“Sir, she said … to go fuck yourself.” He stood there frozen as if waiting for Luka to lash out at him. Meanwhile, all of my bottled-up rage for the woman who raised me popped its lid and exploded inside my chest.
“Thank you. You may leave,” Luka said through gritted teeth.
The moment the door closed, I screamed, my yell turning to a growl of frustration. “Thatbitch! I’ll disembowel her alive for this.”
Luka’s eyebrows raised and a slight grin pulled at his lips. “I kind of like this new Aspen.”
I shook myself, clearly not fully over the emotions of the change. “So when do we attack?”
Luka sighed, slumping back into his chair. “Wedon’t.”
My jaw unhinged.
“Orcan’trather,” he quickly amended.
“Why not?” I growled.Breathe. Don’t kill him. He’s really hot, and sweet most of the time.
Luka stood, walking around the side of the desk to approach me. There was a mischievous look in his eyes. “As king of the vampires, I cannot be involved in any human business.”
“Maz isn’t human! She’s a Munai!” I yelled.
He nodded. “One that’s done nothing to me or my people, and Ruby is basically a human. If I lead a charge into Spokane, the Magical Creature Council will have my crown.”
I fisted my hands. “Why didn’t you tell me that before!?”
Luka was giving me a weird look, like I wasn’t catching on to something. His eyes kept widening. “I hoped the political option would prevail. But now, since the truth witch with the Magical Creature Council will see everything,Icannot go.”
Oh.Oh. Was he saying…?
I gave him a quizzical look. “What ifIwere to go?”
Luka had to force himself not to grin. “You are not my wife yet, so it would not affect my kingship, but I forbid it.”
“I forbid it,” was said with the same token as you would tell someone to take out the trash. Luka knew that the truth witch might see this moment if this was investigated and he needed to look like he was not involved.
“Well, if you insist, then I will wait for another solution.” I raised an eyebrow, hoping he was understanding me, because I was totally going to save Ruby.
He smiled, stepping forward and pressed his lips to mine. “I love you and I trust you to be safe and do the right thing.”
Translation: Go get Ruby back and don’t get killed…?
A slow grin pulled at my lips and I nodded.
We lingered there for a moment, not saying all the things we wanted to say for fear of the truth witch or whatever she was called being able to replay this moment. Could she hear us if we spoke into each other’s minds? I just didn’t know. What I did know was that I was a badass vampire now, full of rage, with emotion regulation issues, and I was going to get Ruby back, consequences be damned.
Chapter Four
After leaving Luka’s office,I popped over to my house to grab the papers Sterling had given me as evidence that the society hunters weren’t human, and then went straight to Liv. She was outside the House of Thorn’s barn talking to Vasquez and Jason.
“Maz declined the trade,” I told them as they looked up upon my approach.
Vasquez growled, Liv cussed, and Jason looked livid. “So what now?” Jason asked.
“We run our own mission. Luka’s forbidden it, but I’m going to go ahead anyway. I need ten of your best hunters. We leave in an hour,” I told them.
The group whooped and cheered, and Vasquez and Jason disappeared inside to spread the news, but Liv stepped over to me.
“Hey, if Luka’s forbidden you, are you sure you still wanna go? I can take lead—”
