Page 86 of Demon Found

“Oh yeah, then what about this?” Chano grips the sides of my T-shirt in both hands and with barely a grunt of effort rips it in two. Gasping I cover myself, trying to turn away, but Chano grabs me. His grip tightens as he swings me toward him. I shove back, but it’s like I’m straining against a mountain. He glares at my arm, snorting obscenities, before yanking me roughly around to face the other way, his fingers digging in, bruising. Not caring he's showing half the damn campus my semi naked body.

His grip slackens, and he runs his fingers across the top of my bicep, a confused frown flickering over his face.

Chano takes a tentative step to stand in front of me, peering down into my face.

“I don’t understand, little chica. If you're one of them, where’s your tattoo? They said they’d come to take you home. Like you were one of them.”

A tattoo? Shit, he’s looking for a gang mark. Too bad for the asshole I don’t have one. I drop my arms from across my chest. I’mnotashamed. He should be.

“I’mnotLas Ratas,” I say, my lips pulling into a tight line.

Chano shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot before glancing around at the crowd. In one fluid move he yanks off his shirt and wraps it around me, tugging it tight shut.

“Here. They’re all staring!”

Oh. So now he cares?

“I don’t need your brand of help, Chano Maverik.”

I grab the shirt and fling it back in his face. A mix of horror and shock flashes over his face, and a wicked delight runs through me. I turn and storm across campus in my bra.

Fuck him.

Chewing the end of my pen, I peer at Naeve click-clacking away at her never-ending-knitting project. She doesn’t seem any worse for her encounter with Las Ratas. But what if they learn she’s my weak spot? What if she ends up like Dog?

My chest tugs just at the thought of the poor wee guy. He didn’t deserve that. I had to bury him here, on campus, away from all his favorite pee spots. At least the hada helped. Let me put him to rest at the edge of their burial grounds, right next to the trees. He’d have liked that. Plenty of small critters in the woods to terrorize.

I pass my arm briskly across my face and focus on the issue at hand. Naeve. I don’t even know what happened to the Las Ratas crew that attacked me. Dead probably. But what now? They’re not going stop coming. I could swallow my pride and ask Chano for help . . . he did technically rescue me. Before he ripped my fucking shirt open and accused me of being a traitor.

No. I can’t go to him. Not yet. Maybe Maggo could help . . .

“Ask Farrell.”

I start. Shit I didn’t even notice Naeve had stopped knitting. She’s staring at me, chewing on her lip.

“Ask Farrell, Lorelei. You need help.Weneed help. He has people at his disposal. I’m pretty sure he could make this go away.”

She might be right. I don’t know what to do. He’s allegiance, he should help. And there’s the added bonus that if I go to him, it’ll piss Chano right off.

“Yeah, okay.”

Naeve’s smile brightens. “I thought you’d fight me on it. I’ll message him!”

“They’ll bend over for me and lick my shoes.”

I blink at Farrell’s utter arrogance. It’s really this simple?

Farrell perches himself on the edge of the pool table and my mind flickers back to the moment I looked up from here. The moment I saw those damn assholes next to Camille . . .

“Lorelei?” He snaps his fingers under my nose, and I jerk my head toward him. “Lorelei. Just promise me they don’t know what you are? Don’t know aboutallyour elements.”

I glance quickly toward the door again. No one.

“They can’t know. I never evenmetanyone from Las Ratas. Frank, my guardian, signed me up with them. It wasn’t my choice. The academy secretary sorted my paperwork.Legallyit’s all okay,legallyI’m not tied to the gang anymore. Las Ratas just don’t give a fuck about the law.”

“They will. Or I’ll have them removed from the apprenticeship scheme.”

I gape at him. He could do that?

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