by Tate James
I gaped at him. “Right. So this is all your fault. Good to know.” I was partly joking because, for real, this would have happened at some point. I wasn’t going to hold it against them when I could have just as easily fucked up and pulled Bast’s attention all on my own.
“We’re really sorry, if that counts for anything?” Hunter offered, and I shot him a smile to show I wasn’t totally serious.
“Question two,” I continued. “You guys went all cagey and weird after that thing happened in the woods. You know, with the”—I mimed a stabby dagger—“and the”—I mimed the cultist going up in a poof of flame and crumbling to ash. Go with it; my charades skills were unparalleled.
“We know the thing you mean, Maggie,” Raze drawled. His boots were up on the wooden table in the middle of our chairs, and his gaze was heavy on me.
I squirmed a little in my seat. Why did the only open seat have to be opposite that twat?
“Yeah, so? Explain.” I flicked my fingernail against the can in my hand, trying really freaking hard not to let him intimidate me.
Raze sucked a breath and opened his mouth to speak, but the mean look in his eye said it was going to be something snarky and not the answers I was requesting. Luckily for everyone involved, Boden spoke over Raze.
“Okay, let’s be brief here. We don’t want to be discussing this when Maeve gets back.” Boden shot Raze an apologetic look, but the dark-haired devil just shrugged.
“She’s human,” Hunter explained for my benefit. “While she’s allowed some level of knowledge because her girls are likely to be shifters, she’s still not... you know... all access.”
I nodded my understanding. “Yeah, it sounds like shifters aren’t super tolerant of humans?” I shot a quick look at Raze, thinking of how he married Maeve so she wouldn’t get kicked out of the reservation when his brother died. It was incredibly selfless but also shitty as all hell that it was necessary.
“Human’s haven’t exactly been tolerant of shifters throughout history,” Hunter said softly, and the edge of pain in his voice spoke to a deeper story there.
“Back to your question, though,” Boden continued. “Long story short, you’re not supposed to be able to use the amulet. At all. We got all ‘cagey and weird,’ as you put it, because that should never have been possible.”
I was rendered speechless for a minute. “Huh.”
“The bearer of the amulet—the descendant of Queen Hatshepsut—is supposed to be human. Totally human, totally unable to use the power of Ra.” Raze had lost the sarcasm, but there was a hint of suspicion in his voice. “It’s a safeguard against anyone getting ideas of world domination. The powers stored in the amulet are supposed to be guarded by someone who can’t access them. That person is then guarded by the three most powerful shifters of that generation. So on and so forth. As far as Alliance history shows us, the power of Ra hasn’t been accessed in millennia. Certainly never since he gifted it to Hatty back in ancient Egypt.”
My lips rounded in an “oh” shape but no sound came out. What he was saying... scared the beans out of me.
“Sort of explains why Bast has such a hard-on for it this cycle,” Hunter muttered. “She must know something more about how Cleo is different.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Boden agreed. “Her acolytes are growing stronger.”
I shook my head, trying to make sense of the madness. “Surely whoever you work for knows something,” I suggested. “You all keep referring to some higher power that will dish out commands and punishments. Don’t they know what’s going on?”
“They like to act like an omnipotent power, but in reality, they don’t know any more than we do,” Boden replied with a grimace. “Or if they do, they’re not letting on. I called them as soon as we arrived here. One thing they did suggest, though, which might bear some promise, is to go and speak with the last amulet bearer.”
Huh. Why hadn’t I thought of that?
“We can do that? I mean, like, do we even know who she is? Was it a she? I’m making gender assumptions here.” I was also babbling, a clear sign that I was teetering on the edge of a freak out.
Raze raised his brows. Hah, see what I did there? Anyway, he looked at me like I was a moron, and that was less funny than my word play. “Of course we do. The Alliance keeps great records.”
“So... can’t we just call her? You do know how phones and the internet and shit work,s right? It kind of eliminates the need to physically travel places to ask questions.” Yes, I was being sassy. But whatever, I was allowed to be under the current circumstances.
