Page 316 of Halfblood Deceived

Aella huffed.

“I’ll go have a peek just in case, right?” Kerian asked Aella.

She nodded. “Thank you.”

Kerian nodded and turned into a blur as he went inside the manor.

“I’ll help him,” Diana said, releasing Aella and following Kerian.

Kamilla, Sebastian, and Zeydan shifted back into their humanoid forms. Their wings vanished and their joints and muscles moved under their skin for a moment before their features returned to their usual, stunning perfection. Their skin went from chalk-white to each of their normal complexions. To Aella’s surprise, their lightweight, black armor adjusted seamlessly to the change. Sebastian cracked his neck.

Aella realized then she was still shifted. But she had no idea how to go back to normal. She wasn’t as large as shifted gargoyles or her vampire friends. But she wanted to put her claws away and have her natural skin color and texture back.

“It takes a while at first,” Zeydan said soothingly. He’d noticed her discomfort, as usual.

Aella nodded, trying to quell the fear of never returning to her normal self. That was probably not helpful.

“Where’s the jet?” Aiko asked. She stood between Kamilla and Evan, who had her hugged to his free side.

Kamilla pointed up. “Right above us.”

Just then Aella realized the gray-white cloud was still covering only the property and a bit of its surroundings. Zeydan’s brow furrowed in intense concentration, and the cloud contracted, revealing the white jet hovering right above them.

Aella’s jaw dropped. “You are creating the cloud?”

Zeydan half smiled. “Yes. Hadn’t I mentioned that I can use my mist to manipulate clouds to an extent?” He looked smug as Hell.

Aella pressed her lips not to smile. “Um, nope.”

“Show-off,” Sebastian accused.

“But a useful show-off,” Mari teased. She had an arm around Andreas’s waist. His hand looked huge on her dainty shoulder. Mari’s nose was red, and there was lingering panic in her eyes, which darted to the wounded grumpy male.

Aella wondered how Andreas couldn’t see just how much Mari loved him, and not just as a friend. Or if he did see, and was pretending not to.

Kamilla pointed at the back of the property, and the jet went that way.

“Poor Dyson,” Aylana said. She had Andreas’s other arm over her shoulders. “He didn’t get to shoot anyone as he wanted.”

Andreas snorted. “He’ll have his fun in a bit.” His thumb caressed Mari’s shoulder in a soothing, apparently absentminded gesture. But Aella caught him looking at the tiny female pressed to his side with something a lot like love and a bit like conflict.

Zeydan noticed, too. He shared a complicit look with Aella and exhaled a long-suffering sigh.

Aella buried her smile in his shoulder.

Kerian and Diana—back to their humanoid forms—returned.

“There’s no one alive in there,” Kerian announced. He had a small black box in one hand—a CPU. “Just a beautiful trail of dead bodies and a gas leak.” He arched a brow at Aella. “Your work, I assume.”

“Yeah,” she admitted. “I was trying to create a diversion to keep them away from the tunnel Aiko used to escape. So I blew up the kitchen.”

Zeydan chuckled. “Good job, Amazon.”

“Thanks,” Aella said, finding it odd that they all looked so supportive of her savagery.

They all made their way toward the back of the property, where Dyson had landed the jet.

“How did you burn that male in the basement to a crisp?” Diana asked.

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