Page 7 of All's Fair in Love and Magic

“If anyone ever mistreats you in my resort again, kill them. If you don’t, I will, and I’ll make it so slow and painful that they beg for death.”

My throat swelled.

He inhaled, and his chest rumbled. Almost like heenjoyedmy peppery scent.

But that couldn’t be right.

I reeked. Cecil had made that clear.

After another moment, Liam released me and stepped back. My attention lingered on his eyes. Was thatfirein those pretty hazels?

I must’ve been imagining it.

He left as quickly as he had arrived, and the room stayed silent when he was gone.

The vampire finally muttered under her breath, “Tell me that bastard didn’t just claim a woman whose name he doesn’t even know and order me to make her comfortable.”

The wolf next to her chuckled. “I can’t.”

The vampire let out a long breath and met my gaze, lifting her voice again. “I’m Bailey.”

“I’m Sage,” I said.

If I had any other option, I would already be running back to my Bug and making the fastest possible getaway I could.

But I didn’t have any other option.

So, when she gestured for me to follow her, I did.

two

SAGE

“I’m notsure how Liam would react to me giving you a tour, considering everything that just happened, so I’m going to show you to his room,” Bailey explained.

The hallway we were walking down was as elegant as everything else I’d seen in the building, and visually, equally empty of people.

But the magic I could feel around me said the emptiness was due to the time of day. There were an assload of supernaturals around—they were just sleeping.

“That’s fine. I only need a safe place to stay,” I said.

It was true, even if I would’ve preferred to get the tour so I could see exactly where I was going to be living.

Potentially forever.

Or until my death. Whichever came first. Death was far more probable than eternity.

“I’m sure he’ll give you a tour when he comes back. We can hope he comes to his senses about the mate thing. Obviously, that came out of nowhere for all of us.

I bit my lip. “What’s the phoenix mating process like?”

“No one knows for sure. He’s a hybrid. His mom was a witch. Sperm donor was a dragon. It’ll probably be some alternate version of whatever the dragons’ process is.”

“What?” The word came out sharper than I expected. “Witches only give birth to witches.” And we were all female.

“Usually. Hybrids are rare, but they do happen.”

They wereinsanelyrare.