“A prime example of opposites attracting,”Ezekial explains, arm tightening around me.“You called us your bonds.”
I did, because they are.
“I needed to get a reaction,”I half-lie.
His fingers brush along my ribs. “Is that all?”
“Can we talk about this… after?”
He doesn’t answer, not out loud, but his arm pulls me tighter.“We think it’s best Julien stays tonight. If the mole hasn’t broken by then, I’ll join Kane and Sai in the Pit.”
I nod. It’s the right call. If the mole had the same compulsion the young enforcer did, they would most likely need Ezekial to break him.
“But after.”Ezekial’s low murmur slips through my mind.“We will talk about your decision to wear this.”
His free hand slips over my hip, fingertips trailing the hem of my skirt.
I don’t know when after will arrive. But I find myself hoping it’s soon.
Chapter 34: Julien
The mole, Lucanus, is lasting longer than we anticipated.
Without Ezekial here to keep him from slipping unconscious every time the pain becomes too much, we’ve had to be slow, meticulous.
Pulling away just before his eyes roll back.
Alas, it seems he has been compelled too. Like the young enforcer—Silas, who Kane and Ezekial broke so beautifully. But this compulsion is stronger, more ingrained. Twisting through his mind like rot.
We need Ezekial.
A gurgled scream echoes through the chamber. Not a plea—something rawer. Frantic. Like his body knows what his mind refuses to surrender.
“We have to get this fucker to break,” Sai pants.
He’s been using too much of his power, too quickly, too eager to ‘finish the job’—because we all know what awaits us after.
And I have the honour of easing her into it.
“We will.” Kane’s tone is concrete, as is his will. He’s made a promise to Jasmine, and Kane always kept his word. “Julien, please send my brother.”
“You lucky bastard.”Sai shakes his head when I glance over, but we’re both smiling.
Another wet gasp, the traitor’s body twitching like something broken trying to remember how to be whole, and I flit.
I arrive inside the shadows of the apartment next door to Kacey’s. I don’t even see Ezekial, he leaves the moment he feels me arrive.
And then—I feel her.
My blood hums, thrumming with the need to be closer, pulling me incessantly until I appear outside Kacey’s door. A door which is already opening—
There she is.
The object of my every desire.
The fire that lights my soul.
My bond.
