Chapter 154

So, Canary was Sideburns’ brother. He wasn’t an heir, but he was still a prince. Going-gray was their older cousin. I also pocketed several keywords they’d mentioned in their banter: vampire’s oracle, Shifter City. No outsiders.

But none of them made any sense to me other than Canary had been a notorious womanizer. Well, his pretty dick wouldn’t get anywhere near me if he wanted to keep it in one piece.

 “Let’s roll out,” Sideburns called and turned away from me, heeding his cousin’s advice.

Going-gray shot Canary a smug look before he let go of the tall stems. I jerked my foot back, concealing a gloating smirk. I’d outwitted all three princes. I should flip them the middle finger after they all turned their backs on me.

Like a flash of lightning, Canary bent down, his arm around my waist, and snatched me out of the shrub.

I shoved at him and kicked, but his vise-like grip wouldn’t budge.

Sideburns and Going-gray stopped in their tracks and wheeled toward us, an identical look of annoyance flitting across their faces.

“What are you doing, Shade?” Sideburns scolded. “We don’t have fucking time for this!”

“Oh, we’ll make time for this, my dear brother,” Canary crooned. “My gut feeling says this girl is very important. Think of the odds of a gorgeous young girl getting lost in the middle of nowhere, like a wounded bird. Obviously, she’s been hunted, or she wouldn’t have hidden in the shrub for the night, which was clever of her. She also left no trace of blood. If we weren’t shifters, we wouldn’t have sniffed her out. Call it fate or something else, but it was our destiny to find her. No offense, guys, but all of you missed the details staring you in the face. If you’d caught that conniving glint in the girl’s golden eyes when you were about to leave her alone, you would never have dismissed her as the Mad Hatter. She’s more cunning than all of us. And finally, I’ve sensed a beast in her. She’s like us.”

I sucked in a breath.

Many of his points were valid, except that I didn’t know how I looked. But being called beautiful didn’t hurt my case. However, his last opinion made me want to punch him in the throat. I wasn’t a beast girl. But then, I stopped cold as I thought of my claws coming out and slashing open the hound.

Was I like them?

Could I really be a shifter?

No matter; I wasn’t going with this lot either. I’d escaped hunters who

could throw fireballs. I could get away from the shifters as well. While the asshole Canary held me in his iron grip, I took the opportunity to count his company and map out an escape route.

 There were two dozen men scattered about. I could tear through the space between the bushes. Unlike the hunters, who would be happy to put me in a body bag if they couldn’t have me, this lot would want to catch me alive because of their prince’s stupid interest in me and because they wanted answers.