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I paced.
Oisin, dressed in scrubs the green of his eyes and gripping a steaming coffee mug, lounged with one leg over the other, the foot moving in a bored rhythm, as if he were holding court in some ancient kingdom and the entertainment was sub-par.
Meanwhile, White leaned a suit-clad hip against the counter and glanced about our little suite. "I don't understand the problem," he said calmly, showing his white teeth. Like a shark. "You are both recovered from your...unfortunate playtime. Are the accommodations not to your liking? Did one of the staff do something to harm you?"
I opened my mouth to demand he tell us what he wanted. But Oisin waved a dismissive hand at me and I resumed my pacing. I wanted out of here. I felt caged in.
"The care has been excellent," Oisin said calmly, taking a sip of his coffee. I hadn't touched mine. Even if I knew someone would bring me cream and sugar in a blink if I asked for it. This whole situation was wrong. "I fear our little gryphon there is simply worried you might demand some sort of payment for your...hospitality."
I glanced at him. His tone was nonchalant and easy. But his eyes were sharp as emerald daggers.
White smiled, that smile meant to soothe politicians. It had the opposite effect on me. I just wanted to choke him. "What would I possibly ask of someone who nearly died doing a job she was forbidden to do?"
I growled. "You don't get to forbid me to do anything, pin-dick."
Oisin flicked his eyes between White and I. "Manners, Gesa. You'll have to excuse her. Lions get a bit...feisty...when their pride is threatened."
White held up his perfectly manicured hands, as if to show they weren't covered in blood. I wondered what he scrubbed them with, because bullshit. "I would never think of interfering with another creature's mates." He glanced at me. "Clever of you, by the way, to keep a human around."
I scowled. "You leave Con the fuck alone."
Oisin sat up, placing his coffee on the classy wooden end table. His posture was still relaxed, but I knew that look. If White thought I was the only one who would kill him if he harmed one hair on Con's head, he was wrong. "You've met our darling secretary?"
White nodded. "He called me when you arrived half-dead at your...home? Bookstore?" He waved a hand dismissively. "At least one of you has some sense."
I hated to admit it. Like, really, really hated to admit it—but Con had done the right thing. The only thing. "He's just our part time secretary," I grumbled. "Leave him alone."
White shot me an all too knowing look out of those dark-as-pitch eyes. "Of course. I firmly believe every supe needs some human friends. They can be invaluable for...secretarial work."
I rubbed my temple. I was getting a headache from all the undercurrents and subtle double-talk, most of which I couldn't begin to understand. "So, it's humans hunting those shifters, in case you didn't know that."
White's expression changed, went flat. "I'm aware. Which is why I told you to join me and use my resources or stay out of it."
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. "Right. Cause you were just trying to keep me safe."
White shrugged. "I was trying to keep you alive. Even an angel couldn't manage to keep you safe. This is you we are talking about, Miss Lionheart."
Oisin laughed. The traitor.
"Whelp," I said jovially. "Here I am, all alive and shit. Now if you'd just show us how to get out of this creepy billionaire-has-his-own-city compound, we'll be on our way."
White sighed. "Miss Lionheart, please sit down and stop pacing."
"No."
Oisin stood and stretched. "I do think it's about time we were leaving. We have our human pet to tend to."
White frowned. "They don't really like to be called pets, you know?"
I glanced upward and prayed to all the gods for patience. Did the asshole just make a... joke? Or was he serious? I wasn't sure which was worse.
"Oh, for fuck's sake," I demanded. "Why are we still here?"
White crossed the room to stand inches from me in the blink of an eye. I didn't even see him move. One minute he was over there, the next he was just here. I saw Oisin tense, and the air shimmered near his hands as he prepared to call his blades—but he hesitated. What the fuck was this asshole?
"Work for me," White said calmly, as if he hadn't just given me a heart attack.
"Not today, Satan."
He smiled. Like, really smiled. As if I was the funniest thing he'd seen in his life. "Tomorrow, then?"
I slid away from him, side-stepping out of his aura, which was making even my gryphon side uneasy. "Oh, I'll think about it, maybe."
He gestured at the door. "By all means, show yourselves out. The elevator is just around the corner to the left." He tucked his hands in the pockets of his immaculate trousers. Sliding one hand back out, he held up a slim, platinum gold phone. "But you might want this?" He swiped the screen and squinted at it as if he were reading something. "Your human is quite clever. But they are rather fragile."
I stared at Oisin's phone, clutched in the devil's hand. "One time," I said. "We'll use your 'resources' on this one job. But then you can piss right the fuck off."
A slow grin spread over White's face. "Of course, Miss Lionheart. Whatever you say."
He held out the phone to Oisin, who glanced at it and swore in Gaelic. "What have you done, you little fool?"