Honey’s gaze narrowed, but there was a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
You owe me, I mouthed.
Chocolate locks came into view as Huck leaned over me. He plucked a crumb from my hair and popped it into his mouth with a little smirk.
“They’resooooocute!” Breena squeaked. “I call dibs on the chubby one!” Pudge did a happy dance.
“Are they housebroken?” Aine rasped, one eye already closing.
Honey put his hands on his hips, feigning offense.
I twiddled my fingers. “Pleaseeee? Take us home, you cheeky little gobl—” Honey frowned. “I mean—littlesaviors.”
A small, warm hand found mine. Wings fluttered, and in a flash of golden light—we were home and tucked into bed.
It was just before sleep took me that I realized—drugged or not—my friends felt like home.
43
LOCHLAINN
“Seventeen more dead,”one of the men called out.
Fucking fates.
I ran a calloused hand down my face, pulling the coarse hair on my chin.
Seventeen. Bloody overdoses. In one fecking night.
Fates be damned.
Arcadia Leaf was a hit in the city. Revenue up. Profits through the roof. It was supposed to be a win-win. Good craic for them, full pockets for us. An easy low-stakes play.
But not this. Not fucking this.
Lucklanders—my people—were to be kept out of all this shite. They were supposed to be safe. Under my protection.
And now this? Right under my nose? He picked the wrong folk to gamble with.
Maybe the Hallow Queen was right . . .
“Pull it,” I ordered. “All of it.”
Murmurs rumbled around the room, Luckmen exchanging wary glances.
Eejits. Let them gossip like biddies. They don’t understand what’s at risk.
“All of it?” One stood, face brutal, voice stern. “There are hundreds of cases! It took us months to smuggle them in, to distribute them.”
He looked around, frustrated. “And now ya want us to get ‘em back? For what?”
I held his stare, raising his challenge with a cutting, loaded look.
“To destroy ‘em.”
The words hit the ground like a cinderblock. Their mouths dropped just as hard.
“Luck be damned,” someone swore.
