Do Or Die [Nuworld 4] (27 page)

“Yes, but we don’t have time for this.” Ana waved her hand impatiently, and

Andru shot his eyebrow up at her.

Tara shot Darius a glance, which he returned. When had Ana ever taken the upper

hand with her brother?

“I suggest you make the time,” Andru shot back at her. “We need to brainstorm this

through, which we can hardly do if we don’t know all the facts.”

Ana sighed loudly and turned, her hand going to the underside of her belly, and

looked for a seat. Gilroy moved quickly, pulling her down on top of him as he sat down

in one of Meah’s stuffed chairs. Ana began talking. She asked Meah to insert the disc

with the recorded conversation on it. As the disc played, Meah moved to the kitchen

and prepared coffee for them. Once the conversation finished there was silence for a

minute.

“I’m impressed, Ana.” Darius actually smiled at his daughter.

Ana couldn’t believe her ears. She hugged Gilroy’s arms, which were wrapped

around her huge waist, then looked at her brother who also smiled his approval.

“As I mentioned earlier,” Tara spoke up, “our daughter has incredible leadership

skills.”

Ana couldn’t handle any more flattery. She straightened on Gilroy’s legs and his

arms tightened like a vise.

“We need to go get Lara,” Ana announced. “Meah is commander of the Red Star

armies.”

Ana noted the men in the room give Meah the once-over, summing up this bit of

information, along with the display she’d given earlier. Meah didn’t bat an eye and her

expression was unreadable.

“What shall we charge her with?” Meah looked directly at Ana.

“That one is easy. We’ll charge her with poisoning my unborn child,” Ana said

calmly, but then struggled when Gilroy almost dropped her.

“What?” Everyone in the room asked at the same time.

“What are you talking about?” Andru moved around the counter but stopped next

to his mama. He wouldn’t get any closer to Meah, who stood on the opposite side of the

room close to Ana.

“She didn’t really.” Ana waved them all back into their seats. “But it will be her

word against mine. We all know she practices the ways of the she-witch. And everyone

here, except you, Meah, has witnessed her spells and potions firsthand. So we send a

group of scouts after her and bring her back to the Blood Circle Clan where she will be

tried by Runner law, which she professes to fall under. Then, while she’s out of the

picture, we infiltrate her clan and determine their loyalties. They are either dispersed or

sworn in with loyalty to Tara.” She gestured to her mama.

“I like it.” Tara slapped her leg. “Meah, assemble a group of about ten scouts. I

don’t anticipate we’ll have any trouble, but just in case.” She looked at Darius. “Maybe

we should have an army ready on backup.”

Darius nodded. Meah moved toward the door but then locked gazes with Andru

and stopped. She turned to face Ana.

“Who will accompany the scouts?” Her blue-green eyes searched Ana’s gray ones

and she noticed for the first time how identical the twins were.

“We’ve already concluded this is a Runner issue…you and I will accompany them,”

Ana said and somehow managed to stand up before Gilroy could grab her. He was up

instantly behind her.

“Meah, I’ll accompany you to assemble your scouts.” Tara stood and tapped

Darius’ leg, then indicated with her eyes that he should follow.

Andru would be damned if the inky black-haired vixen would not acknowledge his

authority. He stood glaring down at her until she was forced to literally step around

him so she could accompany Tara and Darius who were already outside the trailer. Ana

attempted to follow but Gilroy and Andru obviously were thinking the same thing. One

hand grabbed her by the back of the neck while the other took her chin in his hand. She

had a rushing memory of being in between these two men and her heart began

pounding.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Andru brought her chin up until their eyes

met.

“I already told you where I’m going.” She knew holding her ground would be

useless and was thankful at least that they didn’t conduct this scene in front of Meah.

“I don’t think so.” Gilroy spoke into her ear and her eyes went up trying to see him.

“The only place you’re going is home.”

“Dr. Digo said I was in perfect health and the baby is just fine,” Ana argued.

“And we’re going to see that you stay that way,” Andru spoke and then looked

over her head at Gilroy. “Contact Gothman and have a small army assemble to the

north of the Blood Circle Clan, just in case we’re needed. And with that hotheaded

vixen leading the Runner scouts…we’ll be needed.”

“So you do like her.” Ana smiled broadly and Andru released her chin. She fell

backwards into Gilroy and leaned against him. “She’d make a perfect claim for you.

She’s quite beautiful and actually she’s very nice.”

Andru laughed and shot her a dirty look then looked up at Gilroy. “I admit a good

fucking might put her in her place, but she’d make a lousy claim. I’d kill her.”

