“Who doesn’t hate clowns?” Kahl points out, to which I have to firmly agree.
“That’s not even the best part!” Kinsley practically squeals, high on excitement and jogging to the kitchen, knowing I’ll follow.
Carefully, he cracks open one cupboard, slipping his hand in quickly before tugging it the rest of the way open. There’s a thin, plastic rectangle holding an avalanche of severed clown heads inside the cabinet. From the way he rigged it up, there’s a small latch on the top of the door that locks onto the plastic barricade, so it will be pulled open with the door.
“Kins...why did you have an obnoxious amount of clown supplies on hand?”
He rolls his eyes. “I’ve been planning this one for a few months now and had been stocking up in my downtime, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. And this way, you could be here to enjoy it with us, so it’s even better!”
I won’t be surprised to find out in a few years he suddenly snapped and come downstairs one day to him eating sushi made of people. This is a level of disturbed that puts mine to shame. Who’s brain just thinks it’s a good idea to keep severed clown heads in their closet of horrors for some random Tuesday?
“Remember you like me when you tip past the point of no return with the crazy.”
Giving him a thumbs up and a wink, he pouts, sticking out his lower lip. “Trust me, it’s going to be great. There are even a couple of tiny ones on the end of a pair of chopsticks in the silverware drawer.”
My eyebrows furrow. “Why not a fork?”
Kahl innocently whistles before answering, “All of the silverware and batteries have been relocated throughout the house.”
Turning to look at Kaiden, I smile, their good moods contagious. “And you?”
He smirks, withdrawing just the cap of a red marker from his pocket. “Cai forgot to start a load of laundry before he left. Thought I’d help him out.”
“I’m surprised you can tell their stuff apart.”
He shrugs. “Everyone has their own scent. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you snorting us like cocaine, so no room to tease.”
Unrepentant, I don’t deny it. “Yeah, but I’ve only noticed you guys’. Even in Eli’s room at home I don’t pick up on anything I wouldn’t have human. I thought it was just a mate thing.”
The color in Kaiden’s eyes flash briefly, and before I would have written it off as something akin to desire. But after our earlier conversation, it’d be a shitty thing not to bring it up, to brush it off.
They gravitate closer as I fill them in and finally Kaiden responds, features softer than usual. “Nothing really to overthink on this one, I imagine. Just had a possessive thrill when you called it home. Your dragon might get off on Kins’ old coat, but this one likes the thought of you putting down roots.”
The tender moment is ruined when my skin starts crawling, scales coating from fingertips to biceps. “Gods, I’m a damn swamp monster. A deformed river troll shacking up beneath a bridge on my pile of stupid rocks and hissing like a rabid raccoon.”
Kinsley snorts. “That was incredibly specific. And you accusemeof being some type of sociopath. Yet here’s Nessy, trying to murder teens and steal from a dragon’s lair. If you ask me, you’re far too exciting for Hadeon; we’re going to get spoiled.”
“Nessy?”
Kahl smothers the first chuckle out of his mouth, failing miserably as his body shakes with laughter. “Loch Ness monster.”
“You jerk,” I laugh, shoving his arm.
He humors me by taking a few steps back, still chuckling. “Come on, let’s find a spot to wait for them to get back.”
Heading outside, we make it only a few houses away before someone steps into our path, nodding his head respectfully in my direction. “Nice of the Veles’ to finally let you out and about. I’m Drake.”
He extends his hand, but I make no move to take it. As Kaiden clearly demonstrated, the social protocols I was raised with mean nothing here. A dog-eat-dog world, though from all of the stories they’ve told me, Hadeon is different. It’s only that small hope that keeps me from just walking away, hoping this place is less of a dick measuring contest and instead filled with people that just enjoy some friendly competition.
“Saige.” Still, I refuse to take his hand, not having any interest in strangers touching me.
“Pretty name for a pretty girl.” He winks, and rather than the instantaneous nausea I expect, I just get annoyed. “How’d these jack-offs con you into moving to town, Saige?”
Baring my teeth, a low, warning growl rumbles through my chest. As my claws start to emerge, I make a conscious effort to ensure the sleeves of my jacket cover everything; especially the scales that have yet to recede.
He throws his hands up in surrender. “Didn’t mean anything by it. You know what they say, pretty girls make men stupid. Can’t fault a guy for not liking losing his chance at ‘ya before even knowing you were here.”
“Bold of you to assume you were even in the running,” I spit, and in the ultimate power play, I give him my back as I walk away. It rages against my instincts, my dragon wanting to tear his throat out and not liking having him where we can’t see him. But my confidence in the guys overshadows her anger.
