“Neither of you do anything foolish,” Niko said. “If he doesn’t die tonight, he’ll die by the hand of a Regulator at his time of execution.”
Christian tossed Glass down the stairs. “Always taking the fun out of it, Niko.”
“What happened?” Claude said, rushing through the front door. “Gem!”
“Here we go,” Christian sang as he reached the bottom of the stairs and put his boot heel on Glass’s head. “More chivalrous men rushing to the rescue of a woman.”
I arched my brow. “Don’t act like you weren’t doing the same thing when Glass bit me.”
“Aye. And would you care to explain why you didn’t convulse and die from a lethal dose of Chitah venom?”
“Answer the question,” Viktor chimed in.
I touched the holes in my neck. Luckily two of them were mostly out of sight, so at least the scars wouldn’t look as bad. “I thought you were smoothing things over with Patrick?”
“Mr. Bane is busy contacting the Regulators of the Security Force. Now, what happened to your neck?”
“Chitah bite.”
“And you are immune?” He gave Christian a scolding glance. “You did not mention this to me.”
Christian stroked his beard. “You can stab her with a stunner, stake her, and serve her at the dinner table to a family of Chitahs, and she’ll still find something else to surprise us with.”
I scratched between two tight laces on my dress. “I was bit once a long time ago and have a scar to show for it. That’s how I found out.”
Viktor wagged his finger at me before walking off. “Do not keep secrets from me.”
In all honesty, it wasn’t a secret that hurt anyone, but I got where Viktor was coming from. It showed him a lack of respect as our leader. The team didn’t necessarily have to know a damn thing about my abilities, but Viktor did. I owed him that much.
Christian folded his arms and rocked on his heels. “Is that going to leave a scar like the other one?”
“Probably. Someday I’m going to look like a walking pincushion.”
“Come with me.”
Chapter 29
Since we hadplenty of time to kill before the Regulators arrived, I followed Christian upstairs to the top floor, where he opened a window and made a sweeping gesture with his arm.
“Sick of me already?” I grinned, climbing onto the roof.
This one had steep rooftops. He led the way to a private area in the middle that gave us a good view of the swarm of cars fleeing the scene of the crime. Apparently no one was thrilled about spending their evening as a witness.
I walked along the ledge of a flat section.
“Give me your hand,” he insisted.
“What does it matter? I won’t die. I’ll just break my neck.”
I was mad at myself. Mad that I hadn’t leapt over the handrail and tried to save the child, even if I might have broken my legs in the process. I wanted to kill the human inside me who’d forgotten she couldn’t die.
He yanked me by the hand and forced me to sit on a level section of the roof. I watched a couple down below arguing as they got into their car.
Christian took a seat to my left and bit into his wrist. “Take some.”
My eyebrows shot up to my hairline. “For what?”
“You can’t go around with those scars on your neck. You’ll stand out even more than you do already.”
