All Hail - J. Bree Page 0,46

that had happened for the night. I glossed over the sex with Atticus part but I was honest that it happened.

It didn’t seem to bother him, he just laid back beside me and took everything in, asking more than a few questions about that Amanda Donnelley woman that I don’t yet have the answers to. I fell asleep before he did and I forgot he was even here. My phone doesn’t wake him and I try to keep my voice down as I answer.

“Are you hungover? Should I be whispering too?”

I huff at the smug tone Illi is throwing at me. “That’s not necessary. Is there a reason you’re up so early on a Monday morning? I thought you were nocturnal, this changes everything I thought I knew about Mounts Bay.”

He chuckles down the line at me and I can hear the sounds of the street behind him, some grunting and the rattling sounds of chains… or maybe handcuffs? Handcuffs and a chain?

“Where the hell are you?” I murmur, trying and failing to not wake Aodhan up. He grunts and stretches, rubbing a hand over his face and groaning.

“Who the fuck is that? Fuck, it had better be O’Cronin because if it’s the Crow I might have to come around for a visit.”

I slide out of the bed and try not to look at all of the skin Aodhan is showing. I shouldn’t care about abs. I should care about tattoos and scars and very nice biceps and yet here I am… enjoying the sight of the very wolfish looking grin on his face as he stretches out on my pristine linens.

“It’s Aodhan, not that it’s any of your business who I spend my time with. If you’re attempting to keep tabs for my brother, I should warn you that no matter what you might think I’m the danger in my family, not the snarling asshole traipsing around the country with his little foursome of debauchery.”

That was a great dig, I’ll have to remember it for next time Ash calls me to rant.

Illi grumbles at me down the line for a second but then he finally cuts to the chase. “I’ve sourced a dealer for us to question. A couple of my friends dragged him over, he was selling at the docks and tried to outrun them so he’s a little worse for wear. Do you think you could head down here? Get O’Cronin to drive you down.”

Bossy men.

I agree but only because I want to know about this dealer and who the hell is pushing the Jackal’s product. When I hang up from him, I find Aodhan grinning up at me with a rumpled sort of look on his face, his hair curling around his head in a mess that should not be as attractive as it is.

“I’ve never slept in a bed with six dozen pillows before. Very comfortable.”

I scoff at him and throw one of them at him. This all feels too… casual for me, the joking manner he treats me with is disarming and with my defenses down he keeps slipping through to that ice heart of mine.

I’m not sure I ever want him to stop.

“We need to get over to the Bay, Illi has a dealer in his workroom for us to question.”

Aodhan grumbles and nods, pulling himself up and out of my bed so I get a full body shot of him standing there in only a pair of charcoal boxer briefs.

He has a great ass.

I make the bed while he uses the bathroom. He’s quick and I find one of Harley’s shirts for him to wear under his jacket. It’s a little big thanks to all of Harley’s time in the gym but where the neck sits a little lower shows off the edges of his tattoos. I want to know what they all look like. I’d seen them back when he gave me his shirt at the Jackal’s lair but I’d been too out of it to really take them in.

Once he’s ready he kisses my cheek and heads downstairs, muttering about trying to work out how to operate my coffee machine.

My hands shake the whole way through my shower and I try to take a very short one, knowing that I’d scrubbed myself raw the night before. I choose my clothing with less care this time around but I make a very bold choice and go with a pair of black jeans and a deep, forest green silk camisole.

I put it