Page 14 of Shadow Caster
He knew the truth, and he’d told his hairy boyfriend.
Heat flooded my limbs, and my hands curled into fists. “I’ll fill your face with my fist if you don’t shut the hell up.”
Beside me, Minnie had gone silent. My pulse spiked. Had she known? No, she hadn’t. What if she didn’t want to be friends now?
A vise squeezed my lungs. No problem. She was a pain anyway. I’d never wanted to be friends.
Her hand nudged my arm, and then her fingers wrapped around mine and squeezed.
The vise relaxed.
“Shit happens,” Minnie said softly. “Like I said, everyone deserves a second chance.” She smiled up at me, then glared at Thomas. “Drop it.”
Thomas blew out an exasperated breath. “Fine. But I think we have a right to know if she’s about to go bloodlust on us.”
“Why? You think she’ll be gunning for your throat?” Minnie drawled.
Blood was blood when under the influence of bloodlust. But the episode that had resulted in my killing a human had been engineered, not that I could prove it.
My tone was clipped. “I wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole, Carmichael.”
“What about me?” Oberon said from beside me. His arm brushed mine. He was a head taller than me and smelled of flowers. “I hear feyblood blood is intoxicating to nightbloods.”
I needed him to back off. His scent was messing with my head. “I wouldn’t know.”
He leaned in. “You want to find out?”
I glared up at him. “Do not flirt with me, flower boy. I will hurt you.”
“Yeah, I heard you had a temper,” Thomas said.
I exhaled to release the rising anger.
We climbed over a fallen log, boots crunching on dry bracken.
He chuckled. “The black sheep of the Jus—”
My fist met his jaw. He staggered back clutching his face, eyes blazing.
“What the fuck?” Harmon charged me, and I dropped into a defensive crouch, ready to rumble, blood bubbling with the need to let off steam and shut down the voices in my head that screamedmurderer. Physical pain worked well to mask the guilt, to assuage it a little.
“Enough!” Minnie stepped between us and slammed her hands into Harmon’s chest. “Touch her, and you’ll be answering to me.”
Harmon’s chest heaved as he looked down on Minnie.
She was small, she was cute, and she wouldn’t need to get her hands dirty. The Faradays were connected, and her brother was a shadow cadet.
Harmon backed off. “Keep a leash on your crazy friend, Faraday.”
I stepped around Minnie. “And you keep a leash on your lover’s tongue.”
Thomas had recovered. Not even any bruising. Shame. But we nightbloods healed quick.
Oberon clapped his hands together. “As fun as getting to know you all is, I’d rather get this exercise over with. There’s a party in the real world tonight, one I don’t intend to miss.”
“Shit,” Harmon said. “I promised to run with the guys. Full moon and all that.” He scratched his stubbled face. “I say we call a truce. No baiting.” He looked at Thomas, who glared back at him with dark, angry eyes. “Let’s focus on the task, eh?”
Who knew the big lug could be the voice of reason when he wasn’t busy sticking his cock into the next available hole?
