Page 81 of Vicious Luna

There it is.

“I get to babysit you today,” River remarks, cocking out a hip and resting a hand upon it.

I arch a brow as I swing my gaze toward Avery. "Her?"

I’ve got at least five years and a hundred pounds on the girl, so if I had any designs on making a run for it, she’d be hard-pressed to stop me.

Avery snorts a laugh, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “Trust me, she’s the deadliest thing in this room.”

I furrow my brow as I turn back to the girl in question, finding her grinning from ear to ear.Goddamn, that grin is unnerving.

“Alright, we’ll be back later,” Avery clucks, wandering toward the kitchen doorway as Madd and Sloane make their exit ahead of her. “Try not to get into too much trouble while we’re gone, eh?”

“No promises,” River calls, blowing her a kiss.

Yup, there’s that family resemblance again.

Avery rolls her eyes, turning to follow her brother and his mate. A few seconds later, I hear the front door close behind them, returning my attention to my new babysitter. “Deadliest thing in the room, huh?” I ask.

She waves me off with a quiet laugh. “Story for another day. So, how’s it going with Avery? Have you two marked yet?”

I choke on air, raising a fist to my mouth and coughing.

“Eek, that bad, huh?” River winces, hissing in a breath through her teeth. She advances in my direction, casting me a pitying look. “Listen, Aves might seem like she's all claws, but she’s got the biggest heart. I’m sure you two can figure it out.And Madd…” she pauses to glance over her shoulder toward the doorway he just left through, then swings her gaze back to me. “He’ll come around.”

I snort a laugh. “You sure about that?”

River nods, leaning a hip against the counter and casually folding her arms. “Yeah, he’s just really protective of Aves. Always has been. She’s the same way with him, too. I’ve never known any other siblings as close as those two are.” She purses her lips, squinting in consideration. “Well, except my mom and aunt. Maybe it’s a twin thing.”

“Maybe,” I grumble, carding my fingers through my hair. “Never had siblings, so I wouldn’t know.

“Me neither,” she replies, a frown pulling at her lips. It’s gone an instant later, replaced by a spark of mischief in those hazel eyes. “So what do you wanna do today?”

I narrow my eyes on her suspiciously. “What are my options?”

“Wanna practice shifting?” she asks, waggling her brows.

My own shoot up in surprise. “Is that what they told you to do?”

River uncrosses her arms, pushing off from the counter and flipping her hair over a shoulder. “No, but I’m feeling generous,” she says, winking. “So whaddya say?”

“Fuck it,” I sigh, slapping my hands against the countertop and pushing up from my stool. “I’m in.”

37

“There,” I say, clicking the mouse a final time before leaning back on the couch and glancing up at Lo over my shoulder. “That’ll leave them scrambling for a while.”

“How many days do you think it’ll buy us?” Avery asks eagerly, peering past her friend to get a look at the screen of the laptop resting on my thighs.

“At least a few,” I reply, shrugging.

Honestly, I’ll bet it’ll take The Guild at least a week to get their shit sorted out now that I’ve disabled the dark web message boards, crippled their internal email server, and corrupted the security system, but I don’t want to be too optimistic here just in case they somehow manage to pull an ace out of their sleeve. Which is why I also drained their financials so they can’t pay for outside help, moving all The Guild’s funds to offshore banks that I set up backup accounts with years ago. They’ll know it was me- nobody else would have the knowledge or access to pull off such a thorough cyberattack on every one of their systems- but they won’t be able to make a move to retaliate until they’re able to put some of the pieces back together.

I’m just glad Avery was able to convince the others to letme help out. Madd didn’t seem too pleased about it, but after reading me the riot act and threatening death and dismemberment if I screwed them over, he begrudgingly agreed. As long as I had supervision, of course, which is why Lo has been hovering over my shoulder for the last hour and a half, watching my every move.

“Do you think your man on the inside will respond?” she asks, rocking back on a hip and folding her arms across her chest.

“Hope so,” I murmur.

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