“Then come with me and keep me safe.”
I don’t know where the bravado comes from. Two powerful guys having my back is my best bet. Either of them can betray me at any given time, and I will have to stay a step ahead of both. This alliance will only do me good if I can keep my guard up.
Apollo wavers for a moment, but he takes my hand. That same jolt of electricity courses between us. I swallow hard, knowing he feels the same. It might have something to do with the mate thing.
Donatello moves behind me, and when I turn to face him, he’s draped the jacket over his head once more. It’s impressive how handsome he looks with the weirdest of outfits. “Let’s go,” he says, shooting Apollo a distasteful glance.
I wonder if there’s enough time to grab something — anything, a change of clothes, the stash of money I keep under a floorboard in the bedroom — but the siren is too close now, and I can also hear the skidding of tires.
It’s too late.
Apollo takes the lead and pulls me out of the house, hand on mine. I only have time to bend and pick up my previously discarded heels. The dark red car parked on my curb has windows so black I can’t see Donatello after he slides into the front seat. I shoot a look at my house.
This feels like the last time I’m seeing it.
CHAPTER8
APOLLO
This is fucking madness. There’s not a part of it that makes sense.
When I woke up this morning to my phone screaming, I knew there was trouble brewing. But fuck, this is ludicrous. First, someone killed the one Light Mage born in the past hundreds of years. Murderer on the run, and I was the closest to her address on the Special Shifter Division. Then, the freaking woman is my mate. That would already take the spot of the weirdest shit of my life.
Now I’m sitting in the back seat of a vampire’s car, running from the police with my killer mate. Something’s not adding up.
I drape an arm over the back of the seat, close to Cassandra’s shoulders. She shoots me a doubtful glance. I get where she’s coming from. I did tell her a white lie because I can’t guarantee what’s going to happen to her. The whole Chosen One business is going to be shit to swallow. I still remember how hard the New Council celebrated when they discovered him.
Not that I give much shit about the Cursed Realm. They’re locked inside. We already have plenty of problems here, with clashing clans and bloodsuckers and witches blowing up each other’s territories.
Now, here’s an honest doubt. How did Cassandra know I was lying? She’s been very persistent on the Blond Bloodsucker telling the truth too. I lean closer to her, just an inch, and take a whiff of her scent.
I can’t fucking tell what it is. She smells of magic, but every kind of mage has a specific signature, and I can’t tell what’s hers. Maybe she’s some sort of hybrid?
The car jerks into a curve and I almost hit the window next to me. Cassandra slides closer, stopping herself with a hand to my thigh. She looks at her hand, then at me, and jerks her hand away. I smirk. She knows we’re mates, even if she hasn’t been introduced to the word. The heat in her calls to me. She’s going to be mine.
Mine.
I shoot a glare at the back of the vampire’s head. “Can’t drive, old man?”
The vampire makes a sound that might be a chuckle. I don’t give a shit. “Cassandra, I could have killed him, and that would be one less problem.” His voice is all cool and certain. I close my hands in fists, ready to jump him.
Cassandra clears her throat, and I meet her eyes. She raises her brows.
“What?”
She points at my hands, my scales rising in the back of my knuckles. “What’s that?”
I open my fingers, relaxing and letting the scales come back into my body. “My animal is not happy.”
“Why not?”
“He doesn’t like this bloodsucker putting his hands on you. And he doesn’t like bloodsuckers overall.”
“This bloodsucker doesn’t like bothersome animals either,” the vampire calls from the front seat, flashing a smirk from the rearview mirror.
I’m going to kill him. That much I’ve accepted.
Cassandra shakes her head and rolls her eyes. “If you two are supposed to help me out, this,” she motions between me and the bloodsucker, “has to stop. Or you’ll drive me crazy.”