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

It’s good to have someone who understands me as well as he does, and I know that he will deal with any questions about where I am from the others. I don’t need long, but if I don’t expend this shit, then I won’t be of any use to anyone.

I drive away, making my way towards my favourite bar not far from here. Having a quick drink is about the only sensible way to blow steam off right now. This way, I’m still close to the house for when everyone's heading out. The bar is only open for another hour anyway, it might only be eleven o’clock at night, but it feels like today started a long time ago.

So much shit has gone down that the day has dragged on, and we aren’t even done yet. I can tell that Melissa is one of those people who doesn’t stop working until they drop, especially knowing how close we are to busting these fuckers.

I pull into the parking lot behind the bar, turning the engine off and just sitting there for a minute to catch my bearings. Being a Skinwalker, when things get to be too much for me, I lose all control of myself. The last thing we all need is me shifting while having a drink surrounded by humans.

Once I’m calm enough, I make my way inside, and straight up to the bar. Luckily for me, the bartender knows me well, and he doesn’t even need to ask what I’m wanting. As he’s pouring me a few shots of sambuca and a whiskey chaser, a tall brunette beauty slides up beside me, basically throwing herself at me. Any other time, I would thrive on the attention, but tonight I just want to enjoy a drink on my own.

I'm not blowing smoke up my own ass when I say that I’m used to the female attention, I’m just being honest. Most humans are attracted to supernaturals, but especially Fae and Vampires. We give off a certain allure that draws them in without them even realizing it. I thrive on attention generally, but all I can picture now is Melissa’s face.

"Hello handsome, how about we have some fun?"

"Not tonight sweetheart, as lovely as you are, that's not the type of fun that I'm looking for tonight."

"Aww, don't be that way sugar, I could help cheer you up. Come on, you know you want me."

I can't stop the growl from rising up in me, causing the poor woman to scuttle away from me. Sure, I feel bad about scaring her, but I tried to be polite, and that didn't work. You can only be so nice when someone is being so pushy, and if it was a guy pressuring a woman like that, then I would rip his throat out.

The woman hurries away, going back over to her friends and no doubt telling them how big of an asshole I am, but I don’t even have it in me to care. I take my shots as soon as the bartender puts them in front of me and begin to nurse my whiskey afterwards. I don’t know how long that I sit there, lost in my own thoughts, and tried to relax a bit.

Every loud noise and every time someone gets too close to me, I feel my fingers twitching, ready to lash out. I keep looking at my phone, waiting for the call to come in to say that we’re finally going after the cult, and half an hour later, it finally rings.

“Hello, Zaph. is it time?”

“Yeah, Annika finally narrowed it down to the exact house.”

“Alright, give me ten, I’ll meet you out front.”

We hang up, and I quickly pay my tab, racing outside. Finally, I’m going to get the chance to tear these fuckers limb from fucking limb. A cruel smile stretches across my face, as I jump in the car, speed out of the parking lot. It’s about fucking time.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Melissa

The excitement builds all around me as Annika at long last manages to find an exact address. Finally, we know exactly where all those bastards are hiding, and no doubt where they have been keeping all the Fae that they have abducted. I can feel the exhaustion filing my limbs, but I can’t leave this shit another day, not when lives are hanging in the balance.

The others seem just as delighted as I do, and exhilaration fills the air around me. This shit is almost as good as a double shot of espresso, filling me with the energy that I’m going to need for what’s ahead of us. I can’t even explain how happy I am to be able to save Cailean and Zaphyr’s people. The stress they’ve been under can’t have been easy.

As much as I try to act the hard-ass, I’m still all about those happy endings. That doesn't stop me from going over every little thing that could go wrong though and let's be honest with my luck that's a shit load. We are so fucking close now that I can taste the cults demise on the tip of my tongue. I wouldn’t say that I’m a bloodthirtsy person, not that Annika would agree with that, but after all the shit these fuckers have done, they’re going to fucking pay.

Annika does something on her laptop, causing code to fly across the screen quicker than I can keep up with. She continues to type away for a few minutes, obviously looking for something, not that I have any idea what that could be. Soon enough though, she turns to us with a huge grin on her face, motioning for us to gather around the laptop.

“I managed to hack into the local council's files and find a blueprint from the planning permission for the house where these bastards are hiding. The