Chapter 296. A Not-Hickey

Chapter 296: 296. A Not-Hickey

Maisie

"It’s good to have you back, Adams."

Those had been Soren’s last words to me before Quinlan ushered me out of the study with a hand on the small of my back.

I was silently fuming, especially at the look on their faces. It was a taunt. He thought I would return home eventually, of my own volition. He thought I was bluffing. He thought I didn’t mean it and he was calling my bluff.

Well, he could go to hell. I was pretty determined to keep them out of harm’s way if it came down to it. And I was willing to push down my wants and needs to keep them safe.

"Quinn!"

I glanced over. Juliette was running from the other side of the house, where the guest rooms were. As she grew closer, I noticed her nose was red. Her eyelashes were wet.

She had been crying.

She barely noticed me when she reached us and slammed into Quinn with a barrage of french words so vicious and angry, it didn’t sound at all like Juliette.

Quinlan responded slowly, calmly, his face drawn with confusion. He shook his head once when she spoke again, and she grabbed his wrist. "Please. Just give him back."

"Juliette," I started. "What is it?"

She broke into a soft sob. "I can’t find Phil. I’ve looked everywhere on the estate. Quinn didn’t want me keeping him. I think he’s killed him."

Oh God, I thought, staring at her, aghast.

"I didn’t," Quinlan growled in annoyance.

"Did you bury him in the front yard like you did my first pet?" she accused.

Quinlan growled again. "The pup had to go after he turned on you and bled you. Five times. You’ve never really known when you’re in danger, never known what’s good for you, keeping things around that will kill you. I suppose we’re alike in that aspect, but as I’ve mentioned, I didn’t kill your Patrick."

Did he just take a dig at me?

"Philip!" she screamed at him. "His name was Philip! And I loved him!"

"Yeah. Whatever," Quinlan answered and stepped around her.

She started sobbing profusely again. "I’m going to tell mama! I’m going back to France. I hate you!"

Quinlan didn’t even break a stride. "You coming, May?"

I suddenly wanted to take back my decision to stay at the school. Just to watch this play out.

"Yeah." I shot Juliette an apologetic look. "Maybe... Maybe Quinn didn’t kill him. Phil has always been... hard to keep track of. He comes and goes as he likes. I’m sure he’ll be back soon," I reassured.

She wiped her cheek. "This is the longest I’ve been without him." Her fingers curled against her chest. "If feels like a part of me is missing..."

I’d stopped listening. There was a redness on her collarbone, the hand on her chest parting her collar to reveal it.

At first sight, it looked like a hickey. It wasn’t the thought that Juliette was seeing someone that bothered me. It was that when I squinted, the hickey took shape. It was a full moon, stuck out through the center with two lines.

I stared hard at it, thinking I’d seen that shape somewhere before.

Juliette finally noticed my attention and she jerked up her collar instantly, looking frightened. "Please don’t tell Quinn," she whispered.

"Don’t tell him what?"

She glanced around, then pulled me aside. "I’ve..." She flushed red. "I’ve been having dreams. I know this might sound insane. But it’s always been about one man. He... touches me--and it feels--ecstatic and--and I never want it to end--"

I got the feeling touch was more than Juliette was letting on.

She stopped, burning all over. "I told him not to leave me last night. And he told me he had a present for me. And I woke up to this." She chewed on her lower lip. "I think he marked me."

And it clicked. Where I’d seen it before.

Gruer had the same mark below his torso. The first time I’d summoned him mid-sex--and it happened a good number of times, considering the man never ran out of volunteers--and I’d gotten flashed with the view of him, I’d asked him what it was.

He’d flashed me a dark smile. "You get this when you’re stupid enough to attract a demon and offer yourself to it. It’s a mark of ownership."

My knees went weak. "His eyes, what did they look like?" I asked, knowing if it was what I thought it was, what he looked like wouldn’t matter. He could shift shapes into anything. Anyone.

"Green," she whispered. "They glow. Oh Maisie. They’re unlike anything I’ve seen."

I felt both sick and angry. I knew leaving Gruer with Juliette was a bad idea, but I hadn’t thought about it too much, trusting him to remain nothing but a cat.

But he’d gone and marked her. Without asking. Without caring. Without thinking of what a mark meant on a Lycan female. That her scent hadn’t begun changing yet was what was keeping the others from discovering.

But anytime now, everyone would know she’d been claimed.

Clearly, it didn’t matter what side of the rift they were on, or what race they were. All men were the same, and I had a bone to pick with a demon.

****

The rumble of the car driving over the hills rolled through me. Quinlan’s red convertible recklessly fishtailed around the sharp bends like traffic rwgulations and speed limits weren’t a thing in his vocabulary.

I might have stuck my head out the window and felt the wind in my hair and face if I wasn’t ball tight with nerves and guilt.

I had to tell Quinn about Juliette. And what Gruer had done. It was my fault. I should have dragged that damn cat by the neck the minute he put his face between her breasts.

No. This was my mess to clean, I reasoned, biting the inside of my cheek. Plus, I couldn’t guarantee Quinlan wouldn’t go on a hunt after Gruer. In Germany. Or Singapore. Or Spain. Or wherever his living quarters had migrated to this time.

Who would win that fight? I wondered.

They’d probably kill each other.

I wasn’t even sure demons could die. But Lycans definitely could.