Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
I threw out my hands and flung a time sphere around my brothers—the ones from my time. The others froze in their positions, which in Benedict’s case meant a wide-open mouth.
“I can’t,” I said, letting a laugh rumble through my chest. “I just can’t.”
“You can’t is right,” Zachariah lectured, but his mouth fought a smile. “You can’t keep stopping time every time you want to talk shit in a meeting.”
“Oh, that I can do,” I assured him with a nod. “We’re seriously discussing the female who was so obsessed over our king that she tattooed his mating mark on her body, and her pet panther terrorizing the nobles.”
“You can’t honestly tell me it’s worth our time,” Dagon chimed in.
Saint leaned forward, bracing his elbows on the table, but stayed silent, just as he had since coming home.
“Whatever our king says is worth our time, is worth our time.” Zachariah folded his arms across his chest.
“We aren’t just assassins,” Talon argued. “We’re fucking hunters, born and bred to exterminate bloodmad vampires, and you’re telling me that sitting in here is more useful than being out there hunting Samuel?”
Saint’s hands clenched into fists.
“I’m arguing that we can only see the first six bulletpoints of the briefing,” Zachariah said, waving his hand toward the screen. “We’re in the middle of a war, our species is being hunted, and a vampire we considered our brother is on the loose, conspiring with the enemy. I highly doubt we’re only here to talk about panth—” His eyes widened and his gaze swung to Talon. “Tell me it was actually a fucking panther in that bathing chamber.”
My head whipped toward Talon as a laugh threatened to burst from my mouth.
Talon put his hands up. “Hey, that one was her panther.”
Zachariah stared him down.
“But maybe it was me terrorizing Lady Asterling.” He grinned. “Couldn’t help it. She was accusing Saint—” His smile died. “Anyway, I may have chased her around the garden for ten minutes or so. She’s faster than she looks.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Zachariah rubbed the bridge of his nose.
I laughed, my shoulders shaking with the motion, and Dagon joined in. God, I loved my brothers.
Even Saint’s mouth quirked slightly.
“Not. Fucking. Funny.” Zachariah pointed at each of us. “You’re in the court of the king. Act like it.”
“There was a reason we were never allowed at court.” Talon shrugged. “They knew we were better used doing our jobs.”
“I’m going to kill Samuel.” Saint’s low voice caught all our attentions. “I don’t give a shit what the next bullet points on that agenda say. My one and only mission will be to hunt down my brother and kill him like the menace he is.”
Silence reigned for heavy seconds.
“If you can’t stand behind me in this, I’ll do it on my own.” He leveled a dark stare on us all in turn.
My chest tightened. “I won’t stand behind you, Saint, but I’ll fight at your side.”
He nodded.
“We’ll make it happen,” Zachariah agreed, his words slow and deliberate. “No matter what that agenda says, Samuel is our mission. But I think you’ll find that if we give our king a moment, you’ll see it’s his mission, too. Trust him.”
Saint’s jaw flexed.
“Now would you please restart time?” Zachariah asked. “And everyone get back in the same position you were in. The last thing we need is them thinking we’re talking shit by ourselves.”
“We are talking shit by ourselves,” Talon muttered.
We shifted back to the exact places we’d been, and I restarted time, letting the tension snap.
“—and…well, swimming, I guess,” Benedict finished his comment about Cassandra Zorin’s panther.
“I’ll handle the panther,” Jocelyn said. “I’ll have a little woman-to-woman talk with her. God knows she probably feels alone enough already without us banning her fucking pet.”
“I’d appreciate that, Jocelyn,” Alek commented. “We have enough war outside these walls without inviting it in.”
Benedict winked at his mate.
We made it through the rest of the domestic issues, and Benedict scrolled down the list. “And to what we actually all care about.”
The screen showed the patrol schedule.
“Saint,” Benedict turned toward our brother and took a deep breath, as if it took strength to even look at him. “We figured you’d want to pursue any leads about your—”
Every hunter at the table tensed.
“About Samuel’s whereabouts,” Benedict finished.
“Take anyone you want,” Lachlan continued. “You have our complete support and whatever resources you need.”
Saint nodded once. “I’ll take Dagon.”
We all nodded, too. It made sense that the two hunters who knew Samuel best would lead the mission to find him.
“Excellent.” Alek leaned forward, looking Saint in the eyes. “And each of us will be at your disposal as soon as patrols are complete for the night and any Conclave business is attended to. This night. Tomorrow night. Every night until he’s found. You have my word. Finding Samuel is our first priority not just to fight this war, but because it’s what you need, and we take care of our own.”