We’ve already decided that getting into Isaac’s compound a second time won’t be possible. My brother is nothing if not a perfectionist. Any flaws that Khalil and Thorin already exposed getting me out will have already been compensated for twice over.
The only viable solution is drawing Isaac out.
And straight to me.
Of course, Khalil, Thorin, and even Aurelia rejected that plan, which means I’m alone in this. Maybe it’s the way it should be. The way it was always meant to be. Khalil and Thorin might be able to hide me from Isaac, but they haven’t been able to shield me from the memories. Those are never far away.
I’m swimming toward the shore when Khalil shoves Aurelia against a tree and traps her there by her throat. Aurelia escapes his hold quicker than she did yesterday, and Khalil’s visible surprise costs him when she slams the heel of her palm into his nose unnecessarily.
I hear his shout of pain as he stumbles backward while clutching his nose. “Goddamn it, Aurelia.” His tone is moregrowl than anything, but Aurelia is far from intimidated. She crosses her arms and leans most of her weight on one leg as I leave the lake.
“I told you that I’m hungry. You said I can eat when I manage to make you bleed.” A tiny smirk—all she dares with Khalil glaring at her—plays at the corner of her lips. “Mission accomplished.”
Khalil doesn’t say a word. He just repositions his fingers over his broken nose and then snaps it back into place before walking the few feet to the shoreline to wash away the blood. He walks past me again and then snatches Aurelia’s bag that he brought with him from the ground. Inside is a plastic-wrapped sandwich filled mostly with meat that he tosses to her.
Instead of eating it, her gaze finds mine. “Are you okay?”
Her question draws Khalil’s attention, and since he knows me better than anyone and Aurelia is beginning to, I turn my back on them both as I answer. “I will be.”
AURELIA
Ihave no one to blame but myself when Khalil knocks me to the ground for the third time. It’s our sparring session, and I’m distracted. It’s getting hotter every day with the sun in my eyes becoming more obnoxious by the minute, but that’s not what’s bothering me.
“Ow,” I say accusingly toward the sometimes-gentle giant—when he’s not training me to become a killing machine. Khalil really takes these sparring lessons seriously, and the bruises I usually walk away with are starting to overlap but none more than my confidence so I wear them with pride.
“You’re not focusing,” he snaps when I send him a knowing glare.
The reason for my distraction is currently watching us spar from the porch a few feet away.
Zeke and I have gone right back to where we were pre-waterfall—before he had his fingers in my pussy and his tongue in my mouth. Before he told me how he feels.
Guiltily, I guess I still find myself comparing him to Seth sometimes, which only adds to my confusion. Seth was steadfast in his feelings for me, never wavering once. Zeke runs hot and cold and leaves me feeling less secure.
I’d sworn at least a million times in the weeks since the falls that I was done with him, but the moment he looks my way I’m stuck in place wondering if today will be the day he tells me again how he wants to kneel for me like I’m his princess and he’s my knight.
But he never does.
It’s like he gave me a taste of what could be before snatching it all away.
In Zeke’s defense, he did warn me that he wasn’t ready, and silly me, I still hoped for more.
“On the contrary,” I say as I struggle to rise and dust myself off. “I haven’t stopped fantasizing about seriously maiming you since you forced me out here to practice.”
“And yet you still haven’t been able to land a single punch.” I swing on him, and he easily blocks it. “Just as I thought. Pathetic.”
“This is abuse. You’re mean.”
“I’m not your boyfriend right now. I’m your trainer. Now try to hit me.”
I swing on command, once again forgetting to keep my guard up, and Khalil decks me with his gloved hand right between the eyes. The blow is hard enough to send me sprawling out into the grass.
We do this for ten more minutes before I threaten to send my other boyfriend to beat him up. Khalil tosses back his head and laughs as if it is the funniest thing in the world.
“Thoooooorin!” I shout.
It only takes a few seconds before Thorin appears at the door. His gaze is alert even though his rumpled clothing makes it obvious that I woke him from a nap. “What’s up?”
“Oh, nothing. Khalil just told me that he can easily beat you with his eyes closed and one hand tied behind his back.”
