Gypsy Moon (All The Pretty Monsters #4)(6)

Her jaw grinds as she narrows her eyes.

“Fauxmega scents confuse the mind. I held back,” she defends.

“So don’t hold back.”

“I can’t take on a hundred wolves, so we need to sneak around,” she says in a very crucial sort of way. “There’s a big difference between Arion and I. Don’t let the arbitrary terms—alpha and beta—confuse you too much.”

“So we sneak around.”

“And if we end up surrounded by them?” she asks me like she’s annoyed with my half-baked plan.

She doesn’t seem to have any plan of her own that doesn’t involve me running and hiding and hoping help comes before I’m found.

“Let’s hope that doesn’t happen,” I say as I move back toward the bars. “Because that will leave us stuck with just plan B.”

“What’s plan B?”

My heartbeat drops slowly and steadily. I’m not strong enough for those bars, but those chains…

Shera looks at my chest, her head tilting, as I lean over and let my heart drop a little more.

This is red-zone territory I’m playing in, but as I pull on the chains, hearing the metal whine and Shera suck in a sharp breath, I realize it won’t be enough.

“Shera, I’m going to need you to pull with me. I’m not an alpha either,” I say on a sigh.

She blinks a few times, glancing from my hold on the chains to my eyes. “What are you?”

“Not important right now. Pull with me when—”

“Tell me plan B before you pull these chains off me. The second these chains are gone, I become a threat in their eyes. If this fails, this is my life we’re talking about. They’ll kill me.”

Her eyes hold mine, her breaths moving a little quicker.

I shrug a shoulder. “Plan B is to find you somewhere to hide until help comes.”





CHAPTER 2





EMIT


Lemon and Leiza hand Vance a drink, while Arion sits at the salt line, swirling a drink in his hand and absently staring at the fire.

“Just let me know when I can flip the sign to closed,” Leiza says quietly, her eyes flicking to and from Arion in an instant, before she scurries up the stairs.

“I don’t think they like me being this far inside Violet’s home,” Arion states idly, as we play the video of Abby taking Violet once more. “I’m glad they decided every store needs good surveillance, though,” he adds as the glass in his hand shatters.

Vance balances a blade on the tip of his finger, letting a single drop of blood drip free, before flipping the dagger and catching it at the hilt.

“Violet’s not letting me find her. Either she’s unconscious or she’s purposely refusing to let me find her. The loop that wolf made is still threading loose and could take me at least five days to get through. Do you stupid sons of bitches tell everyone about the loop?” Vance grinds out, glaring over at me specifically.

Three times she’s been attacked by wolves.

Mine or not, three fucking times she’s been attacked by wolves. By nature, vampires are worse. Only once has she been attacked by vampires.

My eyes flick to Arion, who simply glares at me.

In this moment, I feel like they’re on his side instead of mine. Even Damien is leaning toward Arion at current.

“I remember two of you agreeing that Violet wanted to let the purebloods go until we had more information, and—”

“What Violet wants is irrelevant and an easy out for you to get by without killing more wolves than you have to,” Arion says very bitterly. “We are alphas of small reflections of our monsters. One little show of dominance here and there isn’t e-fucking-nough anymore. At most, Shera has three, maybe four days left before she attempts to drain Violet. It’s likely Violet may rip my favorite beta to shreds.”

He tosses the note down to the table that Abby left behind.



However long your vampire can hold back her monster is how long your sad little gypsy toothpaste-maker has left. Find her if you can, almighty alphas. Dead or alive, depending on how good you are.

xoxo

Abby



It’s dotted with smiley faces at the bottom.

“Violet’s not going to be okay if she panics and kills Shera. Not to mention what will happen once that many wolves find themselves with a new target to latch onto,” Damien piles on.

I didn’t even remember Abby’s fucking name. I sure as hell didn’t recognize her as Ian’s daughter.

“Ian was an infected beta. Why was he organizing a pureblood army?” I ask more to myself than to them.

“Because he could,” Arion spits out. “Who the hell was going to stop him from taking over when he put you under? That’s what he truly believed would happen, Emit. They think you this weak. You’re too busy—”

“Unless it helps find Violet, it can wait,” Damien cuts in coldly, looking down to the drink in his hands.

“Violet can’t die,” Vance says calmly, studying his blade as he begins to sharpen it, “which is the only reason you haven’t all been stabbed. I’m going to need you to shut the hell up so I can concentrate on breaking the loop if you want it done faster.”