“They exist to feed us!” His voice was soft and venomous, his hatred for humanity sort of unsurprising. I didn’t blame him.
“I would like to think I am more than a meal.” I smirked slightly.
Almost immediately he stilled, seemingly confused by my words, as his eyes turned legitimately black with… anger? No. I didn’t feel like it was that, exactly.
“You’re human?” he whispered roughly.
“Last time I checked.”
Fury rippled across his face. “Why the fuck would they send someone so vulnerable in here? I could snap you in half, little girl.”
“I do prefer my spine intact.” I didn’t move as he suddenly crowded my space, gripping my neck in a hard hold. He watched my expression so intently that I think he expected me to be scared, but if anything, I found myself leaning into him a bit more. I had to admit, this was a bit different than my normal work day, and I absolutely loved it.
“I should kill you,” he growled, looking as though he was considering it.
My hand came up to his jaw as I decided to ask him a question instead. “What’s your name?”
“Amun.” I smiled at his immediate answer. He growled under his breath, probably realizing how fast he’d given into my question.
See? Adorable! The man growls.
“Amun.” I said his name lightly as it rolled off my tongue.
“Don’t say my name,” he demanded softly, his hand gripping me tighter.
I leaned in closer and spoke softly. “I have an offer for you, Amun.”
His shudder was clear, his breathing turning a bit rough as I continued. “You can stay here, serving a punishment for draining vulnerable stupid humans, or you can join a team and hurt the humans that actually deserve it while saving other nightmares. At least channel that hate where it should go.”
Surprise ran across his face as he frowned in a speculative manner. “You are on one of these teams?”
“I do research for one of them, yes,” I confirmed, wondering where he was going with this.
“Ridiculous,” he grunted. “Women should be honored, not forced to work.”
Oh man, we had a bit of ground to cover, didn’t we?
He looked at me once again and nodded. “I will join one of these teams—the one you are on. Someone has to make sure you don’t go running into a monster’s den, precious.”
Precious? Oh, well that was a new one. Also, how much did we want to bet the guys were both in agreement with him and furious that he was gripping my neck?
Instead of telling him I’d be doing it anyway, I introduced myself. “My name is Arabella, by the way. Let me see what I can do about the team thing.”
His hand relaxed slightly as I stepped back, only for him to frown and tug me back to him, smashing me to his chest. “Where are you going?”
“I need to let them know the plan.”
I had said that, right? Honestly, everything was a bit fuzzy around him.
“No,” he growled.
“I just need to tell them—”
His form suddenly exploded up into full size as I let out a surprised squeak, gripping onto him hard as I was lifted several stories into the air. I curled into the space between his neck and shoulder and closed my eyes, knowing what came next. Lights flooded the space as the room shook with Amun’s savage growl. The door opened with the sound of the bell as I finally brought myself to open my eyes, curious.
Holy crap. We were at least six stories high right now, and the man was kneeling. My hands gripped his bandages as his large hand closed around me protectively. That was cute.
My father’s face was amused as the bright lights glinted off his messy gray hair, stepping into the room followed by Damian, Blackwell, and Razar, none of whom looked happy about Amun. To be fair, we were fairly select about who joined our team, but this felt like the right choice. I really felt strongly that our team would be a good place for him, even if it took some adjustment.
And no, it had nothing to do with my insane attraction to him, thank you very much.
“Amun.” My father’s voice rang out from the microphone on his jacket. “I would feel much more comfortable negotiating your stay here if my daughter was in a safer position.”
The word ‘safer’ had my mummy freezing as he suddenly shifted back again, the whiplash of up and down making me let out a small cry of excitement as I gripped onto him. I let out a laugh as he caught me easily in his arms, cradling me to his chest as his eyes narrowed cautiously on the other men in the room.
“Now she is safe,” he rumbled defensively, clutching me tighter as I relaxed into his grip, making him look down at me for a moment.
“If you could just place her down—”
“No. She’s mine.”
Ah, fuck.
Those words had me wincing, because out of everything he could have said, that was the wrong choice. Razar let out a vicious sound as everything broke into action at once.
This wasn’t good.
3
Damian
The room exploded around me, not distracting me from the fact that Arabella was still not completely safe, and Amun’s grip was tightening on her to the point that it was possibly leaving bruises. That wasn’t fucking okay in the least. I didn’t bother taking such aggressive action as my teammate, stepping to the side and letting Blackwell attempt to grab a hold of Razar when he lost it, surging forward. Normally, Blackwell would have easily been able to stop him because they truly were evenly matched in physicality, for the most part.
I say normally, because Arabella’s well-being and our reaction to her being in danger didn’t really ever fall into the realm of ‘normal’ or ‘rational.’ Not that we had a lot of that to begin with around here. No, everything around here was completely twisted, and the only reason I recognized the absurdity of our daily lives was because I’d lived amongst humans before, camouflaged as one of their kind.
Humans and their dull lives.
Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade my life, but the fact that Razar was literally a half a second away from killing Amun was a bit of a contrast to how humans would react to shit. I watched as Blackwell missed Razar by the smallest fraction of an inch, making me sigh at the possible chaos that was about to break out. Before he could collide with Amun, a streak of white and silver darted across the space, making me smile.
Or not.
A large frame intercepted Razar, the sound of the impact rattling the space and distracting everyone enough for me to make my move. I snapped in front of Amun while offering him a dangerous smile, surprise filling his gaze. By then, it was much too late for him to react.
My tail wrapped around Arabella’s tiny waist as I tugged her from Amun’s arms and against my chest, actual amusement filling me at the vicious growl Amun produced at losing her. By then, I was already at least ten feet away, holding my little cherry blossom against me in a bridal hold. Her sweet-smelling hair briefly distracted me as it brushed across my face, but not enough that I moved my gaze away from Amun. The bastard took a threatening step forward, making my smile grow, knowing that he wanted to rip her from my arms.
I would fucking love to see him try that shit.