Page 120 of The Prince's Curse

“I just got up,” Julian protested.

“As did I, and Paris has been complaining since forty-three seconds after sunset that you haven’t answered him.” Before Julian could protest, Misha put up his hands. “I told him you were probably otherwise occupied. I won’t repeat his response, but you’ve known him long enough.”

“Something about dealing with my cock later,” Julian muttered.

Misha just smiled, even as Scarlett let out a choked laugh. The blood witch raised a hand. “Scarlett. How are you feeling this evening?”

“One day closer to death,” she said. Immediately, she followed it with, “Sorry.”

“I’m here to help Shoshanna and to keep an eye on Scarlett so you can get back to work,” Misha said.

“Is that a polite way of telling me I’m going to be underfoot if I linger?”

Again, Misha gave him a knowing smile. That made two witches telling him to find something else to do for a while.

In truth, as the Elder of the court, he could stay wherever he damn well pleased. Even Eduardo had a rule about the hour after sunset and the hour before sunrise being his. Besides, if Paris wanted to press the issue, Julian would be happy to remind him that he’d tried ages ago to have Paris take over instead. But he also had enough honor and pride to handle his business. He was doing nothing useful here, and there was always work to be done in the office.

Upon returning to the guest room to check his phone, he found several messages from Olivia, beginning with a fairly standard call me when you wake up.

While he quickly remade the bed, he called her. She picked up after two rings and said, “Good evening. Big news.”

“What is it?”

“Jack Eslinger called the number we set up,” she said.

He froze. “As in the Shieldsmen’s Jack Eslinger?”

“I don’t know any others,” she said. “I haven’t called him back yet.”

“Holy shit,” he muttered. “I’ll be at the compound in half an hour.”

“I’ve also got an update on the bodies they found at the Constitution Building. There were a couple of news stories—two kills, no one I recognized. But the official story is stabbing, but I don’t buy it,” Olivia said. “Avery and Dominic couldn’t get close enough with the cops there last night.”

“Who’s available?”

“I’ve got Sasha and Kristina or Safira and Phoebe,” she said.

“Put Sasha and Kristina on it,” he said. “Tell them to be on high alert. I’ll be back at my office soon.”

“Watch the traffic. There was a huge pileup with a tanker truck that has 285 shut down,” Olivia said.

“Thanks for the heads-up.”

After a shower and shave, he kissed Scarlett goodbye, made Misha promise to text him regularly with updates, and headed back to the compound to tend to his business.As he drove down the private driveway and out to the main road, he frowned.

Black-winged vultures flapped across the road, tearing at a deer carcass. Another flicker of movement caught his eye across the two-lane blacktop, and another further down. He idled down, craning his neck to see. There were at least six fallen deer, white tails frozen upright. It wasn’t all that unusual to see one deer that had lost a fight with a truck, but six?

His stomach turned, and he told himself to call Shoshanna when he got to the office. On the drive, his mind swirled with turmoil. Every minute took him farther from Scarlett, who was now vulnerable to whatever treachery Armina Voss had up her sleeve. But as much as his ego didn’t want to accept the truth, Scarlett was in good hands with Shoshanna and Misha and Kova.

There was a chance that he could use this call to deal with Armina. The witch had once been allied with the Shieldsmen, but if Eslinger knew that his ally was attacking innocents like Shoshanna’s brother and even harming their own hunters, perhaps he’d give her up.

The thought of the Shieldsmen reminded him of their unlikely ally. He dictated a text to Olivia requesting that she contact Jonas so they could speak to him before calling Eslinger.

In the last few days, Julian had chased down his forsaken lover, brought her home, kissed her for the first time, made love to her, confronted the reality of her curse, and brought her into the fold of his court. It felt as if a lifetime had passed since he’d walked into his corner office in the glass-walled administrative building of the compound.

He had barely set down his keys when Paris stepped into the office. “I don’t like being ignored, and you—”His nostrils flared, and then he grinned. “Congratulations on taking her to bed.”

“Goddammit,” Julian complained. “I showered.”

---