Page 92 of Laid Bare

Who the heck did they invite, and why didn’t anyone tell me sooner?

Luka keeps me against his chest as he passes over the threshold, heading in the direction of the kitchen. Before he disappears around the corner, Zane comes into the house, but then he pauses and doesn’t move. He gets a vacant look in his eyes, and his lips start moving.

What the…

But then he’s gone from my sight before I can question it, and Luka tosses me down on the sofa with a bounce.

“Hey, sunshine.” I stiffen at the sound of his voice, slowly turning my head in his direction.

He’s here. In my house.

Thaddeus Winterton the Third.

The winter fae I kissed and then ran away from.

The very same one I’ve always had some sense of feelings for, but I pushed them away because he had a girlfriend.

Now he’s single, and I’ll be nothing but a rebound to him on his way to finding someone better.

And here I thought this was going to be a fun weekend.

In the words of Zane—Lucifer’s balls, this is going to be a disaster.

“Oh. H-hey, Thaddeus.” I clear my throat. “What are you doing here?”

Axel’s hands come down my shoulders, his thumbs expertly digging into the muscles. “I invited him,cor meum. It’s been a while since the wards were redone on the estate, and Thaddeus is the fae for the job.”

“Y-y-yeah,” Thaddeus trips over his words. “I’ll do the words—wards. The wards. And I’ll set it up to where only you and your m-mates can give people access to the estate. Unless you don’t want that. I can head back to the academy.” He throws his thumb over his shoulder, already turning around before I can even give him an answer.

Luka snorts from his spot next to me. “Real smooth, fae.”

I shoot Luka a glare; rude much?

Thaddeus shoves his hands in his pockets, his shoulders slumped as he walks away dejected.

Fuck. I…I really don’t want him to go. He and I were friends while he was dating Miss Izzicle, and I can’t deny how much I’ve missed that friendship since the gala. I thought we were getting back to that, but then the kiss happened, and I’ve been avoiding him since.

“Thaddeus, wait.” He tenses, his shoulders shooting up to his ears. “Thank you. I would really appreciate it if you can go over the wards.”

He peeks back at me, a small smile flitting on his face. “Really?”

“Yeah.” I smile back, happy with my decision. “And you can do it for all my mates. They can come and go from here as they please.”

“That’s a good choice.”

“And Thaddy?” His smile grows even bigger with the use of his nickname.

“Yeah, sunshine?”

“Make sure you add yourself in, too.”

His smile falters, and he looks between all of my mates—my demons appearing sometime during our conversation. “Are you sure? I’m not…” he trails off.

“I’m sure.”

“Fantastic,” my vampire murmurs, removing his suit jacket and laying it over the back of the couch. Swaths of pale skin appear next with every fold of his sleeves. Damn, vampy has some sexy forearms. “We’ll start dinner,cor meum, while you and Thaddeus start on the wards.”

My thoughts screech to a halt.

---