“Charity—” He clenched and unclenched his jaw, then repeated the pattern with his fists on the steering wheel, trying to control his anger. The rest of the ride was tense and quiet. When they got to the house, they saw that the area beside the door was already boarded up. Sarge’s remains had been collected before they’d left the house, but the scene of the attack had also been cleaned up. No blood stained the driveway. She only hoped Devon’s bedroom had been thoroughly cleaned up as well.
They walked into the house silently, each depositing their bags in their separate rooms—Devon’s door had been fixed, but she didn’t dare go in to make sure Samantha’s remains had been taken away.
“What do you want for dinner?” Charity asked Devon when they met in the kitchen.
“Are you serious? You’re not going to say anything about this? I can see that you’re mad, Charity. Talk to me.”
At the risk of potentially freaking out, and trying to kill him with her bare hands? She was a little unhinged at the moment, so the best thing for everyone was for her to feign calm and relaxed. She had no idea what this strange feeling was that kept surging out of her depths, but it was alive and wild. Best contained until she knew what to do with it.
“I’m fine. Let’s just make dinner. Actually, I could probably go faster if you went in and watched sports. Or porn. You know, whatever you lady-killers enjoy.” She snapped her mouth shut. That response had gotten away from her a little at the end.
Devon made a masculine sound like a growl but didn’t say anything, his handsome face shut down in frustration.
He really was a gorgeous devil. With intelligence, wit, and brilliant prospects. And he was gentle, loyal, and steadfast, too. The woman who finally landed him would be lucky.
Those thoughts weren’t helping her get over him any more than her snide remarks were.
She turned to the counter. Her itching palms would have to settle for kitchen knives too dull to be plunged into the resident hot man’s chest.A while later, as the shadows were starting to lengthen across the yard, Andy strolled into the kitchen and flopped down into one of the chairs. “What’s for dinner? I’m starving.”
“Roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and vegetables.” Charity peeked into the oven to check on it.
“Eww, vegetables.”
“They’re good for you.”
“I know, I was kidding. I actually like vegetables. Where’s our fearless alpha?”
“Wasn’t he in the living room?” Charity glanced out through the archway of the kitchen, not able to see into the living room from that angle, but giving it a try anyway.
“No.” Andy scrutinized her. “What’s up with you? You in a bad mood?”
Charity shook her head as Devon sauntered in from the direction of his bedroom. He had on his loose sweats, his face grim and determined. When he saw Andy, he said, “Roger set the extraction time for tomorrow, noon. The vampires have a good-sized host of demons watching the portals on the Brink side. We’ll probably have to cut through them.”
Charity felt her eyebrows crawl to her hairline. Demons?
Andy drummed the table, looking unconcerned. “How many are we going up against?”
Devon shook his head as he gave Charity a long, searching look. He lowered into a chair. “Roger isn’t sure. Vlad has a lot of resources.”
“What about Vlad?” Dillon asked as he entered the kitchen. Macy followed closely behind.
“What’s up?” Rod asked, following the others in like a linebacker, all shoulder and muscle. “Oh man, it smells good in here.”
“We’re smuggling Chastity out tomorrow,” Andy said with a grin at Charity.
Her stomach tightened up. Not able to help herself, she glanced at Devon. Who was glaring at Andy.
“What? Is that not funny anymore?” Andy put his hands in the air. “I’m always the last one to know things.”
Rod looked back and forth between a silent Charity and the brooding alpha. His gaze fell to the ground when Yasmine walked in. Her blonde hair was done in loose curls, falling to her mid-back. She’d put on light makeup and wore yoga clothes, perfectly outlining that excellent physique.
The scorching look Yasmine gave Devon fired up Charity’s craving to kill something.
“Right, I’m going to go…change,” Charity said. She needed a long, hot bath and a new place to live.
“You’re coming back, right?” Rod whined. “When can we take out the meat?”
“Running away?” Devon asked in a light, unaffected voice, cutting past all her defenses and stabbing her heart.
“I’m not running anywhere,” Charity said in a cool tone. “I’m simply going to put on some of the new clothes I bought. You know, to fix myself up. Isn’t that what you said? Obviously, I look like a dump and you’re offended to have me in your sight.”
He straightened. “That’s not what I meant.” His tone was angry. As usual.