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Tiff giggled, twirling. “We’ve got history, us and the goblins.”

“History?”

Topher cut in, surprising everyone. “We nearly wiped out their kind two hundred years ago, so yeah...history.”

That explains it.

“I shouldn’t be surprised you’d wait ‘til the last minute to text,” Kris remarked, her purple hair falling into her eyes. “And all it said was ‘Tied up. Come tout de suite’ which doesn’t exactly explain the direness of over fifty Shadow Goblins.”

“Semantics,” Phillip clapped back, not bothered.

“Having fun, were you?” she asked, her smile all but giving away her amusement.

Phillip’s eyes danced with the earlier glee. “Been a while since I got to use Blood Slayer that much, so yes.”

That would explain Phillip’s earlier excitement, which only solidified my stab junkie theory. Not a great way to start out a partnership with someone. Phillip would be the type to run into a dire situation just to feel alive, and I’d be left to be the adult in the room.

Kris’s brazen look confirmed my internal complaint because she smiled and shrugged. “That’s just Phillip. Sorry.”

“No. I figured my terrible luck would hold out,” I grumbled, causing the other female Hunter to laugh. “But when did you have time to text?” I asked my partner, not once seeing Phil’s phone out.

His smile made me instantly regret asking. “I can teach you—”

“No thanks. I’m good.”

Phillip’s smirk grew more devilish by the second. “I promise to make it a veryinformativelesson.”

Oh, Christ.

The Austrian’s hand cradled his own chin thoughtfully, one finger tracing his lower lip. Then a second finger joined the other, tapping back and forth in a scissoring motion. I didn’t need to be a genius to figure out what sort of sex act he had in mind.

The worst part was how quickly my body heated with the suggestion. It was quite literally my worst nightmare to be turned on in front of a group of people I knew, and I’d never wanted so badly to sink a blade into the other Hunter until that moment.

Someone grunted, and I didn’t have to look over to know it was Nigel. But after he’d made an outright asshole of himself, I barely cared.

“Again, no thanks.”

Claude, or so I suspected by his voice, spoke up. It was difficult to tell them apart when they were matted down black blobs, same as I was.

“Wait, why did everyone get a text except for me?”

Mia, who was the least covered of the group, slid fingers into her goo-matted hair. “Doesn’t matter. I got the text. I told you, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but why only you is my question,” Claude demanded, pouting. “I’m also a part of this group.”

“So, the entrance has to be close. This many goblins in one area is a problem.” As if Claude hadn’t talked, Tiff cut in. She wiped her face with a handkerchief Sloan offered her, all starry-eyed and babbling when Sloan made his way back over to Kris.

Phillip watched the blonde Shifter wipe her face before glancing at me before skating his eyes down my body. “We should regroup. Taking on a society of Shadow Goblins is a high order with as few as we have. We’ll need a bigger team of Hunters. Not to mention showers.”

I gagged a little, the taste of dead goblin in my mouth. “No kidding. Will more come?”

“Probably. We should make ourselves scarce until we get a better action plan together. No sense staying right now if we’re dealing with a high number of them,” Phillip responded.

Nigel finally interjected, his powerful body hard to miss in all the muck. “We’ll wait to hear from you.”

The one guy I’d come to rely on before anyone else stood, slightly slouched, covered in goblin death. He was every bit as tall as he’d always been, but he looked small tonight. Nigel likely spent the rest of the day reflecting on what he’d said to me, and I was still pretty damn angry at him. Because, at the end of the day, it was only really him and a handful of others who could ever hurt me so much with their words.

“The girl I knew wouldn’t whore herself out to some guy who was just going to toss her aside later.”