Raze narrowed his eyes. “Would you like to just hand the amulet over to Bast on a silver platter too? They may look like stone-age nutcases, but I promise they’re not. They will have the modern technology angles covered, so the only safe way to do this shit is face to face. Preferably in a random location where the risk of listening devices is low.”
I groaned and scrubbed at my face with my free hand. Then remembered my drink and took another really long sip. Okay, fine. I chugged the rest of it.
When I was finished, and had swallowed an unladylike belch, I sighed. “Okay, so where are we heading? Please say somewhere nearby. I’m really getting sick of the road-tripping shit.”
“New Orleans,” Boden announced. “Marie-Elizabeth runs a dance club in the French Quarter.”
New Orleans. Cool. At least it was a destination I was familiar with. And it would mean passing through Texas. Perfect, I still had kittens to save!
“Could we stop and save the kittens on the way?” I asked, hopeful.
Boden’s brows shot up and he exchanged a quick look with Raze. “And bring them with us to New Orleans? With cultists chasing us and running us off the road? It’s maybe not the best idea, beautiful.”
My shoulders slumped but I knew he had a point.
“Look,” Hunter suggested, “I’ll make some calls and see if one of my friends can pick them up. Okay?”
It wasn’t the same, but I guess if the kitties got saved…
“Thanks,” I whispered, giving him a grateful nod.
Whatever else we were going to discuss was cut short by the arrival of Maeve’s two squealing daughters, who came tearing across the lawn at top speed and piled on top of Raze, who ended up dropping his beer.
Sucker.
“Daddy!” the bigger one yelled, then proceeded to babble a high-speed report of her day at school, while the smaller one kept trying to talk over her with her own cool story.
“Girls,” he interrupted them both, holding his palm up to silence them. “Did you even say hello to your uncles?”
The ankle-biters turned around and squealed greetings at both Boden and Hunter, giving them hugs before returning to Raze’s lap.
“Who’s the lady?” the littler one asked, eyeing me warily.
The bigger one seemed better informed. “That’s the witch momma thinks will steal our dad from us.”
I gaped at her in shock.
“Oh,” the smaller one said, “I forgot. But didn’t she say bi—”
Raze cut her off by clapping a hand over her mouth, but it was preeeeetty clear what the kid had been about to call me. I’ll give you a hint; it rhymes with witch.
Little shit.
“Okay, girls, how about you show me some of those awesome drawings you’ve been working on?” Raze suggested, lifting them both off his lap and ushering them inside ahead of him.
“Thanks for nothing, asshat,” I grumbled after him. “What kind of mother says ‘bitch’ in front of her kids, anyway?”
Hunter snickered a laugh and cracked open a fresh drink.
“The kind who is in love with her brother-in-law and terrified to lose him,” Boden replied in a soft voice.
At least I wasn’t the only one who had noticed that.
“They call him ‘Dad,’” I murmured, accepting a fresh drink from Hunter and opening it.
Boden let out a heavy sigh, and Hunter made a sound of frustration.
“They know he’s not,” Boden told me. “But Maeve isn’t helping the situation.”
“She’s known that Raze is a guardian since they were kids. We get selected pretty much straight after our first shift, and its not the sort of job you can just turn down.” Hunter followed my line of sight over to the living area of the house, where Raze was playing some game with the girls that involved flying one of them around the room above his head. “She’s just in denial.”
I balanced my drink on the arm of my chair and hugged my arms around myself. Maeve herself was in the kitchen, preparing dinner probably, but her attention was totally fixed on the handsome man entertaining her kids.
“That sucks,” I commented. I wasn’t even being a dick about it; I genuinely felt bad for Maeve. Seeing how Raze was with her kids, I couldn’t blame her for calling me a bitch, either. “I’ll figure out a way to let him resign or something.”
Boden gave me a weak smile. “It doesn’t work like that, beautiful.”
“Then I’ll fire him.” I shrugged. “I’m not super into forced servitude, so like... we can figure it out.”
