments later, she'd rushed out of the room and down to the solarium, the brothers' regular meeting room.
She stopped short at the sight of Alauria sitting between Liam and Lindsay. A wave of anger washed over her and for a moment, and she had to decide what made her angrier; a female's presence in the top secret meeting or the fact that the woman sat next to Liam. The general consensus was that females feared him. But yet, here this beautiful, talented, sweet woman sat next to him as if he were the most docile man to ever live. A mental bitch-slap reminded her that Alauria was married and most likely sat near Liam because it was the only spot near her husband available. But that didn't calm her anger. "How come Alauria gets to sit in on your meetings?"
"If we are to make use of her abilities-"
"I have abilities too," Xan insolently interrupted. She didn't look at Alexis, knowing that he would fix her with one of those stares that made her tense uneasily.
"Can you willingly take on the ability of any supernatural around you and use said ability against them?" Lindsay asked impatiently. When she only stared at him with wide eyes, he shook his head and said, "Obviously not the abilities we need."
"Watch your fucking mouth when you talk to her," Liam defended. If there was anyone in the room who would make her feel like an idiot, it would be him. "Xan, the less you know, the better."
"What does that mean?" She asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.
Draco cleared his throat nervously before saying, "We have a history of accidentally getting our charges kidnapped. Accidentally," he emphasized when Xan's face reddened.
"Seriously, Drake? This is what you decide to tell the woman?" Andrae grumbled as he shimmered into the room. He stared at Alauria for a moment and studied her, completely ignoring the look Lindsay gave him. She matched his stare valiantly, he noticed, and completely surprised him by giving him a smile. "Lindsay's woman."
"Lindsay's brother." Alauria replied. She quickly adjusted herself after Lindsay hauled her up against her side. "I'd introduce myself, but as you can see, Lindsay is feeling unnecessarily possessive."
"Can we get back to the point here?" Xan yelled. "First you tell me that you don't know what Sherlaine is so you don't know how to kill him. Then you pretty much make it clear that you're going to sit on your asses and read books all fucking day until you get some kind of a clue on how to get him off my ass. Next comes the real sweet piece of news that this house isn't completely protected from all the big bad out there so you need a human alarm system to make sure nobody makes a milkshake out of my blood. Now you're telling me that the people you protect get 'accidentally kidnapped?'"
"Xan, calm down, there is no need to-"
"Don't even, Roman! You're all grown ass men with fuck knows how many years of experience. I have a kid to take care of. I can't afford to get 'accidentally' kidnapped!'"
"And this is precisely why you are not to sit in any of our meetings."
"Fuck your stupid meetings and fuck this!" She turned to walk out of the room ignoring the uproar she'd caused amongst the brothers, and frowned when she walked into an invisible wall. "What the fuck..."
"I'm sorry, Xan, but I don't like it when you get angry."
Xan took her time turning to face everyone before she said, "Well you seem to be the only fucking one because everyone else has said or done some fucking thing to piss me off. You know, I came down here to ask if it was possible to let Xion out for a few hours because she's cooped up and getting fucking depressed and goddammit, kids her age need to fucking breathe and not only do I find out that I can't take her out because of the fucking dangers, but I can't really depend on this fucking place because it isn't fucking safe either!" She let out a frustrated breath as she brought a hand up to cup her forehead. Her face was hot and she knew that she was excessively flushed. "When are you going to figure out how to get rid of him?" she asked in a calmer voice.
"Just as soon as you stop dropping so many F-bombs," Alexis declared. He ignored the surprised and incredulous stares shot at him as he said, "It's not becoming on a woman of your status."
Xan was tempted to tell him where to shove his status, but that stare of his stopped her from saying anything. Instead, she looked at Roman's concerned face, knowing that his was the only one she could take. His goatee was immaculate, she noticed. "Can I go now?"
"It seems as if Xion isn't the only one who needs to get out," Andrae said as he leaned a shoulder against the wall. "It won't be a bad idea to let them out someplace public for a while."
"No fucking way," Liam ground out. He shot up out of his seat and started toward Xan in a move to protect her. "Remember what happened the last time we let them out?"
"So you'd rather her start shouting like a madwoman every five minutes? How is that going to help anything?"
"I said no," Liam repeated. He looked over at Xan, who stood shocked at Andrae's defense for her sanity. "You're staying here."
"It's not much safer here than out there," Andrae argued.
"But at least we can control what fucking happens here," Liam snapped.
