Page 27 of Rising Reign

I sighed and cracked my neck. “Trust me when I say, it’s not your system’s fault.”

Locke looked between us. “Explain.”

“A vampire.” The voice was new, feminine, and more than a little curious. Hera moved in from the house’s living room and library wing, where she’d clearly been napping given the state of her hair.

As she spoke the words, a new set of growls lit the air. But Wren’s wasn’t one of them. Instead, she glanced at me, shock evident in her turquoise eyes. “You’re friends with a vampire?”

I understood the surprise. Shifters and vampires weren’t typically on the same side of things. Maybe because a wolf bite could kill a vampire, and a vampire could turn a wolf into a kind of half-crazed demon. But there were exceptions to every rule.

“Don’t worry, Little Vixen,” Rhys told Wren. “I don’t bite.” His ring-ladened fingers lifted to his mouth. “Oh, wait…”

Puck’s lip curled as he let out a low growl. “Back up.”

I moved in then, not wanting things to devolve. “Relax. Rhys is a dick, but he’s not going to harm anyone in this house. Right, Rhys?”

Rhys drummed his fingers over his lips. “That all depends. If someone makes a move on me, I will retaliate.”

“But no one will do that if you just behave,” I ground out.

Hera moved in closer, her head cocking to one side in a very shifter-like movement. “You’re a vampire, but there’s something else there, too.”

If I didn’t know Rhys so damn well, I would’ve missed it. The slight flicker in his eyes and the way the gold burned a little brighter. He quickly covered it with his impression of a charming smile. “If you’re saying I’m special…of course, I am.”

Hera’s eyes narrowed on him. “Try your charm somewhere else, bloodsucker.”

Rhys sent her a look of mock affront. “The judgment and prejudice. And from a witch, no less. You should know something about persecution.”

Little sparks of energy flew through the air, colliding with Rhys. He jumped back and cursed.

“That’s what you get for calling me a witch,” Hera snarled.

I moved quickly, stepping between them. “Enough. Both of you, behave. And, King, lower the goddamned gun already.”

“You’ll vouch for him?” King pushed, arching a brow.

“Yes,” I grumbled, sending Rhys a warning look. Vouching for his troublemaking ass meant anything he did would come back on me.

Kingston slowly lowered his weapon but didn’t put it in one of his hidey-holes quite yet.

Rhys rolled his shoulders back. “That’s a little better.”

“What are you really doing here?” I asked. Rhys wouldn’t come all the way across the country simply for shits and giggles. Unless he’d really reached a whole new level of boredom.

A smile stretched back across his face. “Your little mate wanted to know who your source was. So, here I am.”

17

WREN

I gaped at the mercurial man in the middle of the entryway, one with all sorts of opposing identities. “You’re Ender’s informant?”

“The one and only. With my fingers in all sorts of dark and dastardly pies.” Rhys wiggled his fingers to accentuate the point.

I tried to identify each of his rings. One had an intricate tree carved into a circle as if it could serve as a seal. Another had a ragged mask that looked like something out of a nightmare. And on his pinky was a dark stone that looked like a black hole just waiting to swallow anyone it came into contact with.

“Keep all your fingers away from her,” Puck snarled.

Rhys only beamed at him. “This is good. It’s fun seeing your pack coming together in defense of a mate. I wasn’t sure it would happen.”