Fatal Ties: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 7) by J.A. Cipriano Page A

female level. A lot. It was scary, especially because I knew Thes knew that. He’d lamented about it before, and as much as I’d wanted to tell him it was okay and he was wrong, it wasn’t okay and he wasn’t wrong.
    To be fair, he probably didn’t want to be dressed in only gym shorts, but that whole shifting into a werewolf thing tended to completely destroy clothing. I wasn’t sure why the gym shorts hadn’t torn to shreds, but I was glad he had them. Let’s just say, if I saw any more of him, I might not be able to contain myself. I’d leap on him, push him to the ground, and well, you can finish that thought.
    Besides, how would it look to do that after I’d just admonished Connor for the same thing? No, I was keeping my thoughts to myself.
    “That’s nice of you to say…” I swallowed hard while trying to make eye contact. It was hard because my eyes kept dropping to those V-shaped muscles beside his abdomen that were like my version of kryptonite.
    “It’s true though.” He smirked at me. “I mean, yeah, you can totally blame yourself if you want to do it. I’m not going to stop you, but she should have smelled that sniper long before he got a shot off.” Thes tapped his nose, drawing my eyes back to his face. “That’s what Halcyon told her too.”
    “So are you saying she does blame me, and your alpha told her she should have been better?” Thes nodded, and I knew in that instant Charity would probably never forgive me. It was one thing to be responsible, but it was quite another for others to tell Charity to get over it because it was her own fault. I didn’t believe Thes when he’d said I was innocent any more than Charity probably did. While he might be a golden-furred wolf god now, he hadn’t been before. He’d have gotten shot too if that sniper had been around.
    “I know what you’re thinking,” Connor said, shooting me a wide grin. “But I told her how hot she looked in bandages and she got over it.”
    I’m not sure what the look on my face was exactly, but Connor actually cringed. It was unfortunate too because I really wanted to be able to repeat a glare that could drive fear into the heart of the destroyer. C'est la vie.
    I spun around and let out a small sigh. Well, so much for small talk. So far I’d managed to bitch at Connor and make myself feel guilty. Awesome.
    “So, whas a fine lookin’ shawty doin’ round here?” The guy in front of us had appeared so suddenly, I hadn’t seen him until he was all up in my grill. He wasn’t tall, per se, especially when compared to Thes. Maybe five ten on a good day, but he was also all of three feet from me.
    He pulled on the straps of his stained wife-beater while staring at me with creepy brown eyes, and I knew, just knew, he was picturing me naked. A shiver ran down my spine as I surveyed the squirrel tattoos covering every inch of his exposed flesh. Squirrels playing hoops, jumping rope, using a rocket launcher to assault other squirrels. It was nuts.
    “Excuse me?” I said, pointing my katana at him.
    “Who the hell are you?” Connor said, taking a step between us. His hands were curled into fists and actual black smoke drifted off of him in a dark haze. He was pissed, and while I sort of wanted him to deck the guy, I’d sort of like to know who he was beforehand. He didn’t strike me as particularly powerful, and I had the destroyer and a werewolf with me. We could probably chat before we turned him into a puddle.
    “Wasn’ talkin’ ta you. Damn Great Value god. Think ya all that? You ain’t shit. Friggin’ discount destroyer,” the man sneered as he wove around Connor and stepped in front of me. It happened so fast it was almost like he had vanished and reappeared. Hell, maybe he had. I knew things that had been prone to do that. “I was talkin’ to this fine lil’ shawty. She built stupid good.”
    “You need to step back,” I said, but before I could do more, his hand snapped out, grabbing me by the