Vel gasped, and her legs buckled.
Mom let go and stepped back.
Vel’s body crumbled from the inside out. Her flesh collapsed into gray dust, bones hollowing and falling apart.
Within seconds, all that remained was a pile of ash on the office floor.
The door opened, and my dads stepped in.
“Velestra?” Dad asked, brow furrowing. “What?—”
“She tried to take Rune’s blood,” Mom said without flinching. “And she was working with the humans.”
Pops cursed under his breath. “Are you fucking serious?”
“Never expected her to be a traitor.” Dad’s jaw locked, then he sniffed the air.
Pops followed his lead.
Their eyes slid from the pile of ash to me and to the line of my mates behind me.
Their nostrils flared.
“Really?” Dad said, eyes narrowing.
“You came hererightafter something like that? You smell like sex and magic,” Pops growled.
Heat rushed to my face. I gave them a sheepish smile. “Sorry, Dad, Pops.”
“They’re mated,” Mom reminded them.
Drecken rolled his eyes. “Well, now that the succubus has been caught, we’re going back to bed.” He snapped his fingers.
We were back in my room in an instant, all of us reappearing in the same sprawl on the bed, naked, as if nothing had happened.
Except, everythinghadhappened.
Sleep didn’t come back to me.
Instead, I lay there surrounded by my mates, staring at the ceiling, listening to the soft murmur of voices as we talked quietly about the humans, Allison, Vel, the kidnappings, and the drude I’d killed.
The impending threat felt closer than ever, but so did the warmth of my mates.
slater
. . .
“Ifinallyfound the fucker,”I muttered out loud because if I didn’t, I was pretty sure my brain was going to ooze out of my ears.
The screen in front of me glowed a harsh blue in the dim light of the meeting room in HQ, lines of text and search queries were burned into my retinas from hours of staring.
I’d been here all morning, and finally, I’d found it.
A new report from the Demon Capital’s death registry: a demon family had reported that their son, a drude, had been found dead in his bed.
The official cause of death was death while feeding.
My heart kicked hard against my ribs.
