Page 27 of Flirting with Death

Her green-flecked blue eyes searched my face, concern deepened the lines in her forehead. "But not you."

"Especially me, princess," I said. "Don't trust me. Don't give me your heart. I'll only break it. I do what is in the best interest of myself."

"That—" she broke off and blinked. "That is not what you said at Lex's."

I laughed, not cruelly, but because she was so stubborn. "You're right. You've consumed me, and I can't see a future without you. But I have to give you that warning. You need to know where you've put your trust."

"I hate to break it to you, but my sisters have already drawn up your future, and it is with us," Lex said, and I turned my attention to him. He lifted his brow and looked toward the other two men with us, and I picked the thought out of his head like he gave it to me. Them, too.

I eyed the dragon, and he looked away from us as if he wasn't listening to our conversation. He was hiding something, but his walls were so high around his mind I hadn't been able to pick up much more than that fact. Alastor ran his fingers over Cer's middle head, and his tongue lolled out to the side. But the man himself had all of his attention fully on the three of us. Brook stood next to Samantha, observing us all, but she had a shield in place that she had obviously honed, so I didn't pick up a single thought from her.

"I feel like we are missing part of the story," Alastor replied. "What do your miserable sisters have to do with us?"

Lex dragged his fingers through his hair and glanced at Samantha. She was the key, my little hunter. "It is a long story that we can talk about once we are back at the hotel."

"Then let's get this party started," Samantha said. She turned to lead the way again, before Raiden's words stopped her.

"Sammy, wait," he said. She paused, her forehead creasing as she took in Raiden's expression. I didn't know him well, but I knew regret when I saw it. I was intimate with the feeling. "I made a deal for your safety. We can't go into that warehouse."

She stopped breathing. Brook threaded her fingers through hers and squeezed, and it animated her again, as if the touch woke her up. "You what?" The words sounded as if they had gotten stuck on the way to her lips, and she stumbled over them. "Rai—"

"The dark mage, the Leyak, he needs something from my home," Raiden admitted. "From my childhood home."

His childhood home—I could picture the red mountains of Tartus that the dragons owned. They were the view of my backyard growing up, the dragon-kin circling and protecting their own. At one time, they didn't do that, but then, when I was little, something changed. They became defensive, closed off, dangerous. Not that they weren't already dangerous. Rumors had traveled the halls of the palace, but I was so young I didn't remember any of them.

I recalled playing there sometimes, with the young kin, that was prior to Tristan's disappearance, and before it became forbidden to set foot on the red rocks.

"I don't understand." Samantha watched him. Her grip on her friend's hand was probably the only thing that was keeping her in place. "You agreed?"

"It's not that simple of an answer," he replied. He looked miserable, and I felt for him. I'd been there. Poor decisions had a way of haunting you.

"How about you try?" Tears hovered on her lashes, one blink away from being shed.

"Love, we all do stupid shit when we are in love," I said, drawing her attention away from the dragon. "Now that we are aware of the agreement, we can find a way around it, but we should probably not do it here in the open where any number of demons could be eavesdropping on our conversation."

"Bellamy is right," Alastor said, and I shot him a glare. I didn't need his help any more than the dragon needed me to come to his defense. "Love drives you to do stuff you wouldn't do normally."

Brook whispered something to Samantha, and she nodded before turning back toward the metal death trap we had exited. Raiden tried to catch her gaze, but she avoided looking at him. He lifted his eyes to mine and nodded once. In thanks, I supposed. I didn't do it for him; I did it because I felt the pain in my hunter. She was close to breaking from the omission.

* * *

Alastor moved around the small kitchen, and I watched him with curiosity. What did he think he was doing? The man didn't cook; he ordered room service. He pulled out six glasses and poured whiskey into each one. Then he put them onto a tray and brought it into the living area, setting it on the table between the silent group.

Lex was next to Samantha, his arm thrown over the back of the couch and our hunter tucked into his side. She sat stiffly with her arms crossed, her full attention set on Raiden across from them, leaning against the fireplace and avoiding looking at any of us. Brook had curled her legs under her and sat on the sofa next to her friend. I hadn't been lying when I said I liked her. She was small, yet fierce in a way I hadn't expected, and she had no filter, like me. Maybe that explained why Samantha had put up with me. She was used to someone that said whatever was on their mind.

"I think we should all take a shot, it will help," Alastor said. Cerberus sniffed the tray before backing away and laying at the foot of the sofa.

"I don't need a drink. I need answers," Sam said.

Raiden pulled his fingers through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck. "I thought—"

I folded into the armchair and studied him. I took a sip of the smooth alcohol, and it burned as it went down, spreading a warmth through my chest.

Samantha rolled her lips between her teeth and blinked.

Raiden swallowed. "It was stupid, okay? I made a mistake. I was desperate. You were gone. I thought I lost you forever; I would have agreed to anything to make it right."

Her lower lip quivered, and she bit down on it. Pain sliced through me, and I had to look away. Make it stop.

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