Marked By Lies: A Reverse Harem Series (The Marked Series Book 1) by Paige Orr (the red fox clan TXT) 📗

I’m startled out of my musing when I hear a squeak behind me and turn just in time to find Grey covering his eyes. If a ghost could blush, then the fucker's face would be radioactive.

“What the fuck Grey, haven’t we already spoke about this shit?”

“Shit, I’m so sorry Mel. I was going to tell you that I was keeping an eye on that gorgeous Fae you have watching the house. One of my ghostly friends said that there is a creepy group of dudes heading his way. You still have time to get over there and for your Witchy friend to do her magic.”

That thought alone gives me the boost of energy that I needed, and I speed through the motions of getting myself washed. I’m shutting off the water just as quickly as it was turned on and throwing on fresh blood proof clothes. I don’t even take the time to dry my hair before I’m speeding back into my living room, hopping on one foot as I try to get my shoes on.

Annika notices the bedraggled mess that I am, and with a wave of her fingers, my hair is dry and I finally get my shoe on. I don’t want to worry them, but I know I can’t do this shit on my own. So I fill the others in on what Grey has told me, not wanting to leave Morpheus to face the danger alone.

“We need to head over to Morpheus. Grey has been keeping an eye on him with some other ghosts, and they think that there is a group of cult members heading his way.”

I barely reach the end of my sentence before everyone is leaping to their feet, and we are out of the house and loaded into the cars in the space of a couple of minutes. Here’s hoping we do have enough time to get shit done. I’m tired of these bastards always being a step ahead of us.

We pull up in front of the house, and I’m out of the car and rushing up to the front door before the otters even have a chance to move. Crashing through the front door, I come to a halt when I see Morpheus sitting in an armchair, shock written across his face. Finally, I can feel the strain that’s filled me since Grey told me that he was in danger, ease from my muscles.

I know that I can’t fully relax yet, but seeing that we’ve made it in time gives me hope. The others file into the room, finally catching up to me, and I can see my relief mirrored on their faces. Morpheus, obviously noticing the hurry we were in, gets to his feet and approaches us like he would a group of skittish animals.

“I hate to be an ass guys, but why have you all just burst in here like the hounds of hell are on your heels.”

“Well, they just might be. Grey kept an eye on you and one of his friends warned him that possible cult members when en route”

Annika brushes past me, ignoring everyone while she sets up what she needs to perform her spell. We just have to hope that she can get it finished before trouble arrives, otherwise who knows what will happen. I'm pretty sure that a load of fighting going on around her is not the best environment to concentrate while performing magic.

I leave her to do her thing, making my way over to the window peering through a gap in the blinds.my nerves are shot with this shit, but it will all be worth it as long as everyone gets out of here safely with more answers than when we got here. Morpheus comes up beside me, silently standing guard probably just to put my mind at rest.

"Don't worry too much, kitten. We all have plenty of experience fighting off the cult, we can make sure that nothing too bad happens."

"I just don't want to see anyone getting hurt. They already ambushed me and Zaphyr when we followed that fucker from here who knows what they plan to do to us next."

Shock flickers in his eyes, reminding me that we hadn't filled him in about the ambush yet and I feel like shit for not mentioning it. He is Zaphyr's right hand man after all. His whole job is to protect him, and yet he got hurt on my watch, it was a dick move not to mention it sooner. There has just been one thing after the other with this case, it’s difficult to keep track of it all. How any of us are supposed to deal with this shit is beyond me.

“You guys weren’t hurt, were you?”

“We were both hit with magic infused bullets. It done more damage to me than Zaphyr though, thankfully.”

“Please, don't act like you aren’t important too. We want you to be safe just as much as him. Seeing you after the Harpy attack killed us.”

“You guys don’t even know me though, why would you care that much? It’s not like it was your fault, so there is nothing to feel guilty about.”

He looks at me incredulously, something I’ve said has obviously got to him, I just don’t know what. I was trying to put his mind at rest, not make him feel worse. This is why I try to avoid people unless it's necessary, I never say the right thing and then I just have a load of people pissed off at me. I thought I was doing well this time, but apparently I was wrong.

“Sure, we felt guilty, but that isn’t why we were so upset seeing you that way. If you truly think that, then you’re wrong.”

“We all care about you, more than is probably right for only just meeting you. How have you