‘Yeah, Junie?’
Tentative hope flickered to life inside of me as I asked the question. ‘We’ve got incoming.’
He groaned out loud. ‘Yeah, I see that. Are they friendly?’
‘If by ‘friendly’ you mean ‘arrogant bird people I want to pluck like a chicken’ then sure.’
The sound of his laughter bounced around my skull and warmed me from the inside out. ‘I figured. Of course, we’d be stuck with a bunch of pretentious pricks that are ruining our chances to get the fuck out of here.’
‘I’d rather they stayed up there than come down here. They act like they’re our gods-damned saviours or something while simultaneously sneering down their noses at us and pretending they aren’t.’
‘Had a personal encounter, did you?’
I grunted in our heads.‘Blonde hair, blue eyes, muscles upon muscles, and a permanent smirk that’s begging to get punched right off his smug fucking face. Ruined our chances of getting out of the tunnels earlier by being loud as fuck. ’
He glanced up and pointed out a particular Angel with his chin. ‘That one?
‘Unfortunately.’
‘Can I kill him?
‘In your head, sure.’
He sighed. ‘Not good enough. His wings are too white. They could do with a bit of colour.’
‘Be nice,’I chided, though I didn’t exactly disagree. I wouldn’t wish death on anyone, but I couldn’t say I’d cry if that guy didn’t make it.
A pinch on my ass made me yelp, and I turned a scathing glare on Phenex. He put on an air of false innocence and bit his lip, and I giggled when I heard an aggravated huff from somewhere within the group of Fae. Probably Arden. Well, tough shit.
I lifted my hand to return the favour, but Phenex blocked me, grabbing my hand to intertwine our fingers, which he then brought up to his lips to kiss. I swooned.
‘What’s going on inside that pretty little head of yours?’ he asked.
‘Right now? How much I want to strip you naked and fuck you senseless,’ I answered honestly.
He wasn’t the only one who choked. A quick side glance at Elvina showed her entire upper body was flushed a deep crimson that exacerbated her pale features.
‘Don’t tease me, my soul flame. I’d love nothing less than to make your thoughts a reality, but now isn’t the time,’ he groaned out, but despite his words, his free hand stroked down my back to hold onto my ass. I wiggled it, then pulled away to avoid creating a show for my brother and the others. It may not have seemed like it, but Ididhave limits.
I was grateful for my forethought because that was when the Angels finally touched down just beyond the trees. Phenex pulled me closer while Elvina hid behind us when the Angels immediately pulled their weapons on us.
Qarinah inched closer to Oz, and I couldn’t help but smirk.
‘Made a friend, did you?’I asked Oz, and he sent me a cheeky smile in response. It was tight, but it still met his eyes.
‘Hey, you have your Daemon. Let me have mine, yeah?’
‘Shut up. You like him.’
‘I should have known you wouldn’t choose a Warlock,’he said with a small shake of his head, imperceptible unless you were looking.
‘Hey, that’s not true. It’s just that the Warlock I chose didn’t choose me back,’I reminded him, but the way his face fell made me frown. I didn’t want to make him uncomfortable by pursuing his best friend, which was why I hadn’t tried harder with Hawthorne. If I was wrong, I wondered why he didn’t tell me.
But then his gaze drifted to Phenex, and the two shared a companionable smile. Maybe I was just overthinking things.
‘He seems cool so far. As long as he stays that way,’he warned.
‘Just admit it. He’s amazing.’
