Page 13 of Laundering Down the Legions
Amusement flickered in his eyes. "We're all aware. But this compound has its... chinks. And I have my ways."
"Chinks? You think this is a fucking joke?" Rhiot's brow crashed down. He braced both hands on the edge of the table, frustration and worry tangled up in his voice. "You shouldn't even be able to sense us. Something is seriously wrong."
The whole room froze with the same nerves. Kearan's calm started to crack, his fingertips tapping on his coffee mug. Trux stood off to the side, glowering with that familiar dark intensity, fists clenched, mouth pressed into a flat line. "We had protections in place. Ones we reinforced, carefully." The anger ran taut through his Rhiot's voice.
The operative shot a look at Jericho, recognition flashing wide across her face before it boiled over into panic. "You shouldn't be here. This isn't… Demon's can't get here." Her voice climbed high and thin, her own fear spilling out into the room.
"Relax, Maria." He pivoted without missing a beat. "I'm not here to hurt you." The calm in him was built to wrap around her and settle her down, while I stood there caught between disbelief and the urge to put myself in front of her.
"Can somebody tell me what the fuck is happening?" My heart pounded as I stepped in front of Maria. Not because I thought I could take him. I wouldn't have to fight him. He swore an oath to protect and serve me… but because of the way he was looking at her, which kicked up something fierce and protective in me. I felt like I was the only thing standing between her and whatever future Jericho was already planning for her.
He met my eyes, something deeper catching fire behind the shadows in his. "You want her safe? I can give you that." The intensity sharpened. "I know what she needs."
"Maria doesn't need you." Trux crossed his arms, the tension winding through him as he squared off against all that power in the room. "And this isn't about one person. It's about all of us."
Jericho tilted his head, the faintest smirk pulling at his mouth, like the back-and-forth bored and entertained him at the same time. "Is it? You say the wards protect you, but I can see the cracks. Standing here before you right now is proof that it's not working. The Hesolga's tearing at you, Trux. You're not as safe as you want to believe."
"What are you implying?" Rhiot's voice went hard as he moved into a defensive stance, like that could shield any of us from Jericho. I was mostly confident that Jericho wouldn't actually cause any harm. A blood oath to me meant he wouldn't attack my mates… right?
"The bond you all share, complicated as it is, won't hold if it doesn't complete soon." Jericho's gaze slid to me, easy as a predator's, close and calculating, reading every player in the room like a game master who already had his hands on all the pieces. "Today is fifteen days since you started the bond… how much longer are you going to dilly dally?"
Anxiety bubbled through my belly into my chest as Jericho threw something I'd been ignoring in face. Fifteen days… we had to finish in one lunar cycle. Wait, how many days are in a lunar cycle?
Based on the Earth, twenty-seven days and some hours. But if you go by the Moon, it's twenty-nine and a half days. Grayson so unhelpfully murmured into my mind.
"What? How can those be different?"
Everyone looked at me with confusion. Except for Grayson. He grinned. I rolled my eyes. It takes the moon twenty-sevendays and some hours to actually orbit around the Earth. But for our perspective on Earth, it takes 29 days because not only does the moon have to orbit, you have to add the extra time it takes for the moon to get back to where it started which is longer when you take into account the Earth is still revolving around the sun.
That made sense… Mostly. So for the mating bond, how many days is it?
Grayson changed his body language, suddenly becoming a bit uncomfortable. We don't actually know. Zandia would know, but she's not always forthcoming.
Well, that was fantastic. Just fucking fantastic.
Also, Grayson was so hot when he was nerdy.
He made a soft kissy noise at me before gesturing my attention back to Jericho.
"So Maria, what will it be?" Jericho grinned as he tilted his head at her.
My attention snapped back to everything going on around me. "You don't get to come in here and expect us to drop everything because of the past." My throat tightened. "What exactly does your offer come with?"
Jericho's tone dropped into something deep and convincing. "Freedom. No ties to Division. Maria joins Archer's pack. Aryn will happily help her adjust, and the pack is remote enough that she never has to look over her shoulder again." He laid it out like a light cutting through fog, a way forward when every shadow in the place was pulsing with the same old danger.
The room went quiet, his words spinning out doubt and possibility in the same breath. Maria took a careful step forward, eyes flicking between the pull of all that freedom and the doubt carved deep in her face.
I cut a glance at Kearan. He held my eyes and gave the smallest nod, resolve passing between us. This wasn't only a deal for her. It would be her entire life moving forward. Hopefully,she would have a chance to heal. I'd owe Aryn another favor. Though I was excited at the idea of catching up with my half-sister… Wait, did she and Jericho know Ro was possessed? I'd have to figure that out later.
"Will you take it?" The question from Jericho hung there heavy, meant for Maria but landing somewhere deep in me too. "This is your chance, Maria. A fresh start, everything left behind."
I let out a breath. I didn't have to justify it. Didn't have to haggle over a single term. Maybe some demons were more chaos sadists than actually malicious.
She hesitated, stuck in that place where the choice wrestled her fear. Then something shifted. The tension in the room let go a fraction, and she finally lifted her eyes to mine.
"Yes." It came out of her on a breath, and that one word landed clear and final. "It has to be better than what I have here."
Jericho rushed me, giving me a quick hug and murmuring, "I'll tell Aryn you said hi." Then he snapped and both him and Maria poofed out of the room, a hazy purple smoke filling their space.
