Page 21 of V for Vilified
They were all in the same room.Finally.
“So, I’m human,” Kate started.
“Your quickness astounds,” Cash grumbled.
Before I could verbally bash him, Kate rolled her eyes. “And you’re interrupting, Fairy Boy.”
Atta girl.
Jo covered her mouth, probably to hide a smile. I didn’t bother to hide mine. Cash deserved every bit of Kate’s ire, and I didn’tgive the gorgeous asshole who’d only just rocked my world an inch even when he pouted, outnumbered and sufficiently scorned.
“I just meant that since I’m human, I’m going to drag the group down. I’ll end up being another thing you guys have to protect,” Kate went on, crossing her arms with an adorable nod. For someone who’d been tossed into a supernatural world of shit, she hadn’t lost her Kate-isms. Like, at all. “So, leaving me somewhere while you deal with all this stuff is probably for the best, right?”
I sighed, side-hugging my best friend. “I’m the reason you’re here in the first place, Kate. Don’t get it twisted. You’re not a burden. We’ll figure this out together. I missed you fiercely, my dude, and I refuse to leave you anywhere alone. Especially not in a realm full of crazy powerful beasties.”
Kate laughed and patted my head. “Neither of us is to blame, my bro, so stop saying that.” I smiled at how easy it was to revert back to our usual exchanges amid all the bullshit. “I’m only saying this because I know you’ll put yourself in danger to protect me, and I don’t want that. I’ll do whatever I can to stay out of the way. I don’t have superpowers.”
I let my head fall against hers and closed my eyes. “But you do. Everything I have right now is because I asked myself ‘What would Kate do?’ before making a decision.”
I was wrapped up in a tight human hug before Kate pulled away, misty-eyed. “Is that what you were just doing with Fairy Boy?”
I nearly choked on my tongue, and Cash followed up my struggling sound with his own.
“Kate!” I shout-whispered.
“What?!”
“I was…”
“Moaning and taking a long ride on a sexy fairy love train? I know.” Kate looked unapologetic when I glared at her, more afraid to look at Jo than anyone else.
But the other woman was way ahead of us. “Bond runes,” she murmured, as if only just noticing them, her eyes slipping down to my neck. “The Season has an effect on you?”
Why did I suddenly feel super naked?
“I…”
“What business is it of yours what my mate and I do to satisfy the Season, devil woman?” Cash pinned Jo with a steely glare.
Kate wasn’t smiling anymore, sensing the sudden tension between the three of us. “Mate?”
Jo’s eyes found mine, an emotion in them I didn’t recognize. “If you’ve satisfied it, then we have time,” she finally said after a long, uncomfortable pause. “The human is right. I imagine that was your intention by using Marius?”
As if he’d been expecting a fight, Cash deflated with the question. “I shouldn’t be surprised a barbarian like you would know him.”
Jo huffed, unamused. “I’ve been around a long time. As long as you, Dark King.”
Cash’s usual hoity-toity demeanor melted to something I’d only seen around the enemies he fought. “Guess that’s true, seeing how you’re the daughter of one of the Originals—Johara, Daughter of Shadows.”
Daughter of one of the Originals?
I’d never seen Jo taken off guard quite the way she was in that moment. Her jaw clenched and hands fisted. It was as if he’d summoned something dark and horrible with the name.
“How long have you known?”
Cash came over and touched my neck where his rune was. “It was simple enough to piece together.”
“I should’ve guessed when I couldn’t track you with shadows,” she grumbled under her breath before sighing. “My mother was—”
