Page 129 of A Taste of Bliss

“Sounds promising,” Shaun drawls.

“How?” Bliss asks, ignoring Shaun’s quip, her eyes wide with apprehension. She definitely doesn’t want her possible murderer ex-boyfriend on the loose. I don’t either. If he so much as dares to attack her again, he is going to be getting very, very intimate with my siren teeth.

“Jinx Belcross is still here. We have enough evidence to arrest him for the hexes. We could potentially strike a deal. A reduced sentence if he gives up his friend.”

“He won’t,” Bliss says, her shoulders slumping. “They’re too loyal to each other, like brothers.”

“Okay,” Grim says slowly, ignoring the rest of us to focus solely on Bliss. “Plan B, then. You use your powers on him to get him to give up Jordan.”

“Fuck that,” I say immediately. “He helped almost kill her.”

Bliss’ gaze cuts to mine, a look of annoyance crossing her face. “It’s not up to you,” she says, though her voice doesn’t have the bite I think she intended.

“We’ll be there with you. You’ll be perfectly safe.” Grim says all this to Bliss, but he looks at me at the last part.

“No,” I say again, though Bliss is right. It’s not up to me.

Bliss stands up and I groan.

“I’ll do it. I don’t want him or Jordan to hurt anyone else.”

By this point all of Bliss’ friends and family surround our booth. They overheard, and Amelia is now berating Grim for even suggesting Bliss be in harm’s way. I agree wholeheartedly with her.

Taser, though, cuts a path to Bliss. “If you’re going to do this, you need to top off.”

I stand and push my way in between them, about to snarl at Taser. I rein in the impulse just barely and turn to Bliss. “You can use me.”

Bliss takes a deep breath and blows it out through her nose. Slowly she says, “Would everyone just take a step back and stop trying to tell me what to do?”

No,I want to say, but I stop myself. What do I even care? Sure, I don’t want Bliss harmed because she’s a good, decent fae. The same way I don’t want to see Jordan hurt any more humans. But why am I going so far to make sure she’s safe? We aren’t even really friends, are we?

I don’t even like her, I remind myself. She’s self-absorbed and only seems to want to get closer to Wrath, not the guy under the mask.

Is that true?Fuck, my mind is really not on my side right now. But I realize that inner voice is right. She’s not conceited like I originally thought. She’s caring and strong and beautiful.And completely out of your league.

She looks to Taser. “Stop back seat feeding me. And you—” she points to me and I stiffen, lowering my head in shame, “—stop pissing all over the place and marking territory that isn’t yours to mark.” She sets her sights on Grim. “Honestly, the best person to get Jinx to talk would be Amelia. She’s stronger than me. But I’m going with her.”

Amelia starts to nod but stops at the last part. “No, you aren’t. In fact, I think Liz should take you and Reese back home.”

“You too?” Bliss asks, looking a little hurt. “Why is everyone acting like I’m five?”

Reese comes to stand next to her, hooking her arm through Bliss’. “Everyone knows you’re not a child, but Bliss, you haven’t been feeding regularly. I think everyone’s just worried.”

I want to tell her to feed from me. I want to see her with that glow again.

Bliss shakes her head at her friend. “No, I’m going with Amelia. I’m part of the reason that Jordan is doing whatever it is he’s doing. I need to help.”

Amelia makes to argue, but Liz steps in. “Let her make her own choices.”

Grim clears his throat, bringing everyone’s attention back to him. “You’ll both be safe. We’ll be there with you and he will be restrained.”

I grind my teeth in frustration and catch Amelia’s gaze. She looks at me with a brow raised, as if to ask what the fuck I’m going to do about it.

I step in front of Bliss so Grim gets my full attention. “I’m going with, and if that fucker touches one single strand of her hair, I’m going to rip. Him. Apart.” I enunciate each word sohe understands it’s not an empty threat, and I have the teeth to back it up.

Grim swallows, looking up at me. I tower over him by a few inches, and I’m in his face. He takes a step back and nods. “Fine,” is all he says.

We waited at the bar until Grim had given us the all clear. His team arrested Jinx and detained the rest of Dead Hearts to interrogate and see if they knew anything about Jordan’s attacks or Jinx’s hexing. Maybe they were even involved, but that’s for them to figure out.