Page 64 of Awakened and Betrayed
“Alright, Vinna, you are all set,” Luke tells me. “Let’s set up a dinner or something with the family soon; they’re going to be so jealous that I’m the first to meet your amazing mate!” Luke tells Sabin as he wraps him up in a goodbye hug and kisses his cheek. Luke opens his arms to me, and I step into them.
“Heads up that Knox’s dads are going to make you sumo when I tell them you’re my new favorite.”
Luke cracks up and gives me a beaming smile. “I’ll take ‘em all down, don’t you worry, your favoritism is well placed! Oh, and I slipped in a delicious spelled apricot, juniper, and dragon’s blood massage oil in there; it’s a very potent aphrodisiac, that promotes virility, passion, and love.”
“Ooh!” I coo at Luke, and we both chuckle when Sabin’s ears turn red.
“First Cyndol picks her over me, and now you two are cohorts, perfect...just, perfect!”
“Aww, Captain, we love you too!” I tease, and then instantly freeze when I realize I just let theLword escape.
I try to cover up myoh shitreaction, by shouting a goodbye to Cyndol who’s still stocking shelves in the back. I don’t risk looking at Sabin to see just what he thinks of my slip up. I was joking, but will he think I’m serious?Fuck.Out of all the guysthatcould have slipped out to, it has to be the one who wants to take things slow.
Nice, Vinna.
Cyndol shouts back a goodbye, and Luke walks us to the door. We make our way through the parking lot towards the Bronco. Sabin takes a quick inhale, the kind people do when they’re about to say something, something that you may or may not want to hear and it sends my adrenaline pounding.
“Vinna!” Someone shouts my name. I turn to track who, and see an older female caster with three males speed walking towards me.
“Are you Vinna Aylin?” She shouts at me again.
Before I can so much as part my lips to respond. Pebble is in front of me in a defensive position. I have no fucking clue where he just came from, and I turn to Sabin to ask him if he saw where, and I spot the rest of Pebble’s coven closing in around us. It’s like they just appeared out of nowhere. I actually completely forgot that they were still even assigned to guard me. I’m not sure where the threat is right now, it could be the female still barreling towards me, or honestly, it could be these paladin too.
Sabin pivots so that his back is against mine, and I immediately feel a warm reassurance run through me. I call on my magic, and I feel him do the same. I experience an intense rushing sensation as I pull Defensive magic from my source, and it comes to me like a freight train. Holy shit, my magic has some serious kick to it now. Thank fuck Sabin is behind me, his large frame keeping me from going anywhere; otherwise, I’d probably be on my ass right now.
The woman coming straight at me sees the appearance of the paladin and seems to be just as shocked as I am at their sudden appearance, but I see a set determination on her face as she continues forward.
“Stop ma’am, don’t come any closer,” Pebble warns, and the three casters surrounding her pull her to a stop.
She does not look happy about that, and she snaps at one of them something that I can’t hear. The male looks torn between pissing off, what I assume is his mate, or her getting lit up by the paladin surrounding me because she looks like she wants to barrel right through them. I look her over, trying to see if I can place her face or the faces of her three mates, but she doesn’t look familiar. Who knows what I could have done to piss her off.
“Are you Vinna Aylin?” she asks again, winded, and she shoots another glare at her other mate when he puts a hand on her shoulder.
“Yes, can I help you with something?”
One of the paladin in Pebbles coven, a shorter bald man, moves a step closer to me. I don’t like it, so instead of focusing on the woman as she attempts to catch her breath to answer my question, I turn to him.
“Too close Phil Collins, way too fucking close,” I warn him.
“We’re here to protect you, not hurt you.” he counters.
“You were assigned by the elders, and I don’t trust them, so sorry, not sorry, that means I don’t trust you either. Back up, or you and Pebble can trade bedtime stories about how good my knife skills are.”
Pebble snorts. “Back off, Brody; trust me, you don’t want to find out.”
I smile at pebble.
“Aww, Pebble.. you can be taught. How you doing, buddy? Long time no see. Are you still in a time-out?”
I feel Sabin chuckle behind me, and Pebble sighs.
“Can we deal with this first, before the gossip session starts and you try to braid my hair and paint my nails.”
I roll my eyes at him. “Fine, but when this is all done, I get to do your fingers and toes.”
I return my focus to the female who was the catalyst for this whole reunion, and when my eyes land on her, she starts talking like she’s just been waiting for me to call on her.
“My name is Olivia Steward; you saved our son, Parker Steward.”
