Kenji stretched on his upholstered chair. “I’m disappearing on kitsune business for a bit. Be back later.” I blinked in surprise. Kenji almost never shared his plans with me.
“Thank the Ks for me!” Kenji hadn’t said so, but I was certain his cousins had helped us both last night when I drained my familiar’s magical battery dry. They showed up to help, and I suspected they had shared their power with Kenji.
No wonder the mages had coveted kitsunes. They were freaking amazing. Which reminded me. Had Oakman been involved in the experiments on the kitsunes? I must remember to ask Kenji.
“Yes,” he said in my head. “Kyro confirmed he’d been present at the laboratory.”
“That asshole!” Shadows burst free from my chest and filled the room. It wasn’t until Kai reached for my hand that my anger sputtered out and the shadows dissipated.
“Oakman is on the MIB’s list, little mate,” Maverick said from the bathroom doorway. “They’re investigating him right now. Once they find enough evidence, he’ll go down.”
“Will he be executed?” Goddess, was it bad that I hoped so? The creepy mage deserved to die for hurting my poor, defenseless kitsunes!
“Quit your nonsense. We’re not defenseless!”
I climbed off the bed and padded over to my bear.
“Executed, no. But he can expect a life sentence, along with the rest of the Mage Council,” Maverick said while stroking my cheek. He sighed happily when I nestled against his warm, hairy chest.
“Good. I hope they all rot in a cell for the rest of their miserable lives.”
“There will be trials, of course, but mostly to appease the humans. The evidence is indisputable.”
“What will happen to the other mages? They can’t all be bad, surely?”
“I don’t know, but that’s tomorrow’s problem. I’m more concerned about you, little mate.” He cupped my jaw and frowned. “You need food.”
“And then I need to feed,” my vampire rasped from the bed. When I turned around, he’d propped himself up and was staring at me, fangs on display. A heated shiver shot through me at the thought of my sexyvampire sinking his sharp fangs into a vein. It had been a week, and I was more than ready for him.
“Hold that thought, pet,” Zane groaned with a smirk. “Your lust tastes delicious.”
Alaric grumbled. “For fuck’s sake, I died yesterday. Surely I deserve some alone time with my mate?”
Alaric referencing his death acted like a bucket of cold water on my libido. All thoughts of sexy time vanished, making Zane pout.
“Should have known you’d be the realm’s biggest fucking cockblocker, zombie boy.”
“I’m not a fucking zombie!”
“She resurrected you. That makes you a zombie.”
Kai muttered something rude and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He didn’t look happy at the pointless bickering, and I wondered whether this was my life now—listening to my mates bait each other in a stupid points-scoring exercise.
If so, I’d happily move to the fae realm and find myself a nice fae royal, i.e., someone unrelated to Farris.
Perhaps the goddess would grant me a pardon and let me exchange five useless mates for one decent one?
“Not fucking happening,” Maverick growled, but I shoved him away and crawled over the bed. Alaric’s eyes widened in surprise when I moved astride him.
“No more bickering,” I said in my best no-nonsense voice, the one I’d modeled on Miss Windborne. “If you idiots can’t get along,thisis shut for business.” I gestured from my head to my toes.
Alaric’s mutinous expression told me we had a long way to go before he got the message.
53
Raven
“No more demons attacking innocent humans and magicals.” I glared at my father as he man-spread on our couch. Or rather, Rasmus’s couch.
