Silas hooked a finger under her chin and tilted her face up for a brief kiss. Speaking against her lips, he promised, “You got it, baby.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
Petra threwher bag at his feet and declared, “You arenotleaving without me!”
“We’renothaving this conversation,” Silas replied, completely unbothered, as he slipped a sheathed knife into his boot.
“You’re right. We aren’t. Because I’mcoming.”
“It’s cute that you think you’re gonna get your way, little goddess, but it isn’t fuckin’ happening.” Silas rose from his crouched position to pat his pockets. “Knives, fake ID, explosives… I’m missing something. Oh, right.” He reached for the old, yellowed file he’d taken from one of the red trunks, but Petra snatched it first.
Holding it tight to her chest, she announced, “Silas, you’re not leaving without me. Those aremypeople. That’smyfriend. I need to help.”
“And you’remymate,” he argued, brows arching. “What makes you think I would everlet you walk into a situation where you’re actively being hunted by two separate groups and we strongly suspect someone will at least attempt a regicide?”
“What makes you think I’ll letyou?”she demanded. “You’re my mate, too! We’re a team, remember? You are not going into that by yourself. I have every reason to be there. I canhelp.”
Silas’s lips turned down in an expression that, on anyone else, might have been a sympathetic frown. On him it was a lot more likely that he was simply trying to figure out the most efficient way to appease her and still get what he wanted.
Before he could argue his side, she charged ahead. “Listen, I’m friends with Margot. I don’t care that Kaz is looking for me. She’ll hear me out. I know you said it’s not safe to contact her secretary, but I can go to her directly if we show up at the Tower. And what if something has happened to my staff, Silas? I’ve been cozying up with you for weeks thinking that they’ve just been getting on without me, but what if they’re being held hostage or tortured or?—”
“Baby,” he drawled, stepping around her bag to gently grip her shoulders, “wearea team, but you need to understand something: you are irreplaceable. I’ll never,everrisk you.” Those familiar hands, so big and warm, glided up her neck to cup her cheeks. He pressed a featherlight kiss to her lips before murmuring, “You are powerful and capable, little goddess, but I’d rather let this coup happen than put you in harm’s way. I’d watch the whole world burn if it meant keeping you safe. I’d even strike the match myself.”
Still holding the file with one hand, she gave him a solid thump in the center of his chest with her other. “Don’t try to sweet talk me, asshole. You said you wouldn’t lock me away again. You tried it once and it didn’t work, remember?”
“I didn’t promise anything,” he replied, unfazed. “All I recall is you saying you’d poison me if I tried it. I’m willing to take the risk if it means I never have to see you hurt again.”
The shadows in a dark corner of the living room shivered. Goosebumps rose on Petra’s arms as a niggling awareness drewher gaze to the puddle of shadow untouched by the soft glow of the floor lamp.
She still couldn’t quite see what Silas did and she couldn’t hear what Tal said, but she thought she could sense him there, like someone standing just off to the side, waiting to be acknowledged. The feeling was a visceral one, very different from the indistinct sensation she’d experienced before. Petra had the niggling suspicion that bonding had strengthened her connection to Silas and tied her to his brother, too.
Whatever was said, it clearly didn’t go over well with Silas. He dropped his hands to her arms and swung his head around to glare at the dark corner. “You really want to take her side when I already owe you an ass-whooping for the last time?” He paused, apparently listening to the wraith’s response, before he demanded, “If it were you, what wouldyoudo? I don’t care how useful she might be. I’m not taking the fucking’ risk.”
“How’s this for a risk?” Petra pinched Silas’s chin. Turning his head back around to face her, she warned, “If you leave without me, Silas Augustus Cuttcombe, so help me Glory, I’m going to find my own way back to San Francisco. I’ll hitchhike if I have to.”
A thunderous expression darkened his features. His shadows roiled, the threads of darkness writhing across the floor and around her throat like a pissed off rattlesnake. But Petra wasn’t scared of him, nor his temper. Giving his jaw a tiny shake, she warned, “You can’t keep me here. You can’t lock me up. You can’t do anything, demon, because youknowthat if you did, it’d hurt me. And I don’t care what you believe you’re capable of — you love me too fucking much for that. So either I go with you and Tal or I find my own ride. You choose.”
Silas abruptly tipped his head to one side to nip the meat of her thumb with his sharp fangs. Yelping more out of surprise than any real pain, Petra withdrew her hand.
“I’m sincerely regretting not having that dungeon,” he growled, snatching the file from her.
Her heart leapt. “Are you taking me with you or not?”
Somewhere down the long, tree-shrouded driveway — nowhere close to the house, since Silas said he only allowed clan near his den — a massive burst of magic tore through the air. Every shelf in the house rattled and all the bottles in the drink cart clinked together before the air settled once more.
Their ride had arrived.
She held her breath as she waited for his response. Petra didn’t want to fight him, and she seriously didn’t want to have to find her own way across the continent, but she would. For her staff, for her friend, for the Protectorate as a whole, she’d do it. She’dwalkif she had to.
Petra guessed that Silas must have seen some small sliver of her determination in her expression, because he bit out a curse before he ducked to give her one of his signature punishing kisses.
“I’m absolutely investing in a crop,” he hissed against her lips. Her toes curled in her shoes. “You have no fuckin’ respect for rules.”
Petra patted his chest. “Whatever makes you feel better, sweetheart.”
“Shade.”
Silas tipped his head in a nod. “Witch.”
