Mirth just grins at him. “Did you come to rescue us, my lord?”
He all but lunges to close the remaining space between them, sliding his hand around her neck and tugging her closer to slam his mouth over hers. It’s a possessive, scared-out-of-his-mind kiss.
Mirth sways into him, tilting her head to give him better access.
“Oh!” Kitty squeaks.
Startled, Eli pulls back from the kiss, glancing disconcertedly at the young girl tucked against my leg. Kitty stares, wide-eyed, right back at him.
Eli didn’t even notice her. Maybe he didn’t notice anyone but Mirth.
The earl clears his throat, visibly trying to rein himself in. Until he meets Mirth’s delighted gaze. “You will not do that again,” he commands.
Mirth just hums, perfectly content. Then she smiles over Eli’s shoulder. “Sully, love, Tommy is hurt.”
The pretty-boy mage jerks as if just waking up, then instantly moves for the boy in my arms.
I blink as well, realizing that Sully, Bolan, and I have all gotten caught up watching Eli kiss Mirth.
The fallen bodies beyond the stage begin to stir. Disconcerted moans and pained groans fill the theater.
“Can we move the boy, Sully?” Eli asks, scanning the immediate area. “The shortest way out is through the main doors, I believe.”
Mirth, the only one of us who entered the space from another direction, doesn’t suggest an alternative.
Sully presses a hand to Tommy’s forehead. The boy’s eyes flutter, and he relaxes in my arms. “Just quick pain relief,” Sully says. “It won’t last.”
“The Banksy!” Coda cries through Kitty’s phone speakers.
“The royal guard are on their way,” Eli says grimly.
“And pissed as fuck,” Bolan adds.
Mirth huffs quietly. “Language, please —”
Bolan lunges for Mirth, throwing her over his shoulder.
She shrieks indignantly. “This is not going to be a thing, Bolan!”
The wolf, laughing like a maniac, pivots, jumps off the stage, and dashes up the aisle, dodging the rich, morally bankrupt fucks slowly waking up from Eli’s incapacitating light show.
Kitty tugs at Eli’s sleeve. Sweetly, she says, “I know I’m a big girl, but could you hold my hand?”
Eli doesn’t hesitate to grab her hand. Then, after jumping off the stage himself, he carefully lifts the girl down. Weaving through the bodies littering the floor, the two of them follow the crazed wolf out of the theater.
I, with Tommy in my arms and Sully at my side, jog after them as best I can without jostling the injured boy in my arms. If not for my concern about the kids, I’m not certain I’d walk away so readily. These sick toff fucks don’t deserve to —
“Well, that was a blast!” Coda’s cackle echoes through the theater from the speaker of Kitty’s phone. “So much pretty vid of so many upstanding people.”
The awry tech is reading my mind.
No one is walking away from this unscathed. And I’m rabidly excited to witness whatever Mirth is going to do to the Mertons. With her promised single phone call.
11
MIRTH
Tommy falls asleep shockingly fastwhile eating his fourth slice of pizza. One moment, he’s on the couch next to me, interrogating Kitty about every aspect of every moment they spent apart in the last day. The next, Bolan is lunging forward and catching him right before his head hits the hardwood floor.
