Page 67 of Guarded By a Monster

“I do not.”

He moved to the couch and picked up a lock of Sophia’s hair, letting it run through his fingers. “I find out what people want, or what they can’t live without, and then I exploit it.”

He looked back at me. “I’ll figure out your pressure point, eventually. It will be a lot easier on both of us if you simply tell me now instead of making me go to the trouble.”

“I’m sure your minions won’t mind doing the research.” I stopped. “Why did you murder that boy?”

His face shuttered. “He stole from me.”

“No, why didyoudo it? Why not have Wall of Muscle or another lackey do it?” I waved in the wall’s direction.

“I gained power by leveraging my skill at ferreting out information, but that often isn’t enough to keep it. I killed that boy because it’s good to remind everyone what lengths I’m willing to go, what I’m capable of doing, to stay at the top.”

He didn’t get to continue his villain speech because Mrs. Calder started slamming her fist against the bloody man’s chest, punctuating each hit with a yelled, “Fuck!”

thirty-six

I heard a cardoor open, then close, then running on gravel.

“Shit, shit, shit. Call Zeus. Tell him to get the cavalry to my location.”

I growled. “I’m not hanging up.”

“There’s like thirty cell phones on the kitchen counter,” she yelled, “use one of them!”

Nanna grabbed the one at the top of the stack and held it up. “Whose is this?” Quin raised his hand and Nanna tossed it to him. “Do what she says!”

I strained to hear what was happening over the roar in my ears.

“Luna! Stay with me! We’re only on episode six ofBurning Desireand I am not watching the rest without you!”

Luna’s weak voice answered her. “My snark is too good.”

“Damn right it is.”

I heard Quin talking to Zeus, heard Zeus shouting and then everything went quiet until the crunch of tires and doors opening came from the phone I held too tight.

Zeus’s strained voice called out, “River!”

“It’s not me, it’s Luna. Where’s Ghost?”

“Ten seconds out.”

“Where is Jade?” My roar hung in the air.

“We’ll find her,” Zeus answered.

“She’s not there? Where is the district attorney?”

“The building is locked. There’s no one else here.”

Air sawed in and out of my lungs. Roul entered my vision, a wall blocking me from running into the daylight and through human streets.

“It will be dark in twenty minutes.”

I flexed my shoulders and dropped the phone. “Too long! In twenty minutes she could be…” I couldn’t bring myself to say it. My heart felt like it would leave my body, my chest caved in and my throat closed.

“Not going to happen, brother.”

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