Arson
Draped across the couch in our room, as soon as I see Ever come out of the bathroom, freshly showered, I pop upright. “Finally! I’m bored. Want to snoop around? Bet we can find some hidden passageways in the walls or something. That creepy butlerdefinitelycuts the eyes out of paintings to watch guests fuck.”
Her nose scrunches, glancing over at the wall, but relaxes when she sees I already flipped all of the paintings backward to check. And left them that way because they were hideous. “Sure, let me just get my shoes on.”
As soon as she’s done lacing them up, the others return to the room with snacks. Bellamy freezes when he sees her. “What in the actual excuse for clothing is that?”
I nearly stab him when our girl looks down at her outfit self-consciously, but he saves himself by immediately adding, “That thing was made to scramble a man's brains. I'm not an asshole, but I'm not a fucking saint either.”
I mean, he’s not wrong. She’s wearing a pair of black and purple pajama shorts that barely cover her ass, and a matchingpurple tank top that’s practically painted on, clinging tighter thanks to her damp skin.
Clearly my angel is fuckingblind, because she scoffs, “You’re ridiculous. It’s shorts and a tank top, nothing crazy.” She shoots a teasing look at my brother. “Not compared to some of the lingerie Myles bought.”
He’s come a long way, not even blushing at being called out. “Good, now we have something to look forward to when we go home.”
She smiles, shaking her head and walking out the door. Naturally, the others follow without knowing the plan, or you know, beinginvited,because everybody in this damn family insists on crashing my dates.
If I’d planned one, I’d be really upset right now.
A few minutes in, Ever softly asks, "What are we going to do if people back home don’t cool their tits?”
Ledger fills her in on his pitiful excuse of a torture session, but is dumb enough not to skim over the embarrassing part where he let him go. “Cyrus is only lashing out because of his missing mate, it isn’t actually about you being a mimic, sunshine.”
Myles scratches his jaw. “So if we track down his mate, that could smooth over the worst of the torch and pitchfork crowd.”
We get bored of wandering the empty hallways and end up checking out the backyard. Instantly, I’m mentally slapping myself for not thinking about this sooner. I expected some magazine-perfect garden or maybe a pool. But I’ve never been more ecstatic to be wrong.
It’s a fuckinghedge maze.
“I couldn’t imagine how crazed I’d be if I lost you,” Bellamy says, shaking his head and scowling. “I don’t even want to think about it. But I’d definitely set a city on fire. If anything, Cyrus isunderreacting.”
Ledger is getting increasingly agitated and twitchy, clenching and unclenching his fist. “Stop talking about it.”
Oh. Oh no. I’ve just had a brilliant idea.
And I’mdefinitelydoing it, with or without his blessing.
“Imagine it wasn’t even someone who tried to take her that you could hunt down and kill. What if she tried to leave us? Thought she could outrun you?”
Not me, of course. She’d never leaveme.These other losers though…
She could certainly try.
Ledger’s eyes practically glow as he grits out, “Why on earth would she do that?”
My stomach flips with anticipation. “To make us prove ourselves. Like a mate hunt.”
Those two final words are like a gauntlet being thrown down to a shifter, and I grin.
Tracing my knuckle down Ever’s cheek, I lean in close to whisper in her ear, “Time to run, angel.”
“What happens when you catch me?” she breathes.
A slow smirk curves my lips. “Whatever we want.”
She bites her lip. Then takes off sprinting for the entrance to the maze.
Ledger immediately lunges to follow, but I snap a shadow around his waist, along with Myles and Bellamy, who’ve been silent up until now. But one glance shows it isn’t because they’re against the idea. Oh no, between the rough breathing, blown pupils, gazes locked on the spot Ever disappeared, they’rereallyinto it. And were smart enough not to say a word in case it broke the spell I was weaving.
