“Archer! Stop!”
Larkin and Archer burst into the room. She had her hands pressed against his chest, trying to push him away, but he continued, brushing her aside.
“This just got very interesting,” Mabel muttered gleefully.
Archer’s eyes flashed as they landed on me. “How many lies did you feed her? What did you tell her to get her to accept your bond?”
“Pure charm and a dick that makes her scream,” I answered him flatly.
If Quentin heard my reply, I would be celibate for the rest of my days, but I’d been on my best behaviour with Hunter and the chaos was clawing at my chest and skull, begging to be released.
“You have to do something,” he said, turning to my older brother. “He’s going to use her.”
Hunter stood so quickly that Mabel fell from his lap. She picked herself up, pouting as she dusted herself off.
“You all need to leave,” Hunter demanded. “I need to speak to Archer.”
“I don’t care if we have an audience,” he replied. “I’m sick of only getting part of the story.”
“Out!” Hunter barked.
Larkin didn’t hang around, used to his temperamental ways, and I had better things to do than watch Archer have a meltdown because his plans had gone awry.
Erik shot me a look before wrapping himself in red, and I left seconds after him, landing back in the hallway of Quentin’s home.
A small body barrelled into me as she came off the bottom step. My arms wrapped around her frame to keep her in place.
“Where are you going in such a rush?” I asked.
Quentin had pulled her hair up into a bun and had her bag slung over her shoulder. Her access card hung from a lanyard that sported the colours of the rainbow.
“You’re back,” she noted. “Is everything okay?”
“Answer my question first.”
“I’m going to the lab.”
“Why?”
Her cheeks flushed. “We’ve wasted enough time with this project.”
“Archer told you what’s going on in Elysia when he visited?”
“How did you know he was here?”
“He went straight to Hunter after I assume you told him you had no plans to break our bond.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You should have told him about your plans to become my wife to really drive home the point.” She gave me a shove, and I released her from my hold. “Why did he come to visit?”
Quentin stepped around me, walking into the living room and grabbing some papers from the bookshelf. “No reason.”
“Honesty works both ways, golden girl.”
She froze, and I could almost hear the way her brain was trying to find a loophole that would allow her to find a way out of answering me.
“I’m waiting, Quen,” I pressed.
Slipping her bag from her shoulder, she unzipped it and pushed the papers inside, taking her time with the motion. “He stopped by with a gift.”
A few steps were all it took until I was behind her. “That does not fill me with confidence. What kind of gift?”
