"Supposedly. What if he’s playing you?"
I rolled my eyes at his stubbornness. "Don’t act like you have so much more credibility. Orion and I have been in this together since the beginning. You were the one trying to kill me."
The bastard smirked. “If I truly wished to kill you—"
"Then take a number and get in line behind everybody else," I snapped at him. Our new alliance was off to such an amazing start.
Bad Mother evaluated me with a cool stare and tossed his knife a few times. The blade sliced casually through the air before the hilt landed in his palm but even innocent twists and turns with those jagged edges looked sinister. He maintained eye contact while he jammed his knife down and embedded it in the table. Orion grumbled about that behind me.
"Look,” I said. “Maybe we have some trust issues—”
“Maybe?” The bounty hunter cracked a smile. “I don’t trust your boyfriend at all.”
“Believe me, the feeling is mutual,” Orion tossed back at him immediately.
“Oh my God, we aren’t enemies,” I reminded everybody. “Taryn is the real threat. Maybe it’s strange, us all coming together, but the Earth needs us." My plea suffered because I clapped my hands and laughed. “Wow, I can’t believe I got to say that.”
Orion placed a hand on my arm this time. Right. I got back to the point.
“Who cares about the past? Most of us aren’t so far gone there’s no coming back.” The man next to me kept reminding me of that.
“You’ve done some shit,” I told him. “But you wanna do better. So do I.” I flung a hand in Bad Mother’s direction. “And just by looking at you I know you’ve had your bad days too. We’re all here anyway and we want to stop Lex. Heisirredeemable because if there’s any hope for him, he doesn’t want it. He’s gonna keep hurting people unless we stop him. We’re all on the same team here, so let’s go get him.”
Orion placed his hand in mine. At least I could count on him.
Bad Mother looked supremely disgusted. "Ugh."
"Are you with us or not?” I demanded.
"I can’t believe it’s come to this. I liked threatening you so much better than working with you."
"Dude, be nice! Same team."
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let’s go save the day.”
16.Demon Summoning for Dummies
Rob
A white circle marred the floor of Orion’s club. Everything was set up to summon a monster.
No book calledDemon Summoning for Dummiesexisted, so I had to trust my instincts that I did everything right. And if I didn’t, hopefully Orion and I could make it work anyway. He hovered nearby while I prepared.
"Stop brooding," I ordered.
Orion moved his pensive stare from the floor to me. "I don’t brood."
"Worrying then."
He scowled. "That’s even worse."
"Which is why it’s called brooding when tortured hot dudes do it."
Bad Mother snorted from his mini command center. He’d pushed some bar tables together and laid out a truly horrifying array of pointy weapons. While he selected and readied his arsenal, Orion and I needed to get ready too.
Orion resumed staring a hole through the floor. This family reunion wasn’t a happy affair. I put a hand on his shoulder and he tensed, then relaxed, turning into me. His arms were still stiff when he placed them around me, but then he sighed and fully embraced me, holding on tight and breathing me in.
“I’m ready,” I promised when we pulled apart. As ready as I’d ever be. “You?”
