said.
“You were never welcome,” I said.
He smirked. “We’ll meet again, Evie, and we’ll start over. I promise you.”
“It’s best you don’t keep that promise for your own sake,” I said, licking my lips before I knew what I was doing. I withdrew the tip of my tongue and pursed my lips to a thin line when I spotted his heated gaze dipping to my mouth. “And it’s Evelina to you. Only my friends and family call me Evie.”
“I accept your bargain,” he said, his smile still ghosting his perfect, suntanned face. And then, he was suddenly in front of me with a hundred dollar bill in his hand as if he’d just conjured it up like a magician. He put the wrinkled bill in my hand and snatched the refresher from me. “Here’s for your bathroom refresher. Keep the change, Evelina.”
Chapter 4
Baron stalked off my property, and I watched until he disappeared in the trees. His comments burned in my mind as I crossed the yard to the back door.
I’d always thought our family wasn’t normal. We’d never stayed in one place for more than six months until I left home to attend college.
I’d been grumpy about the nomad lifestyle. The last time I’d seen Dad, I had shouted at him about the unfairness of uprooting us constantly and pleaded with him not to continue to do this to my siblings. I had left seven high school boyfriends behind, and long distance relationships never worked.
But after fighting off a handful of monsters today, I started wondering if my parents had been running away from something. For the first time when we stayed in one place for more than eight months, my parents just disappeared, and then this supernatural world I never knew existed showed up at my door.
I stared at the broken window, trying to string things together. The nightmare creature, the Nightling, had looked straight at me and called me Dark Princess before it went for the kill. I was as far from a princess as east from west. The two Fae dudes claimed that my siblings and I didn’t share the same bloodline, that I wasn’t even human.
All of today’s misfortune came from one giant misunderstanding—all of them mistook me as someone else. They got the wrong girl.
What if the Nightling came back? What if the Fae posed as a threat to my family? The Fae courts had been hunting the dark one, and Baron had said he’d have to kill me if I was dark. I didn’t even know what that meant.
Just remembering Baron’s vow to eliminate the dark one made me shudder.
Maybe we should move again?
But where could we go? We didn’t have much money left. If we ran blindly instead of having a solid plan, we’d all be homeless.
I shook my head and stomped into the kitchen. Six pairs of still terrified eyes stared at me across the island.
Then my siblings all started shouting questions at me.
I listened for about three seconds before I yelled back. “Shut up and finish your breakfast. If you’re done, get your school bag and lunchbox ready. You’re already late for school, and I don’t want you to make a habit out of it. And don’t tell anyone, not even your besties of what happened this morning. You know the rules Mom set, and we’ll keep following them.” I waved a hand at them. “Wait for me in the car.”
My siblings rushed into action. It was a wonder they kind of obeyed me this time. Safiya gave me a glare, but she picked up her backpack.
I turned to Emmett. “Did you call the cops? They didn’t show up!”
“Uh, the phone line was cut off,” he said. “We haven’t paid the bill.”
I sighed heavily. “I’ll take care of the bills today.”
“Who were the gorgeous guys?” Safiya repeated her former question with a dreamy look in her brown eyes. “Why didn’t you invite them in?”
“Seriously? You developed a crush on the two hooligans already?” I said, rolling my eyes. “Stay away from them if you ever see them again.”
Her eyes brightened. “So we’ll see them again?”
“I’ll make sure they don’t come back,” I spat. “They’re more dangerous than bad men.”
Every instinct told me they were the ultimate predators, even though their intoxicating scent still flowed in my bloodstream.
“You just want to have both of them for yourself,” Safiya sneered. “I watched through the window. You tried to throw yourself at them shamelessly. You’re the biggest slut—”
I slapped her.
“Bitch!” She lunged at me,