Since Scotty wasn’t yet ready to see Blade or Mace, she beelined over.
“Amber.” She gave her quirky cousin a hug and pulled up a beach chair. “Happy birthday.”
Tossing her book and pencil aside, Amber sighed. “It’s just a day. I don’t know why people make a big deal of it.”
“You sound like Stryke.”
She laughed. “He and I definitely agree on this.”
Like Stryke, Amber had never liked being the center of attention, rarely even leaving her parents’ keep in Greenland. When she did, it was only to go to places she knew well. Scotty had managed to get her out to lunch a couple of times, but only because they went to quiet cafés in small towns.
“Where are your parents?” Scotty asked. “I didn’t see them when I got here.”
“Over there.” Amber gestured with her chin toward where her parents, Regan and Thanatos, were playing cornhole with their uncle Reseph and aunt Jillian.
“Where’s the baby?” Regan had just given birth to Amber and Logan’s little brother after a difficult pregnancy, and this was his first time out in the world.
“He’s in the carrier.”
Scotty squinted and then nodded. “Oh, right. It’s hard to see with the hellhound in the way.”
Amber reached for her glass of cola. “Cujo is obsessed with him. I told Logan that he and Eva had better hurry up and have a kid so the poor mutt has something to watch over.”
Orphaned as a pup, Cujo had bonded with Logan when he was aninfant, and they’d been inseparable ever since. That was the thing about hellhounds. Either they wanted to eat you, or they wanted to protect you. There was no in-between. None. If you weren’t someone they loved and adored, you were food. Or worse.
“I just hope they get the chance,” Scotty said, thinking of Eva. Logan had texted everyone this morning to let them know that she’d rallied and was doing so well that they planned to attend the party.
Amber gave a noncommittal nod that Scotty couldn’t read. Her cousin…she knew stuff. No one knew how or why, but she just…knew. And if she didn’t want to disclose something, no amount of pestering, badgering, or pleading could get it out of her.
Scotty didn’t even try.
Amber’s gaze narrowed and grew hot as Talon walked by with his demon Barbie girlfriend, Scorn. No one liked that bitch, but Amber had particularly strong feelings about her. Amber also had particularly strong feelings for Talon, but in a completely different way.
But her glare was hotter than usual today. A flare of heat even brought a tinge of red to her tan cheeks.
“Okay, cuz.” Scotty lowered her voice conspiratorially. “What’s going on?”
Evil Barbie’s head swiveled as if she’d heard them speak, and she shot Amber a malicious smile. Wow. Brazen as fuck.
“I swear I want her dead,” Amber growled, and Scotty blinked in surprise. Amber was the most mild-mannered, timid person she’d ever met. Those words were not something she’d have expected to come out of her mouth. Ever.
“Seriously?”
Amber tore her murderous gaze away from the fallen angel. “She cornered me in the kitchen just before you got here. Said she knows I want Talon. But she was gross and graphic about it. Then she said I probably sit around imagining him between her legs and wishing it was me he was with.”
Anger, searing and hot, shot through Scotty’s veins. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
Amber had inherited her father’s pale-yellow eyes, and right then, they glowed like hot citrines. “She said if I so much as look at him again, she’ll gut me and strangle me with my own intestines.”
“She’s dead.” Scotty glared at Evil Barbie. “I’ll kill her for you.”
“Aw, you’re so sweet,” Amber said. “Have you ever killed a fallen angel?”
“No, but how hard can it be?”
Amber snorted at Scotty’s flippant question. Fallen angels were extremely hard to kill. Not even the Horsemen went up against them if they didn’t have to. And as accomplished a warrior as Scotty was, she was also half human, and a fallen angel might be a little out of her league.
Still, Scotty wouldn’t let this slide. Somehow, Scorn would pay.
