Wolves at the Door - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,20

guys! You made it! Isn’t this place amazing? We haven’t seen the upstairs yet.”

“It’s something, all right,” Jake said. We stepped inside to a large workroom. He peered through the nearest doorways to peek at some of the other rooms. “Where is the kitchen?”

“We were just talking about that,” Helena said. “So…there’s no kitchen…”

“A blank slate,” Jake said, clearly relishing the thought. “Man, this place is hideous inside. We’re going to have to—”

“Oh, no,” Helena waved her hands. “No, we were just thinking that if we sell it to the faeries we can spare a lot of work. Faeries like bright colors and old-fashioned decor.”

“When have you been interviewing faeries about their design choices, Baroness?” Jake asked. “And where are you going to find these faeries?”

“Through my brother,” she said, with perfect confidence. “He works at Merlin College, which as you know, is now a parallel to the faery realm. They have contact with the faery queen and she wants and needs to expand her territory. Hence—” She rubbed her fingers together in the sign for money. “Less work, more money.”

“What does Billie think of all this?” I asked, extending a hand to the redheaded girl. “Hello, by the way. I’m Jasper Sullivan. Graham told us what happened.”

“So you’re the wolf twins. Well, okay,” Billie said, on an approving up-note. “You won’t be so bad to work with.”

“Sorry, sister, you’re cute but I’m here to seduce a Habsburg,” Jake said, and i grabbed him and shoved him toward a side table while Helena covered her face with embarrassment and Billie’s mouth dropped open.

“Jake! Don’t be an ass. I’m tired of covering for you. You don’t have to say everything you’re thinking all the time.”

“Not sorry,” Jake said. “I just want to make it clear that I’m not here to waste time. A man gets to thinking on the road. I’m not driving all the way to Louisiana to work below my usual rate just to be coy. I want a wife who shares all my passions.”

Well, that line definitely worked on Helena. Even through her outward embarrassment, I could see that she was riveted by how forward Jake was being. It drove me absolutely crazy how he could get away with anything.

“All these men want you?” Billie was steaming now. “I am not going to work around these four dudes flirting with you and fighting over you all day.”

“No, no, it’s not like that! Ignore Jake. He’s just a shit-stirrer,” Helena said. “I’m here to work.”

“Me too,” I said. “We’ll put Jake outside and make him work on the porch and the soffits. I saw that you have some rot.”

“And Graham and Byron aren’t here to do anything,” Helena said. “We’ll make them leave.”

Billie looked skeptical of this, and I was too. They looked pretty comfortable standing on that porch.

“Graham has an election,” Helena said, more uncertainly. “But since you’re all here…”

“Are you ready for this?” Billie asked, her blue eyes turning harder as they skimmed over all of us. “Let’s talk about Pandora’s Box. And I hope you’re still in, because if you’re not, I’ll have to kill you.”

Chapter Ten

Helena

“Deveraux told me that Pandora’s Box will destroy Etherium as we know it,” Billie said. Her pale eyes glittered with the drama of the statement, but she didn’t seem to find this worrisome.

I was starting to wonder if Billie was a little crazy. “Destroy…Etherium?” I said. “Is that what you want? You’re an Ethereal witch.”

“Sure. I was born an Ethereal witch, technically, the same way most of us are,” Billie said. “But I’m nothing to the Ethereal witches. Nothing at all. So why should I protect them?”

I bit my lip, glancing around the table at the guys, suddenly aware that I was the only other Ethereal at the table, unless I counted Bevan, who was now perched on the mantelpiece. He didn’t like to be seen by fellow witches. He considered it very poor etiquette.

All werewolves were born into Sinistral, and so were all incubi. It didn’t matter how good they tried to be, they would always be cursed to the shadows.

“Are you too scared, Helena? I warned you.”

“I’m not scared. I’m confused. If you destroy Etherium, what do we have left? And how would that even work? You have to have light and dark.”

“‘As we know it’, Deveraux said. Don’t you know all about it, Mr. Byron? And excuse me for not knowing your last name.”

“Adras’ei. But Byron is fine by me. And yes, I do know all about