Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 438(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
“The buyer of what?” Daisy asked, ignoring the changing emotions.
“A-antique. An antique. Don’t come any closer! I’ll tell you everything.”
“Yes, I know.” Daisy stepped forward and yanked Ava around until her face was pushed into the crack of the corner. She ripped the woman’s hands behind her back before sliding the point of her bloody knife against the hollow behind Ava’s ear. She pressed hard enough to break the skin.
“A goblet,” Ava said frantically. “He called it a chalice. I don’t know which one it is. Honest. I’m not on the payroll.”
Daisy leaned into the woman, pressing the blade a little deeper. A thin rivulet of blood traced down the woman’s neck. Her terror rose, her breathing becoming choppier and more panicked.
“You know who I am,” Daisy said in a low voice, “and you certainly know who Zorn is. You must also know who my brother is.”
“That wasn’t my fault!” Ava trembled. “I told him I didn’t want to be tied down. I told him! He said he’d be exclusive, but I didn’t.”
“Did you also tell him that you were with him so you could pass information to your boys? To make it easier for them to rob him?”
She froze.
“Yeah. The cheating thing is bullshit, obviously,” Daisy went on, “but you were upfront about that. Fine. Having someone filming you doing it while talking shit about my brother? Not good. That sort of thing gets under my skin. But setting him up to be jumped and robbed?”
The anger nearly dragged Daisy under.
“He’s the type of guy who suffers in silence,” she said with a constricted throat.
The picture Jerry had taken seven days ago flashed through her mind. Mordecai hadn’t been with a woman at all. His whole body had been battered and bloody, his nose broken along with a few of his bones. He’d hidden that from Daisy and stayed at Jerry’s while he healed so she wouldn’t know.
The guys thought it was because Mordecai didn’t want Daisy to claim vengeance on his behalf. That was probably partly true. But she knew Mordecai better than anyone. She knew what made him tick and why he did the things he did. He’d hidden because he was ashamed. He’d allowed himself to be caught off guard, and despite the rock-solid training they both had, they’d taken him down. It didn’t matter that it was eight against one. He knew Daisy always tried to build him up, and he’d hate causing her pain by seeing him torn down. If he hadn’t had the blood magic and the naturally fast healing of a shifter, he would’ve died. That was what had frozen Daisy’s insides. He’d been done dirty and he’d suffered for it. That was inexcusable.
“You have him jumped, you take his shit…” Daisy clenched her jaw as the rage swelled and twisted. “Then you make a sex tape while mocking him for it. He got that yesterday morning, right?”
It had crushed him. He had liked this chick for some fucking reason. He’d been over the moon about her. And she’d gone and shit all over him.
“Who talks shit about another lover while actively banging someone? No one. You were trying to hurt him emotionally after these assholes hurt him physically. What sort of hell spawned you?”
“He’s nothing but an exiled shifter,” Ava said through her teeth. “And you’re nothing but a dirty Chester!” Magical self-loathing swamped Daisy. “It was embarrassing when he sang a Chester’s praises in front of everyone. An angel? Yeah fucking right. He should’ve known better. He got what was coming to him.”
He certainly should’ve known better. Mordie was too lovely to see Daisy for what she really was—the devil with razor-tipped heels. Death walking. That was his error, but this bitch was not the right person to call him on it. Daisy alone had that privilege.
The fake magical emotion couldn’t beat out Daisy’s very real fury.
Her voice was low and intimate. “First of all…” She shallowly jabbed the woman in the thigh with her knife, then in the side. Ava cried out and fell harder into the wall, back to being docile. “He was exiled as a child, right after his parents, the alphas, were murdered. Now he is working with Demigods. He could have a pack if he wanted, but he’s choosing to stick with a very powerful family. He leveled up, you ignorant twat. Second, just so we’re clear about the type of guy you fucked around with, he wanted to walk you home to make sure you got there safe. He didn’t like this lifestyle for you. Is your air freshener actually a flaming dog turd? Because that’s what it smells like. He’s kind and lovely and gentle, but even if you hate that, he’s very good-looking and has a stellar body. Like…what sort of stupid are you? That guy Max is dumpy as shit. Do you actively try to make bad decisions?”