Well, look at that.My little viper is happy to see me survive.
“You have your victor,” Killian calls, stepping toward me, shuffling his hands into his pockets. The asshole doesn’t make a move to help me to my feet. “Meet your contenders: Finn, Ethan, and Hayes.”
Relief surges in me and I fight the urge to vomit. I did it.I fucking did it.
Collins saddles up to my side, picking a piece of glass out of my shirt. She sniffles slightly. “You could have had him with the first hit. You were sloppy.”
“Giving fighting pointers now?”
She wipes her eyes discreetly. “You forget, Hayes. I’ve seen you fight. I know you.”
Chuckling, I wrap my arm around her shoulders, feeling her tense just enough to raise suspicions. But her arm winds around my waist, allowing me to lean against her and she melts. “If you’re so set on helping me fight, maybe you can teach me a few things. Naked, of course.”
Collins swats at me as Maeve stops before us. She scans me, cataloguing all my injuries, face unreadable.
“You survived.”
It’s as close to a congratulations as she’ll give me. Nodding, my hand curls on to Collins’ arm, a possessive mark that both she and the reaper notice.
“Take him home,” she directs Collins. “He’ll need to rest.”
“Take the medical advice of the professional too, Prince,” Killian drawls, watching Maeve leave. “No one wants an easy victory.”
“Worried about me, reaper?” I smirk, wincing as Collins presses a finger into my cut cheek.Ow.
Killian’s cold eyes scan me, looking for a weakness I don’t have.
“Check his head too, Coli. He sounds almost delusional.” Laughing, I let Collins pull me to the exit, my north star guiding me home.
18
COLLINS
“Hold still,” I command, standing between Hayes’ legs, his hulking form perched on the toilet of my bathroom.
When Pops crafted his faux castle, he made sure every room was completely updated, with the best money could buy. No expense was spared, including my bathroom. With high ceilings, and large windows, the walls are painted a deep oceanic blue with darker cerulean tiles and gold knobs accentuating the area.
After I got sick, I had extra furnishings put in to assist my compromised immune system: sanitizers, extra soaps, lotions, and a special duct irradiation system that houses UV lights to kill bacteria.
Though he sold it as a way to keep me safe, this was one more way he kept me suffocated in this house. Under his control. Never allowed to grow.
Hayes winces against the alcohol pad as I clean the cut on his eyebrow, shifting my legs. Since returning, I’ve cleaned broken glass out of his cuts, bandaged his fingers, gluing shut his scraps and cursing the Heavens for this unholy need inside me.
Usually, I can control them. Give in, only a little, during a medical lab experiment. Or grab a boy from the study hall to fuck the urges out of my system.
Neither of those options are viable right now. Not when blood stains my palms, coats Hayes’ face, and the memory of how vicious he was in the ring assaults me. I just want him.
But I can’t.
“Easy, viper,” he gripes, one blue eye looking up at me. “I’m sensitive.”
“I’m trying to stop the bleeding.” I push harder and he flinches. “God, Hayes, from what I just saw, this should be the least of your concerns. You were going to be stabbed through by a knife only hours ago.”
Watching Heath hold that knife, everything in me stopped. Breath, thoughts, lust, gone. And in their place grew an incredible rage that tore through me like a crashing wave. I was ready to kill Heath if he ended Hayes’ life.
I have never been so angry—so possessive of someone before. And over my fake fiancé no less seems absurd.
“Knives are easy,” he quips. “Your bedside manner? Not so much. You sure they’re going to let you graduate? Your technique is giving Dr. Kevorkian.”
