Page 19 of Flirting with Death

The response was instant, letting me know they would deliver my request. We didn't wait long before a portal opened in the main room, shimmering with its magic, even through the darkened window. I launched myself across the room and out the door before they stepped through the window she had made with her tablet. Brook had her arms squeezing the life out of me before either of us could say hi.

"It has been way too long!" she cried.

I pulled back to take in her four men. Caspian and Lumi both had matching grins, each of them appearing relaxed and ready to indulge any whim Brook may have. Kellan flicked open a dagger and walked it over his knuckles as he took in the other guys in the room. He was all threat, and he could probably do some actual damage to someone. Auberon studied all of us with his perceptive, swirling gray eyes. Once he deemed us as friends and not a threat, his shoulders relaxed, and he greeted Lex with a nod.

"Well, I think you've been a little busy with healing an entire realm." I stepped back. "You're glowing."

"Happiness does that to you." She grinned. Lumi threw his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close and pressing a kiss to her temple.

"How have you been, killer?" he asked. "Make any good deals lately?" He cast his perceptive gray eyes around the room. That was the thing about Lumi, he disarmed you with his joking, but he paid so much attention to his surroundings you didn't expect it when he could read you.

"No deals, I know better. I'm pretty good. Besides the demon horde that wants to kidnap me for their own gains, and the King of Demon’s hunting me… I couldn't be better." I shrugged. Brook flicked her gaze over the four guys standing at my back, pausing on each one, assessing them.

What did she see?

"Hey, Raiden," she greeted, the only one she knew. He nodded in return. "Who do you need tracked?" she asked after she tugged her attention back to me.

"The King." Bellamy stepped forward. "My father."

Her eyebrows shot into her hairline as she digested the news that I was in the same room as a demon, and they were still breathing. Not that his blue skin hadn't given it away. She licked her lips and glanced at Lumi, they seemed to have a silent conversation between them. Was that a Fae thing? Or was their connection just that strong? Envy tightened my ribcage, while happiness made a smile spread across my face. She deserved every bit of the love she had, especially after the horror of everything that happened to her. It didn't use to fill me with a desire to have the same, but the men in my life changed that without me even realizing it.

"Do you have something of his?" Lumi asked. Caspian unfolded a map on the table. Kellan only seemed tenser at the mention of tracking a king. Auberon and Lex were having a private conversation.

Bellamy reached into his pocket, his tail giving away his nervousness. He held out a chain with a red gem that matched his eyes hanging from the end. "Will this work? It was his, before he gave it to me."

Cerberus nudged my hand, demanding attention. I ran my fingers over his short hair, and he leaned against my leg.

"Interesting dog you picked up." Brook crossed her arms. Magic seemed to spark along her palms before she hid them.

"Oh, he isn't mine. This is Alastor's puppy," I said, kneeling next to the monster of an animal. I alternated between each head to keep them all happy.

"Which one is Alastor?" she asked, her eyes drifting to the guys again. Wow, I had been in my head when she arrived, I hadn't even introduced her to any of them. How rude was I?

I flushed as the blood rushed to my cheeks. "Way to call me out." I laughed and tugged my fingers through my hair as I stood back up. I pointed to each of them. "Alastor, Lex, Bellamy, and you know Raiden already."

She inclined her head at each of them like the royalty she now was before she eyed me. "The dog is Unseelie," she finally said. "He was a gift to Hades as far as I've heard. And he's not actually a dog."

"I mean, the three heads kind of gave that away. But I actually thought he was a hellhound or something." I ran my hand over the head closest to me. "Alastor is Hades's son."

Her eyes went wide before she closed the distance, her small hand closed around my arm, and she yanked me across the room. "A God, Sam? What have you gotten yourself into? A Demon, a God, a demi-god, and Rai, are you serious right now? Are you trying to die on me?" she hissed the words, her face serious.

"Raiden is a dragon," I offered the information just to see her reaction. I thought she would faint right there in front of me.

"Are you sleeping with them?" She wasn't asking so she could judge me, she knew I was free with my body.

My fingers dragged along my scalp and over the back of my neck. I could feel the flush all the way to the tips of my ears. "I mean, not all of them." After a pause, I lifted my eyes from the floor and met her curious gaze. "Yet."

"Yet?" she squealed. "Do I need to threaten them? Because I will. If they so much as put a dent in your heart, I can destroy them."

"Bloodthirsty much?" I laughed. "Where'd my bookworm of a friend go?"

"Oh, I still read, but I also have magic, remember? And you are my best friend. I won't allow anyone to break your heart."

"This is all still new, I don't even know for sure what we are doing. You know that the relationship thing isn't really what I do. But I like them. I know that much." Admitting that to anyone but Brook wouldn't happen, but she wasn't just anyone, she was the girl I met in elementary school on the playground when some jerk was mean to her. We faced puberty, first crushes, first heartbreaks; all of my firsts had her right there by my side, together. This girl was my ride or die. She was the Thelma to my Louise.

"It is about damn time you fell for someone." She grinned at me, her arm threading through mine as she pulled me back to the guys. "Let's find a king."

The tracking spell was surprisingly easy as Lumi and Caspian worked together to locate Bellamy's dad. Everyone else had fallen silent as we watched them work. Raiden rubbed a soothing circle into my back, he was my strength at the moment, and I don't think he even knew it. Bellamy had fallen back, leaning against the opposite wall Kellan had claimed. His tail brushed the floor at his feet as it swung back and forth, all that was missing was the tapping of his foot to tell me he was impatient.

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