“I am not touching that thing,” Nolan muttered, nodding toward the coiled snake in the glass dome.
A laugh slipped from my lips, but died instantly when Kaius shot me a warning look. I dropped my gaze, shame washing over me. There was no way I could go to Watson or Parsons about this without Logan finding out. And if he did, there was no telling what he would do to me in retaliation.
Which left me with only one option—asking the Knights of Lovelen for help. And right now, I wasn’t even sure if trusting them had been a good idea.
“Vince,” Kaius barked out, his voice deep and gravelly. “Get the snake and dispose of it.”
Without a word, Vince emerged from the shadows he had been sulking in like he’d been waiting for orders. He grabbed the chessboard, the reptile thrashing violently against the glass as he stalked out of the room. I shuffled my feet back and forth, bracing myself for Kaius to finally explode. I deserved every ounce of fury he was going to unleash on me, maybe not for what I had done, but for what I hadn’t told him yet.
“Logan Reid was stripped of his patch from the Death Dealers two years ago.” Kaius’s voice was deadly quiet. The control in every word made them even more terrifying.
I could feel his stare burning into me. Tears pooled at the corners of my eyes, but I refused to look at him.
He continued, “We were explicitly told he was dead. So tell me, Acelynn, how the hell is he suddenly back from his shallow grave?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled. The truth was slippery even in my own mind. Even the good memories with Logan were now shrouded in darkness if I tried to reflect on them. I swallowed hard. “We met in college in North Carolina. He had this fascination with the club life. Particularly the Knights of Lovelen and the Death Dealers, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. Just let it go in one ear and out the other when he started on about it again. Logan graduated a year before me and moved back home to California.”
My throat felt like it was on fire as I told the story, because all of it was the truth, one that Acelynn didn’t live, but a scared girl who had let him push her around, and that scared me to divulge to the men who had betrayed my family.
Clearing my throat once, I continued on, “Or at least that’s what I believed until he showed up at my dorm one day with a fresh tattoo and a story about initiation. It just got worsefrom there. His anger and outbursts suddenly felt charged by something more sinister. Logan started claiming he was being unfairly treated in the club and had a whole conspiracy on how the leaders were out to get him. That’s what got him stripped of his patch.”
“Why did you think he was dead?” Nolan asked, gaze full of skepticism.
I shrugged once. “I got a call from someone claiming to be a part of the club that said they skinned his tattoo from his body, and they didn’t cauterize the wound quickly enough, so he bled out. Didn’t seem to ask for a picture of the crime scene for proof.”
“You don’t skin a patch off for someone who gets one of your own killed,” Nolan snapped this time.
I could feel the blood drain from my face. My feet stumbled back until they hit the wall, forcing me to stay in the room with the two of them.
“I had no idea,” I whispered. It wasn’t a lie.
When Logan and I had first gotten together, he had been secretive. Obsessive. And I had thought it was fun to be with someone like that. That was before I figured out Logan didn’t love me. It was my last name he fell in love with because he understood the power that came with it. When he finally wormed his way into the club, it had become clear to me our relationship was failing, and the anger he felt for everyone involved in the club life that “wronged” him was taken out on me. I grimaced at the memories that flashed across my mind, but as quickly as they came, I shoved them back into their little box.
Nolan exhaled, averting his gaze from me. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
“Nolan,” Kaius warned, but his second didn’t seem to care much for it as he flashed him a steely look. Reaching up, Kaiusran one hand through his light-colored hair and then down his face. “You’re right.”
“Usually am,” Nolan replied with a shrug.
I forced down the bile rising in my throat and found the courage to speak again. “I thought he was dead, if that makes any of this any better.”
Kaius stared at me, his expression unreadable. “It doesn’t. But it was worth a shot, kitten.”
I smirked at his pet name. Something about it sent a wave of calm over me. If he was calling me kitten again, that could only mean that his anger wasn’t directed at me anymore, but at the man who had painted my ceiling with blood.
Kaius extended one finger, beckoning me forward. “Come here.”
I moved slowly, every step cautious as my brain tried to catch up with my movements. When I reached him, Kaius placed his hands gently on my shoulders and turned me, so my back was pressed up against him. Taking one hand, he reached under my chin and tilted it toward the ceiling. “Look closer at the words. See how he capitalized certain letters?”
Kaius kept me locked in place as I stared at the bright red letters above my head. The first word was the only one that had the odd capitalization to it, and as soon as I put it together, I could feel my legs give out from under me. Kaius caught my weight, not letting me crumble to the floor below me.
A whisper left my lips as I spoke. “Prey. He always taunted me, telling me I was his favorite prey to chase.”
“And now the prey will become the predator.” Kaius’s hot breath met my left ear as he spoke. “I’ll make sure of it.”
KAIUS
Acelynn trembled beneath me, her wide eyes staring up at the blood-slicked words scrawled across her ceiling. Fear radiated off her in waves. I had meant it when I said my little kitten would not become prey to a fallen member. She was mine to chase, mine to protect. And I didn’t share.
