Page 173 of Psycho Gods

I put my hand over my heart. “Thank you.”

He dragged me towards the checkout counter where the rest of our group was headed.

Orion placed a black hoodie with a skull on top of Malum’s full arms, then draped his arm across my shoulder. He radiated warmth, and my mouth watered for chocolate-dipped raspberries.

He pressed a quick kiss to my temple and pain shot down my still sensitive spine.

I jolted.

Orion released me. Scorpius stopped petting a fuzzy coat, and his head snapped in my direction. “Why did you make a pained noise?”

“Uh, I didn’t.” I shuffled closer to Sadie for protection.

Unfortunately, that meant I was closer to Cobra. He was wearing a new floor length leather jacket and jewel-rimmed sunglasses even though we were inside.

“You look ridiculous,” I said.

He bared his dagger-sharp canines and hissed like a snake.

“Cute,” I drawled as we all moved to the check out.

“Oh wow, are you the don’s son?” The man at the checkout counter tittered as Jax dumped the pile of Sadie’s clothes down.

Cobra’s smirk turned into a frown as he glared at the worker. “No.”

The jewels embedded in his skin flashed into shadow snakes, and he radiated aggression as he threatened, “Don’t look at any of us.”

Cobra lunged forward threateningly, and the worker gulped as he stared at the counter and stuttered, “O-O-Of course, sir. We p-p-pride ourselves on the utmost discretion for our high-quality shoppers.”

Sadie chuckled and leaned over to me. “That’s us.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

Who was going to tell her?

After all the shifter’s clothes purchases were wrapped up in tissue paper, Xerxes sauntered forward and pressed his thumb to the screen to pay.

The screen lit up, and his net worth was displayed. There were eight zeros.

Show-off.

The worker got flustered when he saw how rich Xerxes was and gave him his business card and a free cologne. Xerxes graciously took the card and smiled at the man. Since he’d grown up in the upper crust of shifter society, he was used to people fawning over his wealth.

Finally, when my clothes were wrapped up, I leaned forward to place my thumb on the enchanted pad.

Flaming fingers grabbed my forearm and stopped me.

“I got this,” Malum said he pressed his down.

I rolled my eyes and blew out a cloud of smoke. “Whatever.” Scorpius and Orion stood next to me, smirking like they had a secret, and I made a point of ignoring them.

“S-S-Sir,” the worker stuttered, and Malum shifted to the side.

Thirteen zeros filled the screen, and more were listed, but they were cut off by the edge of the monitor.

The worker gaped up at Malum with wide eyes like he was in the presence of a god, and I scoffed as the kings smirked. Nothing upset me more than seeing a male filled with confidence.

As we walked out of the store, Malum’s rough voice whispered in my ear, “The House of Malum is ancient and illustrious. Are you sure you don’t want to be our mate? We can go back to the dressing room right now.”

I blew smoke into his face and rolled my eyes. “Your money means nothing to me. I have my own.”