The Vigilante & The Dragon - Book 1 of the Guardians Saga [COMPLETED]

Brother vs. Brother Ch. 5.1

"Cale? Build something? You were suckered. He can't build a relationship. I'll build it." Rile's voice and expression were hard.

"That's so mean," Alex said. "He said that you didn't have the patience and I'm not tolerating your mouth while we work on a shower. I'll take tactful and willing to learn over someone who calls me a whore."

Rile's hard expression melted in confusion. "I never meant that. I swear. I'm doing penance for that. What else do you want me to do?"

Alex shrugged. "What do you want to do? Find something that needs to be done, that you want to do, and do it. I'm not your leader."

"One leader is more than enough," Rile said. "I'll keep busy and be more useful than both of my brothers. Hand over the Szechuan chicken."

"Don't order me around, Leather Face," Alex retorted.

With snake/like speed, Rile leapt across the table. Cale jumped up and met him with practiced ease. Alex yelped and tossed a white sparkling blast, nicking both of the dragon brothers. Gabe rescued Cale's plate with a sigh. Cale and Rile rolled around, wrestling, while Alex watched, wide-eyed, and Gabe continued eating. With a shout, Rile pinned Cale to the floor.

"Yield," Rile ordered.

Alex jumped on Rile's back, grabbed his neck with her hands and fired. "Yield this!"

He collapsed on top of Cale, who groaned with the sudden weight of both his brother and Alex on top of him. Alex jumped up.

"Sorry," she told Cale.

Cale smiled and laughed and laughed, rousing Rile, who rolled off his brother.

"Excellent job," Gabe told Alex calmly and Rile started laughing as well.

"Are y'all insane?" Alex asked.

"Not at all," Cale said. "You never know when you'll be attacked. It's legitimate training." He sat up and offered Rile a hand.

"Really? Y'all will jump each other anytime?" Alex asked.

"Usually not meals," Cale said.

Rile looked at his plate, contents spilled on the floor. "Yes, especially the wonderful food of this New Orleans."

"You should go without," Gabe told him. "Because of the waste."

"Perfect Eldest Son," Rile hissed.

"Now, now," Alex said.

"Excellent training deserves excellent food," Cale said. He offered Rile his own plate that Gabe had saved, and then winked at his oldest brother. "Alex is unaware of our customs and still performed well."

"I'm sorry I blasted you," Alex told him.

Cale shrugged. "Just a nick. You'll improve and miss me next time."

"I declare my shower a 'no attack' zone," Alex said. When Rile grinned wickedly, she said, "It's a human thing. A human female thing."

"So noted," Gabe said and pointed his chopstick at Rile. "Sit, eat. Alex has had enough of our customs for one day. We shall observe hers tonight."

****

After all the food was consumed, Alex stacked the empty containers and tossed them in the trash. "I love cleaning after take-out food."

Cale picked up the plates, cups, and utensils and put them in the sink.

"I'll wash them in the morning," Alex said. "Too exhausted tonight." She stretched and yawned.

"I'll wash them," Cale said.

"You should sleep on our couch," Gabe said. "You don't have any soft surfaces here."

"Thanks. Tomorrow I'll buy a mattress, couch, and recliner. Lead on."

*****

Once in their apartment, Gabe unfolded a blanket for Alex and laid it across the couch. Rile watched, arms crossed over his chest, unreadable expression on his face. Cale clacked his claws together nervously, anxiety writ large on his face.

"Do you have a pillow?" Alex asked.

"What's that?"

"Never mind," Alex said. She remembered how sinuous the brothers were, how soft Gabe's hide had been...she shut down that thinking.

Alex pillowed her on the arm of the couch, pulled the blanket up to her chin, and tried to think of nothing. Her increased need for sleep dragged her under and prevented her from eavesdropping on the furiously hissing brothers in their bedroom.

"Why did you tell her to sleep on the couch, moron?" Rile asked.

Gabe stiffened, back perfectly straight, hands fisted. "It was the most appropriate place."

"You great golden prude! We sleep in a clan bed! Our entire race has slept together for all history!" Rile jabbed a claw into Gabe's prominent chest.

"That is for family," Gabe hiss-growled deep in his chest. "Right, Cale?"

Cale glanced anxiously between them. "And allies. And Guardian teammates."

Rile grinned. "Cale has the right of it."

Gabe hiss-growled again. "I saved Alex, She is not a formal ally nor our teammate."

Rile laughed nastily. "Alex saved your leathery hide, o great Clan Head. I only took her out because she didn't realize we would attack someone who saved their brother."

Gabe pushed into Rile's face, muzzle to muzzle, the hiss-growl growing. "We saved each other. That's over. The Portal Guardian has not made her our teammate. Until then, she sleeps on that couch while we guard her."

"Okay." Cale dragged the numerous blankets from the bed and into the living room. He heaped them into a nest by the couch. "Perfect compromise. We sleep in our clan bed and we guard Alex, all at once. Good night."

He curled into a ball, his back against the couch. Alex's hand fell and dangled over the side of the couch. Quick as a snake, Rile slid between Cale and the couch and caught her hand. He piled on top of Cale so that he could clasp her hand to his chest.

"I told you to not presume to touch Alex," Gabe hiss-growled.

"As the humans say: you snooze, you lose," Rile replied. He tapped Alex's hand. "Want me to wake her up? I'll point the hand of power right at your head."

"By the Creator of All, stop squabbling like juveniles," Cale said. "Alex said she needed a lot of sleep to recharge. If we are truly Guardians, we will want the best for her, which is a lot of sleep. A lot. Gabe, lie down. Now."

Both Gabe and Rile stared at Cale in shock.

"Did he really just order me to lie down?" Gabe asked.

"I'm right here," Cale snapped. "And yes I did. Since you're not acting like our Guardian leader, it falls by default to me. Lie down. Now."

Rile snickered.

"Quiet, you," Cale ordered. "Sleep or I will pray the longest prayer you two have ever heard. Your tympanums will shrivel with old age before I am through. Now lie down and sleep."

Gabe lay down, trying to preserve his dignity, his back to Cale. Rile clapped his free hand over his muzzle to prevent further snickering. Soon the three relaxed into sleep, although Rile never released Alex's hand.

*****

A/N
Did I succeed in spicing up this chapter? Character and world a bit?

I'm discouraged and feel like axing this whole chapter. Thoughts ? RainerSalt BookAddictAR --nemo-- Cocosghost