My arms closed around her too as I pulled her closer, drowning in the scent of her and the exquisite feeling of her skin against mine.
I didn’t know how the hell we’d deal with all of this now, but I did know that we’d done the right thing. All of us. Even the Night Keepers. And this bond between us was real whether I liked it or not.
Saint appeared again suddenly, dressed in an outfit that looked almost exactly the same as the one he’d been wearing a few minutes ago.
In one hand he held a fistful of clothes and in the other he had a black bucket with two cloths swimming in it. The cloying scent of bleach washed over us as he drew closer, leaving the clothes on the stairs before approaching us with the bucket.
“Come here,” he said, his eyes on Tatum and his tone almost soft.
If it concerned him that he’d found the two of us wrapped around each other in nothing but our underwear, he didn’t mention it.
Tatum released me and went to him, not bothering to cover her chest this time as he grabbed a cloth and quickly started wiping the blood from her skin.
I grabbed my own cloth from the bucket, forcing my eyes away from Tatum’s body as I hurried to wipe the blood off of me too.
Saint diligently cleaned every spot of blood from Tatum’s skin. Her gaze remained fixed on him as he moved the cloth all over her flesh and she seemed to struggle for the right words to offer him.
Once he was done, she plunged her hands straight into the bucket and washed the blood from them too.
“Here,” Saint said, moving to pass me a pair of grey sweatpants and a black T-shirt which looked almost exactly like the ones I’d just been wearing.
I shrugged them on with a grunt of thanks and he gave his attention to dressing Tatum next.
“I had the same outfit for you in black,” he said as he offered her the matching leggings and sports bra. “It’s dark out tonight, no one should notice that they’re not navy now.”
“Thanks.” She dressed quickly and we ran up the stairs to find Kyan and Blake waiting for us wearing fresh versions of their last outfits too.
“Just like it never happened,” Blake said darkly as his gaze slid over us.
“I dunno if I’d say that,” Kyan growled, reaching out to take Tatum’s hand as he pulled her towards the door where fresh sneakers were waiting for us too.
“Let’s go,” Saint commanded and my skin prickled as he aimed that tone at me just as clearly as it was aimed at the others. Whatever this bond between us meant, it definitely didn’t include me taking orders from him.
Kyan scooped a baseball bat up off of the floor and I noticed a gun jammed in the back of Blake’s sweatpants. Saint didn’t take a weapon, but I spotted an old claw hammer laying on the flagstones and snatched it before following the others out into the dark.
Distant shouts coloured the air from somewhere up near the gates and adrenaline surged through my limbs as we turned towards the fight.
“Who the fuck do these assholes think they are breaking in here and trying to steal from us?” I demanded in a deadly tone.
“Let’s go show ‘em what happens when you invoke the wrath of the Night Keepers,” Blake growled.
Kyan cupped his hand around his mouth and hollered to the sky, his voice echoing all over the mountain in a deadly promise which made the hairs rise along the back of my neck. It was the cry of a hunter. And a vow of violence to come.
Saint smiled darkly and we started running without another word, the four of us taking up positions all around Tatum without anyone needing to order it. It could have been a coincidence, but I didn’t think so. We were all bound by this thing we’d done, but in truth we were bound by something so much purer than death. We were bound by her. This girl who’d shown up out of nowhere and managed to claim a hold on the corrupted souls of four broken monsters.
And though I might have hated what these other beasts were and all they stood for, I could appreciate the power in them all the same. Each of us was capable of real ferocity when it came to protecting what was ours. And Tatum Rivers was ours. We’d written it in blood.
The noise from up ahead reached us like a storm. My heart wouldn’t settle as I ran amongst the four creatures who had saved me. I was still in shock from the attack and couldn’t adjust to this shift in our dynamics. Because it was like all of them had severed off a piece of their souls and handed it to me tonight. And after weeks of abuse, hatred and persecution from the Night Keepers, I didn’t know what to do with that knowledge. It didn’t make sense to me. Yet when we’d stood in the aftermath of that bastard’s death, I’d felt them joined to me as keenly as if as an invisible chain had wrapped around us.
The sound of a baying crowd grew deafening as we crested the hill and ran past Aspen Halls, the scent of smoke filling the air.
My heart stuttered at the sight before me.
We had to slow as the throng of students and outsiders clashed together before the gates. The football team were leading a charge against them, shoving as many people out of the gates as they could, but the outsiders were fighting back hard.
“Let’s save our school, brothers,” Saint barked and he, Kyan, Blake and Monroe rushed into the fray.
Kyan swung his bat with a roar to announce his arrival and the crowd scattered around him in terror. He whacked it against a guy’s ass and he yelped before running for the gate. Saint threw violent punches that cracked noses and spilled blood down his knuckles. Monroe raised his hammer with a yell of fury and that was enough to make a bunch of them run for their fucking lives. He was as wild as the Night Keepers, and as fearless too.
Blake was pointing the gun at anyone who got too close, making them piss their pants before he threw punches and sent them running for the gate.
Screams carried into the sky as the chaos descended and a primal urge made me want to dive in and join my men. No, shit. They weren’t mine. But hell, right then I felt like I belonged in the fight at their sides. And there was too much insanity in the air tonight to question it.
I darted forward, shoving and kicking people towards the gate and I soon fell into the rhythm of the fight. Shove, kick, push, punch.
With every blow I landed, my mind felt freer. It was a fierce distraction from the blood I’d just spilled and I relished the wildness in me as it unfolded.
I wheeled through the crowd with all the skills I’d honed my entire life, enjoying having real opponents to land my attacks on and my veins hummed as I unleashed my inner beast.
A scream caught my ear and I whirled around, spotting a couple of the Unspeakables guarding a pile of toilet paper and hand sanitiser on the ground. They’d formed a circle around it, but the outsiders were swooping in like vultures and I darted toward them to help.
A woman dove at Freeloader and I grabbed hold of her black hair, yanking her backwards before she could get near her. My heart jolted as I recognised Denise from the bar with her tattooed tits and pissed off eyes. The second she realised it was me, she raked her nails down my arms with a shriek of hate.
I shoved her back then threw a hard punch into her mouth, making her yell in pain as blood spilled over her lips. I kept rushing at her, landing kicks and punches as she fought to keep me back, but she wasn’t trained like me.
“Fuck you, you little slut!” she snarled, throwing a fist that landed against my tit and I gasped at the low blow.