Nicolette cleared her throat.
“Perhaps we should head out. I have a penthouse in the city that we can use to portal to.”
“Since I know where it is, I can take us all there,” Megan said.
“Your ability is limited to the children of the gods and human souls. The living cannot enter Hell,” Hades said, not looking away from me. “Go to the penthouse first. We will follow.”
I struggled to tear my gaze from his handsome face in time to see Megan and Oanen disappear. Hades’ lips brushed my temple.
A few moments later, the room folded in on itself and reformed into a svelte, modernly decorated, open loft space.
“Wow,” Jason said. “That’s impressive. You didn’t even touch us.”
“It does feel different than when Adira or Mrs. Quill portal us too, doesn’t it?” I asked, offering Eliana’s father a smile.
Jason nodded. “Less nauseating.” He looked at Nicolette. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Please make sure you keep me posted,” Nicolette said to Eliana. “I doubt it will take her long to contact me.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Adira,” Megan said. “We agreed ahead of time that Nicolette and Jason should stay here. Since Nicolette’s still being tracked by the Council, we figured Adira would notice that she’s not in Uttira and reach out to the Quills. They’ll share that Eliana and Ashlyn asked to go shopping again. Adira won’t think anything of having Fenris along.”
“Slightly offended here,” Fenris said.
“Am I being tracked?” I asked.
Megan hesitantly shook her head. “The tracking spells are expensive.”
“And a lowly human isn’t worth tracking,” I said.
“It works to our advantage, though. The only person she can currently track is Nicolette. And when Adira sees that Nicolette is in the penthouse, we’re betting she’s either going to reach out to Nicolette or Ashlyn, the weakest links—no offense.”
“None taken,” I said, and Nicolette nodded in agreement.
“So I’ll be sending Mom pictures of us trying on clothes that she can use to send to Adira to bait her in,” Eliana said.
“And while you four have fun, Oanen, Zotera, and I are going to hang back and watch over you at a distance,” Megan said. “Easy. Just like fishing for mermaids.”
CHAPTERTEN
I didn’t shareMegan’s confidence but kept my doubts to myself as we all left the penthouse. As promised, I held Hades’ arm. His hand covered mine, warming my cold fingers.
He studied me for a quiet moment.
“Eliana, may I request a favor?” he asked without looking away.
“Um, sure?”
“Would you feed, please?”
“On you?” she squeaked, sounding panicked.
“Your mate will do,” Hades said.
I glanced at her in concern as her eyes went black. Then a wave of lust pulsed against my senses. Nothing crazy like in Club Blayz but just enough to cut through my fear and have me leaning into Hades.
“Much better,” he said. “Thank you, Eliana.”
