Chapter 23

All afternoon I was in a terrible mood. I couldn’t concentrate or focus on anything. Two days in a row, had seen Valen, and the bond was buzzing, and I could feel it was making it increasingly difficult to do anything. On top of that, I had his lingering threat and the worry that came with it. He had the power to destroy the Hotel we saved, and Valarie gave it to Valarian and me. I felt protective of it; we built this place from its b**e bones and gave it back life. I wasn’t about to stand by and let him take from us. Yet I would be powerless against him in a City where rogues meant nothing.

It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t worried; I was. Macey, Zoe, and I have worked our a**es off for years building this place back up. And for him to threaten to destroy it made my blood boil, the question lingering in the back of my mind, would he really destroy this place, harm his own mate’s business all because I refused to give into him?

“Ah mummy, ” Valerian’s worried voice reaches my ears, and I lift my head to look at him. A shriek leaves my lips when I realize I was burning the grilled cheese, smoke billowing from the grill, and I rush over, ripping the tray out only to forget it was piping hot, and I wasn’t wearing oven gloves.

My fingers sizzle, and I drop the tray before racing to the sin and quickly turning the tap on to run my hand under the cold water.

“Casey, don’t touch that,” I tell her when she leans down from the kitchen table to pick up the hot tray She sits back up, and Zoe comes racing out with all the commotion. The smoke alarms suddenly start blaring loudly, and she opens the window above the sink before using a tea towel to waft the smoke out the window.

“Sh!t, Eve. Are you ok?” I nod, holding my hand under the cool water. My fingertips blistered while Zoe used the tea towel and picked up the tray, placing it on the stove and discarding the ruined

grilled cheese. She then uses the broom to smack the fire alarm, jabbing the button and cutting off its deafening noise.