Page 122 of My Pleasure

He nodded. “This could change everything.”

Hunter wrapped his arms around her. “No pressure or anything,” he said, practically growling at Kendrick.

Kendrick smiled softly. “Of course.”

Meryn stacked the coffee creamer on the saucer. “Humans want immortality, paranormals for the most part have varying degrees of that. And according to Lena, money isn’t that hard to get when you can live hundreds of years. So, whatever that money is for has to be something a paranormal would covet.”

Kiera thought it over. “Not every paranormal has money. I didn’t even know I had money until this week.”

Hunter nuzzled her neck. “I thought we were in ‘nope’.”

“I’m about to leave anyway and I’m curious,” she said.

Meryn giggled. “So, a broke ass paranormal has something that has the shady upper echelon of Storm Keep scrambling for money.”

Kiera was laughing when black cords wrapped themselves around Meryn. “Meryn!” She watched in horror as they floated around the small woman.

Aiden stood, gun half drawn. “What do you see?”

“Black cords.”

Ryuu simply appeared behind Meryn. “It’s him,” he said.

“Him who?” Kiera demanded. “What do we do?”

Aiden walked over to kneel beside Meryn, taking her hands. “We wait.”

*****

“Dude,” Meryn said, looking around. They weren’t in the normal swanky living room. This looked more like a rolling meadow.

“This is goodbye.”

She looked at Xavier. “You said that before.”

“I mean it this time. The final payment was made.”

“Soooo, you just gonna fuck off?”

He laughed. “No. I’m waiting for the Gods’ Assembly, then everything I have worked for will hopefully come to fruition.”

“Good luck?”

“If I get what I desire, it may not end well for you or this world.”

“Oh. Then I hope you fail.”

He chuckled. “You led me on a merry chase.”

“Wrong. I don’t run for anything.”

He hesitated, looking like he wanted to say something.

Meryn took a chance. “Wanna make a deal?”

His eyes brightened. “What did you have in mind?”

“Help me unravel the centuries of clusterfuck that is Storm Keep.”