Page 4 of Hellfire

My Frog Prince’s gaze dropped and heated the five degrees my body lost out in the cold. “Not if she wants to maintain those curves.”

I wiggled my hips from side to side, gifting him an even better view, relishing the attention, earning his hand cupping my ass.

“We all know you’ll eat all the munchies,” I teased Cole.

He chuckled and pulled out a bar stool for me at a raised table. “I wouldn’t dare steal from a princess.”

I snorted and hit his arm. “Then where does all my chocolate stash go?”

I was a little… okay, VERY territorial over my stockpile, especially during exam season, and needed cocoa and sugar to calm my anxiety and fuel my stamina. Come Monday morning, I’d implement strict rules again after slackening them over the winter break. Some things just couldn’t be shared.

“I know nothing.” Trust Talon to back his brother up, shoulders shaking as he made a beeline for the bar, leaving it to us to sort it out.

“I think the aliens beamed it up into their spacecraft for a long, interstellar journey.” Cole’s devilish smile burned away the cold in my body. “Or Hellcat’s been eating extra rations.”

“Nice try. He only eats rocks.” I grabbed the open pocket of his hoodie and drew him forward.

“Let me make up for my heinous crime.”Damn. That husky whisper and underlying carnal promise.

“You certainly will.” I took his mouth in a seductive kiss.

“Forgive me, Princess.”

I yelped as he twisted my seat to align our bodies, our knees scissoring each other’s, my hands on his arms and chest, his on my back and waist.

Talon’s return, depositing drinks on the table, snapped us out of our lusty little daze, and we leaned back. A bourbon andCokeslid my way, and a beer bottle rested in front of Cole.

Cole lifted his drink to make a toast and make the most of our victory, even if my other lover couldn’t be with us. “Here’s to our good fortune and ongoing success.”

Talon raised his beer bottle and clinked against Cole’s. “Cheers to that!”

I tapped my glass to make a triangle with my men’s. “Here’s to catching the traitor.” My men saluted and drank to that.

The celebration of my enrollment in classes next semester lost its luster when my bonded should have been restored alongside us. Blaze suffered PTSD from his traumatic event and bearing part of the serpent’s mark.

Both of my wrists bore snakes, one dark, one light. A balance of light and dark magick, Gable called it. I didn’t understand the Council’s logic, or the privilege afforded me. I was no psychologist, but I thought that occupying Blaze’s mind with teaching duties would turn around his mental state.

I hated my grandfather and Nelle for what they did to my lover, terrorizing him to the point where he didn’t want to leave the safety of the Academy. I took comfort in the fact that Queen Mean Girl got her karma and met with the devil in Hell, and that grandfather dearest was next in line.

Talon and Cole discussed the outcome of the Gildron’s meeting in detail while my mind circled on Blaze.

I shelved those thoughts for the moment when Gable wandered in, looking drawn and overwhelmed, his posture rigid, step devoid of his usual swagger, and cocky grin preoccupied. His arm and fingers were locked protectively around his sister’s shoulder, leading her inside. He jerked his chin at us and guided Mary in our direction. We hadn’t seen either of them in the tendays since rescuing her from the snakes, and his appearance today elevated my spirits.

It felt like an eternity since we last caught up. We kept in touch sparingly on the phone over the last two weeks. He had his hands full acclimatizing his sister to her new home and environment. I barely had a moment to breathe, thanks to the Guild sending me out for long stints, repairing the damage I made in the Veil to allow the djinn army to pass through to Earth. Penance I was happy to bear if it got Blaze back safely.

Mary squinted at the light, jerking at the laughter from another table, leaning into her brother’s body for protection. Wary, she glanced around the bar like she’d never seen the inside of one before, and my chest pinched with pity. Her skeletal frame, pale skin, and haunted eyes said life in the Brotherhood was cruel. Now she was faced with the daunting task of learning about a whole new world that existed outside of the only one she knew.

What a world of good her freedom made. Her lifeless black eyes were now the same stormy gray as her brother’s, the resemblance between them stronger, seeing them side by side in good lighting. The purple moons under her eyes faded somewhat, and pink crept into her deathly pale cheeks, giving her some color. Hollows in her cheeks filled out slightly with the meals Gable plied into her after years of starvation. She looked like a normal teen in denim-lookalike jeggings, a cream sweater, and joggers.

I just wanted to wrap her in my arms and tell her she’d be okay, but she didn’t know or trust me, and I didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was.

Excited to see my lover and close friend, I bound over to them. “You made it!” I stopped short of giving him a hug when Mary flinched back into her brother’s arms.

Gable’s text messages expressed how being outside of her normal environment was dismaying and challenging for her.

“Good to see you, love.” My cheer fell at the lack of his usual melody.

Right back at him. I gave him a fleeting smile and turned my attention back to his sister.

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