Page 83 of Mayhem

Malakai looked from Hunter to me. “We’re still going?”

“My father decided the party is tonight.” Hunter’s gaze moved over the blood in my hair, the ruined shirt, and Nichlas’s head sitting on the stone ledge. “He expects all four of us there.”

Ronan checked the time. “How long?”

“Thirty minutes before he starts caring that we’re late.”

“We still have a body in the woods.” Ronan looked at me again. “And she looks like she murdered somebody.”

“I did murder somebody.” I rinsed the cloth and wrung it out. “I also have someone who can deal with the body.”

Hunter’s eyes narrowed. “Who?”

“My fathers.”

He looked toward the tree line, then back at Nichlas’s head. “Are they going to eat him?” Then he shook his head. “Fuck. Don’t tell me.

Malakai’s grin came back immediately as Ronan took the phone out of my bloody hand before I could touch the screen. “Call them. Then shower. You’ve got blood in your hair, your clothes are ruined, and we have less than thirty minutes.”

I held out my cleanest hand for the phone. “Fine. But I’m keeping the head.”

Hunter looked toward the woods and then at Nichlas’s head. “I don’t even want to ask why. Just make sure your fathers know the solution is body disposal and not dinner.”

I considered it, still wiggling my fingers for the phone. “Probably. Father One and Father Four get up to some crazy shit when they’re together, though, so if you want guarantees, you’re asking the wrong daughter.”

Malakai’s interest sharpened immediately, while Hunter looked like he regretted learning anything about my family. When I realized Ronan wasn’t going to give me my phone, I gave him the code so he could unlock it and hold it so I could make the call without coating the screen in Nichlas.

I hit the video icon and waited. Father Four answered first, his face appearing too close to the camera before he pulled it back and frowned at me. “Why are you covered in blood?”

Father One leaned into frame beside him before I could answer. His eyes dropped from my face to my shirt, then lower, clearly trying to work out how much of it belonged to me. “Is that your blood?”

“Some of it.” Ronan angled the phone enough for them to see Nichlas’s head sitting on the stone ledge. “Mostly his.”

Both men went quiet for a second. Father Four looked at the screen, then at Father One. “That Nichlas?”

“Yep.”

Father One’s mouth curved. “Finally.”

“I need a cleanup.” I turned the camera toward the tree line. “Body’s out there somewhere past the shed. Head is staying with me. My new friends aren’t exactly equipped properly for something like this.”

Father Four nodded like I had asked him to pick up groceries. “Send the location.”

Father Two called from somewhere in the background. “How messy?”

I grinned at him, remembering what I had dredged up over the years regarding his kills. They had all been very methodical until he lost his control and then his kills became a masterpiece of chaos. Much like what I just did. “Very.”

His smile widened. “Good.”

Hunter made a sound behind me that I chose not to interpret.

“I’ll send the pin,” I said. “We’ve got somewhere to be.” I twisted to Hunter, the reality of what I just did and where I did it fully hitting me. “This property is secure and all that bullshit, right?”

Father Three’s voice pulled me in from somewhere off screen. “Echo, I know we fucking taught you better than that. Those are the questions you answer before you pull this shit. Give me Hansen.”

I raised an eyebrow before looking at Hunter and then back at the phone. Samael’s face came into the screen, his eyes a few shades darker than usual. Oh... lovely. I nodded to Ronan as he twisted the screen, Hunter stepping up beside me.

“You know who I am? Who we are?” Samael asked. Hunter nodded slowly. “Good. Do you know why we left Primrose? The real reason, not the manufactured bullshit in the papers. If you’re as smart as I think you are, it should be a yes.”