Page 102 of I Accidentally Hired a Shadow Walker
“So many theories,” he grunted. “You could have just asked me.”
“I do remember mentioning it but you ignored me.” I reminded him. “You didn’t even say he was the guy you got left for.”
“It didn’t seem important at the time.” He sat on the bed. “Look, Olian isn’t someone you have to worry about.”
“I’m not worried about that woman.” I waved my hand at him but lowered my voice when I continued because I didn’t want to risk Olian hearing me. “Maybe you should be. You tried to kill her father.”
“You’re not worried about her?”
“Do I look that insecure to you?” I laughed. “I’ve never been the jealous type, and I’m not about to fight over a man, human or shadow. Yeah, it’s a little uncomfortable meeting your first love, but I know who has your eye now.”
“Damn, that’s hot.” He reached for me. “I love a confident woman.”
“Hey, down boy.” I stood and swayed back to the door. “We have company.”
“I cankick her out!” he offered eagerly.
Break
Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the others arrived. Luckily for me, Noville carried bags of food with him. I asked nothing besides if it was safe for me to eat before I dug into the steaks, vegetables, and sweet treats.
“I told you to feed her,” Metice grunted at Raymond when he saw how I tore into the food.
“Oh, calm down,” Olian teased. “Let him take care of his human. You worry about yours.”
I raised a brow at the woman. So far, she hadn’t missed any opportunity to bring up the woman Metice had apparently chosen over her. Every time he spoke, she spun it back to Rayna. And every time she did, it made me want to meet the mysterious woman even more. Because she had to bebadto have such a powerful demoness that stressed about her.
Even the little blue demon dog Metice called Piko was over Olian’s snide remarks. When she tried to sit next to Metice, he plopped himself between them. His body expanded to double the size, damn near pushing her off her seat.
“So, which one of you is going to lay out the plan here?” Olian frowned at the food on her plate. “I have other things to do today.”
“You can leave. No one wanted you here anyway.” Cufio rolled his eyes.
Damn, does anyone like her?
“Maybe not, but you know you need me.” She pointed at each of the men in the room. “Every last one of you has a target on your back. Talkeen knows Raymond is back. The secret is out. And if he’s back, that means his old friends, and his big mouth brother, are clearly on his side. If you don’t think his people are already looking for you, you’re out of your mind.”
“She’s right,” Noville spoke. “I went to the gathering before I met up with you at Klougus’s place. The secret is out, and many of the people we thought would be on our side have chosen neutrality.”
“Of course not. The cowards. Don’t choose a side at all so you can pretend to have always been aligned with whoever comes out on top.” Cufio shook his head. “They’re all pathetic.”
“Does that mean we are on our own here?” Metice asked.
“No.” Noville shook his head. “We still have a few allies, and as soon as we decide how and when to move, they will be with us.”
“Good.” Metice nodded.
“When would be the best time?” Noville said. “I’ll update them with the details.”
“Early morning,” Raymond said. “We’re dealing with shadows, but lucky for us, a lot of them aren’t the most skilled—unless things have changed during my time away.”
“No, you’re right. Honestly, I think Talkeen likes it that way,” Cufio spoke. “He doesn’t want anyone to be stronger than him. That’s why he hated us so much.”
“Good. So, first light.” Metice nodded. “No sense in dragging this out.”
“I have the layout of his place.” Noville pulled out a large piece of paper and laid it out on the table between us.
I listened closely as they talked about the plan and memorized the layout. Lucky for me, I had a semi-photographic memory. After a few examinations of the map, I felt confident I wouldn't get lost once we were there.
