“Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?” he snarls.
“I live here," I snap back irritated.
“Bullshit, try again,” he sneers at me, feeding more magic into the ball hovering between his palms. Orange and fuchsia-tinted magic crackles over my skin in response to his threat, and I see a sliver of uncertainty on his face before he masks it.
“My Uncle Lachlan owns this house.”
“Funny that, as our uncle is in his coven. I’d think we’d know if Lachlan had a niece.”
The arrogance wafts off him, but his statement helps something click,the boys!These two must be Silva’s nephews. With everyone referring to them asthe boysI pictured younger… well…boys. That assumption could not have been more wrong.The boysare two super-hot, fully grownmen. I relax my aggressive stance slightly, hoping his body language will mirror mine.
“You should probably call your uncle so he can fill you in on what’s happened while youboyswere off camping.”
Confusion seeps into his features, and he reaches for something. My instincts take over, and my hand frees itself of a throwing knife. I watch as the blade flies past his cheek, mere centimeters away, and thuds into the trunk of the tree behind him. The magic ball he holds bursts, and he jerks his head back to look at the knife in the tree.
As his head pivots, a couple strands of hair come away loose from his scalp. The nick in his hair won’t be noticeable, but we both know how close that knife just came to his head. He looks back at me alarmed.
“What the fuck? I was just reaching for my phone!” he yells at me, and I almost feel bad for scaring him… almost.
I stand up all the way, hoping he sees how nonthreatening I am now, and he reaches for his phone again, his movements slower this time. I watch him carefully as he puts the phone to his ear, his wary eyes fixed on me.
“Hey Sil, we just found a random girl sneaking around the property. She’s saying that she’s Lachlan’s niece, know anything about that?”
He smirks at me thinking he’s caught me in a lie, but I wait and watch his face fall as he gets clued in. He shoots another glance at me then looks away turning to the side.
“Shit, yeah, um, Bastien kind of just attacked her.”
Yelling squawks out from the phone, and he pulls it away from his ear.
“We didn’t know who she was; he just saw someone in a black hood roaming around in the woods, and he took off. You know how he is, attack first, ask questions later," he pauses. “Our phones were dead, we just charged them, and I haven’t checked any of my messages yet.”
Twin two looks over at me, and I can see him scan me from head to toe.
“I can’t tell, she mostly just looks wet and muddy, but Bastien tackled her pretty hard.”
Seeing that this lovely misunderstanding is getting cleared up, I start walking toward the house. My stomach grumbles angrily, making it clear it didn’t appreciate this delay.
I brush a finger over the runes on the helix of my ear to increase my hearing. I can now hear the phone conversation as if I were standing next to twin two.
“Fuck. I’m sorry Uncle Silva, we didn’t know. Tell Lachlan to stop freaking out. We’ll fix this. Yeah, I have to call Ryker anyway. Bastien’s going to need it.”
Why would Lachlan be freaking out?I thought he’d be all high-fives and baking brownies for anyone who came at me. This mentality of attack first and ask questions later obviously runs in the family, or I guess I should say coven since they’re not all blood-related. Twin two is quiet, listening to whatever Silva is saying on the other end of the phone.
“Because she kicked his ass. He’s all bloody, and his left eye is swollen shut. I think he passed out though; he’s not groaning and rocking around on the ground anymore.”
Twin two sucks in a breath.
“It’s not funny, Silva, it was fucking mental! One minute he’s tackling her, and the next she’s on top of him beating the ever-loving shit out of him. I pulled her off, and next thing I know, she pulls a bunch of knives from her ass. Like literally from her ass!" he exclaims. “She threw one at my head. Thank the moon she missed!”
“I didn’t miss!” I yell back at him and make my way up the back steps into the house. I disengage my runes and walk into the kitchen. Adelaide covers her mouth in shock when she sees the state I’m in.
“Don’t worry. I’m fine. Just had a run-in withthe boys. Would you mind if I take some lunch upstairs? I’m starving, but I need to get cleaned up.”
Like the gem she is, Adelaide quickly puts together a huge bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. I groan it smells so good. I thank her and head up to my room, shoving unladylike bites into my mouth as I climb the stairs. I move straight into the bathroom and set my bowl of pasta on the vanity. I start to strip out of my wet and muddy clothes while I simultaneously shovel food into my mouth.
I lean towards the mirror to check out my new injuries. I have small scrapes on the left side of my face from my temple to my cheek, and some bruises are forming on my hand. I’m going to have some nasty bruises on my side from my impact with the ground.
Guess they can join the ones I already have from Lachlan choking me, and the claw marks the lamia gave me. At the rate I’m getting hit with random attacks, I’ll be one big giant bruise soon. I mumble to myself irritably as I turn on the water in the shower to just below scalding. I hop in and scrub all the mud and crap off me, then relax under the hot spray, letting it work the adrenaline and soreness from my muscles.
