“I guess I have to if you’re my benefactor now.”
Valen shakes his head slowly, as if disgusted with the term.
“I can’t believe you came out with us. Where’s Olivia?” Adal asks Valen. Everyone in the circle turns to hear his reply.
He pulls out his phone, mask tilting toward it while keeping the screen hidden from view. “OmegaHouse catching up on things. In her office. Now walking to the hall. To the conference room. She had to finish up some Feral Friday issues.”
I sigh with relief. “Thank the gods it was just for juniors, and I didn’t have to go. I got enough of a playback from Evie to feel like I didn’t miss a thing. And I really wanted to.”
“Hmm, yeah. Knowing your brother was participating…” Apollo trails off, and my stomach churns just thinking about the scene.
“At least Lan’s trying to focus on hockey as the season finishes.” To the guys around us, I announce, “Conference final game is next Saturday, and my brother’s on the NU starting line.”
“I want to go with you and your family,” Apollo says with a hint of edge to his voice. “ButDeltabusiness may keep me away. Unless Valen would help?—”
“Nope,” he says, still studying his phone screen.
Apollo sighs. “Fine. I’ll see if Nicky can figure it out.”
It’s a fun evening until I get too cold. Apollo directs us to the room beneath the highway, and Valen is the only one to join. The other guys are distracted by a new bike that one of the Marauders built.
“Any sign of him?” Apollo asks as I sit beside him on the scratchy sofa. He pulls me over onto his lap, and Valen takes the chair in the corner.
“None. Not at Sanguine Manor. But the sacrificial stuff is still there. He’s probably in the crypts, is my guess. The catacombs cameras I put up have been tampered with.”
“Tampered with?” I ask.
“Yeah. He’s got the signals interrupted or hacks into the feed and replays a blank screen.”
I shiver, and Apollo’s arms tighten around me.
“We need to find him.” His words are flat. But the threat behind them? They’re palpable. “And end him.”
“I’m still on the case,” Valen assures us. And I feel some comfort in that.
But not enough.
As soon as we get home, Apollo flops onto the sofa with a grin of victory, opening his arms wide for me. “I did it. And it only hurts a little.”
“I still think it was too soon to go riding. But I’m glad you had a good time.”
He flips on the TV, but something nags at the back of my brain.
“You asked Valen to help you withDeltabusiness. But Nicky does already, right?”
“Mm-hmm.” He shifts me so my head is resting on his lap and tugs a blanket off the back to toss over my legs.
“Why doesn’t Valen pitch in? I mean, he’s a senior member. I’d also guess he was most likely to become president. So why wasn’t he?”
Apollo stiffens. His eyes lock onto the screen in front of him like he heard something he didn’t want to. But there’s only a commercial on.
“Is that rude of me to ask you?” Worried I’ve offended him, I bite my lip.
Clearing his throat, he sucks in a weighted breath. “I need to tell you something. But it’s an ancientDeltasecret. You can never tell a soul, Scout.”
I sit up, suddenly afraid. “If you can’t tell me, then you shouldn’t. I don’t want them coming for you?—”
He holds my face. “Ssh...listen. I will tell you. But I can’t discloseeverything. I need to leave out some details.” As if he’s suddenly worried aboutme, he tightens his lips. “It’s why I hadn’t been with anyone for a while before I met you.”
