Chapter 91
Chapter Ninety-One
APRIL
“Where do you think Eshe wandered off since she didn’t come to get you for help?”
Standing in front of the mirror, I watch Sebastian standing behind me stark naked while wringing out excess water from my hair with a thick towel.
We just did all sorts of things, yet my face warms at the cheeks seeing his sculpted body on display.
I’m not complaining, it’s just very hard to concentrate on what I’m trying to say.
He catches my eye in the mirror and smirks.
Jerk.
“I did not see her pass us when we came in through the tunnel.” His hand wraps around my hair, and he tugs my head back to give me a scorching kiss. “Why do you ask, Tesoro? Do you not trust her?”
I’m breathless when he pulls back clutching the other towel I wrapped around me at my chest. Sebastian pretends he is helping me, but when I clear my throat to be able to speak, I see his irresistible lips twitch.
“Something is off with her.” When his knuckles graze between my shoulders down my spine, my skin pebbles and I shiver. “Would you go get dressed,” I snap at him, sliding out of his reach.
“You did not complain about my state of undress a minute ago.” He acts like I’ve insulted him, but his eyes glitter with arrogance and humor.
The worst thing about panty-melting men is the fact that they know it.
And just like the one standing proudly in front of me, his cock already hard again and jutting out between his powerful thighs to point at me, they use it as a weapon against stupid women like me.
My mouth dries out when I see a forgotten droplet of water make its way down the column of his strong neck over his clavicle until it glides over his pectoral like a lover, refusing to stop touching his skin.
“I can’t think when you are naked,” I admit the truth, glaring at him.
The tendons on his throat tighten, and he bites his lower lip, trying not to laugh at me. The top of his fang poking out from his upper lip just adds to my misery, and I groan while rubbing a hand over my face.
“Sebastian.” Saying his name in warning, I huff out a frustrated breath.
“Be serious. I want to go check on Andrei, and we need to go scout the theater. They probably know by now that we found Andrei. They are desperate to keep their advantage, so if we don’t go to them, they will come and strike here. Again.”
Snatching the towel I am holding to my chest, he tugs me to him and kisses the logic out of me. I have no idea what I was saying, and why did I stop kissing him in the first place? But he pulls away too soon, leaving me dazed and gasping for breath with a cocky smirk on his stupidly handsome face.
“You are right, Tesoro.”
I watch with my mouth hanging open when he turns and strides back in the room, his glutes tightening with each step he takes. Instead of fighting mages, I actually really, truly want to sink my teeth in the round flesh of his ass.
“Later you can bite all you want.” He throws over his shoulder with a wink, and I realize too late I said that last part out loud.
Not even immortality, nor an ancient soul taking residence inside me can cure awkward, it seems.
“As far as Eshe goes,” Sebastian calls out from somewhere in the bedroom so I shuffle my way to join him there.
“She has freedom now that she did not have with the Council watching every step and waiting for an excuse to kill whoever it is. I hated living like that, so I can only imagine how life treated her being stuck with the lot of them.”
“She didn’t look to put out,” I mutter under my breath; still, something about the whole disappearing act insistently nagging at me.
“You have to remember, tesoro, that although you have your memories back, Eshe has been a vampire longer than both of us have been alive combined. Your soul is ancient, but you are still so young. After living for a lifetime or two, you forget how a lot of things used to feel. The values and morals blur when you are in the middle of the snake pit. We are predators, not a litter of puppies waiting to be trained with tricks.”
Thankful that he is somewhat covered now, I start dressing as well, purposely letting the towel drop before I shimmy my way to the closet. Payback is a bitch, and the deep rumble coming from his chest confirms that theory.
“I get that, Sebastian.” He says something I can’t hear, so I go on with my venting.
“I just have this feeling …” Returning to the room and pulling a long-sleeve shirt over my head, I chew on the words before I voice them.
“Something about her brings red flags in my head.” And before he rubs it in my face.
“It could be my trust issues, too. I’m not saying not. ”
“I shall tell Marcus to have eyes on her at all times if it’ll ease your worry.” Sebastian waits until I put my boots on to take my hand, kiss my knuckles, and lead me to check on Andrei.
