I took a shaky breath before nodding. “You’re right. I know you’re right, but I’m concerned about you, okay? You know how Death is. Especially about his mate.”
“I get your concern,” he admitted before going quiet. “Death can be scary, but Jenni can handle him. I doubt she’d let him eat my soul…but I also can’t tell her how I really feel either. Hey, how’s my savior doing? Jenni caught me up on most things, but it sounds like she’s really struggling with the cult and shit.”
Vengeance sparked through my veins at the mention of my mate and her injustice. “She’s angry at the cult, but the attacks on us have seemed to calm down a lot. Not sure what that means, though, honestly.”
“Sheshouldbe angry after what they did to her and her mate. To all of us.” Joel nodded, wincing. “She’s doing good, though. Don’t forget to take some time away from work, dude. Your mate may have other mates, but she still needs you, you know.”
“I know.” I blew out a steady breath and turned to glance at the map on my wall.
I’d marked the new locations of the rituals with black Xs.
“How’s your dad?” he asked.
“He’s good.” I turned back around to face him. “He’s been helping Death and I with council things since we’ve lost most of our members. We’ve been getting a lot of requests for our vengeance services, but we’ve had to deny them. It’s too dangerous to work right now. Especially after Dad was almost killed on the last one.”
“No kidding.” Joel rubbed his jaw. “I wouldn’t love going anywhere right now with the cult on our asses.”
“But denying cases isn’t fun, either. There was a shifter case I was dying to pick up, but Dad vetoed me.” I pouted.
“What was the case?” he asked, his eyes twinkling the way they did when he was curious. He loved hearing about the drama, but I’d told him it was more than just drama on multiple occasions. These were real people who needed help.
I scowled. “There’s a woman who has been wronged by her adopted sister countless fucking times. She’s essentially trying to take her place as the heiress of the family.”
He whistled. “Damn. So a rich family?”
I nodded. “She seems like a real piece of work, too. Apparently, her parents are taking the adoptive daughter’s side. Her brother is, too, apparently. She’s completely on her own with nobody to turn to. I have a plan to reach back out to her after all this is over. Hopefully, she can hang on until then.”
“I hope so,” Joel muttered. “Rich families in Briesia are something else.”
“Especially when some shifter villages are still in poverty.” I grunted, shaking my head before my matebond tugged at my soul. “Pandora’s here.”
The door opened, and Pandora walked through with a smile before stepping back slightly. “Oh, I’m sorry. Am I interrupting?”
“No way, savior!” Joel hopped to his feet. “If anything, I am.”
Pandora smiled at him, but she looked at his chest for a moment, her brows furrowing before meeting his gaze again. “No, you’re not. It’s good to see you.”
“Always great to see the soul eater who saved my life.” He shot another grin her way before waving at me and leaving, shutting the door behind him. “Have a good day!”
“Hey, starlight.” I smiled as she came over and sat down in my lap. “Why were you staring so hard at Joel’s chest? Figure something out with his magic?”
She sighed. “I was trying to, but it wasn’t working at all. I wassoclose last time.”
“Really?” I frowned. I had almost forgotten that she told me she could fix his magic problem, to be honest. With everything happening around us, that was an easy feat to do. “It’s okay. You tried, and that means so much.”
“I’ll keep trying.” She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. I felt her disappointment through the bond. She leaned over and stared at the vengeance case I had opened on my tablet, the one I was telling Joel about. “That seems really horrible. That poor girl. How old is she?”
“It is horrible,” I admitted, holding her close to me and breathing in her caramel scent. “She’s seventeen. Denying these requests isn’t the least bit fun, but vengeance for you and for our family holds priority right now.”
“Once we take Dark Veil down, you can help her,” she told me, tugging my hair back and making me look at her. “Sound good?”
“So long as she still needs our services, I’d be happy to help,” I agreed, and then her lips descended on mine.
White hot need burst through the matebond, and my cock lengthened underneath her.
“Hunter,” she whined against my lips.“Please.”
She didn’t need to say any more. I knew exactly what she wanted—desperately. And I would give it to her because I needed the same thing.
