Page 154 of Black Willow Witch
He did a long blink. ‘You havedemonsin the basement?’
She almost laughed at the shocking absurdity of his statement. ‘They’re not demons.’
‘No?’
‘No,’ she assured him with a flap of her hand. ‘They’re just red goblins. More particularly, they’re attendants of the Blood God.’
His brows snapped together. ‘Attendants of thewhat?’
‘They’re creatures from another realm. They feed off malice, revenge, cruelty, pain. They worship and serve the Blood God, a pure evil deity who – in terms of appearance – is a much biggerversion of them.’ She paused as she took in his expression. ‘This isn’t making you feel better, is it?’
‘No. Not at all.’ He planted his fists on his hips. ‘How did they even end up in your basement?’
‘Millicent opened a portal for them after making a pact with their deity.’
‘What kind of pact?’
Emberlyn shrugged. ‘She didn’t tell me the terms, which means she thought I wouldn’t approve and she didn’t want to hear me lecture her. I just know that his attendants will come to the aid of her or her descendants if bidden. They – probably because she practiced so much blood magick down there – like to hang in the basement sometimes.’
He shook his head, incredulous. ‘And this doesn’t bother you? You never worried that they’d harm you? You never thoughtto mention it to me?’
‘No need to get hysterical.’
His brows flew up again. ‘Hysterical? This isn’t me being hysterical, baby. This is me being freaked the fuck out.’
‘So, for future reference, when you’re freaked the hell out, you turn hysterical?’ Because right now, he wasboth.
He scraped a hand down his face. ‘That’s it. I’m done with this conversation.’
‘Good, because we have stuff to do outside.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Now that Ripper was once more dressed, he and Emberlyn walked from corpse to corpse. Anger thrummed through his blood. Anger and a healthy dose of guilt. If he hadn’t taken the faction’s bait, if he hadn’t allowed himself to be pulled away from her, she wouldn’t have been alone when these motherfuckers came for her.
Not that it seemed to bother her that she’d mostly dealt with the faction on her own – well, if you didn’t include the goblins and animals. In fact, he got the feeling that she’d relished it. But it botheredhima fuck of a lot.
As did knowing there were goblins in the basement, along with a goddamn portal. But he couldn’t be mad about it because they’d been indispensable tonight.
Around them, his wolves were keeping watch on the Rabid they’d detained. The creatures were still sleeping, but after all the bullshit that had gone on tonight, no one was in the mood to be complacent; they were too on edge.
Pausing near the twins’ parents, she flapped a hand. The protective dome around them lowered instantly. ‘They’re in a coma,’ she murmured. ‘I couldn’t bring myself to kill them.’
He would have been surprised if she had, given how deeply she cared for Paisley and Kage. But if shehadended the couple, Ripper wouldn’t have blamed her one bit. ‘I wouldn’t have pegged them for members of the faction.’
‘Me neither. The twins are going to be devastated.’
At the break in her voice, Ripper rubbed her nape. ‘One of us needs to call them before they find out about this from someone else. Want me to do it? As their Alpha—’
‘I’ll do it. Ineedto do it.’
Respecting that, he nodded. ‘I wouldn’t have thought Ward and Penelope were faction members, but seeing Ames and Ruben here isn’t surprising.’
‘I wasn’t shocked to seeanyof them because I don’t trust a single person in the coven. In my view, they were all possible suspects.’
‘This has to have hit Reena hard.’ Ripper looked over to where she leaned against the fence, her strength not yet fully back. Her dull eyes kept bouncing from her sister to her husband.
‘Yeah,’ Emberlyn softly agreed.