Hunter made a noise that I couldn’t make out, and when I frowned at him in confusion, he just wrinkled his nose. “Maybe talk to him about it. You might be surprised by his opinions.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, Raze and I have such fantastic, in depth conversations. Okay.”
My sarcasm was thicker than a tree trunk, but Hunter didn’t bother arguing with me.
Whatever, I’d give it a try. They knew him better than me, after all.
It wasn’t until later that night that I had a chance to speak with Raze away from everyone else. The kids had just gone to bed, and Boden was helping Maeve wash up in the kitchen.
Hunter, Raze, and I were back in the lawn chairs, but this time we had a fire burning in the brazier on the low table between us. It wasn’t really cold enough to need a fire, but the girls had begged for one because Raze was supposed to be some epic marshmallow roaster.
Not that I’d tasted the proof. My own efforts just came out totally black or not melted at all. Epic fail.
After the three of us had fallen into a comfortable silence for a little while, Hunter had to go and ruin it by standing up abruptly.
“I just remembered,” he blurted out. “I need to, uh, do... a thing. Something inside. I’m just gonna... go.” He jerked his thumb at the house, then scurried inside before either of us could find a reason for him to stay... leaving Raze and I alone in the darkness.
Fucking Hunter.
Neither of us spoke for a bit, and I attempted to cook another marshmallow. It didn’t end well.
“For the love of cats,” Raze muttered with a sigh. “Here.” He poked his stick across the table at me—not that stick, his marshmallow cooking stick—and offered me the perfectly toasted treat on the end.
I couldn’t phrase that in any way that would make it sound less like an innuendo, but it seriously was innocent.
“Thanks,” I murmured, taking the gooey candy in my fingers and popping it in my mouth. “Wow. You really do cook a good marshmallow.”
He just grunted in reply and went about cooking one for himself.
Clearly, Raze wouldn’t be making any stimulating conversation, so it fell on me to start. After all, Hunter had made it pretty painfully clear he was leaving us to talk alone.
I sucked in a deep breath, clutching my amulet in an anxious death grip. “So, I just wanted to let you know that I’m firing you.” The words all fell out in a rush with my breath. Across the fire, Raze’s green gaze flared bright, and I shivered at the intense glare.
“You’re... firing me,” he repeated, like I’d just spoken Chinese or something.
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “Or, like, when I figure out how to, I mean. I just want to be clear that I understand you don’t want to be my guardian, and I’m sorry about that. But, you know, I’ll fix it. And shit.” I trailed off, feeling uncomfortable as he continued staring at me. “Like, I know this whole thing is super inconvenient and you’d rather be here with the girls and Maeve. So, just... let’s work out how to undo whatever makes you my guardian.”
He didn’t speak for a long time. A super long, super awkward amount of time.
It wasn’t until I shifted around a bit in my chair—thinking about the best way to physically remove myself from the tense silence—that he finally cracked.
“Is that what you want?” he asked, his voice totally devoid of emotion.
That, ah, wasn’t what I’d expected. I had sort of been thinking he’d be more excited. Maybe appreciative? I didn’t know. Something.
“Uh, does it matter? It’s what you want.” I frowned at him. “Isn’t it?”
“Is it?” he responded, and I glared.
“Stop it.”
“Stop what?” His blazing green eyes narrowed at me.
“Stop answering my questions with questions; you’re confusing the fuck out of me. I just wanted to let you know that you don’t have to feel obligated to me anymore. There’s no need to be a douchecanoe about it.” I released my necklace and folded my arms with a huff. “I have no idea why Hunter thought it was a good idea to talk to you about this; you’re clearly incapable of a rational conversation.”
Raze’s brows shot up, and he leaned back into his chair. “Is that what we’re having here? A rational conversation? Because to me it sounds a whole lot like you’re telling me what’s happening.”
I spluttered with indignation. “Yes, but, what? I’m so confused right now. You don’t want to be fired?”
