16. Zev

Chapter 16

Zev

J agger follows me through the wooded area to where I set up some snares while he'd been with the succubus, a smug smile on his face.

I grin at the sight of two fat, white hares dangling from each of the snares, always grateful for a clean kill. I unwrap the rope around the first one's neck, Jagger doing the same to the second.

"You waited at camp," Jagger says, his smirk growing wider.

I contemplate punching it off his face.

"You could've joined us if you were that interested," he says.

My blood pumps a little harder at the thought. The idea of both of us filling the succubus's body at the same time is enough to make my knees feel like they might buckle any moment.

I force the fantasy away and give him a low growl.

"Oh, if you were that into the idea, why didn't you?" Jagger answers me as if I'd said my thoughts aloud. The bastard has known me long enough to be able to interpret even my grunts.

"Was that the first or second time you fucked her?" I ask instead of answering his question. The succubus told me they didn't sleep together that first night when he fed her, but did I really trust her enough to believe her?

Apparently not.

"The first," he says carrying the hare back toward me.

Surprise and a small sliver of delight rattles through me. The succubus was telling the truth.

"Good."

Jagger cocks brow at me. "You're one to talk, seeing as how you fucked her two nights ago."

"That was a mistake," I say despite not fully believing the words myself. It hadn't felt like a mistake. It felt like a goddessdamn revelation. And I hated that I wanted to do it again.

"Horseshit," Jagger says, shaking his head. "You should see yourself around Liv," he says. "I've never seen anything like it. You're...soft around her."

I give him a low warning growl. "I am not soft."

"No shit," he says, rolling his eyes. "I mean soft as I've ever seen you, which yes, isn't a lot, but can you not see that? Recognize it? Goddess, man, after that night with Balan 's crew, when she defended us, you started to like her. And then after she nearly gave her life for that Fae boy, I daresay you more than liked her?—"

"Careful," I cut over his words, not needing him to state the turmoil I can feel happening inside of me out loud. I don't want to acknowledge it. I don't want to feed it. It won't change things. It won't help.

Jagger's shoulders drop and he shakes his head. "Look, I know how valuable she is. I know what's at stake here and I know you probably think I'm not as invested in you because it's not directly tied to me. But that's not true. I'm with you. You know that. But it wouldn't kill you to admit that you enjoyed yourself the other night, and you continue to enjoy her company even when she's actively trying to drive you mad."

I swallow hard, refusing to respond.

"For fuck's sake, you were about to add three days' travel out of our way just to please her," he says, jabbing an arm in the opposite direction like we're back at the fork in the road.

He isn't wrong, but I don't want to admit it. I only want to focus on what is , not what could be .

"She's a succubus," I say.

Jagger looks at me like obviously . "Both of us have bite wounds to prove that."

"She's a succubus," I continue, ignoring his sarcastic bite. "She's naturally going to draw us to her?—"

"Don't go there," Jagger cuts me off. "I'm a siren. I know all about hypnotic trances and influence. She's not using any. She may have used some when she danced for you, but she hasn't since the second she decided to let us take her. And yes, I say let us because if she wanted to, she'd be gone."

"Mmm," is the only sound I utter as I shrug and start the walk back toward camp. "You need to be careful," I say. "I know your appetite. And after what I experienced, once doesn't feel like enough, does it?"

"Ah, so you are admitting you enjoyed her?—"

"I'm admitting it's dangerous," I cut him off. "The succubus has told us as much herself. I may not know everything about her kind, but I know enough to not want to Link myself to her for the rest of existence."

Jagger hums through his teeth. "I don't know," he says. "After tonight? Damn . You have to admit, she's an explosive combination of witty and sexy and dangerous. She has a great sense of humor and a heart big enough to put her life on the line for complete strangers. How often do you come across someone like that?"

"How often do we come across monsters wrapped in pretty packages with the ability to kill us in our sleep?" I glare at him as we walk.

He glares right back.

"I'm just saying," Jagger continues. "I feel like there would be worse things in this wretched world than to Link with Liv."

"Liv," I repeat the way he says her shortened name. "Are the two of you best friends now?"

"Are you jealous she's in competition of your coveted spot?"

"You are not my friend, Jagger," I lie. "Let alone my best friend."

"Sure," he says, glancing around the deserted woods. "You want to point out who is?"

"Keep testing me, Jagger," I say happy to have returned to some form of normalcy as we clear the trees near camp. "And I will?—"

My words die in my throat. The camp is completely empty. No sign of the succubus.

I move to the bank of the river, glancing up and down it. Still no sign of her.

"Fuck," I say, anger crashing through me in a fiery storm. I drop the hare near the fire. "She ran."

The solid hope that's built in my chest of getting back what I lost from the Collector dissolves at the sight of the empty camp.

"She wouldn't," Jagger immediately says, not a hint of doubt in his voice. The poor bastard is completely hooked on her. He glances around camp, his keen eyes searching.

"She has," I say, my blood spiking with the adrenaline. I need to run and hunt her down and bring her back to us. "She fucked us both so we would let our guard down and she ran ."

Jagger steps into the path I've started pacing, gripping my shoulders. "I'm telling you she didn't run," he snaps, holding up her satchel in front of my face as if that's evidence enough. "She never takes this thing off. She wouldn't have willingly left without her meds."

I stare at the satchel, hearing his words and letting them sink past the walls of fury that have constructed themselves in the last eighteen seconds.

My eyes widen, my entire body tensing as fear overtakes anger.

Fear for the succubus.

"If she didn't run," I say, still eyeing the satchel. "Then where the fuck is she, Jagger?"

I look at him and then around our camp, then the woods, waiting for her to come sauntering out of them, laughing and saying something snarky like you two should have seen your faces .

Goddess, I would punish her for it.

I would grab her throat and take her to the ground and punish her with my teeth and tongue and cock for playing this kind of jest on me, on us . Making us think she ran, making us worry?—

The succubus's scream breaks the silent night air, a bloodcurdling sound that stalls the breath in my lungs and freezes my bones.

"Liv!" Jagger shouts, already sprinting into the woods after the sound.

I throw her satchel over my shoulder and mount Rain, chasing after Jagger.