Page 53 of Love the Way You Lion
“Nope. This is an in-house thing. We gamble on each other all the time. Odds on the cat and bird disappearing three minutes into the party are ten to one. I think I’ll make a chunk on that.”
She gives me a smirk. “Okay, Lucky, tomorrow you and I will visit the big palooka and I’m going to have a look at these books. Knowing this place, the boozy brunette is holding all the cards.”
I laugh and stand, holding my hand out to her. “Indeed, she is. In the morning, we’ll have her lay out the spread at breakfast.”
“Oh, the ‘yours’ in you and yours won’t be trotting through. I have no intention of letting Theodora have a crack at you. Expert help is so hard to find.” Her lips curve up.
“I don’t think she even showed a hint of interest in me when I flew by your place, baby.”
“Good. Shall we go inside and sleep now?”
I grin. “Absolutely, my love. Tomorrow is another day.”
The Cat and The Bird Go On A Hunt
DELILAH
When I told Taurus we were going to have a blast working off this tension, I wasn’t kidding.
I need blood, and I need it to run down the walls.
Sari has always been a cunt, and as much as Ihatethat word, this time she’s let the darkness inside of me loose in a way that is dangerous not only to the wicked but to anyone in my path. The Beast and I are in concert; we want vengeance and we don’t give a flying fuck who dies.
I’m not used to that feeling.
My recent kills of choice have been tied to research on crimes going unpunished, as if I’m some avenging angel of justice. It’s a patently comic book stance, but it helps me deal with the rising bloodlust as it conflicts with what is left of the human side of me.
That tie broke tonight, and I am struggling to fight it. I shouldn’t care; Christ knows the humans wouldn’t. Humans are capable of much more violence than faith gives them credit for.
I don’t remember when I stopped considering myself human.
Closing my eyes, I focus on targets I’ve identified in the past month since Wilde died, knowing that I have a few that are both wicked and large enough to sate the desire to maim in my soul. When I remember the intel about the cartel and their clever hiding spot, it makes my lips curve over my large fangs with anticipation.
This will do.
Turning to Taurus, I tilt my head. “I know a place that we can go. Come with me and we’ll feast, my love.”
His grin is evil as he runs his eyes up and down my body. “That all, love of my heart?”
Chuckling throatily, I shake my head. “Not if you’re anawfullybad boy, darling. You’ll want to see this.”
Snorting, he takes my hand, lifting it to his lips and nipping each knuckle playfully. “Minx, I don’t know how to be any other way.”
I yank my hand back, crossing my fingers and stretching my arms out, cracking my knuckles and shoulder joints simultaneously. “I promise you’ll walk funny for a week, you arrogant fowl. Follow me.”
With that, I smirk and disapparate, leaving him to find me via our mating bond.
Letting out a deep breath,I smile as I appear in the old German style rectory building of the church near my hometown. Taurus doesn’t know how close we are to where I grew up. Since the Winter Incident, I stopped bringing those I care about near thehorrors of my past. I’m wary of this area on the other side after the Beast and my magickal awakening, because I worry about being tracked by echoes of a torturous past.
I don’t want her to locate me.
However, I know that heroin is a problem in both my home state and most of the ones that touch it. High poverty and low education populations are breeding grounds for drug epidemics, and this rural area is no exception. The farming and manufacturing communities have been decimated by the economy and technology, leaving desperate people in their wake.
A simple Google search and a little digging around the top layer of the dark web helped me find the rumors that plague this place. It was abandoned financially by the Church—gee, who would have thought the holy rollers would be so cruel to the poor—and it got bought by a cartel member.
Again, religion fails the people it should serve, only to get saved by evil. The agreement that the church and its staff continue its mission while allowing the cartel to operate from one of the unused buildings in secret must have felt Faustian to the nuns and priests, but self-preservation is another hallmark of humanity.
I lick my lips, listening to what sounds like a choir practice as I wait for my mate. A discordant sound makes me wince and I growl—the super ears of a predator are even more sensitive to bad music than a normal human.
