He slammed his fist on the table. “You think death scares me, boy? I came here to die. This was always how it was going to be. It’s been our legacy since James killed Rory.”
“Rory was hanged by a lynch mob,” I said through clenched teeth.
“He was murdered by his brother because even James knew love was for the weak. Your great-grandfather turned his grief into power, and his sacrifice is why we’ve thrived.”
“So everything I’ve been told about the Brothers of Rory—”
“Was a lie. I killed my father for the throne, and my father killed his. One day, your son will do the same and kill you,” he said with no small amount of glee.
My punishment for committing patricide would one day be meted out by my own child, and he wouldn’t know the vicious cycle he’d been born into until it was too late.
Until I gave him no choice.
“Blood in, blood out,” my father roared when I hesitated. “Now make your sacrifice!”
They were the last words he ever spoke. My face was the last he ever saw. And my growled, “Never,” was the last thing my father ever heard.
HUNTER
“Left hand, blue.”
I gritted my teeth and twisted my torso, stretching my right arm until my hand landed on the closest available circle—between Kellan’s legs. It was funny as hell to watch him grow increasingly agitated with each round that brought us closer and put us in compromising positions.
He was in an impressive back bend that lifted his shirt a little, showing off his Adonis belt and the dark trail of hair that disappeared inside his jeans. If I hadn’t already seen the dark hair peeking through his roots, I’d be shocked to learn that Kellan wasn’t a true blond.
He kept muttering about losing his hands and feet over a childish game. The laugh I was holding in broke free and nearly sent me to my ass when Coby spun the spinner and called for him to put his left foot on red. I was already straining to hold this impossible position, but thanks to Ocean, I hadn’t been eliminated yet. After a season of sexual gymnastics, my body was now accustomed to being twisted into a pretzel for an extended period.
Cursing, Kellan moved his bare foot to the red circle above my head, widening his legs and putting his crotch in my face.
“Why, Kellz, so soon? We hardly know each other,” I teased.
Coby and I laughed uncontrollably while Kellan groaned.
Coby took pity on him and flicked the spinner again, calling for me to move my right hand to yellow. I fell on my face, and Coco barked before running over with a click of his nails on thehardwood floor. I lay still while he sniffed my hair to make sure I wasn’t dead and then bossily barked for me to get my ass up and stop faking. Some of his black fur was already giving way to the brown, but he still looked like an asshole.
“Thank fucking fuck,” Kellan huffed as he straightened and stood. He held out his hand to help me up.
“What’s so scary about a harmless game of Twister?” Coby asked as she stood from the couch with a wary glance thrown at the barely three-pound puppy. She tossed the spinner into the box, grumbling about sharp teeth and rabies.
“Your fiancé,” Kellan retorted. “Do we have a deal? I played your dumb game. Now, you two agree not to sneak out again and give me a heart attack.”
Coby pouted. “We were bored.”
Last night, Coby, Deborah, and I had snuck out for a test drive that ended way too short once Kellan caught up to us and dragged us back here.
“What’s the big deal anyway?” I griped. “We’re out here in the middle of nowhere.”
There was also a lot of land and a long, private road between the rest of the human population and us.
After Roshaun had been executed, the three of us left Glainne and retreated here when Ocean decided to take the offensive. Apparently, he had this six-thousand-square-foot ranch house just waiting on standby.
This house was half the size of Glamis, which suited me perfectly. There were enough rooms to retreat when one of us needed space, but not so big that you could hide for long.
The only problem? Ocean was gone most of the time.
The war against his father had gotten ugly, and Ocean had wanted us as far away from it as possible.
I hated that.
