Page 209 of Halfblood Deceived

Zeydan sighed. No, that wasn’t true. He already was. He’d been addicted to Aella for the goddess only knew how long. And even though feeling so much for someone scared him for multiple reasons, he was a happy Aella addict.

He hadn’t been paying attention to where he was going until he arrived at the parlor Kamilla had given to Gabby, Evan, and him to turn into an office/study.

Zeydan’s whole family was there.

Gabby sat at her desk, her brow furrowed in concentration as usual when she was crunching some numbers. Evan, Mari, and Luce shared the largest desk, which held two computers and three screens, also known as Evan’s nerd station. Lex and Andreas sat on the sofa with a laptop on the coffee table. They were buying guns and plastic explosives.

Zeydan sat on a chair next to the sofa. He realized his long exhale hadn’t been as silent as he intended when they all paused in their activities to look at him.

“What?” he asked, faking nonchalance.

“You look debauched,” Evan happily informed him.

Zeydan scowled at Evan or tried. His mouth was unhelpfully curving into a smile. “I do not.”

“Who has a mirror?” Gabby asked.

Lex grinned. “Or even better, a camera? We need to record this for posterity.”

Mari made a flourish with her hand and summoned a hand mirror, turning it toward Zeydan as she said to Lex, “Your phone has a camera, you dolt.”

Zeydan became distracted by his bizarrely bright-eyed, messy-haired, slightly flushed, smiling reflection.

I look ridiculous, he thought, but couldn’t find in himself the slightest bit of shame.

A bright flash distracted him.

He blinked, turning toward Lex, who had indeed used his phone to take a picture.

The smiling werewolf examined the photo. “You look startled.”

“That’s because you startled me, you arse,” Zeydan remarked.

Lex flashed him an unholy grin. “Let’s take another one.”

“Let’s not,” Zeydan said.

“This time, say cheese, darling,” Evan chanted. “Because we are sending it to Aella.”

“We should add her to our group chat first,” Gabby said. “So we can all see her reaction.”

“Who has her number?” Lex asked.

Evan wiggled his eyebrows at Zeydan. “I do.”

The camera flashed again.

Zeydan yanked Lex’s phone from his hands with his telekinesis, grabbing it midair.

“Oi!” Lex protested. “Not fair.”

“Life is full of unfairness, Alexander,” Zeydan said.

“Don’t worry, mate,” Evan said to his brother. “I have access to your cloud.”

Zeydan narrowed his eyes at Evan. “Don’t you dare.”

All but Andreas, who had been shy of scowling the entire time, laughed delightedly at him.

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