“I’ll update Cora when I can,” Hudson declared. “Mercy, with me.”
She shot me a triumphant look. Oh, she’s the alpha. Wait. She wouldn’t orchestrate that just to get him alone, right? Right? Their retreating forms glided out of the house, and a knot formed in my throat as the sound of car doors slamming and tires squealing reached me.
“She touches him, she dies,”Indigo snapped.
Agreed.
CHAPTER SIX
Oh, what I would give for a broken limb.
Iwas a terrible liaison. I stared at the phone, which had stayed silent for the last six hours, and drummed my fingers on the dining table as the sun peeked above the horizon, greeting the day with all the unending optimism a dying star that gave life could afford.
Was it too much to hope for a storm so I didn’t have to wrestle with the fact my mate proclaimed we would be married within the next twelve weeks, then left with the female shifter who wanted me out of the picture so she could dig her claws into him?
I swiped a hand down my face, then grabbed the cold coffee I had been nursing. What was wrong with me? I didn’t do jealousy. It wasn’t a part of who I was. I was a firm believer in trusting your partner, and if they fuck around, then they lose you. Simple. But right now, all I could see was Mercy in that towel, dropping it to the floor as Hudson offered her comfort.
“Cora, let go of the mug,” Aunt Liz advised.
I glanced down at the cup. There were hairline fractures spanning the outside. My hands released it before I broke something in replacement for Mercy’s face.
Dave sauntered into the room and paused as he spied the pair of elementals at the kitchen table. The rest of the alphas had gone back to their respective homes after we promised to update them as soon as we knew anything. I narrowed my eyes at the phone.Ring, damn you.
Nothing.
“Have you both been here all night?” he asked as he opened the refrigerator and pulled out bacon, eggs, and sausages.
“What gave it away?” I snarked.
He glanced over his shoulder, and his eyes slid to the dress I was still wearing. Right. I should probably change. Except Hudson was supposed to take this dress off me and show me how cats do it. I bet Mercy knew, given she was also a cat.
Stop it, Cora. He’s not interested in her. If he was, he would have left you months ago when things started getting rough.I shook my head to get rid of the shitty thoughts. Maybe if I did it long enough, I’d rattle the brain cell that seemed to have short-circuited.
Nope. All that did was make me dizzy and a little nauseous.
I glanced up to find Dave frozen, his eyes locked on me, a piece of bacon trapped between his fingers above a sizzling frying pan. My aunt was also as still as a statue. Oh no. I wasn’t in the mood for supernatural shenanigans. If the world was frozen, I wanted to be included. Otherwise, I was likely responsible.
I waved a hand in front of Aunt Liz. She blinked. Not frozen. Whoopie.
“You’re sort of growling,” she said.
“More like rattling,” Dave muttered as he delivered the bacon to its fatty destiny in the pan.
“Is that normal?” Aunt Liz asked.
“I am half archangel, half elemental, and mated to a prehistoric tiger shifter who terrifies his faction with a stern look. Define normal.”
“I’m hungry,”Indigo growled.
“Suffer like the rest of us, because we aren’t moving until our mate is back.”
“There’s a solution to all our problems.”
“No.”I already knew where this was going.
“I’ll eat Mercy, nourishing me and ridding us of the potential threat.”
“She’s no threat.”
