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“Amara?” I leaned in, my mouth almost brushing hers, feeling a slight shiver from her, a hum in her throat. “Get your fucking hands off me.”
It took her a moment before she jerked back. This time nothing but rage was in her eyes, and her mouth twisted. “You’re pathetic, Croygen. You always have been.”
I scoffed, making her even angrier.
There was a reason she always came running back to me. I knew how many times I made her scream and had her passing out after. Far more than the Viking, but she wanted him because deep down Ryker didn’t want her, and she enjoyed that. The challenge.
“Noooo, the lemurs can’t hump the toilet. Only the ducks can…” A voice came from a bag one of her men was holding.
Annabeth’s bag.
A head popped out, granola stuck to his fur. Sprig looked dazed and utterly confused.
“What? What’s going on?”
Amara went still, her entire body locking up.
My gaze jumped from her to Sprig, watching them take each other in, registering who the other was. To say they hated each other was a vast understatement. He was team Zoey, through and through; he bledbheancolors.
“Oh, no! Nonononononono! Not you!” He shook his head. “Oh, come on, why do bananas keep pooping in my Honey Nut Cheerios?”
“Oh gods,” she hissed. “You’re still alive? Haven’t they gotten rid of you yet? Sold you off as dog food?”
“Listen here, purple-haired fungus!” Sprig crawled out of the bag, sitting on the rim. “You’re the one past its selling date. You’re like the Mexican honey-chili I ate that keeps revisiting me through my asshole. A thin substance that squeezes through and burns.”
“And let me guess, you’re still humping a stuffed goat?” she spat back. “You know it’s not alive, right? That it’s notreal.”
Oh fuck.
He jolted back, eyes widening. “How. Dare. You.” He gripped the straps of his own backpack, Pam’s head sticking out of the honey jar pack, his hand patting her head. “Don’t listen to the anorexic Barney doll, baby. She’s mad that she doesn’t have a brain. Just an unemployed scarecrow.”
“Fuck you, you little…” She went stomping for him, finally noticing the men’s shock and fear, their eyes locked on the sprite.
It was easy to forget that even to the fae, he was a freak of nature. A fantasy character come to life.
One started to chant something under his breath, words like ‘demon,’ and ‘monkey king.’“Sun Wukong.” A legendary mythical figure, Sun Wukong was a monkey born from a stone who acquired supernatural powers.
His image was much different from Sprig, more a warrior than a tiny stuffed animal, but in their beliefs, he also has the power to transform, change his appearance. Sprig speaking spooked them enough. Had their myths come to life?
“No.” Amara held up her hands, her men starting to retreat. She spoke to them in Mandarin, telling them it was not what they thought. But people’s embedded beliefs and superstitions were stronger than her claims.
My gaze tracked them as they backed away from Sprig, their terror making them jumpy, ready to flee.
I glanced over at Cooper. His gaze said the same thing. I didn’t even need to look at Katrina. I felt her voice strike through me like a match.
Now!
As if she really spoke, I reacted to Kat’s order. Swinging around, my arm slammed into a nose, my other fist smashed into a throat. A roar from Cooper deafened the cave, sounding like an actual dragon had come back to life, tearing down the walls to get to his mate.
“Get them!” Amara ordered, though many of the spooked men ran, fear taking over any rational thought. The money she offered and the control she had were no longer enough to keep them here. Not when a demon monkey king had come to life before them.
I wanted to kiss that little furball and his flappy mouth.
Yanking a gun out of a man’s hand, I turned and fired at another one, killing or knocking out every figure coming at me. I went into my zone, my training keeping me alert, and once again, Katrina and I made our way to each other. We fought back-to-back, our rhythm in sync, our movements smooth and precise. I felt energy firing between us, something I couldn’t name, and I shoved it toward her, knowing the goblin metal around her wrist was draining her faster than she could kill.
“Cooper, get her!” I bellowed, spotting him barreling through a throng of men, his beast held back by the metal. His anger puffed him up, towering him over the men. Knocking through, he swept up Annabeth, his eyes flaming red.
“Kat, go!” I yelled at her to follow Cooper as I dove for Annabeth’s bag left on the ground. I told myself it was because her medication was in it, not because I was saving the furball. Though I knew if anyone touched him, I would level them.
