Chapter Twenty One
Iris put her hands on the table and forced herself to meet his eyes squarely. "We met with your 'boys' only recently, Bill; and nothing came of it then."
"No it didn't!" he snapped resentfully. "But that was not the fault of my boys; they would have been willing to take it further – if you had only met them half way."
The colour came to her cheeks, and she allowed her eyes to drop from his. He could not be allowed to see her anger – her outrage and offence at the way those – brutes had manhandled her!
He must continue to think her weak and unprotected – until the time was right.
"Oh James!" she thought silently. "I need you now, don't let me down!"
"Well maybe I could have been a little less – reserved," she said slowly. She peeped up at him, and saw the way his shoulders relaxed.
"Yes," he agreed with a nod. "My boys don't need much encouragement – but they do need a little." she saw the indulgent smile that came to his face, and looked up suddenly.
"I am really grateful for your concern, Bill; for both my father's health and for your concerns for our safety... I promise to think of what you have said, and consider fully your wisdom, and my options." She stood up whilst he was digesting her words. "But now I really must get back to my father... goodbye for now, Bill; you should go and get some rest." she just managed to make her tone sound concerning and maternal – Just.
Bill smiled up at her. "You have always been a good girl, Iris; a little too wilful... a little too human at times, but a good girl at the heart of you."
"Daddy raised us well," she whispered tearfully, and this time her emotion was genuine.
He reached out and patted her arm. "You go on back to your father, girl, I will come and find you later."
As Iris walked down the deserted corridor she felt the weight of his parting words; they sounded so much like a threat to her.
She wrapped her arms around her waist in an effort to warm herself, but still the shiver racked her frame.
"Iris – there you are!" it was Aunt Trudy, standing in the doorway of the little waiting room.
She looked small and tired, and slightly batty – as she always did, and Iris thought she had never seen anyone quite so wonderful in her entire life.
"Oh Aunt Trudy!" she whispered as she reached her, and her green eyes filled with tears.
Aunt Trudy reached out to embrace her niece – squeezing her tight in an effort to comfort her, before leading her into the quiet empty little room.
"I've just been in to see your father, and Laurie... she is looking as pale as you child. She told me to come and find you, and that you would tell me what I need to know; she did not want to risk disturbing him, and I did not want to upset her any more than she already seemed to be."
"He is going to be okay!" Iris said first to reassure her aunt. "They just need our help a little; they need our blood to help purge his system."
"So what is wrong with him, and how can I help?"
Iris smiled tearfully. "It's a virus of some sort; it's poisoning his system – his blood, so they want to give him a complete transfusion, using our blood."
"Ah," Trudy sighed in understanding as she sat back, and a look of relief came to her face. "So the two of you are pale because you have been giving blood – and not because you are falling ill too."
"That's right, Aunt Trudy, and we were hoping that you would be willing to donate as well,"
Trudy laughed lightly. "Of course, child; he is my brother after all... my only male relative."
Iris hesitated.
"There is something else, Aunt Trudy... Bill Frawnings is here in the city, he knows about dad being ill and came to hospital – he might still be here for all I know..."
"Oh?" Trudy looked at her sharply. "And what does he want – do you think, why are you so worried about that?"
"Well, he said pretty much what you just said, that we are women without a healthy male protector; that if word got out, well we could be seen as being vulnerable..."
Trudy's eyes narrowed, but she just waited silently for her niece to continue.
"He said that I should think about pledging to 'one of his boys'."
Iris could not stop her lip from curling with disgust at the idea, and her green eyes fixed on her aunt as though begging for her to intercede.
"We could all have a lot to lose," Trudy murmured thoughtfully.
Iris nodded in agreement, especially Aunt Trudy – her company was worth millions, and so many of their kind would almost definitely appear, would be looking to get control of some or all of that wealth, which she had created.
"What should I do, Aunt Trudy?" Iris whispered huskily.
Trudy sighed again as she reached out and patted her niece's hand in reassurance.
"Don't worry about it now, child... we will sort something out, but later once we are more certain of your father's progress."
Iris couldn't help but think that her aunt was not taking the threat seriously enough.
"But don't you see Aunt Trudy, that might be too late, they seek to take advantage of daddy's illness, they won't wait to see how he fares, they will act and soon!"
