“Yeah, with this he did, but he also threatened me at the dinner from hell,” I remind him.
My statement makes me think of Becket’s mom and how she came for me between the third and nine-thousandth course. Pretty sure taking out one of her mates isn’t going to cause her feelings to thaw for me anytime soon.
Enoch surprises me when he just nods and runs his fingers through his disheveled blond hair. “Fair enough,” he tells me and holds up his hand. “So if these aren’t mate marks, what are they?”
“No fucking clue,” I answer honestly.
“So then they could be mate marks?” Nash counters. He tucks a black curly lock behind his ear, and his dark blue eyes meet mine, his gaze challenging. Someone behind me gives an irritated huff.
“Wishful thinking, asshole, but you’ll never be one of us,” Knox announces, and everyone in the room bristles.
“Fuck you, Howell. It’s not your choice to make,” Kallan spits back.
And now we’ve come full circle, because everyone is back to wanting to fuck each other up.
“Enough!” bellows throughout the room, and I turn to find Aydin’s giant, pissed off ass stomping to get in the middle of things. “We don’t have time for this shit. You all can decide who wins this fight later, but spoilers…it will be Vinna. She can kick all of your asses, probably at the same time.”
I smile at Aydin, and he tilts his head at me in acknowledgement.
“We have to go, so this pissing match will need to be rescheduled for a later date,” he announces.
“Where are you going?” Enoch asks, taking a step toward me, which earns him a warning growl from Torrez and I’m pretty sure Bastien and Knox, too.
“My dumbass uncle got himself taken by Adriel. We’re off to save the day.”
I turn to the guys to check that we’re ready to load up and head out, when Nash’s voice spins me back around.
“Wherever you’re going, so are we.”
I turn and fix him with a look that oozesyou’ve got to be kidding me.
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” I counter.
“Until we know what the hell is going on with these”—he lifts his shirt reminding me of the runes that now run down his sides,—“it’s probably best if we all stick together.”
I open my mouth to argue but stop. It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard. We’re not exactly going to overwhelm Adriel and his nest with our current numbers, and we could use all the help we could get. My gaze wanders around the room in thought, and I catch Evrin’s brown eyes.
“They are targets now,” he tells me, clearly hopping on a similar train of thought to the one I’m currently riding on.
“They don’t belong with us,” Bastien argues, and Evrin throws up a hand that clearly states he doesn’t want to hear it.
I turn to Bastien. “I may not know exactly why Enoch and the others are marked, but they’re marked. You just saw what I saw; they somehow have pieces of my—or maybe someone else’s—Sentinel magic. Not as much as you guys, but they’ll need to train and learn how to protect themselves all the same.”
Bastien looks away from me, his eyes hard and his lips pursed like he’s trying to keep from swallowing something he finds disgusting. No one says anything, but it’s clear they’re fucking pissed.
“We need to leave. If you can grab your passports and pack a bag in twenty minutes, we’ll wait, but we can’t give you more time than that,” Evrin announces, taking control of the decision. Nash and Enoch move for the door almost instantly. Kallan is just a beat behind them, his mouth open like he’s going to say something. He seems to decide against it, and he turns around and leaves. Evrin turns to Torrez, his eyebrows raised in question.
“I have a passport and a go bag, but they’re in my truck about five miles south of here,” Torrez tells him.
“Well, let’s go then,” Evrin announces and heads for the door.
Torrez turns to me and gives me a wink. “I’ll be right back, Witch. Try not to miss me too much while I’m gone.”
I snort with amusement and shake my head. He throws a lopsided smile my way and then disappears out the door.
“Okay then,” Aydin says to no one in particular and then claps his hands together once. “I’ll be throwing the rest of our shit in the cars. We have a couple hours’ drive to the airport, and we will not be stopping to piss or for any other reasons.”
“Yes, mother,” I joke and then laugh when Aydin blows an air kiss at me and then flips me off. Aydin walks out of the living room with a smile, and I turn to deal with the guys. I stop laughing when I meet each of their unamused faces.
