“Why is he here?” I asked as I pointed at Warren. The teenage omega was no longer in his shifted ferret form. He wore combat boots, camo pants, and a black shirt.
“He’s my bodyguard and crutch,” Jinx said in a “duh” tone, but she looked tired. There were large dark circles under her eyes. “Lothaire cleared him, since I obviously need the protection.”
She nodded her head toward Malum.
Since he was still standing behind his burning chair, she had a point.
Warren glared at the kings like he wanted to murder them with his eyes while the rest of the shifters glared at him.
“We’re trying to hunt down an enchanter with a degree in prosthetics,” Jax said as a way of explanation. “There are few in the realms, and it’s taking longer than we’d hoped.”
Cobra’s eyes flickered to slit pupils, and he hissed, “Until then, we’re stuck with the perverted ferret.”
Xerxes pulled out his knives and made a show of sharpening them, and Ascher cracked his knuckles.
Warren gently sat Jinx down in a chair, then leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. His posture was relaxed, like he didn’t care that most people in the room wanted to kill him.
Oh, to be a delusional teenager.
Must be nice.
“I see that fire ass still hasn’t gotten the psychological counseling he needs.” Sadie gestured to Malum. “I’d recommend you to Dr. Palmer, my and Aran’s therapist, but she told us that she was considering reporting us to the authorities.”
Orion narrowed his eyes at her, and Scorpius said something derogatory under his breath.
A flume of smoke trailed out of Malum’s nose as he exhaled.
“Sit down, you’re embarrassing our legion,” I snapped at Malum as I rubbed at my temples. I wanted to be back in bed, cuddling the twins.
Why in the sun god would Lothaire schedule a meeting at 4:00 a.m.? Who did that?
Malum pinned me with his steel-colored gaze, and a flush stained his cheeks. “So you can speak to us? It would have been nice if you’d acknowledged us the last fifteen times we’ve tried to talk to you.”
Not to get political, but men suck.
Leaning forward I buried my head in my arms and squished my face against the smooth table.
“Is the wind loud in here?” I asked petulantly.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Sadie pointed out helpfully as she went along with my joke.
The crackling noise increased as the chair burned hotter.
“You will fucking—” Scorpius began to snarl, but Luka cut him off and snapped, “Watch how you address our wife.”
“You’re not married yet,” Malum snapped back at him.
“Yet,” John said gleefully, and I could hear the smile on his lips.
He massaged the back of my skull, and I relaxed into his hands. Pinpricks of pain shot across the enchanted wound on my back, and I winced as I gently pushed John’s hand off my head.
The enchanted wound sucked when demon brew wasn’t obliterating my senses.
I made a mental note to get drunk.
Soon.
“Sit down and shut up,” Jax alpha-barked, and I sat up straight. Even if we weren’t shifters, his commanding tone was like a punch to the gut, and it made me want to obey him.
For a long moment, Malum stood behind his flaming chair and stared Jax down.
Tension swirled across the long table.
Malum slowly took a seat, but his chair was still flaming behind him.
Jax’s tone was commanding as he spoke, “Lothaire said we need to read whatever is in these binders and begin to formulate a strategy for the war.” He opened the white cover. “We have a meeting to discuss our preliminary plans with the angels later today, so we need to be on the same page. Let’s start reading.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Malum snapped, but he opened his binder like the rest of us.
Big red letters spelling “CLASSIFIED” crossed the first page.
I swallowed thickly.
Memories of skin ripping as ungodly exploded out of villagers made my stomach roll. I didn’t want to know what was in this binder.
The page shook as I slowly turned it over with trembling fingers.
The top of the next piece of white parchment read, “Phase I: The ungodly have taken over Planet 003XF. The planet needs to be cleansed of all primitive inhabitants. They are all infected. It is mostly civilian ungodly. It is recommended that the champions complete this task by themselves and other resources are saved to handle the outposts of battle ungodly.”
I sat back in my chair and refused to read further.
My pipe clattered against my teeth as I inhaled with all my might.
Across the table, Sadie and her mates looked at one another with uneasy expressions. They swore quietly and paled.
Jinx smiled as she read.
On the other side of the table, the kings, demons, and twins kept reading, completely unfazed by the words on the page.
After all, we’d fought these creatures in multiple battles; we’d slaughtered villagers as they screamed for help.
We’d sliced them open mercilessly.
For hours.
I exhaled a puff of enchanted smoke, and Horse settled onto my shoulder.
Cracking my neck back and forth, I forced myself to turn the page and keep reading like the rest of my legion.
I needed to concentrate, because this was real. The ungodly weren’t going to disappear because I didn’t want to think about what they were doing.
Hours later, all of us stumbled out of the room on shaky legs.
No one spoke.
The horrible things I’d read echoed through my brain.
“I need time alone in the bathroom,” I muttered as I walked across the pristine white hallway to the restrooms.
John called after me, “We’ll get you breakfast from the dining hall.” The shifters said something about going with them to get food, but I’d stopped listening.
I nodded hastily and shoved through the door.
Gripping the modern glass sink, I splashed water on my face. Counted to ten. Breathed shakily through my nose.
The door opened, and I turned to hug Sadie.
I stopped.
It wasn’t Sadie in the women’s restrooms.
The three kings took up all the space in the small room.
“We need to talk,” Malum said forcefully as he raked his hands over his buzzed head. Orion nodded beside him and stared at me with unblinking eyes.
Scorpius clenched his jaw and said bluntly, “We need to take care of you. You’re our Revered. You can’t ignore us.”
I slammed my pipe between my lips and sucked on enchanted smoke.
When my lungs felt like they were burning, I released it with a puff and said, “Yes, I can. Now get out of the women’s bathroom.”
Orion reached his hand forward and whispered, “We’re tied together, sweetheart.”
“You don’t get to decide,” Malum snapped forcefully. “I know we’ve made mistakes, but this bond between us is unbreakable. Let us prove that to you.”
“Hard no.” I clapped my hands sarcastically. “Immediate. No. Now move out of my way.”
A roll of paper towels began to smoke.
“You’re our destiny,” Scorpius said slowly like he was trying to hold himself back from sneering at me. “It is our life’s purpose to protect and cherish you. We exist to care for you. We need to pamper and touch our Revered.”