“I’d appreciate it.” Keeping my tone low, I tell him in earnest as we weave through the halls.
We changed a lot of things since we took up residence in the cathedral-like building.
What used to be eerie and morose is now open and fresh, and people move around without worrying that someone will slit their throat on every corner.
Everyone calls me April, too. So let’s not mention the fact I had to threaten them so they would agree.
Having Andrei back and alive also brings a somewhat lighter feeling, as if the walls themselves are rejoicing he is here.
With a nod here, and a smile there, Sebastian and I reach Marcus’s room without delay, and he walks in without knocking like he owns the place.
My gaze locks on Marcus as soon as I cross through the open door.
“You didn’t find anyone to kill you?” I jab in greeting.
“Not for the lack of trying,’ he spits back, but the grin on his face is telling.
“Where did you go?” Sebastian asks as I dart to the bed to check on Andrei.
“He is not awake, yet,” Marcus informs me before turning to Sebastian. “I sent a few of the Guardians to keep an eye on the theater. They have orders to observe comings and goings from afar, but not to engage.”
“I believed it to be a smart move as well,” Sebastian retorts. “But April brought up a very good point.”
“I see you tamed him into submission.” Marcus chortles, while Sebastian glares at him. “Go on, I couldn’t let it pass.”
He has cleaned up as well, his dark hair still wet and curling around his ears.
When I sit on the edge of the mattress, I notice straight away that the grayish tone on Andrei’s skin is replaced by a healthy tan, and all the cuts and wounds are now just pink lines.
I hope in a couple more hours they will be fully gone and he will wake up.
He stirs but doesn’t open his eyes, although his face turns to my hand as soon as I reach for him.
“They will know soon, if they don’t already, that we found Andrei.
We need to make our move now before they strike at us like before.
I have a feeling they were planning to use him as a bargaining chip to get April or me to trade places with him.
Without the ace up their sleeve, they’ll be desperate to proceed with their plans. ”
“Holds weight.” Marcus nods sharply, his eyebrows bunching on his forehead. “They had him pretty cut up, though, if they wanted to trade him. The possibility is there that it was their plan, but it doesn’t seem likely.”
Wiggling to turn so I can look at him over my shoulder, I can tell something is bothering him. “What’s going through your head? I can hear you thinking all the way here.”
“It feels off.” He starts pacing as Sebastian and I watch him stomp and clench his hands at the sides.
“This whole thing doesn’t make sense. Why stage his death, only so they can pin him like a rat in the underground tunnels and carve him up.
I’m not sure they expected him to live.” His gaze is troubled when he looks at us.
“He would’ve been dead in a day, two max if you didn’t find him.
The scum was doing something else, I just can’t figure out what. ”
“Could very well be,” Sebastian agrees while I struggle with my anger all over again.
And just like that, my mind clears, and the craziest thought comes out of nowhere, making me pay attention to it. It’s really out of left field, but because of that reason, it kind of makes sense in a way.
“Eshe was not surprised to see Andrei carved up in the tunnels,” I blurt out, staring at the two of them.
“What?”
Marcus stops pacing and Sebastian narrows his eyes in thought, but I can’t stop replaying the whole thing in my head over and over now that I’m not shocked and lost on the crazy bus.
When I saw him and he spoke, my legs folded underneath me, and I dropped on the ground.
I was shocked, but she was pissed as if she should’ve expected that to happen.
Like she should’ve seen the possibility for Andrei to be taken.
And not long after that, she disappeared, only to return long after the mages got back. I tell the two men as much.
“Before you go on a witch hunt, let me assure you that I trust she is on our side.” It hurts to say the words, but I push on. “I trust her when she says that she stayed with the Council to buy herself time and wait for my return as she promised.”
A muscle is twitching under Sebastian’s eye, and his jaw is clamped shut. He is quiet, but he might as well be roaring and raging by the way he looks.
“I should be the first to shout betrayal and point fingers after what Sara and Eddie did to me, but I still don’t think that’s it. Something is going on, I just don’t know what.”
“I will not let you go anywhere near the mages until we know that she is not helping them.” Sebastian slices a hand, chipping the air with finality.
Marcus groans, pinching the bridge of his nose between a thumb and a forefinger.
My friend knows me well.