The Lost Souls (The Holy Trinity #2.5)(44)

Gerik Hjems?ter became cursed when he’d used dark magic to protect their clan, and his punishment, his transformation from man to beast, had completed just before Xan found Trinity. Supposedly, Gerik was now a full-fledged dragon, the size of an airplane. He had taken to the sky, never to be heard from again.

Trinity was devastated. Or Xan assumed that Trinity was devastated. She sure wasn’t acting devastated, but he assumed her ever-increasing bad behavior was actually a mask for how devastated she really did feel.

And he…well, he was drunk.

And high.

And, yeah, he was pretty f*cking devastated, too.

Glancing toward her cabin, Xan watched the firelight from inside flicker in the window.

She had barely spoken to him, and she couldn’t even look at him without her beautiful emerald eyes bleeding to black. His wife, the only woman he’d ever loved, hated his f*cking guts.

Mostly because he was a cheating bastard. Yeah, he’d f*cked Nadya. And Fifi. And Onyx. All of whom he’d stupidly allowed to join him on his search for Trinity.

But he wasn’t too happy with her either. It seemed a little hypocritical of her to be holding a grudge against him when she’d gone and done the same damn thing.

The last time Xan seen Trinity at camp in the Catskills, he’d been leaving on a supply raid with several other men. It was something they’d often done, had to do if they wanted to continue surviving. He’d left, lost nearly everyone in the raiding party, and had come home to an empty camp and a shit ton of fresh graves. By the time he and the other two survivors of the failed raid had met up with their clan, many more had died, including his mam?. Trinity had been taken by Gerik after his transformation, and so he’d assumed she had been with Gerik ever since.

Only she hadn’t. Frate had given her the magic she was born to possess and left her. Just up and left her. She’d been wandering for months on her own when she’d come across this park and the protection it offered. Gerik had shown up a few months later and so ensued their f*cking love affair.

Love affair.

Not meaningless random sex with some fete he couldn’t give two shits about.

The way Xan saw it was, yeah, she had every right to be pissed off, but he had every right to beat the ever-loving shit out of her. He was her husband, which by Romani law meant he could punish her for her infidelity however he saw fit. Not that he’d ever beat on Trinity, but it sure as shit sounded good when she was in an especially bad mood and trying to set him on fire.

“Heads up,” Pesha whispered, nodding at Trinity’s cabin.

He turned just in time to see her kick the door closed behind her. Wearing only a ribbed black tank and a pair of black underwear, palming a longneck bottle of liquor, Trinity headed straight for them. As she passed by him, she swiped his cigarettes out of his hand. Her thick black hair had grown past her waist, the tips now brushing the tops of her thighs. She was leaner, her body beautifully toned and defined, oozing strength. Not one iota of the little girl he’d married remained. Fat? was all woman now. Just not his woman anymore.

“Gimme,” she said, gesturing to the blunt between Adriana’s lips. Like a pro, she took three short puffs, held her breath, released, and then took another three before passing it back. Up went the bottle, and fat? chugged that shit a good, long minute.

Then she sat on a patch of grass right next to Pesha, and frate lit up a smoke for her.

“Thanks,” she said, grinning around an exhale of smoke.

Pesha winked at her. “Anytime, fat?.”

“Or anywhere,” she purred. “Right, Moldoveanu?”

Damn her and her f*cking split personality. Black-hearted bitch one second, and the next, sultry, slutty sex kitten. He didn’t like either of them.

“You know it, gorgeous,” Pesha drawled back, flirting shamelessly with her.

Because of Trinity’s affinities for all five elements—earth, air, water, fire, and spirit—she had the ability to manipulate…well, damn near anything she wanted to. Right now, she was using fire, a power that could heal or harm. Fire was also an internal element and made up of pure feminine or masculine energy that, depending on the gender of the user, could create lust in the opposite sex if used correctly.

“Mmm-hmm,” she murmured, scooting closer to him and locking arms. Her head fell drunkenly on Pesha’s arm, and she smiled silkily.

The scent of dark magic grew stronger, smelling of sweet sulfur. Trinity was packing some powerful heat tonight.

“Pesha,” she murmured, looking up at him with a sweet, sexy smile.

Pesha’s eyes glazed over. “Yeah, fat??”

“You wanna come home with me tonight?”

Xan squeezed his eyes closed, asking God to make sure that when he choked her, he didn’t accidently kill her. Maiming was okay but not killing.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Pesha’s tongue down his wife’s throat, and everyone else was watching and waiting for what he was going to do.

“You want me to handle it this time?” Simionce asked.

This time. Because there had been many times over the past few months that she’d used Pesha to make him crazy jealous. He’d reached his boiling point.

“No,” he growled, getting to his feet. “She’s my wife, which means she’s my f*cking problem.”

Xan walked around the fire pit and knelt down beside the two lovebirds. Trinity slanted her black eyes toward him—they were always black now—and deepened the kiss.