“And?”
“I kept tabs on her over the years. It’s…” he shakes his head. “We had a run in a while back. That’s when I knew she’s the one, but she fuckingdespisesme, and I have a bone to pick with her, too. That doesn’t change the fact that she belongs to me.”
This complicates things a wholefuckload. The Claiming tradition is newly reinstated; I’m not sure if veto power exists, and even if it does, whether I have it. I’m not sure about anything besides the fact that I really don’t know what the fuck I’m supposed to do right now.
My plan was to find Ember while she was in the shower, andassisther in getting her orgasm. Then, tell her that the only person who’s allowed to make her come isme,unless I give her explicit permission otherwise. Now, I get to stand here with an absolute clusterfuck in my hands and no semblance of how to handle it.
Fuck.
“Find someone else,” I growl.
Toby barks out a sardonic laugh. “Right, likeyoufound someone else? Yeah, no. That’s not how it works, Max.” he rakes his gaze up and down me, and raises his eyebrows accusingly. “What if roles were reversed and I was the one telling you—”
He doesn’t get to finish that sentence. I slam him up against a wall with my hand around his neck, get in his face, and squeeze. “Unfortunately for you, roles arenotreversed. Now, I may enjoy being the niceone out of leadership, but never mistake me for soft. That would be a fatal misconception.” I lean in until we’re nose to nose. “Find. Someone.Else.” If he doesn’t, and Ember finds out about this, she’ll never forgive me. She might ignore the deal we made and resume trying to kill me—and I have no doubt that if she tries long enough, she’ll succeed.
Then Cain will make an example out of her, and it’ll be game over.
“No,” Toby hisses, baring his teeth at me. “I made up my mindbeforeI knew Ember’s connection to Alina. I’m not going to change my mind just because I found out Ember knew her for a couple months.”
“Knew her for a couplemonths?” I scoff. “She spent the last five fucking years going throughhellto keep Dagon from Alina!”
Ember might deny the existence of her humanity, but it’s plain to see in the fact that she’s allowed herself to be abused and tortured relentlessly simply to save a half-sister she barely knew, simply because she loves her.
“You don’t understand—”
“I understand that Ember will probably kill you if you go for Alina, and I just might let her. You don’t know what she went through, Tobias, and I hope like fuck you never will—because most of our operatives couldn’t survive that shit and still be somewhat sane.” I shove him away, satisfaction snaking through me when his head smacksagainst the hard wall. “You better change your mind. And if you don’t, watch your fucking back.”
“Dagon is after her!”Toby roars. “He’s had men trailing Alina foryears,and I didn’t fucking see it because I didn’t know to look for it. She is indanger, Maximus. Dagon is as well-connected as the Nighthawks. He’s a powerful enemy. I can get his men off her trail, I can ask Greyson or Cain to put protection on her, but it won’t be enough until Dagon’s dead. And eventhen, he’ll have failsafes in place to kill her after he’s dead.”
He’s right—there’s no denying that. I know enough about Dagon to understand that he’s an extremely dangerous enemy, and that we’re going to need to put serious muscle on Alina to protect her. But itcanbe done—we have some of the best trained fighters in the world.
“I’ve already warned you; I’m not going to do it again. For now, what you’re going to do is send me everything you have on Alina. I will send men to protect her immediately. And, once Dagon’s dead, I’m never going to bother her again. If you get away with interfering, you know what’ll happen.”
I stalk away, casting him a glare as I go.
My next stop is Greyson and Scarlett’s apartment. Scarlett opens the door with flushed cheeks and a bright smile. Luci is curled around her neck like a choker; Greg is at her heels, whining for her attention. As soon as he sees me, he charges forward and knocks into me with enough force to nearly topple me. I chuckle, sinking to my knees andembracing him, letting him lick my face and rub his fur all over my body.
“Gresyon!” Scarlett calls. “Max is here to see you!”
I arch an eyebrow at her. “Who says I’m not here to see you?”
“The confused and lost look on your face. You need advice about Ember, and I can’t give it to you. But I will say, she thinks you had a thing for me and is blowing it out of proportion. You might want to take care of that.”
Fuck. Thatissomething that needs taking care of. I saw the jealousy on Ember’s face at the gym, but I haven’t done as much as I should to clean up that mess.
Greyson appears beside her, immediately planting a possessive hand on her hip. He looks me over. “What’s going on?”
“Life,” I say. “And other problems. You got a minute?”
“For you? Of course.” He kisses Scarlett’s head and pats her ass. “Breakfast will be up in a few. You good?”
“Mhm,” she hums. “I’ve got Luci.”
Greyson’s expression sours. “The demon that goes for my eyes every time I look at you for too long?”
“Don’t be silly,” she responds. “He’s warming up to you—”
Right on cue, Lucifer launches off of Scarlett’s shoulders and flies at Greyson’s face like a ballistic missile, hissing, spitting, and biting. Greyson stumbles back, trying to throw the cat off him unsuccessfully. Scarlett and I share an amused look.
