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The Campbell imps were a small branch within her lair. Unlike Lachlan, who’d mated Raini’s succubae mother Evangeline, most of the Campbells were shacked up with Wallis imps. The two lineages had blended well. Probably because neither let little things like legalities get in the way of anything they wanted to do. Ethics were no real barrier either.
To be fair, some did run official businesses. Lachlan’s bank heist days were behind him now, so he ran a mechanic shop with his three brothers. He also sold ill-gotten goods via the shop’s back door, but they didn’t talk about that.
Maddox’s mind touched hers, pulling her out of her thoughts. How are you feeling? he asked.
Okay, she replied. Thanks for healing me.
Get some rest today. It wasn’t advice. It was a firm order. I’ll see you later tonight.
Raini felt her brow crease. I thought … well, I thought you’d consider last night our monthly meet.
You thought wrong. His mind slid softly against hers, and then it was gone.
“You’re not listening to me, are you?”
Blinking, Raini looked up at her father, who’d finally stopped pacing. “I’ll admit, I kind of zoned out partway through your rant. Look, I get that you’re upset, but I’m fine.”
He glowered at her. “You say that like it makes everything okay. It doesn’t. You were stabbed—”
“By accident.”
“—had your power stripped from you—”
“Temporarily.”
“—and might have bled out if you hadn’t been healed.”
Raini felt her face scrunch up. “I wouldn’t go that far. It was a bad injury, but I would have recovered. I just recovered a lot faster because of Maddox.”
“At least he’s good for something,” Lachlan sniped. “Where is he anyway? He should be here. With you.”
“He’s probably making enquiries about the dagger,” Jolene cut in, lounging in an armchair. “Hopefully he’s able to unearth information I wasn’t able to find.”
“Hopefully,” said Raini, still disappointed by Jolene’s earlier announcement that, according to her sources, the dagger had been wiped of any magickal “fingerprint,” so there was no way to tell who enchanted it—something Levi’s incantor-friend apparently confirmed.
“Maddox is an expert at gathering intel,” said Jolene. “If there’s anything more to be found about that dagger, such as where it was purchased and who by, he’ll uncover it.”
“Assuming he gives a shit,” muttered Demi. She widened her eyes when everyone looked at her. “What? It’s not like he embraced the psi-bond, is it?”
“But he does look out for your sister, in his way,” said Evangeline, sitting beside Raini on the sofa. “He’s involved in her life to some degree, Demi. Her safety clearly matters to him.”
Demi snorted. “Her safety? Really? She’d be safer anchored, considering that would prevent her from turning rogue. He isn’t exactly bothered by that, is he?”
Well no, no, he wasn’t. But Raini would really rather her sister didn’t take such joy in pointing that out.
“I heard a lot of bad things about Maddox Quentin,” said Dwain, speaking for the first time. “Really bad things. Maybe you’re better off without him, Raini.”
Jolene sniffed at Dwain, dismissive. “I don’t believe there’ll be any ‘without him.’ Maddox is not going to walk away from Raini—I sensed that for myself last night.”
“That good ole succubae allure at work, huh,” said Dwain, the tiniest edge to his tone. “Doesn’t seem fair to either of you,” he added, directing a sympathetic smile at Raini. That sympathy wasn’t present in his eyes, though. No, his gaze held a hint of something ugly.
See, that was the thing. When a succubae snare lost its hold on a person, they were often left feeling angry and hateful, because who would like that they’d been unnaturally compelled to want someone so badly?
Dwain was right on one thing, though. It wasn’t fair on Maddox that he was preternaturally driven to keep her close, just as it wasn’t fair on Raini, because she couldn’t change what she was.
“I don’t believe Maddox is ensnared,” said Jolene, her brow creased. “He’s exhibited no signs of being obsessed with her. If he was, he wouldn’t be able to go without seeing her for long periods of time.”
Well that was true. He only saw her once a month, and he didn’t appear to be struggling with that.
“Wanting a place in her life is just typical anchor behavior,” Jolene added.
Evangeline nodded. “I believe he simply needs time to adjust to having someone take up such a big role in his life. Some don’t find it easy to let new people into their world—not even if those people are their anchors.”
Lachlan licked the edges of his teeth. “Well, if time goes on and he still doesn’t ‘adjust,’ I’ll be having a talk with him.”
Raini tensed. “Dad … ”
He raised his hands. “It’ll be perfectly civil.”
Oh, the man was unreal. “What’s civil about you and your brothers setting fire to his club? No, don’t tell me that isn’t your plan. You’re all about burning down people’s businesses.”
