“You know what you need to do, Ethan,” Ruby said, placing her hand on his. “They played dirty by getting a witch involved. You need to play dirty too.”
“I won’t, though. That’s not the Adair way, and it’s definitely not how my father would’ve done things.”
Ruby sighed. “Okay, fine, you can’t make a dirty move. I kinda respect the hell out of that, but it narrows our options, and it’s not like we’ve got many.”
“Or any,” he amended.
“Is there anything in your wolf code that we could use to our advantage?”
Ethan frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I don’t know much about shifters, but succubi, we’ve got a code. We don’t go for another’s mark. We don’t even go in the same city unless we’ve got permission from the succubus who’s working there.”
“You don’t have a hometown?” he asked, shocked.
She shook her head. “I live on the road. I thought you knew that.”
“No,” he bit out. “I did not.”
No mate of mine should be without a community!His wolf raged.
She waved him off. “It’s just how things are. It’s part of the reason I wanted to retire. I just wanted a garden. Maybe the view of an orchard or something. Doesn’t matter now. What matters is the wolf code. Is there one?”
Ethan pulled a face. “Kinda? It’s not like it’s written or anything, but we respect pack boundaries. They build homes and whole communities if a pack has been established and settled for a while. That belongs to us. Another pack can’t just come in and take it all away. If they want the territory, they need to challenge for it.”
She frowned. “Challenge for it?”
“Yeah, it’s basically a fight to the death to see who gets to be the alpha of both packs. It’s bloody and messy.”
“Sounds like a good way to start a feud,” she pointed out.
“Shit, you’re right. I guess I never thought of it that way, but it would totally start a feud if a pack was severed or if a challenge took place. We try to be civil about it and respect the nature of it all, but it’s not always easy. Some packs rebel and refuse to go along with the terms of the challenge.”
“Okay, cool. So challenge him. The Tagnello alpha.”
Ethan blinked at her in shock. “You want me to challenge the Tagnello alpha? And do what? Take his land? You were the one who said that’s how feuds get started.”
“That’s my point. Maybe a challenge started this whole thing in the first place, so now maybe a challenge can end it.” She grinned wide.
“You’re thinking of using language to our advantage, aren’t you? Like the witches do with their spells?”
She nodded, still smiling victoriously. “They’ve got a lawyer. You’ve got a demon. Pretty much the same thing.” She winked. “You’ve got Hell behind you on this, Hot Blue.”
He kissed her, his tongue dipping into her mouth. “I am so damn happy I found you, Ruby. If anything, I’m happy this whole fucking curse thing happened because I got to meet you.”
Ruby sighed happily, but she hopped out of his arms. “Come on. Let’s see if we can use Portia’s secret portal.”
“Wait, what?”
He chased after her, sure he hadn’t heard her properly.
SEVENTEEN
ETHAN
“Portia’s secret portal is a major secret,” Ruby explained with a warning edge. “I’m not even supposed to know about it. Aunt Portia slipped and told me about it when she was moving here. I offered to help her move, but she told me all about the portal she has access to.”
“Is that normal succubus magic?”