Gypsy Truths (All The Pretty Monsters #6)- Kristy Cunning Page 0,207

while I was bumbling around in the woods in search of her.

I knew it was damn harder to find her than should have been physically possible.

“Well, then,” I state, bristling.

Admittedly, I’m a bit unnerved by yet another bloody thing I didn’t know or even consider.

Violet stumbled into the woods, left, killed a bunch of shifters, and came back without us ever suspecting it was her. All because of a voice.

Lovely. I wonder how many other times I’ve been a fool.

Hitting the brakes, I skid to a halt in front of the local Mad House.

Jasper remains safely secured against me, the quick halt not disturbing him or bothering him a bit.

However, Anna screams, as she flies through the windshield and crashes to the ground.

Exhaling and trying to keep the proper amount of tension required to bash in some skulls, I ignore the waving purple penis, and faux ghost—who is bitching about my driving. Annoyed by all the insanity, I stalk toward the front door.

When I push the door open, I’m greeted by…Simpletons…who are blowing up condoms like balloons.

How?

Why?

I need to stay angrily motivated, but this place makes that damn near impossible sometimes. Also, holding a baby makes it much harder to stay suited with the proper amount of ire.

Ighan grins at me around a condom, before he starts blowing it so hard his face turns red.

“Ighan, those aren’t balloons,” I inform him with as much seriousness and calmness as I can muster.

He studies it like he’s confused by that, but shrugs and ties the end, before hanging it from a dangling rope.

“W-W-We’re celebrating. We d-d-don’t have t-t-to go underground,” he says, smiling brightly.

His smile slowly falls. “But V-V-Violet—”

He cuts his words off, looking down as if in shame. Bobo lumbers up behind him, eyes on me, as he gives me a weak, almost apologetic smile.

“Bobo, she can handle her monster and even likes it,” I assure him.

Anna props up next to Bobo, smiling up at him with the sweetest look she can muster, as she innocently blinks.

Bobo doesn’t seem bothered by her in the slightest, and even smiles back down at her.

Then his look sobers when it returns to me.

“But we did this to her,” Bobo says, lips thinning. “She didn’t ask for this.”

I clap him on the shoulder, as I start to walk by. “Feeling guilty will only hurt Violet far worse than having Anna. Violet’s a protector. Now she’s strong enough to be that protector. Bad always comes with the good. We have to accept both, and then trust and hope for the best. In this case, I’m feeling confident for the first time in a long time.”

I keep my voice quiet, in case someone is listening through the walls.

He stiffens, but then he nods once at me. Feeling like I’ve said what I can to alleviate some of his guilt, I hurriedly turn and move through the house, refusing to be distracted by anything else.

Shera walks out of a room, and I immediately—and gently—force Jasper on her. She’s startled as she takes him, and then her eyes go wide.

“Oh, no, Van Helsing. Please don’t do this to me!” she calls to my back. “I’m terrible with kids—”

Jasper starts crying, and I don’t even have to turn around to know she’s being swarmed by helpful, gentle Simpletons. Given her squeak, it scares her, which will piss her off.

Feeling some of that tension returning just in time, I begin rolling up my sleeves, one at a time, in preparation to charge in, crack some faces, and then steal Violet away.

The door sails open when I charge in, but the scene before me halts me in my tracks. My heart thumps, my throat gets tighter, and my trousers grow more constricting, as my gaze rakes over the eternally maddening woman who’s marked me as hers.

Violet’s spread on the bed, with that devilish dragon-fire chain holding her in place. Her head pops up, giving me a glimpse at her hazy eyes. Then my gaze drifts down her damp skin, as she squirms under my slow appraisal.

The silk negligée she’s wearing is trimmed with lace and pushed up on her hips. Torn underwear lays discarded at her side. Her pale skin is generating a cold fog inside the sweltering room…

Her pupils are damn near pinpricks. Something I notice after I finally manage to tear my gaze away from the unnaturally tempting sight of the rest of her body.

Emit moves out from between her legs, wiping his mouth, as he battles back a smile.