Page 174 of Commanding Blood And Bonds
“Motherfucker,” he growled when I held them up. For good measure, I slammed the mags back in, holstered one weapon, and passed him the other.
“Damien better work fast.”
“Will he finish in time?”
“In the victorious threads? Yes.”
“Ahh, good,” he said with a chipper tone that rang completely hollow. “Where are you, Adrastos?”
As if summoned by the name, a chill settled through the alley. August exhaled, closing his eyes in resignation as we braced for whatever wickedness was about to descend.
“Bullets are a last resort?”
“More useful in Damien’s hands than these motherfuckers’,” he agreed.
“What was that field trip you were craving? Lethal Night hunting?”
He chuckled, shrugging off his coat and folding it neatly over the building’s fire escape. His fingers made quick work of the shirt buttons, tie slipping free, sleeves rolled to expose glorious, veiny forearms that made my mouth go dry.
Blood heating, I palmed my blades. He caught my expression and arched a brow, amusement flickering across every inch of his face.
“Are you—”
“Shut up,” I scoffed, stifling laughter as the temperature dropped another ten degrees.
“You are a peculiar kind of woman.”
“Violence and vascularity turn me on,” I said, wetting my lips and cracking my fingers. “Sue me.”
He was still laughing when the first wave of crawlers slammed into our shields.
Annoyed, I assessed what little energy I had left after the trance and decided to trust my hands and good old-fashioned combat.
You low, little nova?
Nothing I can’t handle, I promised, blades already cleaving through the chest plate of a venom-fanged, furry fucker. I discarded the corpse and struck another before August’s mental voice came again.
Draw when you need to. Reserves are decent.
A brutal squelch followed, and I heard the thud-thud of a decapitated body hitting the ground.
I nodded, not bothering to answer—too busy fighting off two of the beasts at once. I’d never been bitten by one and didn’t care to learn what the greenish hue of their saliva meant.
So, I was thinking about our situation, August pushed into my mind again, just as I lost patience and unleashed my flames like arrows—once, twice, three times.
Little busy, babe.
Right, but we never really came to a conclusion. We need a gameplan. As flattered as I am that you find my violence delicious—
Panic tinged my movements. I struck two more, flames whipping wide, devouring them like snacks.
Pre-fucking-occupied here, I snapped.
When are we not?
Touché. Maybe after we finish this?
I sighed, annoyed that my well was still painfully low. So I pulled on August’s.
