Page 56 of Slay Me

“You are,” she replies. “Because I’m going to clean the blood from her body, and since I don’t have her consent to let you see her naked, I’m going to assume it’s a no-go until otherwise stated.”

I don’t tell her that I’ve already memorized every inch of Liv’s body because doing so seems an argument I will lose. So, reluctantly and with great effort, I release Liv and leave Adaya to clean her.

Bracken, Duncan, and Killian are all waiting for me in the living room as soon as I’ve shut the bedroom door behind me.

“She going to survive?” Killian questions.

“Adaya thinks so. Did you clean up Valentina’s body?”

“We got it out of there. The berserker was quite pleased as she tossed the pixie from the window.”

“If you tell me her body is outside—”

“Not anymore,” Duncan interrupts. “We took care of it from there.”

“The blood in her apartment?”

“Being cleaned as we speak. Do you think Valentina killed Thomas and Jenny?”

I swallow hard. “It’s a possibility. But I don’t know how the fuck she managed to lie to my face.” Or beat my shifter lie detector. I let out a growl. “Unless she confessed something to Liv, we won’t know for sure.”

“How the hell did you know something was off?” Killian demands. “I heard nothing. When you blew past me—”

“Liv is my mate,” I tell them.

All three men cease speaking. Duncan looks the least surprised of the three, his brow arched.

Bracken’s expression hardens while Killian gapes at me.

“Your mate? We knew she was important to you—”

“Yes. My mate. Which is information that needs to not go beyond the four of us. Not even Liv knows. Do I make myself clear?”

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell us that before?” Bracken growls. “We could have protected her better. Put a detail on her—”

“Because it didn’t matter before,” I snarl, interrupting yet again. “I hadn’t touched her, which meant that, given the need, I could have moved on.”

“Oh, fuck.” He pales slightly. “You touched her when you lifted her from the ground.”

“Yes.”

“And that means—” Killian trails off.

“That his dragon now has her scent. Dragon scales are highly sensitive to magic, and there is little power stronger than a mate bond.” Duncan shakes his head. “You should have told us.”

“What would it have changed?”

“Possibly nothing,” Bracken replies. “But you’ve trusted us with everything else, and we’ve yet to betray you. This is a pretty big fucking secret you’ve been keeping.”

Closing my eyes, I suck in a breath and then pinch the bridge of my nose. “Now you know.” Looking back up to them, I clear my throat. “Find out what the gryffin was doing with that bag.”

“Already searched it. Was full of equipment and his costume. Seems he was heading down to the gym.”

Which means he wasn’t trying to escape, so there’s that. “Fine.”

“Anything else?” Duncan questions.

“Any other big secrets?” Killian half-jokes.

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