Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Ella’s gaze flew to Viper, a pinch of fear there. “They want you dead? Why?”
Hearing the worry in her voice, he felt his heart squeeze. “Baby, they’re not going to get their wish. Soon enough, they’ll come to terms with that and back off.” Maybe. “In the meantime, they’ll send other celestials on what are basically suicide missions.”
“If a celestial was here just now, surely they wouldn’t have hidden and watched the battle,” said Mia. “They would have struck while you were preoccupied with the strix.”
Viper shook his head. “I threw up a forcefield. It hid the battle from view, and it would have stopped anyone outside it from landing any hits of their own.”
Ella poked him. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“You didn’t stay in the car. Fully.”
“We talked about that already.” Ella looked at Ghost. “Speaking of the car, how are you managing to keep up with it if you’re not driving? Do you have wings or something?”
Ghost’s lips curved a little. “Or something.”
Viper thought Ella might push for an answer, but she sighed, her gaze again drifting to the dead guards.
Sadness once more seeped into her expression. “Shame they couldn’t hide their presence like you can, Ghost. I really liked those guys. Luka’s gonna freak when I tell him what happened.” Ella looked up at Viper. “This would have been a good time to tell him about you and me. I’d like to just get it over with. But … ”
“But he’s going to be furious enough on learning you were attacked by strix, and you don’t want him to be in a murderous frame of mind when you tell him about us,” Viper understood.
“Instead of admitting that Ghost is your guard, just say you got caught in the backlash of strix blindsiding him as he walked innocently across the street,” Jester advised her. “A wrong place wrong time thing.”
Ella pulled a face, not wanting to keep more things from Luka than she already was. But seriously, given how her anchor operated, what else could she do?
Sometimes, as Viper had recently shown, the truth was just best kept quiet. It would be better for her to present the Black Saints as her saviors rather than revealing that they’d been the targets. Luka would otherwise blame them for her being in the sight of the strix.
“If there’s anything you lot don’t want him to see, now is the time to hide it,” Ella warned the Black Saints as she pulled out her phone. She brought up Luka’s contact entry and pressed ‘Call’.
He answered after a few rings, “Yes?”
“Hey, hope you’re okay.” Ella scratched the back of her head. “Be warned, you’re not gonna like what I say next. Mia and I got caught up in a strix problem, and your guards sadly died in their attempt to save us. But the Black Saints showed up, so we’re fine.”
There was a long pause, then, “What?”
She winced at the growl. “Really, we’re good.”
“Where are you?” It was a snarly demand.
She rattled off the location, and then the line went dead. Sighing, she pocketed her phone. “He’s likely gonna have someone teleport him here.” Hence why she was backing away from Viper. “You might want to lower the forcefield so he’ll see us.”
“Already done,” Viper told her.
Proving her prediction correct, Luka materialized nearby no more than thirty seconds later. He headed right for her with his guards and a third demon—no doubt the teleporter—at his back. His expression black, his mouth a thin slash, he studied her appearance. “You’re all right?” he asked, his voice gruff with anger.
“We’re fine, I promise,” Ella assured him.
Mia leaned into her. “I really don’t think he’s asking about me,” she said, as ever amused by how he considered everyone other than those closest to him to be somebody else’s problem.
Luka’s gaze swept over the Black Saints, eventually settling on their president. “Viper.”
Viper inclined his head and greeted, “Belinsky.”
“I’m sorry about Kasper and Arman,” said Ella, feeling seriously shitty about them getting caught in the middle of all this fuckery. “I liked them. They were good guys.”
Her anchor gave her a hard look. “Don’t take the weight of their deaths on your shoulders. It is not your fault.” He planted his feet. “Now, I have questions. Starting with how exactly does one get caught up in a strix issue?”
“A Black Saint was crossing the road in front of us when, bam, down he went as some strix barreled into him. Your soldiers jumped out to help, got attacked for their trouble, and then the rest of the club appeared. Mia and I stayed in the car while a short but sweet battle ensued that the Black Saints did indeed win.” Aside from the first sentence, it was pretty much the truth, she’d just omitted a few details.
Luka’s eyes flew to Viper. “I suppose you’re going to call in a favor for protecting my anchor.”