“Calm down? CALM DOWN?! I looked up your train, and there’d been an accident!”
“I got off the stop before it happened.” I don’t normally lie to my brother, but I doubt he’d understand that I found my soulmate and we’re being hunted down by supernatural creatures. “I accidentally left my bag behind. Iamreally sorry I scared you.”
Kai lets out a long breath. “Are you safe then? Where are you? I can come get you if you need. I’m just…also handling a thing with Teagan.”
“Is he okay?” I frown.
Our brother is always getting himself into trouble, normally it has something to do with trespassing to climb something tall, skate down something long or a sex party gone wrong. Or right, depending on who you’re asking.
“He’sfine.You, on the other hand?” Kai argues, using his annoying ‘big brother’ voice. Calling Mum and Dad would’ve been easier.
“I’mfine,too,” I reply, exasperated, before clearing it from my throat. “I…met someone. A new friend.”
“A friend? What friend?”
“Kai. Relax. Jeez. Just a friend, okay? I’m having a good time, and once I’ve got a new phone I’ll text you, okay?”
“What’s the name of this friend? How old is he?” Kai demands.
“Goodbye, big brother.”
After a moment of Kai grumbling, he says, “Make sure he knows if he hurts you, I’ll hurt him back.”
“I love you,” I snort good-naturedly.
“Be safe! Remember to get a phone as soon as possible. And I love you, too, mate.” We hang up, and I leave the fogged-up phone box to find Ketill has returned empty-handed.
“Went well?”
“Kai is worried, but that’s normal for him. You didn’t find your client?”
Ketill scratches the back of his head. “Nah. But it’s still early.”
With Kai’s voice still in the back of my head, a thought rises. “Would your family mind that I’m human? Mine will be shocked you’re…” I wave in his direction. “You know.”
Ketill slings his arm around my shoulder, and we walk through the village. “Nope. Besides, we should hold off on the introductions, anyway. My brothers are spread out across the world, and my father’s lost his mind and is hiding inside some dusty mansion.”
“Er….”
“It happens to old vampires,” he dismisses with ease, and we continue our walk through the sleepy village to find the owner of the dragon egg—only to find something else when we turn into a deserted alleyway.
“Found you,” the shifter with the claw tattoo on his cheek growls, three other shifters behind him.
Chapter Eleven - Ketill
Pushing Thomas behind me, I slip the hidden dagger from my boot and hurl it at the tattooed shifter.
He dodges at the last second, but the shifter behind him isn’t so lucky. Blood bursts from where my blade ends up lodged in the second shifter’s stomach before he even has a chance to blink.
“Ketill, you bastard!” the tattooed shifter barks as his friend falls to his knees. Face twisted in agony and choking up spit, blood, and screams.
The uninjured shifter beside the downed man doesn’t flinch. But his uneasy, yellow eyes dart to the red mess pooling on the cobbled stone.
“Was I supposed to stand around and listen to you monologue?” With my vampiric speed, I dart towards them.
The tattooed shifter dodges as I charge at him. But his friend is too busy turning pale at the sight of his friend’s blood and only sees my fist when it connects with his face. Bone shatters as spurts of blood shoot from the shifter’s nose, and he’s sprawled on the ground, unconscious, all without making a single noise.
“—because that sounds fucking stupid,” I growl, turning just in time to spit out a curse and duck as the tattooed shifter’s leg swings at my head.
