Fantastic. Absolutely fabulous. This night kept getting better and better.
The Society would not be thrilled to learn a designer drug was lethal to our section of the population.
I was still digesting that morsel when the elevator doors slid open onto my hall, and I spotted Midas halfway to my apartment. Hearing the booth’s arrival, its distinctive ting, he glanced behind him.
“Hey.” He waited for me to catch up to him. “How did your night go?”
“I’ve had worse.” I let us into my apartment. “I’ve had better too.” I searched his face. “You?”
“Two teens in critical condition. One dead. Plus Krista.” He sank onto the futon and dropped his head back to stare at the ceiling. “We have to stop the coven.”
“We will.” I joined him, curling against his side. The tension that touch ignited in him I ignored until he relaxed into me. “They’re targeting the vulnerable, and that’s not okay.”
“All those parents,” he murmured. “They expect me to fix this.”
“I understand the pack looks to you and your mom, but that’s too much to put on you alone.”
“I’m not alone.” He almost managed a smile. “I have you, and they know it.”
“I’m not sure I would classify it as you having me, but I am yours for the duration.”
“I like the sound of that.” He touched my cheek, traced his finger down my jaw. “About earlier…”
“I’m sorry I bit you,” I said solemnly before he twisted himself into a pretzel explaining what required no explanation. “I’ll try to control my savage urges next time.”
Midas mouthed the words thank you and tucked me in even tighter.
You’re welcome, I pressed into the skin of his throat before grunting to my feet to order us pizza for dinner.
Nine
The goblin cackles with glee and sends the giant to fetch Midas from his cage.
“You’re gonna love this, me boy.” He does a little dance. “I found the most gorgeous female, I did. She’s fresh. Never stepped into the ring.” He clapped his hands. “This will be a fight for the books.”
Midas says nothing as his cage door is wrenched open and the massive fist engulfs him. Scars crisscross the giant’s skin, gifts from him and others, but fighting does no good. The giant plops him down in front of the goblin whose manic glee rouses the feral half of him in wary acceptance of what’s to come.
The human half of him broken, Midas allows himself to be bathed and fed. He allows them to do what they will. None of it matters. He’s not here. Not really. Not since the first female’s neck snapped between his teeth.
The crowd roars when he’s presented as the reigning champion, and he hates himself more the louder they cheer. But then the gate opens to reveal his opponent, and his heart stops. Turns to ice in his chest.
“Lethe,” he breathes, the beast in him awakening.
Midas woke drenched in cold sweat, shivering, and…with Hadley facing him, stroking his damp hair.
“Sorry,” he rasped. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I had too much in my head to rest.” She kept petting him, comforting him. “You didn’t bother me.”
“I can go up to my apartment,” he offered, dreading her answer. “Let you go back to sleep.”
“Spoon, stop talking nonsense.” She turned away from him and scooted back. “Do your job.”
Sliding an arm under her, he yanked her flush against him and held her tight. “Spoon?”
Laughing as if delighted to be held, she glanced over her shoulder. “Do you prefer Goldie or Prince?”
“Can I choose none of the above?”
“Spoon it is.” She rubbed his arms where they crossed over her stomach. “Sleep.” She yawned. “We’ve got ass to kick tonight.”
With her warm body pliant in his arms, her gentle fingers caressing old scars, he did.
“You haven’t broken up with him yet?”
“Remy,” Hadley sighed from across the room. “That’s mean.”
“I have a knife you can sleep with under your pillow.”
“Remy.”
“What? He’s fruit loops. Who knows when he might snap and kill you in your sleep?”
“He’s not fruit loops, and he won’t snap. Even if he did snap, he wouldn’t kill me in my sleep.”
The ringing endorsement set Midas’s ears burning. “She’s right.”
“No one asked you,” Remy snarled. “Of course you would say you’re not going to kill her.”
Only the maddest of the stark ravers killed their mates, but Hadley didn’t know that she was his, and he wasn’t about to tell her. Tricking her into courtship was bad enough, but he refused to let his instincts condemn her to