“Rory,” I say in a low warning. He doesn’t look at me, but his stiffening posture assures me he’s listening. “You can’t play with her if you kill her. Is that understood?”
All he offers is a firm nod. It’s enough. I mark Seth, but shake my head, denying him permission to follow. Too much competition. Rory will take it too far as the more dominant predator.
“Go.” I unleash the beast.
With an eager growl, Rory charges into the woods.
Twisting the knife in my grip, holding onto the last drippings of blood tingling my fingers, I turn to Vincent. “Go after him.”
“The fuck?” he grunts, his dark eyes daring to challenge me. “Why do I get stuck babysitting the socio?”
I sharpen my eyes against his. “Because you’re built like a bear and can stop him if he gets out of hand.”
Vincent snorts, crossing his bulky arms over his chest. “Why can’t Jude do it? He’s the tallest and the smartest.”
Jude smirks, lifting his bloody hand with exaggerated flair. “Smart enough to know why Raphael needs me here at present. Besides, I’ve already shed blood for this cause.” He straightens the collar of his crisp white shirt with his good hand, flicking an imaginary speck of dirt from the sleeve. “And, unlike you,I actually dress for the occasion. Other than Raphael, someone has to maintain standards around here.”
Yes, we all knowIhold the highest standards in everything. But I also hold the authority and the right to break those goddamn standards whenever I choose. None of them would be standing here without me.
We are not blood. But we are still brothers, united by the hellhole of a foster home we grew up in.
“I’d volunteer, but…” Seth lets out a breathy laugh. He might be good at swinging the axe and throwing a decent punch, but Seth is the earth that Rory burns. Not the water to control such fire. Or a very controlled storm in this case.
Vincent rolls his shoulders, his massive frame flexing with barely restrained irritation. He doesn’t remove his mask. “This is bullshit,” he mutters, but his feet are already moving. He turns and stalks into the woods.
I watch him disappear, gripping the blade harder. “Go on, bear,” I mutter under my breath.
Rory may be the beast, but Vincent is the hammer we bring down when things start to splinter.
We’ll see how long that defiance of hers can stand against monsters like us.
By the end of this, she’ll either belong to us completely—or she won’t survive at all.
And no matter how I try to deny it, I want her to survive.
3
Rory
SOCIOPATHY? AYE, THAT ONE FITS THE BEST
Citizen Soldier Playlist
“Everybody Hates You”
“BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!” I howl to the wild sky, my voice ricocheting through the woods like a warning shot. The hunt is on.
I lunge forward, dodging branches that whip at my face, my boots pounding on the forest floor. Thanks to that dress, that sweet little thing is leaving me a trail of glitter breadcrumbs. It shimmers like a taunt whenever the moonlight catches it through the trees. She’s fast, but not faster than me. No one is. Okay, Jude is. But he never howls up at the moon. Too busy calculating lunar phases or whatever nerdy thing doctors do.
The fire inside me roars like a lion. No, something worse. I’m a damned demon driven to madness by starvation, by the scent of his pretty prey, so sweet it drives me feral. And by fuck, is she pretty!
My muscles coil, tense and ready to pounce. I can already imagine the taste of her. Maybe cinnamon and apples. A bit of sweet, bit of spicy.
I leap over a fallen log, snagging a branch mid-air to launch myself forward. The adrenaline is a drug, and my body is a machine, powered by the promise of her. Her purple hair fluttersbehind her as she disappears around a tree and some brush. I’m closing the gap.
My thoughts spiral as I picture her in my grasp. I’ll pin her, leave fingerprint bruises on her throat, and teeth marks all over her skin. Scars, scratches, every inch of her decorated by me, my savage wolf leaving his art everywhere.
“Run faster, Lass,” I growl under my breath, grinning. “Make me work for it.”
