It’s only been ninety-seven days.
“You need to keep your shit together,” Killian says softly, his eyes finally falling to me.
“I’m fine,” I grumble.
He scoffs. “You are certainly not fine, Orion. You’re practically fucking vibrating.”
He knows me far too well for my liking.
“Is Lucas here yet?” I ask. Just his name on my lips drags fresh anger to the surface. That little fucker has been doing his best to stay out of our clutches, and so far, he’s doing a good job of it. If all our focus were on taking him down, we probablywould have had it done within the first week, but most of my efforts have been on my little flame, allowing Lucas to keep breathing.
Killian nods. “He thinks he’s done a good job with his mask, but the cocky son of a bitch is walking around here like his usual peacock self.”
I scan the room, taking in everyone’s disguises. These events are strange for me because normally I’m the only one wearing a mask, but it’s also a nice change of pace. My eyes settle on a man wearing a mask not dissimilar to my own. Where the skull that covers my face is worn silver, his is shiny gold, as if that makes him better than anyone else in this room.
The asshole needs to die, but not tonight.
There are too many eyes here, too many people he could expose my identity to.
I don’t need confirmation to know he’s all too aware of who he’d find if he lifted the mask from my face.
And that’s just one of many reasons he needs to be taken out of the picture.
As if he can feel my attention on him, Lucas turns to me, and his eyes shine with hatred. He won’t make a scene here. Not because he doesn’t want to, but because he knows Killian would kill him before he could get a complete sentence out. That doesn’t mean he’s not going to taunt us.
He starts toward us, and Killian levels me with a look. “Behave.”
I smirk. “When do I ever not?”
“Literally every day.”
I chuckle, but don’t bother to respond as Lucas nears us. “Ah, the Hunter decided to show his face. You’ve been very quiet of late.”
I glare at him. “Some of us don’t need to make a lot of noise in order to make an impact.”
“That may be true, but from what I hear, you’re not making much of that either. Seems you’ve been distracted by something…or someone, perhaps.”
My entire body locks at the implication of Ember. To begin with, we were certain he had her, but when he didn’t parade her around like a show pony, we knew that couldn’t be the case.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” I grind out through clenched teeth. “Business is booming, as usual.”
The glare he hits me with would make a lot of men flinch. As annoying as Lucas is, he is intimidating. You don’t get as much power as he has without being able to scare the shit out of others.
Before he can get a response out, the elevators on the other side of the room slide open, and the entire world ceases to exist around me.
Because it’s her.
My Ember.
My little flame.
My everything.
Red satin clings to her every curve, and my mouth waters at the sight. Jesus, she’s a sight for sore eyes, even with the makeup that acts as a mask. There aren’t many people here that Ember would have dealt with in the past, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t need to conceal her identity.
Her cherry red lips quirk up when she notices my stare, as if she’s completely unaffected by my presence, but we both know that’s not the case. Even from here, I can see the goose bumps that move up her arms, and I chuckle under my breath.
Ember may think she hates me, but that’s the thing. Love and hate are one and the same. She just needs to be reminded of how fucking good we were together.
