“Kira…”
Fuck, that sounded like a prayer. I blinked, grabbing for fear, for awkwardness, for anger or something to wrap around me to keep me safe, but it wouldn’t come. I tried to pull the shadows off the wall, to cloak my skin in something, anything to put myself back together, to stop the emotional reckoning from happening.
Lilith chuckled inside my head. Love is the knife we plunge willingly into our hearts, and you’ve shoved it deep. He is truly your consort now.
No—
Oh yes. He was always yours, but now…
I went to pull away, to scramble as far as I could get away from this, but a heavy hand came to rest on my shoulder, holding me where I was. My eyes darted sideways to see Mark kneeling beside us, looking kinda shell-shocked but reaching for that stiff upper lip as he held me in place. But my eyes were drawn back to Jake as sure as my next breath. Reaching for him was just as easy, my hands going to his shoulders as I hauled him up, his arms wrapping tight around me. My head was tugged down to rest on his shoulder, his skin clammy against mine, his scent sharper, more insistent. My brows wrinkled, the muscles clenching tighter until Jake’s hand joined Mark’s on my back.
I couldn’t hold tight against it—the combined warmth, the pressure, the gesture, the softness that came with it. Oxygen fought my lungs, not wanting to come in and out until…I gave in, going loose between the two of them, just letting go. My eyes fell closed as a matter of course, and I sank into them.
His kiss was as soft as a butterfly’s wing, as harsh as a hammer, bludgeoning into me, and I just stayed there, my fingers digging into his shoulder blades the only sign of what was happening.
I didn’t know how long we stayed there. All I knew was it took Mark to pull me free and lay me down for it to end, tucking me against his body, Jake snuggling in quickly on my other side until I was sandwiched tight between them.
Jake’s preference for pressure around his neck made sense right now. The deep compression of their bodies on mine helped put me back together, one long sighing breath after another.
“Thank you,” Mark rumbled, forcing me to look around, my eyes heavy with oncoming sleep.
“For what?” I forced out.
“Everything. Now go to sleep.”
Chapter 12
Mark put his hand on the bedroom doorknob, looking behind him before he opened it. They looked so benign now. The atavistic fear of fae that had been so carefully bred in him had risen when he saw them together. Jake was all sharp angles and glowing eyes, and her… The moment when Kira’s eyes bled black, her hair settling longer, darker, like snakes on her shoulders as she’d grinned down at the other man, had nearly stopped his bloody heart. But he hadn’t reached for his gun or any of his other weapons, not even the elves’ bane they’d given him, just in case. That part of his life was over now.
But he’d have to be careful. His stomach rumbled angrily, having missed meals, and a dehydration headache was settling in. They’d been at it for hours, and they didn’t need things like three square meals a day, the fae. They caught you up, so you thought you didn’t need it either, until he’d woken up, his body feeling like it was turning inside out from hunger.
He opened the door with a click, and after having pulled on only a pair of pants, he quickly realised he should have put on more. Down either side of the corridor, he saw people trailing past, clutching household items, bags, and their children’s hands. Some glanced at him, but nothing they saw seemed especially reassuring. They kept on going, Duke gesturing to open doors for people, ushering one group in, then the next. Mark nodded to him when those dark eyes met his, but they didn’t for long. The man kept moving, finding people somewhere to stay.
He walked out of the palace, his eyes taking in the mosaics now, the murals. This place… The league historians would have creamed in their pants for an opportunity to record them, arguing for an age over their meanings. He padded out into the main room of the adjoining building, murmuring his apologies when he was forced to brush past people moving in. He’d need to start stashing some non-perishable food.
He knew Ashanti was mobilising her people, withdrawing them from Rutherglen’s reach, he just didn’t realise they were all being housed here. Something the commander would have loved to know, that impulse to collect and transmit intel so deeply ingrained. That’s in the past, he reminded himself.
As if to provide a counter argument to that, Morrison appeared out of the shadows just as he found the kitchens. The agent pushed himself off the wall and ran his eyes down Mark’s dishevelled appearance.
“That didn’t take long. Hot fae pussy is obviously—”
The man didn’t get to complete his sentence, Mark’s hand shooting out and grabbing his throat. He saw Kira’s hand around Jake’s neck for a minute as his dug his fingers into the man’s.
He was knocked away though, too easily really. Morrison smirked at that.
“Sucking the marrow from your bones already, mate? Too bad. Your ‘sweetheart’? She ascends, the God Protocols are still in play. We’ll take her down, take her out. You’ll get your balls back at least.”
He shook his head, remembering that selfsame smug sense of rightness he’d used to run on. God, what the fuck had he been thinking? The commanders tried to stamp out that cockiness, but what was the league but hubris?
“And if she gets the better of you?”
“Well, that’s where you come in, don’t you? The commander, he didn’t want to let you go. Had to be persuaded that it was in the best interest, didn’t he? You were always the go to guy for close contact kills.”
“No.”
“Have to wonder if that’s why they assigned you to the Rutherglen in the first place. They play deep games, those commanders.”
“No, I’m done with that shit. I’m tainted, enthralled, her creature now.”
“Except you’re not. Not really. If you were, you’d have walked over broken glass to get her on the night she transitioned. Instead you held out, saw her every day, and stayed away. The commander’s impressed, thinks you’re something special, but I reckon it’s something else.” The prick crossed his arms. “She doesn’t have that much of a hold on you. Enough to pull at you and leave you aching.” His eyes dropped to Mark’s pants. “You’ll be called upon to play your part. You made a blood bond to the league, Sullivan. That doesn’t change, no matter who you’re boning. I’ll be in touch.”
Mark watched the man slink away, his hands balled into fists. A twinge drew his eyes down to see the mark they’d laid on his forearm during his initiation. It glowed, faintly pearlescent, a cross with an arrow shooting out from it. He loosened his fingers and saw it fade away as he did, then his stomach grumbled, reminding him of why he’d come there. A wave of weakness washed over him, making him waver on his feet. Time for plotting after a sandwich, he promised himself as he walked over to the pantry.
Chapter 13
I watched it all play out like it was a movie. There they were, fighting, striving, working together to… My brain lost the thread, content to just watch it all play out. It was all so engrossing, so many moving parts. The little figures screamed and gestured as if on a tiny stage. They got louder, more desperate, but my mind felt like glue as I tried to listen in, understand what they—