Belladonna

there? Did she know about Sebastian and Glorianna? Or had his own ill-considered words revealed her husband's betrayal? He'd be delighted to see the ripe bastard shut out of the marriage bed, but Lynnea didn't deserve having her heart trampled. And it didn't speak well of Glorianna's heart that she would act the friend while helping herself to another woman's husband. Which might be Sebastian's fault entirely, him being the incubus and all.
    Fool. You should have held your tongue and just done a little ill-wishing so Sebastian would get what he deserved.
    "Michael?"
    At first glance, he thought the person coming into the kitchen behind Lynnea was a feminine-faced bop, but the voice ...
    "Caitlin?" He stepped around Sebastian and the other man. His little sister was here, alive and well. "Caitlin Marie?"
    He knew that particular smile, had looked for it each time he'd come home from his wandering. Her smile of welcome.
    He snatched her off her feet and hugged her hard, feeling laughter bubbling up while tears stung his eyes . He set her down, and leaned back to get a good look at her and assure himself that she was, indeed, well. Which is when the little detail that had caused him to mistake her gender really registered.
    "By the Light, girl! What did you do to your hair! You've cut it so short people will be mistaking you for a boy."
    "No, they won't," Teaser said, suddenly appearing in the doorway beside Lynnea. "Not with a nice pair of tits like she's got."
    Michael spun around, pushing Caitlin behind him. "And what business do you have to be noticing her titties?"
    Teaser shrugged. "I'm just saying."
    Caitlin gave him a shove, which made him turn and stare at her. Raising her chin, she said defiantly, "I don't want to look like a girl — and I'm not going to be any man's whore."
    Before Michael could roar about that, someone grabbed his ear and tugged him to a place at the kitchen table.
    "Sit," an older, dark-haired woman said, ignoring his yelp when she gave his ear another tug. "All this shouting over foolishness. And now you've got the birds upset."
    That's when he focused again on the room in general and realized the noise filling the kitchen wasn't coming from anything human.
    He sat long enough for her to release his ear. Then he popped up from his chair, intending to give Caitlin Marie — and Teaser
    — a piece of his mind.
    The dark-haired woman whacked him on the head with a wooden spoon. "Sit!" she said. "You too, Sebastian. Lee. Teaser."
    Each name was accompanied by her pointing to a chair. "Glorianna, you and Caitlin Marie need to talk, so you girls go into the parlor. Lynnea, you go with them. And the rest of you be quiet!"
    In the hush that followed, Michael looked at Glorianna and recognized a woman who was working up to being well and truly mad. He figured her anger was going to be generously heaped on his head for making everyone aware of Sebastian's infidelity, but he intended to do his best to see that the ripe bastard got a fair share of it.
    "I think the Magician and I need to discuss a few things and clear the air," Glorianna said.
    "Mud wallow?" Lee asked.
    "Lee!"
    He hunched his shoulders when the older woman smacked the table with her spoon. Then she looked at Glorianna. "And I think you need to speak to Caitlin Marie. You may be a powerful Landscaper and a Guide of the Heart, but in this house you are my daughter, and you will do as you're told."
    The air snapped and crackled between the two women.
    Lynnea put an arm around Caitlin's shoulders. "Let's go into the parlor like Nadia asked." She and Caitlin disappeared into another room.
    Glorianna hesitated for one more crackling moment, then followed them.

    "You should be ashamed of yourselves," Nadia said, glaring at the men around her kitchen table. "You're grown men and you're acting like ... like ..."
    "Hooligans?" Michael suggested, giving Nadia his charming smile.
    She whacked him on the shoulder. Apparently charm didn't work with the women in this family.
    "Hooligans," Nadia said. "I don't know what that means, but it sounds like the way you're behaving. Yes. Hooligans."
    "Thanks very much," Lee said dryly. "Now you've taught her another name to call us when she's annoyed about something."
    Nadia gave Lee a whack.
    "He started it," Sebastian said, pointing at Michael. "Coming in here and acting all pissy. Accusing me of being unfaithful —
    and with my cousin no less."
    Cousin? Glorianna hadn't said anything about being