Omens (The Dark in You #6) - Suzanne Wright Page 0,45

and then leaned back. “Enoch won’t be easy to locate. I’ll talk to Jolene and ask her if she has any leads. She won’t tell me to butt out; not when it’s you.” He drummed his fingers on the scarred table. “Want me to stay with you at your house until all this has blown over?”

“I’ll be fine on my own.” She set her glass on the coaster that displayed the pub’s logo. “Ciaran can be by my side at the drop of a hat.”

“It would still be good if you had someone close to you. I’m surprised Keenan’s not insisting on playing bodyguard, claiming you need his backup—he usually shoves his way into your business. Of course, he’s more interested in getting you on your back. Preferably on a bed, but I doubt he’d be too fussy on the ‘where’ so long as he got what he wanted. And you know what would happen afterward? Nothing. He’d carry on as if it never happened.”

Her chest tightened, because that was exactly how it had all gone down.

His departing comment from last night after she’d asked if he’d lose “the fight” drifted through her mind …

“Sometimes I think I already have.”

She still wasn’t sure how she felt about that. A part of her wanted him to lose it because, hello, he knew his way around a woman’s body for sure—no one had ever fucked her like that before or made her come so hard so many times. But the sensible part of her—which rarely spoke up—knew that no good could come of it and thought it was best to go cold turkey.

“I don’t have anything against him as a person,” Teague went on. “But he’s a guy who goes through women like they’re a dying breed and watches you with too much territorialism. I don’t want you getting hurt. He would hurt you. Then I’d have to kill him.”

“I’ve got bigger things to worry about than whether some guy wants to get in my panties. Anyway, Mr. Hit-and-Run, you’re not much different from him.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you spread yourself around and leave broken hearts wherever you go, which is why I forbade you from making moves on my friends.”

“Do they all know you made me take a blood oath that I wouldn’t try to date any of them without first asking you?”

“Yes.”

He drained his glass. “You know, for the record, I think making me take a blood oath was a little dramatic.”

Khloé shrugged. “Aunt Mildred told me it was best to insist on one if I expected someone to keep their word.”

His brows dipped. “You have an Aunt Mildred?”

“I can’t believe no one remembers her.”

*

Leaning against the wall, Keenan watched as Thea gingerly took a seat opposite his Primes. With a stilted smile, she crossed one leg over the other and tucked her hands under her thighs—probably to stop herself from fidgeting. She looked as nervous as a knocked-up teenager.

She glanced at Keenan, as if seeking reassurance. That was something he couldn’t give her. How this meeting went would depend solely on her willingness to be truthful.

Her gaze slid back to his Primes, who sat behind Knox’s desk. “Thank you for agreeing to see me.” She peered over her shoulder at the closed office door, a worried look on her face.

“Your son will be fine with Larkin,” Harper assured her. “Now, why don’t you tell us what happened with your ex-mate?”

Turning back to face the Primes, she looked the sphinx dead in the eye. “I didn’t kill him.”

“He cheated on you,” said Harper.

“Yes, he did,” confirmed Thea, her expression hard. “Which was why, when he came to collect his stuff, he found that I’d shredded his clothes and wrecked his other belongings. I wouldn’t have killed him for cheating. I didn’t. Gavril did.”

“Why?” asked Knox, drumming his fingers on his desk.

“Lee-Roy … opposed him,” Thea replied vaguely. “Gavril doesn’t like anyone opposing him. And he wants me out of the picture.”

“Explain,” said Knox.

Instead, she closed her eyes.

Swift impatience flickered across Knox’s face. “You don’t have to tell us your secrets, Thea. Keep them if you wish. But then you’ll have to seek sanctuary from another lair. We won’t provide protection for someone who isn’t being honest with us.”

Thea’s eyes met his. “It’s just hard to trust others with this. If I make a mistake, if I take a chance on the wrong person, I could lose my son.” Her gaze slid to Harper. “You’re a mother. If you needed