After the war, London is in chaos.
Packs are battling it out for dominance in the streets, lycans are killing each other in illegal fight dens. The Royals are being murdered.
All Juliet wants to do is forget - forget Sebastien, forget the wa...
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"6B — top floor. You got better security up there, 'cause of all the stairs." The beefy landlord grinned at me, flashing a row of yellow teeth, and it took everything I had not to grimace. "Furniture's fairly new, too."
"Yeah, and I'm the next king of Hell," Theo muttered sarcastically. His voice was low — way too low for our new landlord to hear — but that didn't stop me from shooting a reproachful look in his direction anyway.
"Thank you," I said, practically snatching the keys out of the man's hand. "We can see ourselves up."
"All right, darlin'." He shrugged, patting down the front of his grimy shirt. "Rent's due first Monday of the month. You're late, you're out."
"That won't be a problem."
I could almost hear Theo rolling his eyes behind me. He made his way over to the stairwell, a disgusted look on his face as he inspected the safety rail. It was dirty — the black paint was peeling a little and it was criss-crossed with scuff marks — but it wasn't the cesspool of germs his expression made it out to be.
I sighed. He'd been like this all day, from the plastic chairs at the airport in Oslo to the economy ticket procured by Sebastien's team. Anything that wasn't worth the price of a small country was met with contempt. I knew it wasn't really his fault — he'd been born with a silver spoon in his mouth and grown up in the lap of luxury while the rest of us mere mortals were earning our place in the world the old-fashioned way — but after hours of travelling, his attitude was starting to drive me insane.
I grabbed my tattered suitcase, making a show of dragging it slowly across the floor. I was probably over-exaggerating how heavy it was, but I didn't want to give the landlord any funny ideas about hanging around to help. He didn't really seem like the type to help a girl out, but that didn't mean I had to encourage him either.
Finally, he took the hint.
"I'll see you in three weeks," he announced as he headed for the door. "If you have any problems, my number's in the kitchen somewhere."
"Great!" I forced some semblance of a smile. You can leave now!
The door clicked open, and then he was gone. I could hear his footsteps as he descended the steps outside, followed by the rustle of metal as he grabbed his keys.
"This place is a dive," Theo muttered as he tugged the sleeves of his jacket down over his hands.
"I told you," I said, "we can't afford anything better."
I grabbed my suitcase more firmly, hefting it over my shoulder like it weighed nothing — which it might as well have. I might have fallen on the weak end of the lycanthrope scale, but I was still incredibly strong by human standards. When I raised my head, Theo was scowling at me.
