"You and me both."
He takes a seat in a wingback chair in front of a small fireplace in here. I take the one opposite him as I watch one of his oversize dogs sit at his feet and the other one climb into his lap like it's still a fucking puppy. I know she's heavy, but Everett doesn't mind as he keeps petting her.
"Okay," he says, looking at me. "Spill."
29
IAN
I tell Everett almost everything.
I tell him about how I realized shit was about to hit the fan, got a caster to transport me to California, dropped off his dogs, and was about to go make sure Heidi was okay before a vampyr got me. Then I skim over a bunch of vague, horrifically violent, perverse memories that I don't even consider my own before I finally woke up in control of myself again after Asher Douglas killed my vampyr master.
What I don't tell him is that I've already gone to Heidi's. I definitely don't tell him I'm only here because kissing his sister was a wet dream come true. Or that it also nearly gave me a fucking heart attack when I realized how close I was to losing control and biting her.
I leave all that out, because Everett's viciously protective of his sister—something I respect, but it's not going to stop me anymore.
"Shit," he mutters when I've wrapped up my selective storytelling. "So you're a thrall now."
"Yup."
"That must really…suck."
"If you're trying to be funny, your timing is fucking awful," I grumble. "You know how many of those jokes I've had to put up with in my life? Do you want me to make a crack at you about breaking the ice?"
The elemental holds up his hands in surrender. "Point made. But seriously, thrall stuff aside, I'm really glad you're back."
So am I.
Everett asked me to take in his dogs and take good care of them when he joined the faculty at Everbound University. I'd promised to get them back to him whenever he was done with whatever he was doing there.
Now that he has them back and we've more or less caught up, I'm alreadydyingto get back to Heidi. Is she awake yet? I hope not, because she was clearly still exhausted yesterday as her body healed.
I want to be there when she wakes up and pick up where we left off. I want her soft moans to drive me insane as I kiss down her neck again, and her mouthwatering curves pressed against me. Only this time I want no clothes between us as I slide through her wetness, her legs locked around my waist as I thrust andthrustand?—
Fuck me.
I need to stop thinking completely, or I'll pop a boner in front of my future wife's brother.
I'm ready to make my excuses and leave, but Everett looks distracted before he glances out the window of his office. As if on cue, I see a fuckingdragonland just outside the perimeter of the Amato quintet's property.
And it has a saddle. Who fucking knew dragons could have saddles?
The huge, gleaming monster abruptly shifts into a familiar naked shifter who strolls across the back lawn toward the house. I'm wondering if he just abandoned their keeper when an instantlater, Crypt DeLune appears in this office—hand-in-hand with Maven Amato.
Who is completely covered in blood.
The sharp scent of harpy blood punctures my tepid control. For a second, I can only stare at it, splattered and smeared all over the demigoddess's face and black clothes, before Crypt DeLune's eyes narrow in warning at me.
“Take your eyes off her before I feed them to Frost's dogs."
The idea of someone thinking that I’m even capable of checking out anyone other than the woman who occupies my every fantasy has a snarl already rising in my throat.
But Everett's keeper just snorts, motioning at herself and then me, respectively.
"Blood. Vampire. He's thirsty, but not in the way Kenzie uses the word. So, you're Ian."
Finally dragging my attention away from the blood that's trying to demand all my attention as my throat burns, I examine Everett's keeper for the first time. I've heard and read a lot about her, both before the Upheaval and over the last day since I've been back.
