Page 52 of Mage Massacres

The revenant didn’t take his eyes off the man in front of the girls. “If she’s looking, then this is going to get bad. It’s been too dangerous for her. I told you we should have stepped in months ago.”

“Lo and Hyde will help her solve this problem. We’re just here as moral support,” York stated dismissively.

“Felix has been persistent. He’s probably got guys outside waiting for his call,” Farris snidely replied.

“You’ve known about these issues with him and haven’t stepped in?” York frowned, his anger simmering just below the surface of his calm facade.

Right.

That pissed me off too, but it wasn’t a conversation that I wanted to have in a bar. We needed somewhere private, and this wasn’t it.

The girls stood from their chairs, following Felix outside. I smirked at the show Sloane and Hyde were putting on. They weren't scared, but to someone who didn’t know them, they would appear to be.

Miller, on the other hand, might have been terrified of this man. After seeing her reaction, I knew Sloane and Hyde wouldn’t let him walk out alive.

If Arwen would relax around her for a minute, he’d see that Hyde could handle herself. The devil trusted her judgment, so why couldn’t he? I was having difficulties wrapping my mind around his behavior.

York stood up, slowly making his way toward the door the girls went out. I laughed at the audacity of the druid. He should know better than to follow Sloane. He should know better than any of us.

He moved to a bigger table near the windows, scanning what he could see of the patio. Arwen and I followed behind him, motioning for Zephyr and Farris to join us.

I turned my body, leaning my ear toward the window to see if I could hear them better. I knew the guys couldn’t hear them at all. When I couldn’t hear anything, I just watched, studying the girls’ body language to ensure we weren’t needed.

Sloane gripped her drink, toying with her straw as she and Hyde talked to Felix. If the twinkle in my kitten’s eyes were anything to base my judgment on, I’d say they were being smartasses to him.

The slow smiles that crawled across the girls’ faces told me that there was nothing to worry about. My kitten was ready for blood, her claws itching to slice someone open. Hyde was having too much fun playing with males twice her size.

As her smile grew wider, Sloane bared her teeth at the men around them. I had to adjust myself discreetly. She was stunning and vicious, all her sharp edges cloaked in delicate lace.

When the first man fell, Arwen once again tried to jump up to rush outside. I had to stop him. “Why is Hy—”

York cut Arwen off. “You’ll do well to remember who has been training Hyde for the last decade. She’s not a fucking child. Stop treating her like one.”

“Who are the girls with Miller?” Zephyr asked, sitting on the edge of his seat.

“Sloane King and Hyland Drake.”

Farris whistled low, sipping his whiskey. “So Miller’s making friends. I don’t know if those are the right ones or the wrong ones.”

We’d talked about this guy over lunch last week. He’d been in North Fork to recover someone from the warehouse we’d found. Novak knew him, but I couldn’t recall if the vampire liked him or not.

“Ask Grim what he thinks of Sloane,” I suggested to the wraith. “Or Novak Malin, for that matter. She’s his mate.”

His eyebrows raised so far I thought they might disappear into his messy hair. “Novak has a mate? Are you telling me he stopped bed-hopping and decided to settle down? The DJ? The—”

“Yep,” Arwen cut in. “I don’t know him, but he seems rather smitten with Sloane.”

I took a sip of my drink, shaking my head as the druid held his hand out to stop the conversation.

“We’re all fucking smitten with her. Even if the guys aren’t ready to admit it, you only need eyes to see it.”

“Until recently, I thought she was in a relationship with the reaper and the demon that she’s always with,” Arwen acknowledged. “I didn’t realize they were together, or that they had a mate. Strange pairing.”

The druid threw his head back, cackling until a tear rolled down his cheek. “I will pay you to say that to Sloane and Jack. The look of horror on their faces would be priceless. Grim would be in hysterics.”

Farris tipped his head to me, almost as if he was conceding to my earlier point. “I know Grim loves her like she’s his sister, and that’s enough for me. I wouldn’t argue with the reaper, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like her being friends with my mate. The Drake girl, either. I know enough about her brother to worry.”

“I love it when she shrugs like that,” York commented, ignoring Farris. “Like she can’t be fucked to put more effort in than a single twitch.”