Page 110 of Waltzing With Witches

“Call Evenia,” I bark into the comm.

I sit up, waiting for the moment when his horrible bitch of a mother shows up. I don’t have to wait long. Two or three seconds after I give the command, Evenia’s hologram rises up from the disk, and I get the pleasure of seeing her for the first time in a while.

Looking at her now, I find myself searching for any trace of Abe in her features. Maybe the set of her eyes or the slant of her high cheekbones. It’s certainly not there in her pitch-black hair and crimson eyes. The only thing he might have gotten from her is the dismissive look she’s giving me right now.

I level her with my best fuck-off smile.

“Hello, Evenia,” Abe says with perfect coolness.

Evenia’s eyes flick to me. “We have a call scheduled for this afternoon, Keeper. What is the purpose of this one?” She spits the word “Keeper” like it’s got four letters. As much as she wanted Abe to be one, I can’t believe how she treats him.

I keep the smile plastered on my face as Abe leans forward and slightly around me. “I am tendering my resignation, effective immediately.”

Evenia’s mouth drops open, eyes springing wide. “You can’t do that,” she whispers. “Your fathers will be horrified. A Keeper has never quit, and certainly not a Keeper from—”

“House Zeniphon,” he finishes for her. “I know. But I do quit. As the current Keeper, I’ve already picked my successor. Arkan has accepted the permanent role, and the townspeople have been notified.” He levels a cruel smile at his mother.

“You told the Evertons?” she shouts, fists balling by her side.

Oh gods, I am really enjoying this. I don’t even fight to stop my smile from turning into a wicked smirk.

“You can’t do this, Abemet,” she finally hisses, as if she can control him simply by saying his real name aloud.

“Oh, he did,” I clarify. “It was his choice, something I know you’re fond of taking away.”

Sick burn. Point to Morgan.

Evenia narrows her eyes at me. “It’s called sacrifice, witch, something you don’t know anything about, I’m sure.”

That does it. I rise from Abe’s lap. Standing, I’m a head taller than his mother. “This isn’t a pissing contest to see who can sacrifice more. We lost so much time, and I blame you for that, while we’re being honest. Not to mention, I killed Wesley when not a single other monster could even locate him. Not your hunter team, not the new Keeper, not our protector team. Not Abe, and not you. It was me. So, as far as I’m concerned, you can pretty much fuck off.”

Abe slides a hand down the swell of my ass and gives it a playful squeeze. I do believe he’s enjoying this little standoff. And if I’m honest with myself, it’s been building ever since she was mean to Alo’s five-year-old, Iggy.

Who does that?

When Evenia sputters, Abe looks around my waist. “That’ll be all, Mother. If you need me—don’t. Morgan and I are taking time off to travel. As we are newlymateds, I’m sure you can understand the importance of alone time.”

She opens her mouth to respond, but Abe doesn’t bother to wait. He clicks off and stands, spinning me around in his arms.

“That last bit about killing Wesley. Sounds like you were working on that one for a while.” Crimson eyes soften in the corners as he reaches both arms around me, playing with my hair with both hands. “That was brilliant.”

I grimace. “Maybe also a little rude. I didn’t mean to throw you under the bus about Wesley.”

“I don’t feel that way.” He brings his lips to the side of my neck and makes a path down to my shoulder and the spot that’s still a little tender from his first bite last night. “She was going to fire me this afternoon anyhow. That way, she could say I simply failed in my duties.”

Something about that makes me a little sad. I run my hands under his shirt, up over his cut abs and up to his beefy chest. “Will you miss it?”

“Yes,” he says without hesitation. “And no. Once a Keeper, always a Keeper in a sense. But I will be too busy showing you the rest of the monster world, or perhaps even visiting the human world again. We could spend a weekend there without losing too much time here.”

“Three months,” I murmur. “Three days outside the wards would be three months here.”

When he says nothing, I think about my sisters and their mates. Do I want to lose three months at a time with them? Is it worth it to be part of the world I spent my whole life in? Shaking my head, I mentally close the door on that option.

“I don’t think I want that, mate.”

He grins. “I’m done making decisions on our behalf.” With a sly look, he reaches behind his back and pulls something out of his pocket. When he hands it to me, and I unfold it, I gasp. “Is this a map?”

He grins. “Pick a place, and we’ll visit, although I have a couple of ideas for where to go first.”

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