Gilroy laughed in agreement, but Ana rolled her eyes at both of them. “Yeah,

right,” she said, ignoring her brother’s ego. “Kind of like the way Papa has killed

Mama.”

Chapter Sixteen

Ana remained quiet as she flew home in between her papa and Andru. It was a

successful mission. She’d proven to everyone that she could lead the Runners…and,

she’d proven it to herself. As they landed by the large garage behind her house she felt

the wave of exhaustion kick in and almost teetered as she worked her leg over the side

of her glider. Her papa was behind her, bracing her so she could climb free of the glider,

before Andru realized she needed help.

“You bring back memories of when your mama was like this, yes,” Darius spoke

fondly although his expression was grave. “She refused to stop until she was ordered to

bed, she did.”

“That could be arranged.” Andru crossed his arms and tried to sound strict but his

eyes betrayed him and Ana simply made a face and stuck her tongue out at him.

“She carried two babies. She must have been twice the size that I am now.” She

looked up at her papa, hoping he wouldn’t mind sharing his thoughts with her.

No such luck. One of the guards on duty called to him and he gestured with a hand

that he’d be there in a minute. He smiled at his daughter and, much to her surprise as

well as her brother’s, he stepped forward and kissed her forehead.

“Know that I’m proud of you, my lass. Go rest now. You’ve put in a good day’s

work, you have.” He patted her cheek then quickly resumed his usual stance. “And,

your mama didn’t know she was going to have two of you until just a few weeks before

you were born. I don’t think she was much bigger than you are now, no.”

Ana’s jaw fell as she watched her papa walk off. “I need to focus on hiring some

nannies. There’s no way I could handle two babies at the same time.”

She glared at Andru’s smile then headed for the house. The stairs seemed to take

forever and she was grateful more than once for Andru’s quiet presence behind her

when twice she grew dizzy and reached for the banister.

“You overdid it today.” He spoke quietly as he reached for her when she stopped at

the top of the stairs.

“Maybe. But I’d do it all over if given the chance.”

He followed her into her private suite and she heard him lock the door behind

them. She walked straight over to the large bed she shared with Gilroy and crawled on

top of the covers before collapsing onto the pillows. Andru spread out alongside her

before wrapping his arms around her. She cuddled into his chest and then relaxed

completely knowing she would be asleep in minutes. He kissed her forehead and she

smiled.

“Meah mentioned earlier something about a proposal,” he whispered into her hair.

“What was she talking about?”

Ana looked up at him realizing this was probably why he’d come to bed with her.

She smiled sleepily. “I told her if she successfully carried out this mission for me, I’d

make her my first assistant.”

“You don’t know that much about her.”

“I’m impressed by what I’ve seen so far,” she said, fighting giggles that threatened

to test her brother’s ego. “Any woman who can take down my brother, I definitely want

on my side. Besides, I do know some things about her. I had plenty of time to research

the Red Star information site while she took you all on a tour of her clan site. She’s the

younger, but has all the leadership skills. She’s not happy there and needs more out of

life. What better than to bring her here?”

“Would you have her command your armies as well?”

“I might as well. She’s got the experience. I’ll see how she does bringing in Lara,

and I’ll see what Mama and Gilroy have to say about her.”

“If she commands your armies she’ll work closely with Gilroy.”

Ana looked up at him with a blank gaze. He could see the exhaustion swimming in

her eyes and could also see she had no idea what he was talking about. He lowered his

head and kissed her affectionately on the lips.

“Hold me while I sleep,” she murmured after he’d kissed her soundly. And he did.

* * * * *

Gilroy wasn’t surprised to find his bedroom door locked when he couldn’t find

Andru later that evening. In the darkness of the night, it took a minute to make his key

fit into the small lock, but he was in the room seconds later. He stood at the end of the

bed for a moment allowing his eyes to adjust before walking over to the side of the bed

where Andru lay next to his claim. There was some relief when he realized both of them

were fully clothed and above the blankets. The pain in his heart was real, though, and

all he could do to stop it was harden the wall surrounding his feelings. He breathed

deeply before tapping Andru on the shoulder until the man stirred and turned his head.

Andru blinked twice and for a minute was confused by the darkness. He focused

on Gilroy standing over him and wondered what he was doing there. It was then that

he realized he still slept with his arms wrapped around his sister and his stomach

bolted. Slowly, he pulled his arms free of Ana and then stood to face Gilroy. The two

men stared at each other for a moment. Andru would face Gilroy. He’d never been