Page 81 of Their Lethal Pet

Both men freeze the moment they see me, their eyes widening in shock.

Because yeah, they recognize me.

Just like I recognizethem. “What the fuck are you two doing here?” I demand.

Sebastian Sanguinis and Cage Van Drakken.

Fuck, if Lucifer catches wind of this, he’s going to lose his godsdamn mind. These two are rival Strigoi heirs, bothof them coming from vastly different royal families.

Royal families thathateeach other. Primarily because they’re both eligible for the same throne—the Strigoi King’s throne. Technically, Sabre is next in line. But Cage could challenge him for it. And from what I’ve heard, the Van Drakken family is urging him to do so.

Like vampires, Strigoi are extremely dedicated to their family covens. Consorting with outsiders is frowned upon.

Yet here they are, waltzing hand in hand down the path.

Well, they were waltzing.

Now they’re just frozen and gaping at me.

“Flame?” Sebastian—who prefers to be calledSabre—says, blinking at me like I might not be real. Considering they live and feed off dreams, it’s possible he thinks he’s lost in one.

But that dream is about to become a nightmare.

Because Orcus is going to fucking kill these guys.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I repeat. “Howare you even here? Maliki should have closed the portal by now.” And we were well beyond Monsters Night hours now, too. Which is why the streets were so clear before.

“Flame?” Alina calls, causing both men to glance over my shoulder toward the female I now sense behind me. “What’s…?” She trails off. Probably because she sees the two intimidating men on the path.

They’re both tall, broad-shouldered, and aristocratic in nature. But the hint of red flickering in their eyes reveals the predators inside, especially as they study her now.

Because they were just fucking dreamwalking in her head.

“Keep looking at her,” I dare them. “See what happens.”

Sabre is the first to glance away, his dark eyes meeting mine. The red is entirely gone now, confirming he’s no longer linked to the dream plane.

Good.

Because if he spent another minute there, I might kill him. Mainly because my mate is probably the one who lured him there.

“Apologies, Flame,” he says. “We didn’t realize she was yours.”

Cage clears his throat, his focus shifting toward me as well. “Yes, sorry. We… we were just wandering.”

“In a realm you have no business being in,” I say, my tone a show of dominance. Not because I have any royal status to stand on, but because I represent a very different level of power. Godlike power.

Sabre and Cage are high enough in rank to know that Orcus is Hades’s primary enforcer.

Just as they both know Reaper and I are Orcus’s seconds-in-command.

“How did you get through the portal?” Maliki was only supposed to let Ghouls through. But Ghouls and Strigoi both share the Morpheus Kingdom, so I suppose word of the portal could have spread to a few Strigoi, which means there might be more of them meandering about.

Fuck.

This is a mess.

“Maliki helped us escape,” Sabre says, his spine straightening. “He told us about the portal and offered us a way out. We took it.”