The Summer King Bundle 3 Stories - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,26

I returned to the app on the phone. I tapped on the nearest car. “I honestly don’t know what to say. It was weird, but it’s over. I need to get to the Order. They’ll have their afternoon meeting soon and that’s the perfect time to see if any of them recognize these guys.”

“What was he saying to you?” she asked.

I held onto my phone and the file as I turned to the road, wishing the car would magically appear. “Nothing,” I said. “Nothing that’s important.”

Faye didn’t respond to that, and she didn’t say anything while she stood out there with me until the car arrived and I climbed in. I doubted that she believed me. When I closed the door and looked out the window, she was already gone.

“St. Phillips Street?” the driver asked, checking my request in the app.

“Yes.” My gaze was glued to the rundown brick building as the driver turned around and headed back toward the Canal. “Thank you.”

Once I could no longer see the building, I fell back in the seat with a sigh. God, what had just happened? Usually no one paid any attention to me on any given day and the Prince, who apparently didn’t speak to anyone, knew it had been me Saturday night and I had a sinking suspicion that he’d somehow known I’d been there and sought me out.

I ran my hand under my throat, wincing as I placed too much pressure on the skin. The Prince knew what I was up to, but he hadn’t exposed me in front of Tanner and Faye. Did that mean he wouldn’t go to the Order?

And what in the hell did he mean by the claim that he knew who and what I was? Those words haunted the short trip back to headquarters.

Thanking the driver, I climbed out and glanced at the first floor Order-owned shop. Mama Lousy sold all kinds of random stuff, featuring a lot of iron amidst an interesting amount of voodoo tools and authentic N’awlins spices. It was currently staffed by one of the grouchiest old men I’d ever met. Jerome had retired from the Order well over a decade ago and somehow ended up in the position that made least sense.

He was so not someone who should be in a customer service position.

Honestly, I was surprised Miles hadn’t assigned me to the shop. I snorted and then sighed, because I figured that day was coming sooner rather than later.

One glance through the shop windows, I could see him sitting behind the counter, glaring at the tourists who were picking up various masks and trying them on. He didn’t see me, and if he did, it wouldn’t have helped with his attitude.

Grinning, I headed for the side entrance and threw open the door. I headed up the narrow, cramped hallway that smelled vaguely of sugar and gym sneakers. A small camera was positioned at the top of the stairs. Things had gotten more high tech in the last two years since the headquarters had been breached by the Prince when he was all ‘kill, kill everyone’. A sensor was on the door, above the hand. Pressing my finger on it, I waited as the contraption read my fingerprint. The door unlocked in a jiffy, and as soon as I opened it, I saw that I’d made it back just in time.

The main room was full with at least a half dozen Order members. I immediately saw Jackie Jordan. The dark-skinned woman was sitting on a desk, one long, lean leg curled up as she watched something on her phone. Standing next to her was Dylan, decked out in black tactical pants and a fitted black T-shirt. Besides Miles and Ivy and Ren, they were the only original Order members left. The rest were gone, having perished in the battle or afterward, when the Winter fae unleashed their anger at being foiled. Those members were now replaced by various members from other cities or brand spanking new ones.

An unwanted but familiar heaviness settled in my chest. There had been so much loss and there were echoes of it everywhere. In Jackie and Dylan’s weary eyes and in all the new faces crowding the main room.

What had happened to my mother and me hadn’t been isolated. Dying in battle was a far better death than being hunted down, caught off guard and unprepared, slaughtered before you even knew what was happening.

I glanced down at the file. Were any of them really