All Hail - J. Bree Page 0,37

don’t want to cut his trip short.”

Illi shrugs and agrees easily enough, I guess he only really answers to Lips and even then, she has never treated him as anything other than an equal. A beloved friend who’s in this fucked up life with her.

Aodhan traces a finger down the back of my hand idly, like the touch of my skin is helping him think and I’m not sure I can take all of this casual touching. I don’t want it to stop, but I need to know what the hell we’re doing.

Have I given up on Atticus?

Does Aodhan actually want me or is this some sort of… weird obligation thing, like he’s still feeling awful about the sex we’d been forced to have?

I don’t know.

I’m too scared of the answer to ask.

Chapter Ten

I refuse to spend more than a night at the Illium household.

Not because I don’t love seeing Odie, she really is a great friend to have and catching up with her now that she has the most perfect little bump is exciting, but I have no interest in being holed up and under a constant protective guard again so I arrange for even more security with the Coyote and once every inch of my property has sensors, cameras, and alarms I head home to redecorate and to plan out my outfit for the Gala.

I plan on making a statement.

The Morrison Family Charity Gala is held at the Alexandria Ballrooms in LA every year.

There’s only ever a hundred people invited with plus ones that are personally vetted by the Kora board. Now that I have more than half of them under my thumb it’s easier than breathing to get an invite for myself and Illi.

He could show up in his leather jacket and blood-spattered jeans if he wanted to.

That’s not the statement I want to make here though, I’m looking at kitting out my own black book and though I want the people in it obedient. I want them terrified of the right things.

Illi could murder them.

I’d ruin them, I’d take every last asset they owned and drag their names through the mud. I’d break them so completely and then I’d kill them.

But that’s for another day, for now they’ve all been loyal and obedient.

It takes me half a day to get ready for the event. It’s not just about throwing a dress on and a little makeup. It’s all about the prep work, there’s no point building a look on poor foundations.

I once tried to explain this to Lips and she stared at me like I’d lost my mind.

Someday I’ll make her do the full gala experience and I know for sure that there’ll be three idiot guys drooling all over my hard work. I shouldn’t think about that because it just makes me upset to think about how no one will appreciate the effort I’m going into tonight… well, no one will want to rip the dress off of me but at least I’ll have them all fearing for their lives.

I’m not sure which one I’d prefer.

I dress entirely in white, once again making sure that my allegiances are on display, though I’m not sure anyone attending would even know about the intricate color systems of the Mounts Bay Twelve.

Probably more than I’d think.

I choose a Galvan dress that is more sparkle than substance, the split up the thigh meaning that it’s going to be a no underwear sort of event, though the longer sleeves subdues the look to something classy enough for me to wear. I have nothing against showing a lot of skin, but half of the battle with high society is the image they all hold in their minds of you and I want them to be terrified, not gossiping about how much skin I have on show.

I choose a pair of Louboutins, my personal favorite designer and though the shoes aren’t comfortable the stiletto heel is sharp enough to slit a throat if I had to.

I straighten my hair and slick it back so it hangs around my shoulders in a dark curtain, my eyeliner is winged and my lips are my signature shade of blood red.

Illi lets himself in downstairs while I get ready but when I start down the staircase, I find Aodhan standing there with him.

Neither of them notices me when I first start down the stairs, a silk YSL clutch in one hand and the other holding the marble railing, but when Aodhan glances over his shoulder at