Page 41 of Wicked Bonds

At least, that was what the group had said.

Now it seemed she had no choice but to go along with the plan. Not that she disagreed with it. She just… didn’t want to give anything else away.

He already knew too much.

And this would just make things more complicated.

“On the contrary, Lee,” he murmured, his lips suddenly at her ear. “I think this is going to make everything more interesting instead.”

The warmth of his body pressed into her back as he gently took hold of her hips. It wasn’t forceful or even uncomfortable. Merely natural. Like their bodies were meant to relax with one another.

Yet she suspected that if anyone else had entered her personal space in this manner, she would have had a few comments.

But Balthazar wasn’t anyone else.

He was…hers.

A risky realization. A false one, too. However, it felt like an accurate proclamation.

She’d claimed him in a way she’d never claimed anyone else. She didn’t quite understand it. But such was life.

His lips met her temple. A tender brush of a kiss. Yet it was underlined in so much mutual understanding that her heart skipped a beat.

You shouldn’t come with me,she told him.It’s dangerous.

“It’s already done,” he whispered, drawing her attention to the energy in the room.

Everyone was preparing to depart.

Even Ezekiel and Skye.

Does she agree with this path?Leela wondered.Did anyone even ask?

She opened her mouth to do just that, when Skye turned toward her as though Leela had called the seer by name.

She met Leela’s gaze in the next breath, her startling blue eyes rimmed with uncertainties and unfathomable sights. “Don’t go to Morocco. He will know, and your true allegiance will be revealed.”

Ezekiel frowned. “True allegiance?”

“To the council,” Leela said, her voice barely audible.To the Fates.Tohim.

Because she knew what Skye meant.Whomshe referred to. And what would happen whenhefound her.

There was a reason Leela excelled at avoiding tracker Seraphim.

“It’s not worth the risk, Leela. Nothing is worth that risk,” Skye stressed. “He’s one ofthem. Not true in form. A mask. All of them aremasks.”

“Who?” Ezekiel pressed, his palm cupping her jaw and shifting her focus to him. “Who are the masks, Skye?”

She blinked at him, then canted her head to the side. “Can I go swimming in the Aegean Sea now? I would enjoy that much more than this frigid snow.”

He sighed, his lips curling up fondly as he studied her features. “Of course, love.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, brushing a kiss against his jaw before curling into him. “Take me to the sea.”

His ebony irises glistened with golden flecks as he lifted his gaze apologetically to Leela. She nodded in response, understanding. Skye’s prophecies were fleeting, her warnings typically cryptic and only occurring when lost in a trance. Once lucid, she focused on the present, and as those moments were short-lived, Ezekiel preferred to honor them by doing exactly what she desired.

Such as tracing to Hydria now and letting her play in the water despite the wintry temperatures.