Page 10 of Mason

"When Mason fucks up, he does it good."

I want to be mad about her snarky words, but she's not wrong.Dealing with demons on top of everything else is going to be… stressful.

Jericho wraps things up with Isadora while I try to figure out why demons would want a reclusive mouse shifter, and why they would send humans to get him when they could do it much faster and cleaner.

"The only thing we have going for us here is that Emberloch Manor is Ravock's domain," Jericho says, making me refocus on him."Isadora's going to put in a good word for us with her brother; but he's a demon, so you'd better pray he's in a generous mood."

Chapter Thirteen

Mason

Ittookafewdays to iron out arrangements with the Emberloch Legion.I'm sure it would have taken longer if the Legion Prince wasn't Isadora's brother.Now, standing inside the cavernous foyer of the Manor, I wonder why we didn't fight harder to meet in neutral territory.It's like walking into the belly of the beast.

"Ah.The Alpha of the elusive Obsidian Shadow Pack, welcome to my nest," a demon I assume is Ravock greets Jericho."My dear sister has always kept the details of your relationship to the Coven sparse.I must admit, my curiosity is piqued by you coming out of the shadows now."

"We shall remain in the shadows," Jericho responds, allowing enough wolf to come through to make his point without issuing a challenge to Ravock's authority.

"Simmer down, wolf," Ravock says."It serves no purpose to betray my sister's secrets.Or yours.She is the only family I have left.I know you understand the importance of that kind of bond."

Not letting himself get further side-tracked and inadvertently give the demon more information than necessary about us, Jericho re-directs the conversation to business.

"It's come to our attention that you may know the whereabouts of someone important to us – a mouse shifter named, Kory."

Ravock taps a finger on his chin, making an over-exaggeration of the thinking posture."I'm sure I don't know anyone by that name."

"You've been in contact with Isadora.You know our source is solid.This manor is somehow connected to his disappearance."

Fire flashes in Ravock's eyes, and the playful version of him is gone in an instant."Do not come into my nest and insult me, wolf.I don't know anything about your missing shifter.Perhaps you should have kept him on a tighter leash."

My wolf bristles, but I push him back."No disrespect meant," I say, taking the heat off Jericho."The missing shifter is my mate.I am desperate to find him."

If I can bring Kory home, maybe it will smooth things over with Hex.Not to mention, Kory is my mate.I'm supposed to protect him.I messed up with Hex.I don't want to repeat that mistake.

"I'll let you know if I hear anything," Ravock says."Now get out."

Jericho and I exit the manor, feeling eyes on us the entire way to the car.

"Well, that could have gone worse," I say, once we're driving away.

"It could have gone better, too."

"Considering we walked out of there unsinged and breathing, I'm calling it a win."

"The manor wouldn't have come up in a vision if it isn't important.We need to stick around and keep an eye on things."

"Don't you think that's pushing our luck.What do you think Ravock will do if he catches us snooping around?"

"Do you want to find Kory, or not?"

Sighing, I lean my head back on the headrest."Of course, I do.I'm not all that enthused about staking out a demon legion whose leader happens to be the brother of the High Priestess that governs our family's curse, though.It's a sticky situation that's bound to get complicated if we get caught."

"You got us into his mess, Mason.Deal with it."

Well, I can't argue with him on that.

Chapter Fourteen

Hex