After some slight alterations, the twins‘ new uniform is ready. It is burgundy, black, gold, and white–not a great color combination, but not the worst. They start school on Monday, and Perry has allowed us to stay in what used to be her and her mate’s home. She said they built it themselves, and it would take the wrath of the moon goddess to get in or out of it. The fact that Knight didn’t question is a good sign to me. Perry has shown me pictures and told me some very concerning stories about her mate, Darren. I’m not sure if I would have liked him. He seemed like an asshole even from her description, but the way she tells the stories is cute. She loved him and his competitive insanity. I can tell she misses him and who she was before becoming the Lycan Queen.
“Mommy, can I take my Mollys?” Ayrie catches my attention. She’s talking about the four giant toy statues, Violetta has sent her.
“We’re not going to be back here in a while.” I nod. I don’t understand her infauation with those things. “Maybe one.”
“Or you can tell Auntie Vy that you want some new ones, and she’ll find the rarest ones.” Knight counters. Her eyes grow huge, and she nods, dropping the subject altogether.
“You’re going to turn her into a gimmy kid.” I shove him playfully.
“That’s the next Rogue Queen. She should be. I’ve been teaching her self–defense. I bet you were a little asshole as a kid too.” he smirks.
“Shut up.” I roll my eyes. “And I had to be. Everyone knew my father hated me, and kids can be cruel. I don’t want them to be spoiled little shits. You have to tell them not to pick fights or argue with irrelevant people.”
“I am, and everyone is irrelevant. Those are my kids. Not to mention that Pop–pop has probably already told them they’re better than the rest of the world by now.”
“They’re going to get their asses beat by some vampire kid or a Lycan one.” I huff.
“Lesson they need to learn, Baby.” he kisses my cheek and inspects my work. “They look better, but they’re fucking ugly,”
“Jar.” I bump him, but he’s not wrong. “It’s a good thing our kids make everything look adorable.”
“For sure,” he nods. “Are we ready?”
“Yeah, we’re ready.” I nod. He pulls me closer.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers in my ear.
“For what?” I ask, turning around to wrap my arms around him. I can’t think of a single thing he’s done to make him in any way apologetic.
“I know you wanted to stay put. We can’t. Not anymore. This will be our vacation home.
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The place we run away from the world to. But it’ll be safehouses and tours from here
on.”
I let go of him and take a step back. It must be a nightmare inside of this man’s head. I blame Arnold for this shit. But if I’m being honest, I love how toxic this is. He’s such a drama queen, and I think years of being alone with nothing but my books and work have broken something inside of me. Something that enjoys the rage inside of people shining bright. I wonder how much I can get away with if I were to agree with him.
It’s a horrible thought. I know. The worst part is that Midnight is excited by the idea. She is my number one supporter and hype wolf. Everything feels a lot like a hunt, and messing with people to see their reaction is her favorite. She is going to love the runway. She’s going to love directing it all with the entirety of her madness.
“It’s okay.” I shrug.
“What?”
“I think it’s cool that we have to be moving around a lot. I get to see different styles; the kids have an awesome diversity of cultures. It’ll be great. Don’t worry about it.” He’s going to worry about it. I can see it turning into a storm already.
“Okay,” he nods without making eye contact.
“What would you do if I wasn’t okay with it?” I ask.
He opens his mouth to try and piece something together, but doesn’t get very far. He stares at me and slowly his confusion turns into anger.
“Are you fucking with me?” he growls.
“I think you would know if I was fucking you. You did know that’s what I was doing last night, right?” I walk past him into the kitchen to pack the snacks I got for the twins. I can’t help but laugh listening to him go upstairs.
“That was diabolical. I picked the perfect time to open up the app.” Perry’s voice comes from the speaker above my fireplace in the study.
“Has he always been like that?” I ask.
“Wait until you hear him start getting political. It’s why I wanted him on the council. Knight gets angry, and suddenly, he wants to reform the entire world. It’s great,” she laughs.
“You assholes are going to bully the entire hierarchy together. I love that for you.” I roll
my eyes.
“Me too,” she agrees. “I have a confession,”
“Okay,” I look up, unsure of where I should be looking, but I focus on the speaker.
“I saw all of your new designs.”
“Please, don’t do anything stupid.” I groan.
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“No, no, I would never. I have a request that could benefit us both,” she lets out a heavy sigh.
“That sounds like shenanigans, and I have it on good authority that shenanigans with you are kind of dangerous.” I laugh.
“Yeah,” she chuckles. “Knight made me promise no crazy missions, but I think this one is appropriate for us.”
“Awesome. Scary me isn’t going to be required again, right?”
“Of course, not. The last thing I want to do is piss you off or your mate. He has the mouth of a slutty sailor when he gets angry.”
“So what is it?” I laugh.
“I want you to design an all black streetwear line, and the night before they’re presented, I’m going to steal them and have my team rob the Werewolf Treasury in Madrid. It’ll be live–streamed on QuickHowl.”
“Oh, my god.” A chill runs down my spine. “Seriously?”
“Have you ever known me to joke about stuff?”
“Literally everything that comes out of your mouth is a joke, mostly,” I walk into my study.
“Mm, classic misunderstanding, Sister. I crack jokes, but I am one hundred percent serious about what I say. Especially, when I talk about doing crimes.”
“Why do you need to rob the treasury? Am I allowed to ask?”
“There’s a metal that I need in there. I need it for some chips I’m making for a tech program I’m putting together as a requirement for the Royal guards around the King. I need them to be tech savvy in case I’m not around if he requires it.”
“And Lycans are faster than werewolves, so it would make it easier to hack places, like I don’t know. Nova?” I add.
“See, I don’t think Knight gives you the credit you deserve, Phoebe. Yes, that too. I also want more of us to be able to work the KNAVE system our wraith master created. They’re easier to teach than most other creatures.”
“What other creatures are there?”
“Vampires. Incubi. Gargoyles,” she says nonchalantly.
“What the fuck are gargoyles? Aren’t they just sick ass goth figures?”
“No, they’re weird and very private. I’ll tell you more about them when I have more information.”
“You have all the information. That’s odd coming from you. Does that have something to do with your interesting tech problem?”
“You little eavesdropper. What do you know about that?”
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I shut my eyes and listen to the movement in the house. When I hear nothing, I get
closer to the speaker.
“I’ve seen the symbol Knight was looking at when I walked in on you guys doing your
virtual meeting.”
“Where?”
“The cat lady has it tattooed.”
“On her left wrist?” she asks.
“How do you know that?”
“It’s not the first time I’ve come across it. Thank you.”
“For what?”
“I needed an excuse to take her when she was being transferred. Knight said my intentions for what she did to you weren’t enough.”
“I don’t want you to hurt her.”
“This phase where I don’t want to hurt anyone comes and goes,” she whispers. “It’s not here right now. And I’m not in the business of making promises I can’t keep, Phoebe. At this point, you’re just buying them time. It’s honestly a matter of
“I don’t want you to hurt her.”
“This phase where I don’t want to hurt anyone comes and goes,” she whispers. “It’s not here right now. And I’m not in the business of making promises I can’t keep, Phoebe. At this point, you’re just buying them time. It’s honestly a matter of which one of us gets to them first.”
