How dare that fucking asshole mage announce my pet was a wanted criminal! Okay,fiiine, the rest of us were fugitives, but Raven wasn’t responsible for the massacre at Vane’s mansion.
Sure, she may have accidentally murdered a few mages at the underground torture center, but we’d left Olaf toasting the place, so I doubted Vane had evidence linking Raven to the deaths.
Besides, nobody knew the lab existed.
“He’s full of shit,” I snarled as my blade struck a tapestry depicting some ancient war. I walked over to retrieve it and squinted at the figures in the tapestry. Were those witches being pulled limb from limb? How artistic. I’d have to commission a tapestry. An artisticrepresentation of me creatively killing demons would look great on our future bedroom wall.
“He’ll have faked the evidence,” Maverick agreed. “There’s no way he wants the humans to know about his vile experiments.” The kitsunes all shuddered from their spot by the fire.
“Kenji says Professor Oakman was using the Ks as research subjects,” my pet said, her face still tear stained. “He said the mages were trying to figure out how kitsunes can get past magical wards so easily.”
“Did he figure it out?” I was pretty interested to know as well. Being able to bypass stupid wards would enhance my future career prospects as a mafia don. I’d been reading some of Raven’s smutty novels and loved the idea of heading up a criminal empire. It sounded exciting and lucrative. Plus, I could continue murdering with impunity. “Have you had any more freaky visions?” Kai jumped when I blinked behind him.
“Please don’t do that,” he muttered. “I’d hate toaccidentallyskewer you with my trident.”
“Ooh, I love being skewered!” I threw him a lewd wink, and he blushed.
“No, I haven’t had any more visions,” he said through gritted teeth. “Unfortunately, they don’t happen on demand.”
How pointless. “Maybe we should relocate. All in favor of teleporting to a beach resort in Mexico sayaye.AYE!”
“We’re not going anywhere until we have a solid plan,” Maverick grunted.
“The bear’s right,” Count Suckula agreed. “My family’s mansion is secure and spelled to repel humans. It’s the safest place for us until we can eliminate Vane.”
“And how do you propose we do this?” I asked. “Combat drone? Rocket launcher? Incendiary spell? All three?!”
“Getting close to him will be the biggest problem,” Maverick pointed out. “He never goes anywhere without a security detail and a pocket full of teleportation potions. Plus Brianna is often there, and she won’t be easy to take down.”
“Maybe I could use my death magic on them?” Raven said, not looking especially excited about it.
Kenji rolled his eyes, and then all four kitsunes blinked away, leaving nothing but a cloud of fur behind.
Raven’s expression fell. “Kenji says I might end up killing the entire city by mistake, so that’s a terrible idea.”
“None of us want you involved in this, little mate.” The bear picked her up and deposited her on his lap. I sidled over and perched on the arm of their chair, ignoring the bear’s angry glare.
“Care bear’s right, psycho kitty. Mass killing is an art form and tough on the psyche.” I gestured at the other assholes. “We’re all stone-cold killers without a conscience, but you, my sweet little honey cake, are not.”
“Psycho kitty honey cake?”
“You have a cute little pussy and your magic is psycho,” I explained, even though it was obvious. “Oh, and your pussy tastes of the sweetest honey cake in all the realm.”
“Um, Kai isn’t a stone-cold killer.”
“Fiiine, so fish boy kills only when it’s necessary, but I bet he hasn’t lost any sleep over the mages he murdered with his stabby trident, whereas you, my little boo, have had nightmares every night since we rescued you.” We’d all been wrenched from sleep by her screams, even if she never remembered them come morning.
I’d tried to access her mind while she was stuck in a nightmare, but she’d perfected her mental shields and locked me out. Annoying butnot unsurprising given the way her powers had leveled up since she bonded with ol’ thunder pants.
A loud rumble rattled the windows, making me jump.
Raven stared outside as lightning split the sky in two.
“It’s almost as if Alaric is near,” she said in a wistful tone. “But I guess he can’t be because he doesn’t know where we are. And also because he fucking left me,” she added.Oh dear.My pet was still salty about that.
“You don’t need the storm mage,” I reminded her while stroking the back of her neck. “He brings nothing to the harem.”
“Pack,” Maverick corrected. “As alpha, I prefer it if we call our bonded group a pack.”
