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“Did you know she poisoned me?” I said to distract him. I’d been meaning to tell him anyway and not just out of spite for Siobhan. There were more important things to worry about now.

He was still as a grave and just his eyes moved to meet mine. They were filled with dawning horror, his savage wolf eye flashing like a warning. “Excuse me?”

“She poisoned me. Nasty stuff. Enough to kill several humans and make me quite sick. She had no idea what I am so she was certainly trying to kill me, and she gloated about it, wanted me to know it was her. That’s why I threw her out of a window.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He was reacting even worse than I was expecting, and I rubbed his chest comfortingly as I answered. “I was being stubborn. I wanted the fight all to myself. But you should know that about her. She’ll break your rules if it means hurting me. And you should think about what that might mean for Conan. He won’t be safe from her. She can’t be allowed near him, ever.”

“She needs to be punished,” he said quietly, vehemently.

“That wasn’t really the point of me telling you. It was years ago, and I already punished her. It took her weeks to heal from that fall.”

“It wasn’t enough.” He looked like a wrathful fallen angel set to go on a holy rampage.

Alright then. I changed the subject again if only to shift his attention away from murder. “I also heard you two were seeing each other again right before I came back.”

It worked. His mouth twisted and he looked annoyed, though not at me for once. “Siobhan started that rumor. She thought that the positive public reaction to it would prove some point to me about her suitability as a mate. I corrected the notion quite vehemently as soon as I heard of it. And then everyone drew their own conclusions. They always do, as you well know. Druids love gossip. Anything else?”

“I guess not. It’s in the past. Thank you for explaining yourself. I know I have no right to question the things you did after I left you.”

“You don’t need to put limits on your rights where I’m concerned.” He touched my cheek and caught my eye. “You have them all. You always did.”

That earned him a rare public kiss from me. Both hands gripped into his hair, and I really let him have it. It always floored me that he never hesitated to show vulnerability. He’d always been like that, giving me the world before I even thought to ask for it.

“I’d like to say something.” The loud statement came out of nowhere and the room turned its attention to the speaker.

I pulled back from a reluctant Dom. We’d both forgotten ourselves for a rare moment there.

It was Siobhan. She looked like she’d been crying. She was in the middle of the room, and she strode up to Sloan as she said it, not stopping until they were face to face, less than a foot apart.

“I challenge you,” Siobhan told Sloan.

Sloan just eyed her like she was a particularly pesky insect. She was only a few inches taller than the other woman, but managed to look down at her like it was a full mile. “Really? Now?” she asked, but she didn’t refuse.

“Yes, now. Right this minute.”

I felt Dom tense, about to intercede, but someone beat him to it.

“Not a chance!” Cam growled at Siobhan, getting between them and right in her face. There was venom in his tone, contempt in his demeanor when I’d never heard him so much as say a harsh word to Siobhan before. No one looked more taken aback by that than Siobhan herself.

“Did you forget how to count?” he asked her in a snarl, “You know how this works. You want a shot at her you go through me first. I’m third. You wanna go? We’ll go.” Relish hugged every word.

“She never even fought you!” Siobhan yelled at him. She looked baffled and hurt, but even with tears pouring down her face she wasn’t backing down. “Why are you standing in my way but not hers?”

“I don’t answer to you, but I’ll tell you this: You challenge her again, and I’ll put you down so hard into the dirt you won’t be getting back up.”

I glanced at Dom’s face. He had his hand at the small of my back and was watching them gimlet-eyed, but he was still not interfering.

“Why do you defend her like this?” Siobhan asked him. She was crying openly now.

I almost told her myself to get a clue, but I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to get in the middle of this mess. I had plenty of my own. For once I hadn’t made the mess myself. Mostly.

Though I admitted to myself that her misdirected rage was probably fueled in large part by hatred of me and Dom’s reconciliation.

“You’ve had plenty of time to adjust to this,” Cam told her. “I won’t coddle you anymore. All you need to know is that I will never challenge Sloan, and she will always outrank you. Grow up and fucking deal with it.”

She just stared at him like she didn’t believe it.

If it was anyone else I’d have felt bad for her.