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She scoffed, taking a sip.

I was kind of bummed her animosity was channeled towards me, because I bet she could be hilarious if she tried.

I turned back towards Bethyn, about to ask her more questions when the doors opened and Ezra came through, dressed simply in pants and a tunic for once. A beautiful, dark-skinned omega stood beside him, a fresh bond-mark glistening on the space between her neck and shoulder.

“Your Majesty,” Ezra said. “I’d like to introduce you to my omega, Canna.”

Alaroth’s focus finally moved from me to my brother. “Youromega?” He then smiled, with all the warmth of an iceberg. “How marvelous, Ezra. You’ve finally decided to settle down.”

Canna’s large eyes, framed by thick, long lashes, looked up at Ezra like he’d hung the moons in the sky.

Oh, that poor female. Did she even know anything about him? About what he’d done, what he was going to do?

Well, Ezra could go to hell, but I wasn’t about to let him drag my new sister-in-law with him. I got up from my seat and walked over to the happy couple, hooking my arm through hers. “I’m Marlowe, Ezra’s sister. It’s so nice to meet you! Come sit next to me so I can tell you all about my brother’s micropenis.”

63

ARCHER

“What’s taking him so long?” Camden growled, pacing the invisible perimeter to the secret vampyr village.

“Calm down, alpha,” Elias sighed. “I think we can trust him by now.”

“I trust Kian just fine, it’sthosebloodsuckers I don’t trust. Who’s to say they’re not torturing him for information? Or to keep him quiet about the location of their base?”

It amused me to see the pack suddenly become so protective of Kian. I had seen potential in him right away, and compared to other alphas, found it easier to put aside prejudices when it came to the pursuit of truth.

Kian wasn’t an academic, but he was an educated male with little bias towards shifters, despite the occasional jab. But they were made in an attempt to tease the others, and didn’t have the bite of enmity one would expect from a “mortal enemy.”

That didn’t mean our kinds still didn’t have a long way to go. Perhaps we would never intermingle, but at least we could eventually put away our silly antagonisms.

I reached through the bond to get a feeling for how Marlowe was doing. I could have sworn I had felt glimpses of fear and terror, but whether they were false or she was getting better at shielding herself in order to keep us from charging after her, I couldn’t be sure.

Her love purred in response, like fingers running gently down my spine.

I missed her so much.

Julian was unable to rid himself of his excess nerves and energy and had taken to shadow boxing by the trees.

Nolan was inspecting the plants, sniffing and rubbing them between his fingers. I watched as he picked one off a vine, testing the taste with his tongue.

Elias sat against a tree trunk, floating a small rock over his open palm. He watched it absentmindedly, then turned to me. “You’re quiet, professor.”

I shrugged. “Just observing. Processing.”

The air sizzled and Kian finally appeared in front of us, half his body still invisible as though he were peeking out of a heavy curtain.

“About Moondamned time!” Camden said, stalking towards our vamp companion. “Did they hurt you?”

Kian smiled, clearly finding Camden’s concern funny. “I’m fine, don’t worry.”

We all rose and headed towards him.

“Well?” Nolan asked. “What’s the vote?”

“They’ve agreed to put us up for the night and to answer any questions we have, but they can’t help beyond that. They don’t want to risk drawing the king’s attention.”

Julian snorted. “Cowards.”