If this spread any further, if more people got their hands on weapons like this, then everything we’d built would start cracking apart.
Humans. Supes. The Syndicate. All of it.
Racking my brain as to where I should start, I realized I had the perfect situation already lined up.
A slow grin tugged at the corner of my mouth because unlike everyone else in the room, my mind had already moved ahead to tomorrow.
I already had a plan in place, the perfect stepping stone to untangling this ball of yarn.
Ternin noticed first. “Oh no,” he muttered, though he smiled down at me with pride. “That’s the smile. The one Rayla always got before she was about to fuck shit up.”
Manic barked a laugh under his breath. Easton pinched the bridge of his nose. Syris just narrowed his eyes at me knowingly.
I leaned against the table, arms folding loosely as excitement sparked beneath my skin. Tomorrow was going to be a bloody show.
Manshu thought he was hunting us. Thought he had some ancient weapon that made him untouchable. The idiot had no idea what was coming for him.
My grin widened slowly.
I was going to take that weapon from him and make him talk. And after that, I was going to make him pay for what he did to Olivia.
Tomorrow, Manshu was going to have his day of penance. We’d see if he repented for his sins because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t make it out alive.
22
OLIVIA
“Now, darling,” Syris Glovefox announced as he practically flung himself onto the couch beside me, “you haven’t even seen the embarrassing photos yet.”
His wings fluttered excitedly behind him while he fumbled with his phone, nearly dropping it in his rush. He shoved the screen directly in front of my face with the proud enthusiasm of someone unveiling priceless art.
“I had Rayla upload every single one she had,” he declared. “And I organized them all into neat little folders myself.”
“They’re called albums, you dolt.”
Easton Winstale’s dry correction floated through the room as he stepped around the coffee table with effortless grace, lowering himself into the armchair across from us. He lifted his teacup toward me in greeting, one sharp brow arching as if silently apologizing for the chaos surrounding me.
“Mine are waaaay better.”
Ternin Desmond slid onto my other side before anyone could argue otherwise, already yanking out his own phone. His pale hair shimmered beneath the lights, those pink gemstone eyes practically sparkling with mischief.
“Look at this one.” He jabbed the screen dramatically.
A tiny baby Calix crawled across the floor completely naked, little hands slapping the hardwood while his diaper-less butt bounced in the air.
“He refused to wear clothes for a time,” Ternin wheezed, laughing so hard he had to grip my arm for support. “Every time we turned around, he’d escaped again. You’d think he was a damn wolf with how much he liked being in the nude.”
The sound of his laughter filled the entire room, so loud and infectious that I couldn’t stop my own grin from breaking free.
“And what’s wrong with being a wolf? The naked body is a natural form,” Manic Rossey rumbled as he dropped heavily onto the couch beside Easton, balancing an overloaded plate of food in one hand. He wiggled his brows at me exaggeratedly. “Look how he turned out now. Strong build. Good shoulders. A perfect specimen. Rack’s nothing to joke about either.”
Heat rushed into my cheeks instantly. I had to duck my head into my mug to hide it, which only made the four older men laugh harder.
This was surreal. Absolutely surreal.
These men were legends in the supe word, even boogeymen to some. They were the monsters others whispered about in alleyways and bars. People lowered their voices when they saidtheir names, yet here they were, arguing over baby photos like overgrown grandpas at a family barbecue.
“What the fuck are you all telling her?” Rack and Calix stepped into the living room at the same time, carrying food and drinks.
