later,” he tells me with a straight face, and Ryker gives an amused snort behind me.
I turn my attention back to the standoff between Enoch and Becket. They’re just staring at each other, and I can practically see the debate that’s going on in Enoch’s head. After a moment of pause, the red mist hovering above his palm disappears, and he steps away from the door. Becket doesn’t release his hold on the barrier that’s surrounding him as he walks past his coven mate without a word. We all stand there watching the door slam shut, none of us really sure what to do or say.
“Do you think my dad was involved?” Enoch asks, his uncertain pewter-blue eyes landing on mine.
“I don’t have the built-in lie detector like he does,” I say, pointing at Torrez, “but he seemed surprised when he walked in on what was happening, and he helped Sabin and me get out of there.” Which shocked the fuck out of me. I decide to censor that last part.
“Why’d you break my dad’s nose then?” he queries, and I can’t tell if he’s bothered by that fact or still just trying to put the pieces together. I can just picture Elder Cleary whining about it to his son over the phone.
I shrug. “Anger issues. I get especially ragey when I’m threatened.”
“I thought you said he helped you?”
“Yeah, with this he did, but he also threatened me at the dinner from hell,” I remind him.
My statement makes me think of Becket’s mom and how she came for me between the third and nine-thousandth course. Pretty sure taking out one of her mates isn’t going to cause her feelings to thaw for me anytime soon.
Enoch surprises me when he just nods and runs his fingers through his disheveled blond hair. “Fair enough,” he tells me and holds up his hand. “So if these aren’t mate marks, what are they?”
“No fucking clue,” I answer honestly.
“So then they could be mate marks?” Nash counters. He tucks a black curly lock behind his ear, and his dark blue eyes meet mine, his gaze challenging. Someone behind me gives an irritated huff.
“Wishful thinking, asshole, but you’ll never be one of us,” Knox announces, and everyone in the room bristles.
“Fuck you, Howell. It’s not your choice to make,” Kallan spits back.
And now we’ve come full circle, because everyone is back to wanting to fuck each other up.
“Enough!” bellows throughout the room, and I turn to find Aydin’s giant, pissed off ass stomping to get in the middle of things. “We don’t have time for this shit. You all can decide who wins this fight later, but spoilers…it will be Vinna. She can kick all of your asses, probably at the same time.”
I smile at Aydin, and he tilts his head at me in acknowledgement.
“We have to go, so this pissing match will need to be rescheduled for a later date,” he announces.
“Where are you going?” Enoch asks, taking a step toward me, which earns him a warning growl from Torrez and I’m pretty sure Bastien and Knox, too.
“My dumbass uncle got himself taken by Adriel. We’re off to save the day.”
I turn to the guys to check that we’re ready to load up and head out, when Nash’s voice spins me back around.
“Wherever you’re going, so are we.”
I turn and fix him with a look that oozes you’ve got to be kidding me.
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” I counter.
“Until we know what the hell is going on with these”—he lifts his shirt reminding me of the runes that now run down his sides,—“it’s probably best if we all stick together.”
I open my mouth to argue but stop. It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard. We’re not exactly going to overwhelm Adriel and his nest with our current numbers, and we could use all the help we could get. My gaze wanders around the room in thought, and I catch Evrin’s brown eyes.
“They are targets now,” he tells me, clearly hopping on a similar train of thought to the one I’m currently riding on.
“They don’t belong with us,” Bastien argues, and Evrin throws up a hand that clearly states he doesn’t want to hear it.
I turn to Bastien. “I may not know exactly why Enoch and the others are marked, but they’re marked. You just saw what I saw; they somehow have pieces of my—or maybe someone else’s—Sentinel magic. Not as much as you guys, but they’ll need to train and