Page 49 of Blood on the Ice

“Because it’s hella badass?” Lucas gurgles around another glob of goo. “I’d prefer Wolverine, though.”

Liam nods, grinning. “Gambit.”

“Thor,” Slade admits.

Are these idiots serious?

“Lucas, you turn into a bear. Slade, you can hypnotize people. I don’t know what Liam can do, but he’s the fucking Prince of the Daybreak Court. You don’tneedto be superheroes from the humans!”

Kaspar winks at me and that shocks me as much as their admissions. “They’re all kids, Killer. Even the Prince is quite young for a Fae.”

“Thanks for calling me Mrs. Robinson, you asshole,” I mutter as I stalk away from the group. I’ve never felt as old as I do right now—even when I turned my first century. With a huff ofirritation, I wipe some of the goo away from my ‘baby’ mate while I give those motherfuckers my back.

“Kas, younevertell a woman she’s old. Your mother would beat the tar out of you for being that rude,” Liam chides. “We all should help Morgana get Lucas cleaned up. We’re in for a long night as he continues to recover.”

Great. Hopefully, I don’t murder any of these morons before the sun comes up.

wake me up

Along night was an understatement and I’m convinced the Prince knew it. The rest of the evening and throughout the night, the crew of people at Morgana’s house helped me eject the nasty ass Fae poison without dying on the spot. I say without dying because I absolutely wanted to expire after the first four hours of agony. The ‘Venom’ wasn’t cool anymore and Iwill definitely nevereverjoke about wanting to have a superhero backstory again.

It’s been the worst twenty-four hours of my entire life, and my parents once showed up at my middle school conferences in bondage gear, high on cocaine, and holding onto hookers.

“Lucas?”

The tired voice of my new mate makes me smile despite the bone-deep ache that has settled into my body after so many spasms and contortions. “I’m awake.”

“Are you going to… leak anything?” she says with a yawn. “Because I think we’re out of towels and…”

My lips curve when she doesn’t even open her eyes, just stretches and prepares to go find whatever I need. If anyone had told methiswas the real Morgana Le Ciel—not the media image of a vengeful woman scorned—I wouldn’t have believed them. But this woman is so much more than anyone gave her credit for, and I don’t even know the entire story about her douchebag ex. She may tell me some day, but I highly doubt it’s going to sway me in the opposite direction. Morgana may have killed him, but she was owed his death, and that’s the only reason she did it.

I’m certain of it.

“No, I will not spew any of that shit, but thank you.” I roll over carefully, avoiding all the sore spots as best I can. Brushing hair off of her face, I look down at her fondly. “I can’t believe you guys all spent the past few days cleaning up after me. It wasn’t a very auspicious beginning to our mating relationship.”

Her laugh echoes off the walls of the living room. I remember them moving me there once the goop wasn’t spilling from mypores—I think. I watch as she pulls back to stretch and once she’s done, she turns back to me with a crooked smile. “Lucas, I have never once been in a relationship that wasn’t absolute clown shoes and I wouldn’t expect this one to be, either. We mated without intending to, and some psycho framed you, then poisoned you. Hell, none of us are sure if this is about you, my ex, or me; itcan’tbe your fault, so I can’t hold it against you.”

A flush creeps up my neck and I have to duck my head when an intense feeling of glee fills me. I’mhappyshe’s not upset with me. How very odd. “Thank you, Morgana. I promise I’m going to get this shit over LaMount cleared up so we can focus on getting to know one another.”

“I’m fairly certain Jackson Thorne is going to clear it up. He’ll arrive today and I’m sure Channing notified him we couldn’t meet with him until today. He’s probably champing at the bit to get your statement and tell us what kind of nonsense the local idiots have cooked up.”

Groaning, I flop onto my back, ignoring the pain in my battered body. “Mother of Apollo, I fucking forgot about him. Do you think he’ll be pissed that we’ve wasted his time?”

“I think when he hears what’s been going on, he’ll be glad he brought his entire team with him. Channing informed me via text last night that his entire team is flying in because of a case.”

“Great. A group of people staring at me as we describe my weakest days, wondering how someone like me gets themselves implicated in murder and poisoned within a week’s time. Just what I was hoping for when I wishednotto die.”

“Hey, he’s up, guys!”

My head turns and I see Slade standing at the other end of Morgana’s enormous sofa. He looks excited and, by his tone, I realize everyone is still here. “Um, hey, guys. Thank you for… all the stuff you did. I don’t remember everything, but…”

“Ah, Sleeping Beauty is awake.”

That asshole is still here? Damn.

Morgana gives Kaspar a stony glare as she scoots over to get off the cushions. “Don’tstart with me, dragon. I’m giving you the same warning I’ve given others: I’m not a morning person until I’ve had my coffee.”

“This coffee?” Ignatius walks up with two steaming mugs of caffeine that make my mouth water. Morgana takes hers and hands me the other before she pads into the kitchen.

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