جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 70

Finn, and Sally snuck off into the woods before dawn. While Camille worried that Finn was coming on too strong with her sister and wanted to search for them, Maddox could hear all of Sally's moans and pleading for more pleasure. Apparently, Sally was in good hands with his Beta. When the sun peered over the horizon, he lifted his exhausted mate into his arms and carried her off to their cabin. “But wait?” she yawned. “We should help them clean up.” “We are the Alpha and Luna.” he snorted. “We do not clean.” “That’s so obnoxious.” “You’ll have to get used to it.” “Seriously, I don’t want my wolves to clean it all up by themselves.” Maddox grinned. “Your wolves?” “Yes.” “Hmmm.” he smiled at the loving way she mentioned the pack. “Don’t worry. Derrick will do it. He’s the Omega. He gets all the shit jobs.” “And I told you that I’m going to change that.” “You won’t.” She frowned. “That sucks for Derrick. When will it stop?” “When there are new wolves introduced to the pack.”

This marriage, it’s going to be a problem.She is going to be a problem.This war of ours, the one between the Vampyres and the Weres, began several centuries ago with brutal escalations of violence, culminated amid flowing torrents of varicolored blood, and ended in a whimper of buttercream cake on the day I met my husband for the first time.Which, as it happens, was also the day of our wedding.Not quite the stuff of childhood dreams. Then again, I’m no dreamer. I only ever contemplated marriage once, back in the gloomy days of my childhood. Following a few too-harsh punishments and a poorly executed assassination attempt, Serena and I concocted plans for a grand escape, which was going to involve pyrotechnics-based diversions, stealing our math tutor’s car, and flipping off our caregivers in the rearview mirror.“We’ll stop by the animal shelter and adopt one of those shaggy dogs. Pick up a Slurpee for me, some blood for you. Disappear forever into Human territory.”“Will they let

He stands at the end of the path, turned away from me, listening to what someone is whispering in his ear—his best man, perhaps. I can’t get a good look at his face, but I know what to expect from the picture I was given weeks ago: handsome, striking, unsmiling. His hair is short, a rich brown cut to a buzz; his suit was black, well fitted across his broad shoulders. He’s the only man in the room not wearing a tie, and yet he manages to look elegant anyway. Maybe we share a stylist. As good a starting point for a marriage as any, I suppose. “Be careful with him,” Father whispers, lips barely moving. “He is very dangerous. Do not cross him.” What every girl wants to hear ten feet from the altar, especially when the hard line of her groom’s shoulders already looks cross. Impatient. Annoyed. He doesn’t bother glancing in my direction, as though I’m inconsequential, as though there are other, better things for him to do with his time. I wonder what the best man is whispering in his

The Nest is still the tallest building in the north of The City, and perhaps the most distinctive: a bloodred podium that stretches underground for hundreds of feet, topped by a mirror skyscraper that comes alive around sunset and slides back to sleep in the early hours of the morning. I brought Anna here once, when she asked to see what the heart of the Vampyre territory was like, and she stared open-mouthed, jarred by the sleek lines and ultramodern design. She’d been expecting candelabras, and heavy velvet drapes to block the murderous sun, and the corpses of our enemies hanging from the ceiling, blood milked from their veins to the very last drop. Bat artwork, in honor of our winged, chiropterous forefathers. Coffins, just because. “It’s nice. I just thought it’d be more . . . metal?” she mused, not at all intimidated at the idea of being the only Human in an elevator full of Vampyres. The memory still makes me smile years later. Flexible spaces, automated systems, integrated t

“We have been formally asked to return the Human Collateral. And they will send back the girl who’s currently serving as the Vampyre Collateral—” “Boy,” I correct him automatically. My fingertips feel numb. “The current Vampyre Collateral is a boy.” I met him once. He had dark hair and a constant frown and said “No, thank you” when I asked if he needed help carrying a stack of books. By now he might very well be as tall as me. “Whatever it might be, the return will happen next week. The Humans have decided not to wait for Maddie Garcia to take office.” “I don’t see . . .” I swallow. Gather myself. “It’s for the best. It’s a stupid practice.” “It has been ensuring peace between the Vampyres and the Humans for over one hundred years.” “Seems a little cruel to me,” I counter calmly. “Asking an eight-year-old to relocate alone inside enemy territory to play hostage.” “ ‘Hostage’ is such a crude, simplistic word.” “You hold a Human child as a deterrent for ten years, with the mutua