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Sloan cut in, asking the question I also was curious to know, “I agree that trapping him here with this many would leave him with little options but to succumb if you can summon and bind him. I suspect that’s your aim. But am I sensing a desire to interrogate him as well? Eros will never talk.”

Jo flipped the vial in her hand, lips sliding up knowingly. “We have a Royal Siren in our midst. We’ll get it out of him. It’ll be a good opportunity to teach V how to call on and control her power.”

“What makes you think you know how to control ancient Fae power?” Phillip hissed in a voice full of hostility. His body shifted in agitation, the muscles along his arm flexing. “Who are you getting your information from?”

Sighing, Jo crossed her arms over the shiny body suit she wore, the gleam magnified by Cash’s nearby magic. “It doesn’t matter how I found out,only that I did. And let’s just say I have a history with Royal Sirens. We’ll leave it at that.”

She had a history? Wouldn’t that make her old as fuck? I had so many questions, but I was eager to learn more about my power and how to control it. I’d do anything to make that happen.

After nearly killing two people I cared about, I wanted nothing more than to bury my head in the sand. The idea that it was possible I might never have to worry about hurting anyone I didn’t plan to hurt again was too tempting to deny. It was risky, but my gut told me I could trust her.

Then it hit me. The bracelet. I peered down at my ankle where it was hidden.

As if reading my thoughts, Jo went to a knee and made both of my companions go for their weapons. She tsked them with her tongue and shook her head, lifting her eyes to my face.

“Worried about this?”

With gentle hands that teased my skin, giving me the oddest sensation in my stomach, Jo removed the bracelet Cash gave me earlier.

Both Sloan and Phillip reacted visibly to the sight of it. I had to keep my eyes on Jo to avoid their accusatory stares.

“Clever, but easy to remove. I’ll return this after Eros is questioned and cut to pieces,” she promised with a wink. Standing, the gorgeous woman offered me a quiet look before saying, “But this is a band-aid, V. Learn to control it and you’ll never have to question the way others feel again, though it won’t resolve that other small problem of who for you. But what I can say about that is it’s okay not to know. Live messy. Do what you want, and don’t apologize. That’s what life’s about, right?”

Holy shit.

I stared at her like I couldn’t make sense of her or her words, too shocked to control my face and it gave all of my feelings away in an instant. It was literally crazy-sauce how intuitive and insightful this woman was, who I’d only just met. But it was as if she’d seen right into my heart and said the things I needed to hear. As if she knew the struggle eating away at me the last couple of days.

It struck deep, and it struck hard.

But the craziest part was that instead of mortified, I felt seen. Understood. Supported by her words. A stranger, someone I didn’t know, resolved a month-long dilemma in only a few sentences, and it made it difficult not to bend her ear and ask more questions that’d plagued me all this time—relationship issues I was desperate to understand.

“Live messy. Do what you want, and don’t apologize.”

I wasn’t sure what the usual protocol was for worshipping someone, but I’d do it for Jo. To me, she was a goddess and my new source of strength. It was obvious she lived by those words herself, based on the short half hour I’d known her.

Phillip’s gaze intensified on the woman standing directly in front of me. “What makes you confident this plan will work?”

As if the spell had been broken, I quickly cut my eyes over to Phillip, who didn’t seem the least bit convinced.

“It’ll work, Hunter,” she rebuked, her voice full of disdain. “Don’t be bitter it wasn’t your idea…or your trap.”

Did she know about our plans? How informed is this woman?

“I think we should do it,” I finally asserted, pleading Phillip to play nicewith my eyes.

His jaw relaxed, and he brushed back his hair in resignation. “If you so much as hurt a hair on her head…”

The mysterious vixen standing beside me laughed to herself and twirled a dagger in her hand, not at all put off by his icy tone. “I’m not expecting any of you assholes to trust me right now, and I really don’t care if you ever do. My only goal is to convince V I’m here as her ally. You three can go get fucked.”

Ruthless was the only way to describe Jo. And I wanted to be her when I grew up, seriously.

I barely kept it together as Cash outright gasped in insulted horror. Then, grumbling to himself about scary women, the Dark Fae dug into his little bag of tricks and handed over a stone that looked like every other one he used.

How did he know one from another? All I saw were rocks.

Taking it, Jo rubbed the smooth stone between her fingers, and her lips tilted. “I’ve waited a long time to put that bastard six feet under, and it seems fitting it’d be with the girl who’ll be the reason the Organization burns to the ground and disappears forever.”

Chapter 31