“I’m an excellent map-maker,” he said, counting off on his fingers. “I’m fast, have superior senses, and can carry a pack more than ten times my body weight.” Then, his voice turning as serious as his eyes, “I won’t let you down, Haley. Not this time.”
I let out a long, slow exhale and looked over each of them in turn.
Hudson, the strong and silent gargoyle protector.
Jax, the demon fighter who called me angel and gave me the best kind of shivers.
Elian, the vampire-fae who’d once taken my heart and still hadn’t returned all the pieces, suddenly back from the dead.
My escorts. My monsters.
Every one of them had a dark past. Every one of them had probably done things—terrible, horrifying things I couldn’t even imagine. Things that ate them up inside, no matter how tough they played it on the outside.
We weren’t so different, my monsters and I.
But right now, standing in that New Orleans kitchen as we prepared for the most dangerous mission of our lives, our pasts didn’t matter. All that mattered was the promise Elian had just made me.
A promise I was making to them as well.
I looked into Elian’s eyes once more, and I smiled.
“Yes,” I said. “We’re going to see this through.”
Jax nodded.
Hudson nodded.
Elian held my gaze for another beat, then he nodded too. “Excellent. We leave before first light.”
I forced a laugh. “No rest for the wicked, huh?”
“No, sparrow.” His silver eyes turned fierce. “No rest foranyof us until we get you back here in one piece.”
13
ELIAN
My sweet little sparrow hadn’t earned her nickname touring the karaoke bars of Blackmoon Bay—as much as I would’velovedto see that.
No, her singing was more of an involuntary reflex. Apost-orgasmreflex that’d driven me fucking wild since the first time I’d discovered it, not long after she moved into my place in Blackmoon Bay.
Here in New Orleans, Haley had just wrapped up an hour-long shower in my guest bathroom—the last indoor plumbing she’d get to enjoy for months.
And now, the sparrow was singing again.
Fuck.
I knew a bad idea when one blindsided me—hell, I was thekingof bad ideas—but this was a wreck I couldn’t fucking divert.
My hand was already on the doorknob. Logic? Reason? Those assholes were long gone. All I had left was the Devil’s Dream dissolving on my tongue and the moron sitting on my shoulder, laughing his balls off.
It’s your fucking house,he goaded. Do whatever you want.
I didn’t bother knocking. Just turned that knob, pushed open the door, and waltzed right in.
“Shit, Elian!” she shrieked, clutching the towel she’d just finished securing around her body. Her hair hung in a dark wet curtain, dripping over her shoulders. “I’m half-naked in here! What iswrongwith you?”
I cursed myself for my terrible timing. Thirty seconds earlier, and the view would’ve been a lot better.
