Page 86 of Radiant Shadows

He lifted his head from the crook of my neck and paused his movements as he saw what I saw.

“Whoa,” he whispered, then he looked down at me and winked. “I always knew you were hot.”

I rolled my eyes and giggled, then looked down at the bean bag beneath me, which oddly wasn’t burning.

“Flame retardant,” he whispered.

I raised a brow at him. “Did you plan this?”

“Not in those terms. I just thought it would be smart to be prepared when I first showed you this place, just in case.”

I bit back on a smile. “Shut up and fuck me.”

He grinned wide before descending on my mouth again and thrusting into me with renewed fervor.

And even though he was driving my body crazy with ecstasy, I tried my best to quell my fire, to keep it contained only to us. The last thing I’d want was to get caught burning down the library while having sex with the general’s assistant. But I almost didn’t care.

The general was going to burn the entire place down metaphorically anyway. At least like this, I was getting fucked in a good way.

And damn, was it so, so good!

Chapter 32

Caesar

“So let me get this straight,” Kai said, as the secret subway took us away from the only home we’d known for the past seven years. “You really have been working with a vampire behind the scenes?”

His incredulous tone caused my heart to flare defensively.

“I tried to tell you before you up and resigned on my behalf, but there was no time,” I replied, my patience teetering on falling apart. “I hope you, my friend, will let me explain things, unlike Arthur did.”

Kai eyed me, the look in his eyes seeming torn between loyalty and suspicion. That hurt. But what did I expect? I always knew that keeping a secret like this,doingthis in general, was not without great risk. It wasn’t in our nature to trust vampires.

He sighed and shook his head. “Well, I hope it’s a good explanation. I want to trust you—Idotrust you—I just don’t understand.”

I sucked in a deep breath, held it for a few moments, then released it slowly. A little bit of calmness entered my soul. “You actually met this particular vampire once, back in South Dakota.”

“South Dakota?” Kai gave me a questioning look, then snorted. “I met a lot of vampires in South Dakota. I also killed most of the ones I came across.”

Thinking of Julian, I chuckled. “Not this one. He’s not onefor fighting. Although, youdidencounter him during a fight. Remember the convenience store we visited right before the vampire attack on The Island?”

“With the doofus cashier who’d been bitten the night before?” Kai asked. “Yeah, I remember. But there were two vampires in that store.”

I nodded. “The male vampire is who I’m referring to.”

A flicker of humor played in Kai’s eyes. “The last thing I remember seeing was food and candy flying through the air after he went crashing into a stand. Like fireworks.”

Ignoring the visual that came into my mind, I said, “His name is Julian. And he defected right after The Island fell.”

Kai stared at me, as if waiting to see if I was trying to pull his leg. “Wait. How does a vampire defect? Has that ever happened before? And how in the world do you know he really defected?”

I held up my hand and cast my eyes toward the pale blue light of water beyond the window. “Too many questions. Just...let me relay what happened with Julian Asher. Six years ago, Celeste had a vision of a family of harpies in Seattle. The family had a set of triplets dealing with their first shifts all at the same time. I went to recruit them because I knew the school could help.”

“The Lowry girls,” Kai said. “Yes, I remember them.”

“Well, it turned out Celeste hadn’t been the only one to discover them. I arrived just minutes before a group of vampires converged on the Lowry household.”

Kai’s eyes sparked with interest.

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