Page 39 of Bombshell

Effie’s lips moved against mine as she twisted in my arms so we were chest to chest. Her green hair was curled in long waves that I wanted nothing more than to wrap in a fist and hang on to while we made love.

Earlier tonight I’d been brooding over the day while the rest of the Monstrous Ink staff enjoyed themselves. It was meant to be a welcome party for Byrne who, despite me still not liking his fucking personality, was a damn good body piercer.

There had been no joy in any of it for me though.

No, my thoughts had been preoccupied with a certain five-foot-two witch who had looked devastatingly beautiful when she came down the stairs… only to go to the damn charity gala that I’d been hearing far too much about over the past week.

The bastards usually spent the weeks leading up to their gala ‘cleaning up’ the streets which meant bothering the homeless and pushing them out even though they had nowhere else to go—which was ironic as hell considering the whole point of the gala was to raise money for the needy. Besides that Arsenio hadalso been constantly bombarding me with new, and increasingly more ridiculous offers to sell my shop.

Monstrous Ink and The Dive were the biggest line of defense for all of the smaller shops on the Wharf—so if I gave in we were all fucked.

It had been putting me in a foul mood which was only made worse by Effie telling me at the last minute that she agreed to go for her friend, the very daughter of the man who’d been making my life a living hell amongst all of the other bullshit I was dealing with.

We’d snapped at each other as she was gathering her things and it had been bothering the fuck out of me all night.

My instincts had been screaming at me to go and make things right with my mate—especially because our bond was unsealed. It was like a million tiny little alarm bells going off in my head all at once trying to warn me that I was letting my mate slip from my grasp because of my stupid temper.

“Rather than look like a thundercloud all night,” Daphne had finally leaned over to shout over the music of the Dive, the Shirley Temple she’d been nursing all night cupped in between her hands. “You should go put on a nice outfit and apologize.”

“Apologize?” I’d said, frowning at the pregnant woman. “Why should I apologize?”

Daphne just rolled her eyes at me. “If you have to ask yourself that question, Dallan Elder, then you are more stupid than I thought.”

She then turned away and proceeded to ignore me until I finally got up and left. Clearly I wasn’t good company for the rest of my staff..

After that I’d gone down to stand in the grotto I’d painstakingly redecorated. The one that I’d been planning on showing Effie today before she told us she was going to the gala.

I’d decided right then and there:fuck it. I was done being angry, I just wanted to see her. To touch the perfectly curled hair that had bounced so enticingly when we’d been arguing and to cup her perfect little ass that was being shown off in the black dress she was wearing.

Just imagining other men staring at my mate had been enough to make me change into nicer clothes and use my water magic to take a shortcut to where the Port Haven country club was.

And luck was with me tonight because Effie was on the balcony when I arrived, arguing with her friend.

Odette Sidhe looked too innocent to exist on this mortal plane and her words were naive at best as she tried in vain to ignore Effie’s reasoning.

I couldn’t imagine being trapped in that fancy mansion for my entire life. My parents had believed in me becoming independent from a young age, going so far as to leave me alone for extended periods of time so that I knew how to survive on my own should anything happen to them.

Of course, that was in the times before the Accords and we never knew when our last day Earthside would be. Especially mymother who’d nearly been burned at the stake several times in her long life.

She knew life was precious and fleeting more than anyone else and had wanted to make sure I knew what to do in the event that they died.

Odette, on the other hand, would probably struggle if she was ever left on her own.

Not that Arsenio would ever leave her alone. The normally pompous asshole seemed to soften into mush when around his only child and it was probably because her existence was so rare.

A faerie child—especially a female one—was like winning the biggest lottery on this planet.

I was pretty sure Arsenio would hang onto his child until something finally made him take his last breaths and if he kept up his holier-than-thou attitude and kept trying to buy my Wharf then I was going to kill him myself.

“You,” Effie said, bringing me back into the moment. “Are distracted. Am I not enough to get your full attention?”

The sultry way the words rolled off of her tongue made me shudder with anticipation because, after all, make up sex was the best kind of sex.

“Is this dress yours?” I asked, tugging at the stretchy black material that showed every slender curve of her body.

“No, it’s Odette’s.”

I reached down and began to rip the dress, the sound of fabric tearing filling the room as Effie’s squawk of protest did little to stop the destruction. “Hey!”

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