He shrugged. He fucking shrugged. What kind of—
“What the hell does that mean?” I demanded, then mimicked his shrug. “What even is that? Use your words, Raze.”
He leaned forward again, bracing his really freaking muscled forearms on his denim-clad knees. “It means that I was chosen as a guardian to the amulet bearer, and no one can take that away from me. Not even you, Maggie.”
I parted my lips to reply, then closed them, then tried again. “Huh?”
“You’re stuck with me,” he said, annunciating every word carefully, then gave me a sarcastic smile. “Until the next amulet bearer is chosen or to death do us part.”
I pursed my lips, staring at him. “So... you don’t want to be fired?”
He just rolled his eyes and sat back. From his armrest he picked up his drink and took a sip, but his gaze never left my face while I puzzled through this change of events.
“Then why are you such an insufferable asshole?” I demanded.
This time the smile he flashed me seemed almost genuine. “Why are you?”
“Fair point,” I grumbled, retrieving my own drink from the grass beside my chair to take a sip.
The two of us fell into silence, and I poked at the dying fire with my marshmallow stick. I’d eaten enough of the sticky fuckers to last me a lifetime, but there was something soothing about messing with coals.
“So,” I finally said, with a little hesitation and a lot of Dutch courage. I was safely in the tipsy zone, thanks to an evening of beers, and it was just enough to make me say things I shouldn’t. “You and Maeve, you’re not...”
“Not what?” Raze prompted when I trailed off. Bastard, he knew what I meant.
“Not fucking?” I finished. As soon as the word left my lips, my body flushed with heat, and I knew I was treading on dangerous ground. Despite the fact that Raze had seen me naked—accidentally—and also seen me fucking his friend, we hadn’t exactly discussed it. There was something strangely... intense about this turn of the conversation.
Raze stared across the fire at me for a while, a small half smile tugging at his lush lips. “No,” he replied after some time. “She’s not my type.”
“Oh,” I breathed. For some unknown reason, it was like a weight had just been lifted off my shoulders. Yes, unknown. Totally unknown. Don’t call me on my bullshit; it won’t end well. “What is your type?”
Oops.
That definitely hadn’t meant to be said aloud.
It was too late, though, as Raze’s grin spread wider, and I could fucking swear his gaze flickered over my whole body before he replied.
“I’m more interested in smart-mouthed hipsters with old lady names.”
My jaw dropped. For reals. I practically needed to scoop it up off the grass and put it back in position before I could splutter my response.
“I do not have an old lady name.”
Raze smirked. “Who said I was talking about you? Narcissist.”
Shit.
Back-peddling faster than an Olympic cyclist, I stretched my arms above my head and let out a loud and seriously fake yawn. “Gosh, it’s getting late,” I commented, checking my wrist for a watch I wasn’t wearing. “I should go to bed.” I jumped up from my seat and scurried my ass back inside... literally running away from my issues.
Yes, I’m aware. I’m very well adjusted.
Chapter Fourteen
After my speedy escape from Raze and all the awkwardness of our conversation, I made my excuses to everyone and hid in my room. Ugh. Raze’s room.
Damn that antagonistic son of a cat. I couldn’t escape him anywhere! Even his pillows smelled of his intoxicating mix of spice and jasmine.
I must have fallen asleep at some point, though, because when I woke to pee, it was three thirty-three in the morning. Usually I loved when I looked at the clock and found recurring numbers like that, but this one made me uneasy.
No freaking idea why, it just did.
“Paranoid,” I muttered, wrapping myself in Raze’s silk gown—yes, I know, shut up—and silently slipping across the hall to the bathroom.
After I peed in the dark, I quickly washed my hands, then felt around for a hand towel. I had a weird thing about not turning lights on when I got up to pee at night. Like, as soon as I turned a light on, I’d wake up fully, but when it was still dark, I could pretend I was still asleep.
Anyway, while hunting for the hand towel, my hand knocked into something that seemed rather glass-like, just seconds before it over-balanced and hit the floor with a smash.
