I groan and rub my eyes. “Do you think we’ll look back on this when we’re older and laugh? Or will we just sit in our rocking chairs and cry about it again?”
“My vote is for cry,” Stacey says darkly.
“Well,” says Minnie, “Eugene and I think we’ll have learnt a lot by the time we get to rocking chairs. We’ll all have our mates and have parties for our grandbabies—” Minnie abruptly shuts her mouth, glancing at Sabrina sitting huddled inside her hood. “I’m so sorry Sabrina, I’m a fucking idiot.”
“It’s fine,” Sabrina says in that deadpan. “I’m fine.”
I blow out a heavy breath against the tension you could cut through. Fucking hell. Meanwhile, I’m supposed to be pretending to be pregnant with Ghoul’s imaginary progeny. “One step at a time,” I mutter, grasping Stacey’s hand. “We do this one fucking step at a time.”
Stacey and Sabrina are booked for their counselling sessions with Theresa, so we split up for the afternoon, each of us findingour thoughts in the darkest of places. When the day draws to a close, I eat an early dinner with Savage, who’s planning a moonlight run with the other wolves of the academy. It’s a full moon tonight, and the others are at the gym before it closes for the wolf-exclusive use of the grounds from sunset to sunrise.
“You sure you don’t want to come?” Savage asks, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.
I shake my head. “I need to fly to clear my brain.”
“More alone time?” Savage nudges me. “That’s perfectly fine by me,” he says, trying hard to appear nonchalant. “I’m not upset that I can’t flyat all.”
Kissing him on the cheek, I lower my voice by his ear. “I’m gonna suck your dick so hard when I get back.”
Savage’s cheeks bloom pink as his eyes brighten on me. He goes to reach for me, but I dance out of his grasp. “Bye!” My wolf’s deep laugh follows me out into the night.
Once again, I instruct Beak to cover for me, fully aware that his narrowed eagle eyes follow me north where I need to go again.
I check Ghoul’s house first, and finding it vacant, stretch my wings in the direction of the new Naga mansion. Ghoul had shown me the way in his own car—inadvertently or not, I’ll have to figure that out—but it also makes me realise there are no hyena magic protections against my entry like there were in the old house. Ghoul had brought me right in without incident. Which means I can potentially spy without incident too.
Serpent heat sensors make it difficult for me to simply walk in there under my invisibility shield. Not all serpent shifters have thermal detection in their human form, only the most powerful or feral ones, and there are definitely those around in Naga House at night.
As I approach the house from the air, the many golden lights making it a beacon amidst the grand open lawns that surroundit, I note the activity around the back of the house and give the property a wide berth as I come at it from its back side, and manage to land in the tall trees that line the fence, bushing branches aside with my beak so I can see better.
There are several serpent generals gathered on the white gravel, including what looks like a whole team of armed forces, organising themselves into military vehicles. A shiver runs down my spine as Ghoul, the tallest of them all, takes a long drag on a cigarette before discarding it on the ground and digging his heel into it. As he heads into the first vehicle, a small serpent ducks behind him and scoops up the cigarette with a dustpan and brush.
I recognise the thin, dark-haired boy immediately. Thomas Krait had been at Animus Academy a while back and had been responsible for outing Sabrina and me for sneaking into Titus’ room the time we stole his laptop. It had all been worth it in the end, but he still hated my guts for the death of his twin brother, Theo. Now Thomas is here, picking up trash and it’s only a disgruntled feeling I get through my gut at the sight of him.
The trucks rumble off down the long drive and out the front gates, and I follow in the sky, keeping a distance and watching Ghoul’s vehicle in the lead. They travel a little way down the highway and turn into serpent territory. So this is not some mission for an enemy attack; this is court business. Ghoul’s vehicle rumbles to a stop, but he doesn’t get out of the car. Instead, another general gets out and knocks on the door. There is a conversation before two boys exit the house—no older than thirteen—shouldering duffle bags. They are led into the trucks.
The convoy rolls up to the next house and, in the same manner, a young boy and girl get out with bags and load up the vehicles. My stomach turns.
By the third house, I know exactly what this is.
Ghoul doesn’t get out until the next house, when there is an extended conversation and a man’s raised voice. I swoop down low to get a better look. An elderly male holds a young granddaughter around the waist. The pale hatchling has a barcode and ID number on her right cheek, marking her as venomous. “You’re not taking her!” her grandfather exclaims. “Sophie, get back in the house.”
“I don’t want to go!” Sophie cries. “You can’t make me!”
But then Ghoul strides up to the door, and the little girl lets out a shrill cry. Ghoul’s voice booms through the night. “Get in the car, unless you want your granddaddy branded as a traitor.”
Sophie shakes her head, and on shaking legs, bravely steps out of her grandfather’s grip. Satisfied, the general turns away from the house, letting Sophie walk up to the convoy.
“Monster!” the grandfather cries after them. “The lot of you are monsters!”
Ghoul halts and slowly turns around. My heart beats rapidly. The basilisk lord makes some signal, because from the vehicle, four serpents spring out of the cars and march into the house, dragging the man with them. The door shuts, and all I hear is a scream as Ghoul casually gets back into the vehicle.
Moments later, the house is silent and the serpent militia exit the house, knuckles bruised and stained with blood. I can’t stop watching as the night wears on.
Chapter 47
Ghoul
My little snakelet wants to know about me. Well, of course I will oblige her.
