Page 172 of House of Lilith

Iseeherpullaway from that fucking asshole and walk out of the Main Hall, making me snap out of it and release the girl I’m holding in my arms.

“Thanks for the dance,” I tell her as I throw her a glance, forcing myself not to be aggressive about it as I move to walk away.

With the corner of my eye, I see her eyebrows pull down and I hear her call out, “Dahrian.”

But I’m already moving, fast, because I need to get to my pack before the urge to murder that fucking asshole kicks in. Kissing her, daring to kiss her right in front of my eyes.

Being surrounded by others is the only thing keeping me sane right now.

Party, it’s apartyI’m at, I tell myself and the feverishness floods me again, making me throw on a grin even before my eyes land on them, huddled in one corner of the Main Hall with their drinks untouched in front of them.

“What’s going on here?” I demand, loudly and in an upbeat voice. “Why’s no one drinking?”

And I know why it is. It’s not like there aren’t tensions, now that the last Game is tomorrow and they still haven’t released our Archon.

“Well I guess you couldn’t be more right,” I say with a smirk and a shake of my head, letting my eyes sweep over the crowded Main Hall, bitterness flooding my mouth. “This party right here, it’s absoluteshit.”

I turn to my loyal right hand and I ask, in a booming, slightly theatrical voice that usually gets my pack in the mood for partying, “Ricky, what’s the closest place with dingy bars and rivers of alcohol?”

And it does the trick, everyone’s ears pricking and eyes lighting up.

Everyone’s except for Ricky’s. “What’re you talking about?” he asks with a frown.

“Bloodholm, Boss,” O’Malley cuts in, eager to help. “I know the words for the Pull.”

“Bloodholm it is then,” I say in a commanding voice, clapping my hands and motioning for them to get up. “Let’s get a move on.”

And they all do, except for Ricky, again, who just comes to stand in front of me, saying, “You can’t do that. You haven’t filed the paperwork for using the Pull.”

Paperwork. It makes blood start boiling in my veins.

I just look at him for a second. Then I let out a mocking little laugh. “Listen to this,” I drawl. “I haven’t filed the rightpaperwork.” And I let my eyes sweep over my pack, who start laughing with me.

“Oh I don’t think you understand, mate,” I say as I turn my eyes back onto Ricky, “I don’t have to give a shit about fuckingpaperworkanymore. Or fuckingrulesin general.”

And I push past him, kicking his shoulder with mine, the pack following me out of the Main Hall, across the Entrance Hall and into the Elevator.

But as soon as we step out into the gardens, where one of the Pull chambers is, Ricky comes to buzz around me again.

“Boss,” I hear him call out from behind my back.

I don’t reply. I just keep marching, wanting to get the fuck out of this place as soon as humanly possible.

Never, she said, I’mnevergetting back with him.

And I can’t fucking believe I came to this fucking party to seek her out. To ask her to forgive me and make all this stop.

“Hey, wait up,” Ricky insists as he rushes to walk around me and block my way.

I don’t hesitate. I grab him by the collar of his shirt and I pull him close, so close, our noses are almost touching.

And I can see the surprise on his face, but I don’t care. “I need to blow off some steam, Ricky,” I tell him in a low growl, “and I’m going to do it with or withoutyourfucking consent.”

I let go of him, roughly, and he opens his mouth to say something, but I don’t let him. “Now,” I continue, barely managing my anger, “there’s two ways this can go down. Me getting the fuck out of here, or me bashing your head to a pulp. But it’s all going to go down real fast, so you might want to hurry up rolling the fucking dice.”

For a second, he just blinks at me. “Give me five minutes of your time.”

“Sure,” I drawl as I get in his face again. “I’ll give you five minutes.” Before I know it, I’m finding myself saying, “Five minutes to explain how you let yourself be interrogated about what happened between me and the ex. Go.”

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