Page 20 of V for Vindictive

I offered the front door a wistful glance before finally peering at the incubus beside me. His smile hit, and it was all he needed to claim victory. I’d never win against him. “I don’t know if you’re trying to make things worse, but spare me, Sloan. Please, for the love of Buddha or whatever deity is listening, spare me any more embarrassing epiphanies.”

My hands held onto my cup like it was a lifeline, and to some degree, in that moment, it was the only thing keeping me from throwing myself at the Casanova beside me. Only one topic ever sobered both mind and body, and it was all I had. A last ditch-effort to save myself from the disgrace of lunging at a man in a horny, YOLO madness.

“Has Phillip gotten in touch?” I asked, swallowing blood down alongside the guilt in my throat.

Sloan’s smile faded. “As fate would have it, he rang just this morning.”

My eyes shot over to the gorgeous man beside me, and I recovered the cup I nearly dropped in surprise. “How is he? Did he tell you anything? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Though Sloan didn’t physically react to the barrage of questions, his smile was gone. I’d stolen it from him. Bringing up Phillip was low, but I was too upset I hadn’t been told right away to really care what the other Hunter thought of my abrupt change in topic.

The Brit brushed back his silky hair before putting his silly cat mug down. It was one of my favorites because the tail acted as a handle and its puckered butthole was right there for all to see. I mirrored him by setting my own cup beside his—a dog whose tongue served as the handle of the cup—and then pivoted Sloan’s direction.

The other Hunter’s light eyes traced a path from my eyes to my lips, then he took hold of my hands and brought them into his lap like it was the most natural thing in the world to do. My heart startled back to life. Something about the way he touched me suggested what I was about to hear was going to set me off.

I sucked in a breath as the silence grew. “Sloan…” His hands tightened around mine, and I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. “What are you not telling me?”

The other Hunter looked down at our joined hands, then he sighed and the slump in his shoulders signaled a defeat I’d never seen on him. My heart all but came into my throat. “He’s asked that I partner with you. Permanently.”

His words hit like a blow to the chest. “What…?”

Sloan’s thumbs gently caressed mine. “I should say, he’s no longer working under the Organization. In order to obtain information necessary forour cause, he made a target of himself. There was no other way. He knew what he risked when he accessed that information.”

“He’s…being hunted?”

For the first time, Sloan’s face projected the grief he felt. “He is.”

Words fled. The pound in my head was so loud I couldn’t hear anything Sloan said afterwards. It was like being abandoned by Grams all over again. The loss hit so hard that I didn’t even realize until Sloan had me in his arms that I’d collapsed.

“Why go through all the trouble if you’re just going to abandon me now?!”

“Phillip can be reckless with himself, but when it comes to you, he’s measured and would never risk your safety. If he were to come back, it would put you at great risk.”

Tears burned unforgiving paths down my cheeks as I fought to get a hold on my emotions. It hit so hard so fast, I couldn’t get a handle on my reactions.

So fucking embarrassing.

“So what, we just leave him to fight alone?” My throat hurt, and I struggled to get the words out. “You may be okay with leaving him out there alone, but I’m not.” I pulled away, angry. I fixed my posture and lifted my chin. “Tell me where he is, Sloan.”

Sloan touched my face, smiling softly. “This may not make sense to you, but the information he holds right now is the only way we’re going to find out what’s different about your blood. Until we know, it’s too risky to stay together. Just trust him. Phillip may be stupid in love, but he’s a genius when it comes to staying alive and achieving a goal.”

I didn’t want to, but I laughed. Hewasseverely stupid in love, and I’d be the first one to tell him when I got to see that smug face of his.

“But—”

“One month,” Sloan interjected, his gaze staying with mine. “That’s all I ask, V. One month, and then we’ll go find him.”

“One month?”

Sloan’s lips teased upwards. “One month is all he’ll need. If he hasn’t done it by then, we’ll go save his ungrateful ass from whatever trouble he’s gotten himself into.”

I giggled, the thundering hammer of my heart still wreaking havoc on my ears. “Okay.”

“But if we do this,” the Brit started, no longer smiling, “we can’t go back. Once we become an enemy of the Organization, it’ll be a great deal harder to achieve our end goal.”

If we went against the Organization, it’d ruin all the plans Phillip had to implode it from within. Could I risk all the hard work he put into it?Yes.Phillip saved me, and I’d save him if it came down to it. We’d find another way to topple the Organization. Without Phillip, there wasn’t a rebellion. We needed him. I refused to leave him behind to die.

Sloan’s warmth enveloped me, and I absently leaned into his firm body. “He doesn’t deserve you, and I’m going to make him regret leaving you in the first place,” the Brit pledged in a soft whisper.

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