Page 6

I sucked in greedy gulps of air, but the fog in my head cleared, so I shoved him away with a click of my tongue. Collecting my discarded clothes, I redressed while Silas leaned against the door, his chest rising and falling with effort. His eyes followed me for a few seconds before he finally figured out what I was doing.

“Wait a tick. I’m not done, little rebel.”

“ButIam,” I countered, nudging the brute to the side so I could open the door.

He worked his way into the space between me and the exit, arms crossed. “You could barely call that a reward.”

I scoffed, then pushed hard enough to dislodge the pain-in-the-ass brute. I inhaled a calming breath and leveled a glare on him. He grinned like I was the cutest thing he’d ever seen, and my rage only worsened. I yanked the door open, ignoring the fact that he still had his dick out. “I’ve got shit to do, so you’ll just have to wait, or so help me, Silas—”

“You know how I love it when you use your mammy voice on me…” His pretty silver eyes were practically sparkling, all mischief and excitement. “Gets me so bleeding hot.”

I evaded his reach as he attempted to capture me again. I slammed my fist wrapped with magic into his stomach—something he clearly hadn’t expected—and the oversized idiotcollapsed. Without waiting, I left him to his painful grunts and returned downstairs where Lev was waiting, smirk on his face.

“Back already?” he teased.

I shot a scathing glare at him the same way I had Silas. “Don’t you start, either. Let’s get this over with so I can send Grandmother on her way.”

3

Nika

Ididn’t acknowledge Silas or his very visible erection as he took a seat next to me. The asshole spread his legs wide enough to make his point. Silas never hid how much he wanted me, and from the way Lev visibly cringed after one look at the brute, he definitely wished he would.

The mercenary’s arm was laid across the top of the couch, and like he wasn’t embarrassingly erect or been thoroughly chastised only minutes ago, his fingers toyed with the loose hair dangling at the back of my neck. “So what now? Your Soul Collector voodoo, is it?” he sassed, tickling my nape in an effort to get my attention.

I ignored him. “Lev, you ready?”

My friend opened his mouth, but Silas spoke first. “Come now, love. Everything went to plan, didn’t it? Doesn’t your handsome boyfriend deserve a reward…or three?”

“For what, agitating Black? Or maybe you mean for watching her and I do all the work?” Lev teased. “If anyone deserves a reward, it’s me. Everything went perfectly to plan because I showered that bastard with my drink.”

“Steady on, lad. I knew where to find that seedy wanker. It was my information that put her in that seat. I’m the reason everything could happen in the first place.”

“And you get rewarded for it every night, if my interrupted sleep has anything to say about it,” Lev clapped back.

I glared at my blue-haired friend, not amused. He simply smiled in that roguishly handsome way of his, as if to say I had it coming. My punishment for not keeping the beast at bay. To be fair, no one really could. Not even Silas could rein himself in when it mattered. That was half our issue.

“Oh aye, lad. You do make a very fine point there,” Silas acquiesced too quickly, chuckling to himself.

“Just kiss already,” I said to them, smirking in triumph when both men responded in a ridiculously cartoonish way. Equal parts disgusted and insulted. “Now shut up. I need to focus. Lev, be ready to draw whatever I can get transferred to the mirror. Not sure if I’ll be able to hold the images in it for very long.”

Lev had already put the enchanted mirror on the coffee table. It’d capture any images I sent to it, and he’d draw them. After, we’d wipe anything it kept. But first I needed to lure Tobas into giving his master away.

I sighed and reached into my mind, searching for the feeling before his voice echoed from ear to ear. It wasn’t as disembodied as before. It was clear and rich like I imagined it would’ve been when he was alive.

“How odd to be living inside the head of the woman Rilas can’t seem to forget or defeat,”he murmured in contemplation, his genuine interest tickling across my mind.

Silas and Lev watched me as I leaned forward, centering my effort on the man in my head. “You don’t seem surprised I’d come to find you,” I said out loud so the other two would hear it.

“I wasn’t. Rilas knew you would.”

I blocked the surprise and confusion threatening to filter into my thoughts. I’d know if he was lying or being intentionally misleading, but he wasn’t. At least to Tobas, he was telling the truth. Had we walked straight into a trap?

The look I shot over to Silas had the mercenary suddenly on alert. I quickly signed my concern with well-practiced hands, a silent communication my father taught me when I was younger, and the other two were quick to move into action. I needed Tobas to think that I hadn’t suspected anything, so I continued to pry.

“He knew?” I asked with a burst of intrigue, and the strong sensation of pride answered back.

He thought he’d gotten one over on me, and I needed him to continue to think he had. Whatever tie he had with Rilas, it was set into motion the second I collected his soul. In my gut, I knew it. We didn’t know what Rilas could do, and if he was pretending to hide so he could strike when we least expected it, then planting Tobas would definitely be a good way to go about it.