Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 545(@200wpm)___ 436(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Ghost looked at his brother. “We should rest while we can.”
“Agreed,” said Darko. “I’ll take first watch.”
Abraxas smirked, amused by how the two acted as though they were in the middle of a war zone.
Luka turned to Ella. “Does Lou still show up to visit Lily whenever he feels like it?”
She exhaled heavily. “Yes. Even though she telekinetically slaps him, he just keeps coming back for more. He finds it hilarious. Though I haven’t seen him in about a month.”
“I thought you were teaching her not to slap.” Really, Ella had to teach the infant not to do many things. Extremely advanced for her age, Lily could make various displays of power. And she did it ruthlessly—something that he and his entities respected.
“Viper told her she can do it to Lou whenever she feels like it,” said Ella. “So she does. Her new thing is telekinetically shoving people. She gave one of your waitresses from Infernal a little push the other day at my store.”
Luka felt his brow crease. “Which waitress?”
“Draya,” Ella elaborated, idly plucking at her red bangs. “She bent over the stroller, smiled at Lily, and proceeded to let out a stream of baby babble. You know how my girl finds that condescending.”
Any child so advanced would. “I had no idea you knew Draya.” Neither female had mentioned it.
“Oh, I didn’t until recently. She started coming to my store a lot. She always chats so sweetly to me, like we’re old pals. She even asked me to lunch last time.”
Luka felt his brows snap together. “Lunch?”
“I blew her off, because I could tell that it wasn’t a genuine overture of friendship. She hopes to buddy up to me as a way to get to you.” Ella’s lips set into a thin line. “She’s not the first woman to have tried it. Probably won’t be the last.”
He clenched his jaw, infuriated that she would try to use Ella that way. “I’ll have a word with her.”
Ella flapped a hand. “Don’t bother. It’s fine. Really. She buys a whole heap of stuff. Only to suck up to me, sure, but sales are sales.”
“When did she last seek you out?”
“Umm . . . a few days ago.”
Luka frowned, surprised. Draya hadn’t once approached him since he’d made his involvement with Naomi common knowledge, so he’d thought the banshee had chosen to move on.
Ella sank back into the chair. “Be aware that she was asking a lot of questions.”
“What kind of questions?”
“All revolved around you. Where in Russia you came from, why a quarter of your old lair migrated here, what the likes and dislikes of your demons are, why you avoid long-term relationships.”
Dagon grumbled a sound of annoyance at the nerve of Draya, who had no right to such information. She wasn’t even a member of their lair, for Christ’s sake.
“It was as if she was trying to profile you so she could better get close to you,” mused Ella. “From the stuff she was saying when she first tried befriending me, it seemed she thought that something might happen between you two. But then rumors recently began to circulate that you had Naomi Chamberlain in your bed. Draya seems quite put out by that.”
“I never led Draya on. We briefly flirted. That’s it. Not once did I verbally express an interest in taking it further.” And now that it was apparent Draya wouldn’t respect his well-known preference for privacy, he would never take it further. He was careful to choose bed partners who wouldn’t push him to confide in them or share overly personal details. Then nobody would be disappointed.
“The flirting was clearly enough for her to feel hopeful that you’d take things up a notch,” said Ella. “She seems hurt that you passed her up for Naomi. Draya had not-so-nice things to say about her.”
His demons went rigid in an anger that also tightened Luka’s jaw and made his nostrils flare. “Is that so?” he asked, his voice soft but vibrating with a menace even he could hear. “What exactly did she say?”
Ella’s eyes widened and lit up. “Ooh, someone’s protective. Intriguing. You generally place your bed buddies under your protection while they’re in your life, but it was a formality in the past. You never appeared to feel protective until now.”
He barely stopped himself from stiffening. “That isn’t the case here.”
“And now you’re denying it. Again, intriguing.”
The truth? Yes, his protective instincts were easily riled up when it came to Naomi. Hence why, despite still having Iain in his custody, he had assigned her a guard earlier than planned.
Though he’d told Konstantin to keep his distance, Naomi had still spotted him. She’d walked right up to the guard and asked who he was. Konstantin had told her, after which she’d telepathed Luka to snippily demand an explanation for why he’d put a man on her without informing her.