"Hush now, child;" Aunty Trudy soothed her as Iris seemed on the brink of hysteria. "We are not totally without allies, people who might be prepared to step up in our defence."
"That is not the same as family or bonded though, Trudy."
Aunt Trudy smiled as she patted her niece's hand gently. "And does that not bring us right to your nice Mr Atherton?"
The colour came briefly to her cheeks, and her eyes fell away from her aunts.
"We have become close," Iris nodded hesitantly, and her aunt barked out a laugh.
"You are more than close, my girl, and you are being insulting to me to imagine that you could hide that from me."
The colour deepened for a moment and then faded as Iris sighed. "you are right of course, we have become intimate, and he said that... well, we are bonded – I love him, I love him so very much, Aunt Trudy; but it is so soon – we have only know each other for a few weeks, I do not know if he is ready to make our relationship public, I certainly do not want to force him into making a commitment..."
"But we have already made our commitment." the husky male voice was so familiar to Iris that she did not have to turn around to see him. She could already picture him, in casual clothing, and with hair ruffled, and stubble on his face. He would be tired, since he would not have had much sleep either.
She turned and smiled at her own accuracy.
"James!"
He stepped into the room, and Iris flew into his arms, needing the warmth and security that only he could give her now.
"I couldn't sleep," he murmured huskily. "So as soon as I got your message I came straight over here," he hesitated for a moment. "I saw Bill Frawnings leaving?"
"He came to see how my father was doing – or so he said," Iris mumbled into his shirt front.
"And made a couple of veiled threats as well," Trudy snapped.
James released Iris but he took her hand as they sat together across from Aunt Trudy.
"Tell me," he ordered quietly.
Trudy's eyes widened at the note of authority in his voice, and her pupils dilated, then snapped back.
"It was Iris who he spoke to," she said brusquely as she shrugged her shoulders and crossed her arms almost in a defensive gesture.
He looked at her, and gently squeezed her hand.
"Tell me," he requested huskily.
She allowed his strength and security to wash over and through her, and then calmly she told him of her meeting with Bill.
"And so you think that he aims to... coerce you into a relationship with one of them," he glanced again at Trudy. "For what purpose, I mean you are a beautiful, desirable woman, Iris but..."
"There are plenty of desirable women out there," Iris finished his sentence and agreed with him. "And besides that, neither myself nor Laurie were to any of their liking."
He frowned. "How do you know that?"
She sighed as she told him of the meeting with Bill and 'his boys'.
"It was awful," she whispered. "To be mauled and pawed like that, and poor Laurie!"
"And your father allowed that?" James said in disbelief.
"Not for long, as soon as he realised what they were about, he put a stop to the meeting... Bill was not best pleased about that either."
"So Bill Frawnings is trying to force an alliance... for what purpose do you think?"
Iris and Trudy exchanged a look, and they both nodded in agreement.
"We think that they are after power," Trudy said. "From my brother's estate; and from my company."
James looked at Trudy in shock. "In this day and age! They really think that they could pull that old superior male bullshit!"
Trudy laughed bitterly. "You are a fool, James if you suppose that our kind have changed at all, in these past thousand years; they are after all driven by animal instinct and that will always bow down to physical strength first."
James sat back with a sigh as he thought about his kind, of how – brutish, they were most of the time, even his father at times – especially at the time of the full moon, and he himself if he was honest enough with himself; he realised that he liked how he towered over Iris, how protective that made him feel... how strong and in control; and he knew that there were times when he could be downright domineering, but not ever did he feel superior to another, be them male or female, be them human or shifter.
"I think that the sooner we make our union public, the better for us all," he said softly.
He saw Trudy heave a little sigh of relief, but she still regarded him in a guarded almost suspicious way.
"I don't want you to do it – just to protect me," Iris mumbled.
James turned to look into her eyes, and he smiled gently. "I heard you tell your aunt that you loved me, and I am as much in love with you, as you are with me, we are bonded you and I. You have opened up my world, and freed my spirit..."
He frowned suddenly, and his eyes darkened to black. It was as if he grew, before her very eyes; his shoulders seemed to expand, and the room was suddenly too small to contain them all... to contain him, as he radiated power, and energy and barely suppressed aggression, and Iris felt herself cowering beneath this raw power.
"And if Bill Frawnings and his clan think that they can come along and threaten my most beloved, then war it shall be!"
