“Yep.”
“How is she?”
“Hungry and moody,” he complains.
“Did you let her feed from you yet?”
“No,” he says shortly.
“Dev, sweetie. Don’t keep refusing her. Your punishment this early on will be destructive.” We have enough to deal with without her going rogue.
“Humph, we’ll see. Just come down now.” And he hangs up. Great. Give him a bit of sire responsibility and he starts acting like an arse.
“Come. We had better make tracks.” I take Cole’s hand and we Astral downstairs.
“I’m glad we are going home. To our home. Even if it is only for a couple of days,” he says.
“Me too. I miss our bed,” I say, and he chuckles.
“Me too.”
Everyone except CK, is assembled downstairs in Devon’s suite. Cade has Jess under his twirling sphere, and I look questioningly at him. “She’s a firecracker, this one. Christ. Exert some authority over her will you. She keeps stalking us.” ‘Us’ being him and Nico, I presume. I grip her arm and he lets the sphere go.
“Stay away from them,” I hiss at her and she quakes.
“Sorry, I’m trying. I really am. I need to get out.” She flexes her shoulders and I grudgingly understand.
“I know. We are leaving now. We are going back to L.A. for a couple of days before we go to Canada. I will drive you to the airport in the Veyron. You can have a bit of fresh air before we get on the jet.”
She smiles gratefully at me. I smile weakly back at her. I let her go and glare at Devon until he comes to take control of her. He holds her arm lightly and barely looks at her, but she is gazing adoringly at him. I want to throw up. Again, it strikes me as odd, this detachment he seems to have. CK couldn’t keep his hands off me after I woke up and the same with me and Devon and me and Cole. I must remember to ask CK about it. But that reminds me of his threat, or promise, or whatever you want to call it, and I sigh.
I turn to Nico. “Where is he?”
“He will meet us at the airport,” he says, and I shrug.
Fine. Whatever.
I clap my hands to get the attention of everyone and say, “Right, it’s dark out, let’s move. I will drive Jess, the rest of you pile into the limo. Who is driving my car back to L.A.?”
“Me,” Nico says, and I see a hint of delight there.
“Look after it,” I say and then add, “Any speeding fines you get are your own to pay.”
He smiles a proper genuine smile and nods. “Of course.”
“Great, shall we then.” I take Cole’s hand and open the door. Who should be standing there but Xane.
“I’m ready,” he says shortly. I can see he is still pissed off with me about my revelation of trying to break our bond, but it is the least of my worries.
“Fine. We’re going. Oh, crap.” I spin around and do a quick head count. “We won’t fit ten on the G6. Nine is the max.”
“If you can look after yourself for a few hours, I will drive with Nico,” Cade says, and I can see he is also eager to get his hands on my Veyron.
“That’s fine. But play nice,” I frown at them and they chuckle like old buddies. Hm, interesting.
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-SEVEN
We all leave the dreaded hotel suite, glad to see the back of it.