Page 23 of Stone Seduction
“Go on!” Dane cried. “Cut that dickhead up!”
A mighty shriek of monster death followed, and my body came back online.
“Thanks, bud,” I said, breaking free from Dane’s hold, wings out again.
“Asher!”
I flew toward the melting monster, the glittery bubble tearing open. Luke fell like a rag doll. I sped up, almost on him when Carissa swooped in and grabbed him.
Slamming on my brakes, I hovered close to her, breathing on pause.
“Good evening, Asher,” she said.
I kept my eyes on Luke, itching to snatch him off her.
Mine.“Evening, boss.”
Luke smiled at me, his complexion a silky gray. “Are you okay?”
I returned a smile. “All good. Ready for bed and cuddles. You?”
“Same.” He winced, soaked through, his slender body shivering.
Gods, seeing him like this speared my heart.
“You’re very glittery,” Carissa said, cocking her head.
“Yeah. Can I?—”
“Let’s get back to the tower and warm up,” she interrupted.
Not tonight.“I’ll take Luke back to the?—”
She cut me off again. “We’re going to the tower, Asher. Seth wants to speak with you both.”
I held back a growl, my muscles tensing. What happened to my boss? Why did she have to be so friendly with the weaver? Yeah, they were working together to figure shit out, but why so pally? And why did she always take his side?
She’s also in on this Luke lie,my brain reminded me.
Knowing better than to argue with her, I agreed and followed her through the rain, keeping pace.
“You don’t need any assistance?” she asked.
“No. I’m fine. All effects gone.”
Luke kept his beautiful eyes on me.
“Good, good. I’m so glad I was still awake to help.” She sighed. “This is a terrible lapse in security.”
Tell me about it!“Is this what Seth wants to talk about?”
“Yes. Please don’t ask me any more questions about it. Wait until you see him.”
There she went again. Seth liked to draw shit out, behave like a complete knob. It must be in his DNA. Never Carissa, though. She might be scatty and have a propensity for poor timekeeping, despite owning way too many clocks, but she was always straight forward.
Not now, which didn’t help the high respect I always held for her. Especially since she let Seth get away with using Luke and his invisibility power to try and steal the ring.
I kept silent, a dutiful gargoyle under her command.
