it was only one contingency they were looking at. While I don’t like that they’d thought of it at all, maybe I’d been too rash in condemning them.
But I wouldn’t apologize for my actions. They were in the wrong.
My lips purse, unwilling to give Kellen what he wants. I can’t forgive Emil and Tobias so easily.
Kellen grabs my head, holding me in place as he kisses me. It’s not a kiss meant to seduce, more a fierce press of lips against mine.
When he backs off, he tips my head up to face him. “Just promise not to run. I don’t want to have to chase you for real.”
Licking my lips, I taste the promise of lightning. “This isn’t something I’d run over. If anything, you should worry more about Tobias and Emil. If they don’t start thinking clearly, I’ll smash their heads together until they do.”
Kellen grins wickedly. “That’s my girl.”
I ignore the happiness that rushes through me at his claiming and move him away from me for real this time. “Go finish your business, so we can leave as soon as this place is cleansed.”
“You sure you’re not scared of zombies popping out?” he teases.
I push him toward the hall. “If they do, I’ll send them your way.”
He walks backward. “If you change your mind about that exercising—”
Laughing, I point toward the back office. “Just go.”
Kellen is still making his phone calls when the second round of cleaners arrive, this time coming through the front door. I should have told them to pull around back like proper late-night visitors, but I can’t bring myself to reprimand them as Xander, Reese, Jax, and Tally walk in.
I check the front parking lot for Slater before realizing that, with Kellen here, he must still be at Fulcrum making sure the club runs smoothly while his boss is gone.
Directing everyone into the viewing room, I lock up behind them and follow.
Tally’s large mahogany eyes dance around as she takes in the viewing room. “So, this is the place that processes human remains?”
I stare at her in shock for a moment before snapping my mouth closed. “Yeah, that’s one way of putting it.”
She glances at Xander. “Was that inappropriate?”
“No, just bluntly accurate,” he says as he paces around the room, one hand on the satchel that hangs at his side.
Reese eyes the lined-up folding chairs before setting his large duffel bag on the ground and unzipping it. “Are you sure this place isn’t haunted?”
“No, I’m not sure about that.” Apprehensive after the zombie incident, I glance back toward the morgue. “But if it is, it hasn’t tried to attack me like the imps’ house did.”
The imps’ house hadn’t actually been haunted, either, at least not in the traditional sense of ghosts like in TV shows. A cult had owned it before Kellen took control, and they’d left some pretty shoddy magic tricks behind when they were evicted, including a bottomless black hole in the porch and a horror-movie-style haunting inside the house complete with locked doors, creepy crawlies, and an ultimate evil in the basement I had to fight.
It had taken a lot of effort on Xander and Reese’s part to clear each room one-by-one, and I had to defeat the monster multiple times before they finished.
I’m hoping that, with Jax here as a power source, they won’t have to expend as much energy this time.
After Xander paces the room a couple times, he pulls a laptop from his satchel and opens it to search through his digital grimoire.
While Reese pulls out potentially useful items, Jax leans against the wall of the crematory with the air of a man used to waiting.
I sidle up to Tally and press my shoulder against my bubbly friend. “Did you know that ghosts are real and so are zombies?”
She studies my face, as if trying to decide if I’m being serious. “You mean like demons playing tricks on humans?”
I shake my head. “No, I mean like human spirits lingering on the human plane and resurrecting dead bodies.”
Her pink brows pinching in concern, she reaches out to pat my arm. “I think you’re pushing yourself too hard at the bakery with this business of the trial hanging over you. You should let me take more shifts until this is resolved.”
Sighing heavily, I let the topic drop. I wouldn’t have believed it, either, if I hadn’t seen it myself.
I eye the baku demon beside me. “how’s Aren doing lately? Still living it up?”
Tally’s brother had become quite famous after helping