“I’m busy eating. Go away.”
I smiled like a dope. Thank the goddess my sweet kitsune was back in my head. Boy, I’d missed him, although it didn’t sound like he’d missed me.
“He did miss you, pet,” Zane reassured me. “He’s just putting on a brave face.”
“Nope, I very much enjoyed the quiet time,” Kenji snarked. “It was like being on a meditation retreat for kitsunes with burnout. Ten out of ten, would recommend.”
“Where are we?” The bed was enormous. Easily big enough for five large males. The thick stone walls reminded me of the castles I’d seen in human movies, majestic structures where kings and queens lived.
“Olaf Firewing’s crib.”
“Olaf? Isn’t he a snowman from a kid’s movie? OH MY GOD! Are there real-life snowmen? I had nightmares about snowmen when I was a kid!” I clutched the covers to my chest while experiencing a mini panic attack. The idea of being kidnapped by a murderous snowman that sang terrible songs was not appealing.
Sure, I had fire magic, but would it work against a murderous snowman?
Zane’s mouth gaped open. “Olaf’s a dragon shifter, not a snowman!”
“Wait…what? There arereal-life dragons?! Like in the book where dragons bond with people at a war college?”
“Pet, I have no fucking clue what you’re talking about, but yes, there is a real-life dragon shifter. More than one actually.”
“Murderous snowmen? Really?” Kenji scoffed loudly in my head. “For the ten millionth time, I have regrets. Many regrets.”
“You will eat your words when a snowman tries to murder you!”
Then there was more loud scoffing, which I ignored. While I felt certain there was such a thing as a sentient snowman, I was more interested in hearing about the dragon.
A freaking dragon!
I allowed myself a moment of childlike excitement at the thought of a dragon before I sobered as the memories of what happened in the weird-ass laboratory began to filter back into my head. Goddess, what had I done?
“What’s wrong?” Zane pinned me down with his hard body. Under different circumstances, I’d have enjoyed the way he pressed me into the mattress, but all I could think about were the piles of dead bodies.
All those deaths were my fault.
How had I murdered so many people at once?
“I’m a serial killer!” I choked on my spit and then coughed up a lung. “Oh my goddess, I should be locked up in the penitentiary with all the other killers!”
“Calm down, pet. You saved us all with your creepy death magic. If you hadn’t taken out all the mage guards in one glorious blast, they would have had time to clear out the other prisoners.”
His words sank through the layers of guilt and self-recrimination. He was right. There was no way the guards would have surrendered. Tiberius has probably brainwashed them all.
“How many did I murder?”
Zane grinned. “Around thirty, I think? But don’t worry, Olaf took care of the bodies by setting the laboratory on fire.”
I exhaled slowly, somewhat relieved all evidence of my crimes against mages had been wiped away in an inferno.
“I suppose that’s okay then.”
“Relax, pet. I’ve killed way more people than you, and I’m still sane!”
He rocked his hips into me, successfully distracting me from visions of orange jumpsuits and scary prisoners with designs on my ass.
“You deserve a reward, my sexy little serial killer.” Zane nibbled my neck and then slid down my body, taking the sheet with him.
“I need a shower!” I protested, fairly certain I still bore the traces of my, um, sexy times back at the facility.
