Page 17 of Underworld

He arches a brow again. “That would make your coffee, bean water.”

I shrug but don’t disagree. “It’s fucking delicious bean water.”

“Okay, okay, kids.” Alec laughs and hands me a mug. “I drink coffee, don’t worry. Here is your mug.”

Taking a sip, I groan loudly. Fuck yeah. Chocolatey, sugary caffeine! “I fucking love you!”

“Love you too,” Alec responds with a grin.

I point to my coffee. “I was talking to the coffee.” I laugh at his frown but follow up with, “But I love you too, Alec.”

He rolls his eyes as if he’s used to my antics. I guess, in some ways, I haven’t changed all that much. “Let’s go, troublemaker.”

Howe bounces over and kisses my cheek. “Do I get an I love you too, or did Alec and the coffee take all the love?” he teases.

I giggle and give him a quick kiss on the lips. “I love you, Howe!”

He grins. “Love you too, Starlight.”

“Alright, now that everyone has gotten some love. Can we leave, please?” Jace asks from the front door while gesturing out the door. “Let’s go.”

I laugh as I make my way past him, bouncing up onto my tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. “Oh, don’t get sour. I love you too, J.”

He rolls his eyes, but I can see the smirk he tries to hide as he locks the door behind us. I can’t stop grinning as we make our way to the car. It’s been so long since I’ve laughed or even smiled this much.

The drive is a lot faster than I remembered it being last night. We park in front of the cave, and I start to get out of the car, but Howe holds my arm to stop me. I raise a brow in question.

“Let the others out first.”

I’m confused by his tone, but I shrug it off. Jace is already by the cave entrance, but he’s looking around as if waiting for something to happen. Howe and Alec exit the car from the other side. Zane opens the door for me, but he’s acting more like a shield rather than opening my door just to be nice.

“What’s going—” Before I finish my question, shots ring out around us. Zane covers my body with his, and I feel him jerk. Did he just get shot?!

I hear Jace scream, “Shots fired! Alpha and Beta to my location immediately!”

I’m stuck under Zane, so I try to push him off of me to get a look at what’s going on. He growls and orders, “Sit fucking still till we get backup!”

Freaking the fuck out, I do as I’m told. There’s a sudden increase of shots fired, then Jace yells, “Get her the fuck inside, Thanatos!”

Zane doesn’t hesitate. He picks me up and runs to the entrance of the cave. The others soon follow, and I’m hyperventilating as my gaze darts around. I take in my boys and notice they have holes in their clothes. Fuck, they’ve been shot! Heart pounding in fear, I race over to Jace first and finger the holes in his shirt, expecting blood to be seeping out of them. But . . . there’s nothing. I rip his shirt off and realize he is wearing a bulletproof vest.

As I look around at my other guys, my brain slowly starts coming out of the adrenaline haze. Then it clicks. They are all wearing vests. Except me. That’s why I wasn’t allowed out of the car without them. Then my anger sparks. They could have fucking died trying to protect me, and instead of explaining the danger of whatever the fuck just happened and putting a vest on me . . . they didn’t!

I notice Alpha and Beta looking at me, each with a raised brow, so I give them a forced smile and say, “Thank you for the backup.” I then look at my guys and give them a death glare that could rival any death glare. I’m sure I make Persephone proud when I growl out, “My room. NOW!”

“Now, Persephone . . .” Jace starts, but when my eyes snap to him, his eyes widen, and he immediately shuts up.

“You wanted a Queen. Get your fucking asses to my bedroom now!”

“Um . . . we’ll start a perimeter search.” Alpha clears his throat, bows to us, and runs out of the room.

Beta shakes his head with a smirk of amusement. “You’ve fucked yourselves now.” Jace glares at the guy, but it only makes him laugh as he slowly backs away. “No offense, Hades.” He points to me, saying, “The Queen is always scarier.” He bows to me before turning and running after Alpha.

The guys sigh as they nod and make their way to my bedroom. By the time we get to my room, I am seething. Why the fuck didn’t they give me a bulletproof vest? No, without even talking to me, they just decided that if I needed protecting, they would take the bullet for me.

The guys watch as I pace the bedroom, and I know they can tell I'm pissed. I’m pretty sure I made that clear when I ordered them to my room. But right now, I can only deal with the guy who pissed me off the most. I’ll deal with the others when I yell at them for the lack of communication. I turn to glare at them. "Everyone, get the fuck out!" I point at Zane as I say with a growl, "Except for you."

The guys look at each other, then Howe shrugs and says, "Good luck, bro." Howe pats Zane on the shoulder as he leaves. The others give Zane a sympathetic look before they follow behind.

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