The entire room goes still. I guess Margot and Rachel thinktheymight be the bait, but Vlad’s shoulders are tense and at this point, his hand has mine in a death grip.
“That’s gonna be me, right?” I ask.
Asher’s head jerks up. “Fuck.”
“It is,” I say. “She’s not going to come out for anything else.”
“We could try—” Quinn begins, but I shake my head. Truly, he’s the safest one here. He’s a wolf, and the fae don’t like that at all, turns out.
“I’ll do it.”
“Grant,” Vlad murmurs. His eyes are pleading with me.
“It’s going to work. We can capture her. There are six of us.”
“And she may have countless other fae with her.”
“She’s down three already.”
Vlad blinks, lips pressing into a thin line, and Asher sighs, finally setting the book aside.
“Grant’s right. So are you. We need to capture her, and to do that, we need to draw her out.”
“Very well,” Vlad says, but the clench to his jaw tells me he doesn’t like the idea at all. “But I have conditions. Rules.”
I can’t help my grin. “Oh, of course you do.”
Chapter Eighteen
Vladimir
Grantshootsmeapprehensivelooks as we approach the club, but I cannot wipe the scowl from my face. I like this even less than the idea of Grant as bait. There is only the slimmest of chances that Jakob is inside. If he is, then he is more of a fool than I have anticipated.
Grant’s power shifts around us and the bouncer does not hesitate to wave us inside once we reach the head of the queue. Asher looks over at him, impressed.
“Looks like I’ll still be left behind with my blessing.”
Quinn frowns and whispers something in his ear, and Margot looks irritated as she takes us all in. We’ve made our way through into the first room, but we cannot all approach Jakob at once.
“You’re sure about this?” she asks. Grant, not me. He squeezes my hand and smiles before he lets go.
“Of course. What’s he gonna do to me now? He already tried to kill me.”
A growl rattles up my throat, startling Rachel and Quinn, but when he pales, he bares his teeth. Asher grabs his hand and pulls him closer.
I clear my throat. “Apologies. Perhaps that is… We should keep that thought to ourselves.”
“Sure,” Margot says, nodding.
Grant winks at me before he saunters away. Quinn follows not far behind him, all of us counting on the fact that him being a wolf will keep Jakob and the others on their toes. So long as they are in there, of course. The women follow a minute or so later, doing well to act as though they are interested in nothing in here but each other.
Asher moves to stand by my side. Our blessings ward us, keeping us from arousing suspicion. I am reminded of the night we entered Mischief & Mayhem, when Asher noticed his mate for the first time.
“We’re not going to let anything else happen to him,” Asher says.
“It is not up to everyone else,” I reply. “I should have protected him. He never should have been in such a vulnerable position to begin with.”
“Did you turn him to lock him up and keep him all to yourself?”
