“Who sent you?” the alpha demanded.
I turned my neck ever so slightly to look at him, and he growled.
“Don’t move an inch, faerie. Now, answer me. Who sent you?”
“My boss. I don’t know who wants you killed, but they hired us for the job.”
I gave him a longer explanation than was necessary. It bought me time to figure out what to do. At this range, he wouldn’t miss me if he pulled the trigger.
“You aren’t around when he takes the jobs?” the alpha pressed. His need to learn who’d betrayed him was written all over his face.
“No. My boss called me today.” I tilted my head to the side as if I was thinking something over, hoping to deflect from my slight repositioning my dagger. “Maybe around five. So whoever wants you dead must have come in before that. It’s usually someone close to the mark. Who wasn’t around you today?”
His brows furrowed, unable to resist the urge to recall his day.
Knowing that I wouldn’t get another chance, I pushed a gust of air at him—straight in his eyes.
The gun went off, but I was already out of the line of fire, ducking and then hurtling over the couch. The alpha opened his eyes milliseconds before my blade sank into the side of his neck.
Blood spurted everywhere, splattering the rich brown leather of the couch, and my clothes. I pressed my lips together. I hated the thought of someone’s blood on my clothes.
A heartbeat later, the alpha fell. When he stopped breathing, my shoulders relaxed.
One more bad guy down.
Knowing that the alpha was no longer roaming the streets of L.A., doing shady criminal stuff to innocents, made what I had to do alittleeasier.
At least, that’s what I told myself so I could look in the mirror.
The door to my apartment whined open.
“I’m home!” I sang out, aware that no one would be there to welcome me.
Moving into the kitchen, I laid my scabbard on the counter, pulled a jug of OJ out of the fridge, and drank straight from the carton. After a brief examination of my meager rations, I settled on making mac and cheese with frozen peas tossed in for nutritional value.In my opinion, everyone needed to eat their veg.
Once the water was on the stovetop, I went to change. As soon as I stepped foot into my bedroom, my shoulders lowered and my heart rate slowed.
Despite Xavier’s warnings, I liked to keep a window cracked open to feel the fresh air on my face and watch the way my veil-like white curtains fluttered in a breeze. My bed was a massive canopy, also surrounded by gauzy linen. Sheepskin rugs littered the floor, and a teal pod chair, perfect for reading in, sat in the corner.
Unlike the shell I presented to the outer world, which included an all-black attire and hard attitude, this place was all softness and light and air. I loved it and hoped that when my contract with Xavier was complete, I could bring a bit of this feeling out into the world with me.
I stripped, releasing my wings from the bindings that allowed me to pass as human. I hated wearing the straps, but visiting an aether-blessed fae, the only type of fae with the ability to construct glamours to conceal such features, cost time anda lotof money. So much money that organizations like the government and fae academies often had an aether-blessed fae on retainer—but not Xavier Doru. When the vampire did hire one, he thought the money the fae demanded was better spent hiding my pointy ears.
His reasoning was sound. If my wings were rendered invisible, and therefore freed from their bindings, I’d still have to be careful that they didn’t hit anyone in crowds. The bindings were more practical than a glamour, even if they were annoying and stifling.
My clothes got tossed into the trash. I couldn’t wear them again without thinking of the shifters I’d killed.
After a hot shower to rinse the blood off my body, I wrapped myself in a loose, soft robe that gave my diaphanous gold-veined wings a little room to breathe, and padded barefoot to the kitchen.
The water was boiling, so I poured in the noodles. I’d finished stirring them when a knock came at the door.
My spine straightened, and I dashed to the counter where I’d set down my dagger.
As soon as I unsheathed the cold metal, a chuckle came from the other side of the door. “It’s me.”
I exhaled. Xavier.
I flung the door open to find the ice-blond vampire leaning against the entryway, looking as cool as a cucumber.
