“Tell me what you did and I’ll tell you what I did.” Syko’s whispered words pull at my attention and I stare at him for a long time, the fire reflecting in those inkwell eyes of his.
I always assumed Syko came voluntarily because of Kayos.
The terror in his gaze right now doesn’t look as innocent as everyone always believes him to be. It’s a fear of who you are that’s pulling at his features. It’s a look I know all too well.
“My stepfather was alpha of our pack. He earned that title by ripping out the throat of my father when he became too reckless during a full moon one Halloween night.”
A chill slithers across my skin at the even tone his twisted story is spoken in.
“My father was always a push and pull of control. And my stepfather saw that in me since I was a pup. So he made it his job to beat the discord from my blood. Every full moon I’d be leashed. The Change would wrack through my bones with breaking intensity and chains would hold me in place until it passed with agonizing slowness.” The flicking accent of Malek’s words is a haunting sound that matches his lost, dark eyes eerily.
“Shit,” Syko whispers on an echoing exhale.
“When you cage a beast, it doesn’t alter the creature’s instincts. It enraged my wolf. Month after month for years, deadly fury built within me. Until my body became too strong. The chain too rusted. My stepfather too arrogant. And too slow to escape the beast he’d created.” Malek’s looking intently at me but I don’t know if he sees me at all.
I catch his wrist from my hair and push my fingers through his until his dark eyebrows rise and he blinks down at me slowly. My lips press to his knuckles and I’ve never felt so protective over someone so strong before. A pressing sensation bears down on my heart before it beats furiously harder. Faster.
What is that?
A smile tips the corner of Malek’s lips and I just know.
It’s a bond. A mating bond.Ourmating bond.
My breath catches.
I’m his mate. I know he’s said that. He said it that very first time beneath the pale moonlight but I never really understood it until now. At the time, it just felt like dominating lust when he said it. Something fervent likeI need you, I want you.
It isn’t like that at all. It is, and it isn’t all at the same time.
I do need him. I need him like I need the blood pulsing through my veins.
Does it feel that way for him too?
I swallow hard and it feels too naive to ask him outright.
And luckily, the topic it changed.
“What about you? Did you forget to say thank you or please and they chucked your angelic ass in here before you got ‘really bad’?” Saint sends a carving smirk Syko’s way but the nephilim’s dark eyes hold no amusement.
“Nephilim are the rare half-breed children of angels.” The emptiness in his gaze matches his tone and it hurts to hear. “Some have too much of the heavens in their blood. Kayos has too much. Whereas my grandfather had almost none. He was the most selfless man I ever met though. When we were little, he took us in after the accident. He swept the mess of what happened to our parents under the rug and protected Kayos from the blood she had on her hands.”
A crawling sensation slinks over my skin.The blood on her hands.
The pent up breath he seems to be holding in forces from his lips and he looks away from the seriousness passing within our circle of friends.
I can’t tell if he’s going to finish his story or not.
“Did she kill him too?” Malek asks, voice as smooth as stone.
All attention holds on Syko. He shakes his head solemnly slow.
“I did.” Syko’s lips stay parted but no other words follow his admission. His gaze never leaves the heart of the fire that’s searing bright white.
Maybe it was an accident or maybe it wasn’t.
He doesn’t have to explain. The only reason he’d ever do something so dark would be to protect someone he loves. And he still protects Kayos.
He always will.
