“As I’m sure Landelarc Sable will understand that you’re merely representing Owen since his submission to you.”
For a moment, she thought she saw something hard flash in the alpha’s eyes, but his voice was calm. “Do you or do you not belong to Gaebryl of the peaks?”
“Yes,” she said softly. “Since I was eight years old.”
He took her chin in his hand, and lowered his face to hers until she flinched and tried to draw in on herself. Only his fierce grip held her. “Do you think my lord Gaebryl will fail to notice the fact that you have polluted his link to you by the addition of the human female with your damned magick? Did you think of the consequences before you involved an innocent in your schemes? I am only an ignorant were, but even I know that seraphim are not famed for their kindness.”
“I have lived with the kindness of seraphim all my life,” Lilith spat. “I would never have allowed Tasha to be harmed.”
He released her with a gesture of disgust. “Why are you so certain you could ensure her safety?”
She lifted her chin. “Because once I have taken my seat on the council, I will bring Gaebryl up on charges. He and all seraphim will face justice for their crimes.”
Gideon stared for a moment, and then laughed. It was a loud sound that boomed across the empty room.
“You find the cruelty of the seraphim humorous?” Lilith asked.
“No, I don’t, but you have balls witch.” He threw Owen a disgusted glance. “More than this pup.”
He turned to his second-in-command, Bear. “Bring me the damned female.”
Owen stepped forward. One side of his face was still red from Gideon’s blow. “Tasha doesn’t know anything. Dragging her into this will only confuse her more.”
“Is she dim-witted?”
“No.”
“She doesn’t know…what…I am,” Owen said.
Gideon sighed. “You marked her without her consent?”
“Yes, I mean…no. What I mean is…” Owen stammered.
Gideon lifted his hand as if to hit Owen again, but seemed to think better of it.
Lilith jumped into the gap of silence. “She consented, but she doesn’t remember. If I talk to her, perhaps I can find out what happened.”
Gideon, Owen and Remy all stared at her.
“It’s the least I could do to make…amends,” she added.
Wow, making promises she might not be able to keep and to an alpha. Her life had just hit a new low.
“What a fine mess. I should kill all of you simply for causing so much trouble.” Gideon raked a hand through his hair. “This is what we will do: bring the woman before me. If she is satisfactory, I will take her.” He cut a glance to Lilith. “And you will have your seat for all the good it will do you. I suspect my lord Gaebryl might kill you himself over this, but it will save me the trouble.”
He turned to Owen. “You will bring your brother before me at the next full moon where I will take his submission.”
Owen paled.
“Do you have a problem with that?” Gideon snarled.
Owen’s shoulders slumped. “No, my lord.”
Gideon waved a massive hand at Lilith. “Go get the woman, but remember this: once I take her, you are mine, as well.”
Lilith swallowed. “That’s not how the hex works.”
Red suffused Gideon’s face and his voice boomed. “If I want your opinion, I will ask for it. Now go before I change my mind.”
Lilith fled the room.#p#分页标题#e#
Nine by Night: A Multi-Author Urban Fantasy Bundle of Kickass Heroines, Adventure, Magic
CHAPTER TEN
Lilith saw Benny first.
As she pushed her way through the crowd, she sensed that the energies in the bar had shifted in some indefinable way while she’d been in the back. They were darker, edgier. More…scattered.
If the flows were music, they would be modern and atonal, a discordant piece that grated and irritated. If the night were a movie, this would the moment when something bad happened, yet all she saw was Benny bent over a table, wiping furiously while four women pointed at the mess on the floor of spilled liquid and broken glass.
“You all right?” she asked Benny.
He bobbed up, a startled look in his pale blue eyes. “This is bad,” he breathed. “Really, really bad.”
Lilith flashed a professional smile at the disgruntled customers. “I’ll get a busboy out here right away to clean that up.” She turned and waved Misty over. “To make it up to you, how about a round on the house?”
Misty arrived, tray in hand, and Lilith didn’t hang around.
Tasha McNeil had vanished.