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Jayla sat on the edge of a beanbag chair while Josh perched in a plastic beach chair, and Mike tapped away on his phone as he sprawled on the floor with a bag of chips. My stare burned a hole in his cheek until he finally found me loitering in the shadows. I jerked my head and put my finger to my lips so he wouldn’t alert the others.
Mike casually stood and stretched. “Be right back.”
Josh glanced at his brother, and they did that twin thing where they silently communicated. He nodded and returned his attention to the game with Jayla.
But she was getting too smart for her own good. “Tate, are you home?”
Shit.
“Yeah, just give me a sec,” I called out. “I need to talk to Mike.”
She frowned. “You’re being weird. Come out here.”
As Mike hurried over, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a Snickers. “Give this to Jayla.” Her favorite candy would distract her for at least a few minutes.
Mike took it and jogged toward her, his russet curls bouncing around his head. “Have a Snickers and quit being such a diva.”
Her lips puckered as he dropped the candy in her hand. “A bribe. I’ll take it.” She fought back a smile. “Thanks.”
I chuckled and instantly regretted it as my ribs burned. Mike returned, and we disappeared in the shadows, heading toward the makeshift bathroom where I’d hooked a hose up to the water spigot at the motel next door for running water. The manager was too stoned to ever notice.
“Can you sneak in the back and get me the bandages and peroxide from the green bag?” I asked, grimacing at my wrecked reflection in the watery mirror leaning against the wall.
Mike palmed the back of his neck. “You look like hell.”
“No shit. Why do you think I didn’t let Jayla see me?” I shoved him away. “Get the stuff and try to be sneaky.” I wouldn’t hold my breath, though. Besides pickpocketing, Mike sucked at being stealthy, and Jayla wasn’t stupid.
He waved his hand. “All right. I’m going. No need to be pushy.” He jogged off toward the other two again.
One day, I’d have a real job—at least a less violent one—to afford a home for Jayla and me.
A dark voice in my head laughed and called me a liar. It knew how much I preferred violence over anything else. I liked ramming my fist into bones and flesh. No regular nine-to-five or even theft would bring me the kind of joy fighting did…
The memories faded,and I returned to the shower in my room at Corvin Manor. My skin felt like ice despite the hot water pounding against it. Jayla was the only family I’d had, and she took up the tiny amount of love still existing in me, but the twins had always been there for me, as much as other homeless teens could be. They didn’t deserve their fate either, and they wouldn’t have died if not for me. I’d asked them to watch Jayla that night.
I choked back the tears, shut the water off, and snatched the towel off the hook outside the stall. The soft terrycloth still felt rough against the cuts and bruises marring my body. Steam clouded the bathroom as I pulled the shower curtain open and stepped onto the plush rug. My wet, pinkish-red hair stood out in the foggy mirror above the white countertops.
“I’m still debating on whether or not I should sneak in here and slaughter that bitch.”
My heart shot into my throat, and I stumbled into the wall. “What the hell, Maverick?”
The demon shifter leaned against the door, his arms crossed and muscles straining beneath the gray Henley shirt. “She tried to kill you.”
I grabbed my chest and glared at him as steam curled around his sharp face and those burning eyes. Memories of Jayla had preoccupied me so much that I hadn’t noticed his presence. As his words sank in, my brows lifted. “You seem to care an awful lot about me living or dying. Why is that?”
“If anyone is going to kill you, it’s going to be me, Teague.” He pushed off the wall and closed the distance between us, his gaze raking over my exposed skin as he took in the injuries from the sub-demons.
My finger reached out, and I drew the neckline of his shirt down. “What happened to your necklace?” The spelled bloodstone he wore to find me no longer dangled from his neck.
Fane shrugged. “Don’t need it anymore. I found Warin’s killer.”
My spine straightened, and I dropped his shirt. “What do you want?”
“I want to watch that female raven die.”
I stooped, opened the cabinet beneath the sink, and rummaged around for the first aid kit. “How do you know what happened? You disappeared when Roxie showed up.”
“I was there. You were just too busy fighting off a swarm of dragos to see me.” Fane propped his hip against the counter, his fiery, spicy scent warming me more than the hot shower had. “They would have killed you if you hadn’t—”
