Page 31 of A Shadow of Betrayal

“See, unlucky,” Jordan reiterates, and I nod in agreement.

“What? Are you kidding? Jordan, Meyer is the luckiest girl I have ever met,” Theo disagrees, making Jordan and me gape at him in surprise.

“Uhhh… did you not listen to everything she just said?” Jordan asks, sounding as confused as I feel.

“Yes, but how many Hunters do you know who can survive by themselves for twenty-six years?” Theo retorts, and I roll my eyes. The guy makes it sound like I was killing the Demons like a badass every day when I was, in fact, hiding like a damn coward. “The Russians are still trying to figure out how the five-year-old they just found was still alive. There has never been an Umbra Hunter who made it past the age of seven without the Seniorem’s assistance.”

“My mother did. She was thirty-three before she died. And I wouldn't call that lucky,” I mutter, raising my head off my arms and stabbing at a weird-looking vegetable in front of me. “More like cursed.” Theo ignores me, stacking book after book on the table until I can't see Jordan over them. “Ummm,” I start, my eyes widening on the thick textbooks Theo just yanked from his bag. “How the hell did you get those all to fit in there?” I ask, looking down at the bag in question and then back at the large book stack in front of me. It looks like it's a normal-sized backpack, but I now have seven textbooks that are two or more inches thick stacked in front of me.

“The bag is charmed,” Theo says with a wave of his hand like that sentence wasn’t mind-blowing for me. “It can hold more than it looks like it can.”

“Wait, like Mary Poppins’ charmed bag? Let me see,” I say excitedly, some of my energy returning with my excitement as I grab the backpack from Theo's feet and make him shout in protest when I start to look through it. “It doesn't look any different,” I mutter to myself, grabbing a few things in his bag and yanking them out.

“Wait, Meyer, don't!” Theo snaps when my hand wraps around an oddly familiar object, and I let it drop, not yanking it from the bag. I keep the same shaped object in my bedside drawer beside my small pink vibrator.

“Uh, sorry!” I shout way too loudly, drawing the attention of a few other Rangers sitting nearby when I throw Theo’s bag back at him, trying to ignore his bright red face while my own heats up, matching his cherry red color.

“Why can’t she go through your bag, dude? You went through her shit when we dropped it off at our room,” Jordan asks, leaning around the stack of books and eyeing us suspiciously. “And why are you both blushing?”

“You what?” I shout, turning to look at Theo, who scowls at Jordan and flips him off.

“You rat,” he grumbles before turning a charming smile my way. “I was only curious about what they brought you. I know Umbra Regalis had instructed them to bring your personal items back here for your use, and I wanted to see what you used to keep yourself alive for as long as you did,” he explains, and I shake my head.

“Wait, Lennox had my stuff brought here? How did he know where I lived?” I ask, puzzled and a little miffed I didn't know my stuff was here. Why didn't he say something when we talked this morning? I’ve been running around in these sweats all day!

Hold up; did they see Milo when they grabbed my stuff?

Fuck, now I'm going to have to track Lennox down and suffer through more of his annoying presence so I can ask about the well-being of my cat. He didn't seem to recognize Milo’s name when I had told him I wanted to go home, but I seriously doubt he knew what I named my cat. So I’m going to hold out hope that they saw Milo and maybe brought him up here with my stuff.

“Lennox, huh?” Theo teases, and I roll my eyes when I realize I called him by his given name and not his title. “When did you and the Regalis bossman get on a first-name basis?”

“Jordan called him Lennox this morning, Theo. Stop being a pill and explain why my stuff is here, how it got here, and why you decided to snoop through it?”

“Pretty judgmental words from the girl who just snooped through my bag,” Theo says with a wink, and I sigh.

I mean, he’s not wrong.

“Sorry,” I mutter, taking another bite of my food while looking at the bag in question.

“I haven't seen a charmed bag before, and my curiosity won. I didn't think you would keep a… I mean. I shouldn't have snooped,” I finish awkwardly, making Theo blush again, and Jordan scowls at us.

But seriously? Who keeps a sex toy in their backpack? Shouldn't that be kept somewhere wandering hands won’t accidentally come across it? I wrinkle my nose in disgust while looking at my hand. Fuck, I think I need to go wash them.

I just touched Theo's sex toy!

Mortification hits me anew, and Theo rolls his shoulders in and shakes his head like he knows what I'm thinking. “It wasn’t… I mean, I never. Fuuuck, it’s new, okay?” Theo whispers, leaning toward me, his cheeks pink as he gives me an apologetic look.

I nod and smile, letting him know we are good. But honestly, it was my fault for going through his bag without asking if it was okay first. I would have stopped when he asked, but by the time he got the words out, it was already too late.

“Okay, give me the bag,” Jordan demands as he watches us, standing up and trying to grab the backpack from Theo’s hands.

“What? No way!”

“No fair! Why does Meyer get to see what's in there and I don’t? We’ve been friends longer,” Jordan mutters, scowling at me like this is all my fault as he falls back onto his seat.

“Jordan, drop it,” Theo mutters, glaring at his friend, making him frown in response.

“Fine,” he pouts, grabbing his fork and polishing off his food. I sit back, picking at the curry on my plate, and listen to Theo and Jordan discussing their workouts, all while teasing each other about how their bloodline will beat out the other in the next Ranger Games.

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