Bastien pushes himself off of me and doesn’t stop until he’s off the bed. He looks pissed, which was not exactly the reaction I was expecting.
“What the fuck are these idiots doing? I mean how far does your head need to be up your ass to let another fucking lamia get close to you? Where the fuck is your paladin? I’m going to fucking strangle him.”
I stand up on the bed to try to quiet Bastien, who’s practically shouting at this point.
“Bas, shut the fuck up. If you wake up the whole house, I can’t tell you what I learned. It’s Sentinel shit.”
He angrily paces at the end of the bed but doesn’t say anything else, which I take as a good sign.
“Okay, so long story short. Mave invited me to some moon thing her pack was doing last night. So I went. The Alpha invited me to run with them, so I did. Mave and Pebble disappeared on me, and I’m pretty sure some dirty sex was the reason why. That’s also the reason you were able to get in here last night because I’m pretty sure they are passed out together somewhere. Shifter moonshine is no joke.”
Bastien tries to say something, but I put my finger over his mouth to shush him.
“Okay, so I ran with the pack, which was beyond amazing. I’m ninety percent sure they’ll never let me do it again because I stabbed one of the Betas and threatened to cut off his dick. But the run part was fucking incredible.”
Bastien opens his mouth to ask all the questions brimming in his eyes, but I cover his lips with the palm of my hand to keep him quiet.
“So that’s where I ran into Sorik. The pack went off to hunt, and I wasn’t allowed to hang for that part. On my way back, Sorik went streaking by me. When I caught up to him, he whipped off his shirt—and guess what the fuck he had on him?”
Bastien narrows his eyes at me and points to the hand covering his mouth. I leave it there because he’s never going to guess anyway.
“He has fucking runes, Bas.Runes. Sorik was one of my mom’s Chosen. Can you fucking believe that?”
Bastien licks the palm of my hand, and I jerk it away at the contact.
“What the fuck? A lamia can be a Chosen?”
It takes me a minute to process Bastien’s question because all I can think about right now is all the other places I want him to lick.
“Fuck Bastien, why’d you have to lick me, now all I can think about is your tongue and that whole screaming your name goal you mentioned.”
“Vinna, focus.”
The fact that he just called me by name, and not the pet name he’s used practically from day one, snaps me out of my dirty thoughts.
“Right. So apparently, Sentinel magic isn’t confined to just casters and Sentinels. We can bond and transfer with anyone.”
Bastien runs both of his hands through his hair and stares at me. “Holy shit.”
“My sentiments exactly. Bas, there have to be more Sentinels out there. There’s no way they were all wiped out. I mean where the fuck did Grier come from? I need the tablet. I need to start going through everything that’s on there. Maybe there’s a way to find them. Something in there only a Sentinel would know or be able to make sense of.”
He starts to pace again, as he thinks about everything I’m telling him. I wait for him to come back around and when our eyes lock he stops.
“Bastien, I might not be the last Sentinel.”
18
Someone pounds against the door, and I break away from the hopeful kiss Bastien gives me, my head snapping in the direction of the door. What the hell? I walk over and fling it open just as Enoch’s hand goes up to pound on it again. He looks me over quickly.
“Sorry to wake you up, but is Pebble in here with you? He missed his check-in this morning, and his coven is here to see what’s going on.”
Enoch clenches his jaw, and I take in his tense body language and tightening fists.
“No, I haven’t seen him since last night. What do you mean he missed his check-in?”
“He’s here on assignment, Vinna. His whole coven has been tasked with your protection, but he’s acting as lead. He hasn’t checked-in since yesterday morning.”
The doorknob I’m still holding onto gets pulled from my grasp when Bastien yanks the door all the way open.
