Page 77 of Crowned Queen (Blood Empire 2)

“We’re not keeping him,” Cass chimes in. “I’m sorry, but there's no way in hell I’m letting another animal in this house.”

“You let him in,” Neo points to Axel.

Axel rolls his eyes. “You kill people then get a boner from it, yet I'm the animal? Fuck you.”

“He's right,” I say, stepping in.

“Who?” All three ask at the same time, turning to look at me.

“Cass.” Now it's my turn to roll my eyes. “We're not keeping it.”

“But...” Neo starts, and I raise my hand to stop him.

“But, we’re not killing him and fucking eating him, either. God, Axel,” I huff out.

“Then what do you suggest we do with it?” Axel snarks.

“Find a farm for him, even if I have to ship him somewhere.” I turn to Neo. “Are you okay with that?”

Neo glares at Axel before ripping his gaze away from him to me, giving me a firm nod.

“Alright, now that that’s settled. I’m taking a run to the grocery store to get a few pre-cooked chickens. Pray they have some or I may come back covered in blood.”

“I see no issue there,” Neo says, smiling at me, and pulls my body to his. “You sure do love to tease me with your dirty talk.” He nips the tip of my nose.

I head to the store just in time to grab the last five chickens. I mean I paid an old man a hundred dollars for his and stared down a college dude as he reached for one, which sent him running back down the aisle he came from, but that's not the point.

Other than the turkey, everything else went smoothly. I sit and smile as I watch everyone I love laughing and chatting amongst themselves. And seeing Axel smile, a genuinely happy smile, as he talks to Sam does some fucked-up shit to my heart. I’m seeing glimpses of the old Axel, the one I fell in love with, but seeing how it's because of someone else, for some reason, hurts. I don't know why I want Axel. I have to hold myself back every minute of the day from stabbing him. But the heart is a funny thing, and it seems to want that fucking baboon too. Only, from the looks of it, he doesn't want anything to do with me. And I won't force him. So, I’ll have to deal and move on like I do with everything else I don’t like that life throws at me.

“I made something for you,” Neo says, coming up behind me while I help clean up after supper.

"A gift for me?” I grin, wiping my wet hands from the dishes on a towel. “Let me see,” I ask, holding out my hands.

“Close your eyes.” I do as he says, and something hard is placed into my hands. “Okay, open.”

Opening my eyes, I see there's a skull in my hand. With roses coming out of the top. My face slips into a grin, because it’s fucking gorgeous.

“You made this?” I ask.

“Well, I mean the skull was kinda already made, seeing as how it was that fucker, Sid’s, but I cut a hole in the top and added a small plastic vase. So now you can always have and display the skull of one of your enemies along with some pretty flowers. Plus, no one needs to know the skull is real, but you will know,” he says as he picks at one of the flowers. My big, bad, killer man looks all shy and nervous that I won’t like his gift.

“I love it.” I grin, placing it down on the countertop. I pull him in for a kiss that quickly leads to him bending me over the counter and fucking my brains out. Thankfully, Evie took Rosie to the park to run off her energy, but poor Sam probably got an earful from the living room.

Our family is a hot mess, but they're my hot mess, and I wouldn't change it for the world.

---