Vincent rises to his feet, brandishing a fist. “You will, or I’ll lay you out, Rory.”
“I’ll help.” I wink at her. “I’ll sit on him if I have to.” She smiles, blushing more.
“Fuck,” Rory grunts, turns around, and goes back to the sofa, slumping down and brooding. But he’s still crouched, watching her hungrily.
After limping to the center of the room again, Briella sits on the floor and declares, “Before we get down to other activities, let this be some good motivation for you. I want to play a game.”
Hmm…this should be interesting. I cross the distance to the hearth and park myself on the stone ledge off to her side.
“It’s called Truth or Truth.”
She tosses her braid back, torturing us with her tits half hanging out from that white fluff. All of us fixate on her, waiting for her to explain.
Sitting back on her hands, she crosses those curvy legs. “I get to ask each of you a question. I want to know more. But keep it simple. I don’t want todragit out too long.” She giggles, enjoying the power she holds over us a little too much. “And once my curiosity is satisfied, I will share my story, my history of the asylum, with all of you. Savvy?”
I glance at Rory and shrug. “Fine with me. Could be fun. I’m down.”
“Ye’re always down.” He rolls his eyes, grumbling. “Just wishshewere down.”
“Your dick won’t die, Red.” She sticks her tongue out, and he nearly bursts a blood vessel.
I tip my head back against the stone and chuckle. “What do you want to know, Briella Darling?”
“Jude.” She turns to him, and he nods in that annoying, courteous manner. “Tell me about how you came to be anex-combat military doctor.”
“Hmm…” He leans closer to her with a heavy sigh, steeples his fingers, and says, “I enlisted at seventeen. The recruiter fudged the paperwork for me. Anything to get out of that hell. I began as a combat medic. Military schooling. They covered it all. I did well. Thought I’d have a lifelong career in the service. Thought I was one of the good guys.”
He clenches one hand, the veins in his forearm thick and pulsing. We know that look. We all have our own demons. But Doc’s? His bled, begged, then betrayed him.
“I discovered there was a drug smuggling op running out of my own unit. Field supplies going missing. Morphine, ketamine, fentanyl—stuff that disappears easily if you’ve got access and no oversight. I did what I thought was right. I went to my commanding officer.”
He huffs a bitter laugh. No humor in it.
“Turns out he was part of it. So were most of the guys I’d bled beside. They turned on me so fast, I didn’t even see the knife before it was in my back. They planted evidence. Claimed it was me. Said I had easy access as a doctor. Said I’d been using the patients and supply chain to cover my own ass. They testified against me—men I’d saved.”
He goes quiet for a moment. So do we. Briella arches her back, and I know every empathy bone in her body wants to touch him. The man who healed her and saved her life. We’d be fools not to acknowledge how deep her bond with Jude goes. Pretty sure she fell for him first, even if Raphael owned her soul from the beginning. And even if Rory said ‘I love you’ before any of us.
“They court-martialed me. Stripped me of everything. When they put me in the transport to send me to lock-up, I figured that was it. End of the road.”
Then a glint in his eye. “Until you four showed up.” He glances at us. Vincent smirks. Raphael gives a sober nod, one arm draped over the side of his chair.
I chuff a laugh. “Now, that was a fun night.”
“Aye,” Rory adds with a twisted expression, considering the blood he spilled.
“Caused one hell of a scene,” Jude explains. “Prison transport didn’t stand a chance. Next thing I know, I’m free—and off the grid with the rest of you bastards. Well, apart from a last stop along the way.”
Briella lifts a brow, and I nod to our alpha. “Raph found the ones who turned on Jude hanging out at a bar. Same night he was going to prison for life. Damn, I mastered dismembering that night!”
Eyes wide, she locks them onto Jude. He’s more relaxed now. “I didn’t lift a finger that night. I simply watched. Call it revenge if you wish, but it was justice. And retribution. Raphael, Vincent, Seth, and Rory…” His gaze briefly roams across us as he finishes, “They are my blood brothers. More than any of those assholes. And despite our time apart, those bonds never severed. Chains on our souls. And hearts.”
“Ack, Doc, don’t be getting all sentimental or ye will make me sick,” Rory huffs.
“Well, we don’t want that.”
When Jude turns back to Briella, she’s already crawling toward him. Goddamn, her ass…the skirt covered it, but her plump cheeks peek out from the panties that are little more than a thong.
This really is the best Christmas!
