Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“Ex boyfriends, right? Never want to take accountability,” I say and keep walking.
Larkin stands when she sees us, eyes wide. I smooth out my hair and make sure the tie of my halter dress is still in place, covering the nasty bite on my neck.
“Just act normal,” I tell Delphi and James.
“What the hell?” Larkin sits back down, eyes very faintly glowing yellow.
“The guy was possessed,” James rushes out, still shaking his head.
“Was?” Bazzel echoes, cocking an eyebrow. “Did you kill him?” He looks at me.
“No.” My brows push together as I replay it in my head. “It was weird.”
“Yeah,” Victoria quips. “You chased a guy out of here.”
“He was already running,” I retort. “I just followed him.”
“And now you’re back as if nothing happened,” Larkin says. “You might have the highest kill-count in the Order and be one of the best hunters they’ve ever seen, but now you’re a public figure, a politician of sorts. The general public recognizes you, and we look at you,” she drops her voice and I know she’s talking about the other members of the coalition and their respective followers.
“What can I say?” I shake my head. “You can take the girl out of the Order, but you can’t take the Order out of the girl.” I bite my lip and inhale, still trying to make sense of this. “I don’t know your stance on demons, but something bad is happening.”
“We don’t have a stance,” Larkin presses. “Werewolves have enough issues within our packs that we don’t get involved in black magic.”
“Black magic and demons are mutually exclusive,” I start but then stop. There’s no point trying to explain this to her. I don’t need to convince her of anything to know what happened isn’t normal. The demon self-ejected to avoid me. It’s a common tactic I’ve seen demons use time and time again, especially with lower-level demons who can’t fight back the same way more powerful demons do.
But the way it left the body…I’ve never seen that before.
“I don’t mean to sound rude or anything by rushing out of here,” I start. “But I think I should go back upstairs.”
“No need,” Larkin says, eyes on the elevator. “Your vampire husband is already here.”
Chapter
Fifteen
“Hi,” I say as Xavier comes to the table. I scramble up and out of the booth, standing before him, His hands go to my arms, thumbs slowly caressing my skin. “Before you ask, I stopped this one from running into oncoming traffic.”
“The fact that men are literally diving in front of cars to evade you is telling, my love,” he says seriously.
I let out a snort of laughter. “Am I that awful to be around?”
“I didn’t want to say anything…” He makes a face and then smiles before looking me over. Once he’s sure that I’m okay, he shifts his gaze to the wolves behind me. Everyone but Larkin tenses.
“Crown Alpha,” he greets her. Oh shoot, I was way off with my greeting. I hope she knows it was from lack of knowledge and not lack of respect. The Order has issued kills on werewolves before, but Leo and I always refused, making my interactions with them rather limited. “Dare I ask what your pack is doing in vampire territory?”
“Xavier Malus,” Larkin says slowly, rising to her feet. “I distinctly remember a conversation where you said what’s mine is yours and yours is mine, but did that only apply to one of us?”
“The Vampire Council has called a summit. You are putting your pups in harm's way by gathering here.”
“We can handle a few rowdy vampires,” she says, not showing even an ounce of fear. “And it seems your wife can too.” She raises her eyebrows. “She knows her way around demons, at least. The Order raises them well, don’t they?”
“There was a demon,” I interject, knowing this can go from zero to sixty in half a second flat. “Here, in this bar. And it was weird. He stopped and looked at us like he knew we weren’t normal humans and then took off. I followed him. He tried to get himself canceled, I prevented that from happening, and then the demon jumped bodies and it got weirder. The demon that came out of him…it was goop. Like really gross goop. Usually, when the demon comes out, you see a whoosh like a shadow and sometimes it can look like magical dust rising into the air. I’ve never seen this before.” I put my hands on Xavier’s chest, feeling a thrill go through me as my fingers press against his firm body. “Something big is going on. Something none of us should overlook.”
He studies me for a second and then looks behind me again at the wolves. I let my hands slide down his chest and turn. Delphi’s eyes are wide and she’s looking at Xavier with distrust, though, like the others, she’s ready to defend her alpha at a moment’s notice. Bazzel, who comes from a different pack, is just as ready to jump.