“As does your soul. It has led many lives. And no, I cannot tell you about them—I have no access to such details. But I have enough knowledge of souls to sense that yours is very old.”
“You’re doing it again.”
“What?”
“Using that weird tone when you talk about my soul. Like it’s a shiny toy.”
His lips quirking, Cain pressed a kiss to her neck. “I do enjoy playing with it. You enjoy it just as much. I’m planning to play with it some more while we shower.”
Her body stirred. “I look forward to it. But I gotta warn you … it won’t matter how many more monumental orgasms you give me tonight, or how sweet and complimentary you keep being, I’m still gonna be on the proverbial battlefield.”
His hand gently delved into her hair and combed his fingers through it. “Understood,” he said, sounding oh so agreeable.
She bit back a snort. She didn’t doubt for a single moment that he’d try to keep her out of harm’s way. Wynter wasn’t too worried about it, though, because he had no way of truly confining her anywhere. He simply didn’t know it yet.
Bracing her elbows on the dining table, Wynter rubbed her temples. “Xavier, I can’t keep doing this with you.”
“You wouldn’t have to if you’d only shove logic aside for a minute,” he said, leaning forward in his seat. “In the grand scheme of things, what does it really matter if an Alpha lycan goes ‘missing?’”
Wynter dropped her hands to the table. “It will matter to his pack. A lot.”
“Orthey’ll be thrilled that someone else gets the chance to be Alpha. Did you ever think of that? I could be doing them a favor.”
“A favor?” echoed Delilah in a mocking tone. “Really?” Stood at the stove with Anabel as they worked on a new batch of a particular potion, Delilah shook her head and gave him her back.
“Yes, really,” clipped Xavier.
Wynter sighed. Getting through to the guy could sometimes be a trial. “As I’ve said beforeseveral times, whatever Ancient has rights to Elias’s soul wouldn’t be happy if anything happened to him. The Ancients don’t take kindly to anyone screwing with their ‘property.’”
He snorted. “That didn’t stop you from trapping two berserkers in the netherworld.”
Yeah, well, they weren’t talking about Wynter.
“Ooh, we could toss Elias in there, too,” he suggested, his eyes brightening.
“I only dumped Annette and Bowen there because they would otherwise have blabbed my secrets.” Well,thatand she’d wanted them to suffer some. “This situation you have with Elias is very different.”
“He ruined my date, Wynter. He told her I’d lied about my name—”
“Well, you did.”
“—that I wasn’t really Italian—”
“Well, you’re not.”
“—and that I was a chronic liar whose word couldn’t be trusted.”
“You honestly disagree with that assessment?”
Xavier’s mouth flattened. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
She reached across the table and put her hand over his. “I’malwayson your side. You’re one of the best people I know, even if you do mix fact and fiction often. But you can’t kill someone just because they annoy you.”
“Why? I used to do it all the time.”
“And that’s why you have a price on your head. Look, I get that growing up practicing the dark arts means you still struggle with ethics at times. But if you truly mean to follow the right-hand path, you can’t take detours from it whenever it suits you. If it’s a life or death situation, fine. But this is not. You have to learn to handle mundane shit without resorting to acts like murder.”
Shuffling past the table, Hattie paused long enough to say, “She’s right, darlin’. Various people will wrong or upset you many times in your life. Killing them isn’t the answer.”