Avenge Read Free Page B

let’s just say you
might want to avoid the Christmas party this year. There are a few
videos out there, and I may have forgotten to mention that you talk
in your sleep.”
    I buried my face deeper into his
chest, mortified. “Do I want to know what I said?”
    “ No, sweetie, you don’t.”
He kissed the top of my head and tilted my chin up so I could see
him. “No matter what, you know that I love you, right? Nothing you
could ever say or do would stop me.”
    “ I know. And I love you,
too.”
    I sat up a little straighter and
decided a change in topic was needed to get my mind off of the
videos floating around the different realms, probably as I sat
there. “So what happened at the debriefing?”
    “ James agreed to postpone
it until everyone got some much-needed rest. That last mission was
exhausting for everyone.”
    I nodded in agreement and took a
closer look at Max’s injury. He’d removed the now watery baggie
from his head to reveal a completely healed nose, which I promptly
kissed. His arms wrapped tightened around me and I sighed. Being
with him, in his arms and surrounded by his love was better than
Christmas morning, Thanksgiving dinner, and Fourth of July
fireworks combined. He flipped the TV off mute and we sat there
enjoying each other’s company for a long while.
    “ Come on, let’s go to bed.”
I stood up and reached out my hand, but Max scooped me up and threw
me over his shoulder caveman style.
    “ Oh we’ll
go to bed, but I don’t plan on doing much sleeping.”



Chapter Three
     
    Sitting in the debriefing room with a
fresh latte while holding Max’s hand, I thought back over the last
six months and how my life—or rather afterlife—changed so
drastically.
    “ Hey,” Max leaned over and
whispered to me. He lifted our entwined hands to his lips and
kissed my fingers. “We got this. With Elizabeth and James calling
the shots now, there’s no way we’re not going to be able to flush
out the spy and stamp out all those bloodsuckers and hairy
beasts.”
    Cassie leaned in from my other side.
“Yeah, I couldn’t be happier with our new team. I’m so glad that
Lizzie and Marco agreed to petition the Council to let us actively
hunt rather than only play defense. I get a rush every time I suck
the soul that’s been trapped back out of them.”
    “ Yeah, but everyone still
thinks it’s a front, and that I pulled some type of special favors
to have us all working Jessica’s case.”
    I hated that people thought that. I
mean no one even knew what our team really did—it was all very
classified. They only knew that we constantly left for missions and
couldn’t take any other assignments. In the past, the role of the
Patroni was always defensive, never offensive. But with the influx
of vampires and werewolves stealing souls and becoming more
aggressive, it was a necessary change. Both the Council for the
Alpha and Omega agreed, allowing us to add two more team members,
and we officially became Team Gideon, which meant “destroyer” and
“mighty warrior.”
    “ Please,” Cassie said
dismissively. “If they only knew. I mean, we’ve recovered double
the souls of any other Patronus team in the South during the last
few months. They’re jealous and mad they can’t be as cool as
us.”
    Max chuckled at Cassie. “They don’t
even know what we do. How can they be jealous?”
    “ The same way any little
kid is jealous at someone else’s birthday party. They don’t know
what the wrapped up presents are, but they know they don’t get any
and they’re mad. It’s simply psychology.”
    Max rolled his eyes at Cassie and
turned to talk to Marco, who was sitting across from him. I took
another swig of my coffee and sighed.
    “ Girl, you’re fixin’ to be
on my last nerve with all that moping. Seriously, stop looking
short term. Look around you. You have a man who loves you to the
moon and back—and is literally half your soul. You are surrounded
by friends who care about you.