He opened the passenger side door and motioned me in. “Sit, tell me what’s going on.”
I chewed on my lower lip, my morals and common sense battling it out in my raging gut. I didn’t know Micah, not really, but there was just something about him that made me want to trust him. Something that told me I could. And, if I were being completely honest with myself, I also just really needed to talk to someone about what I’d just heard. So, taking a deep breath, I looked him in the eyes and confessed, “I think something really bad happened tonight.”
CHAPTER 9
HEAVY IS THE CROWN
Killian
“Want me to go after her?” Axel asked as the girl in red scurried up the stairs like fire nipped at her heels.
A fire would cause less damage than we would.
“No.” I spun and marched down the hall toward the room Bass was in. With a fucking dead girl.
My stepbrother had no control and would, on occasion, royally mess up, but I never imagined he’d kill a woman like this. A bitter laugh echoed from the depths of my mind. Maybe I just didn’t want to believe how demented Bass was.
Then I might have to face my own inner monsters. Just because I’d chained them up didn’t mean they couldn’t break free one day.
Axel’s powerful legs easily caught up with me. “That girl was listening at the door. What if she heard something?”
“She didn’t hear shit.” That was a lie. And I think we both knew it. But some strange urge to protect that girl burned through my veins.
If the brotherhood knew an outsider had even heard something so incriminating about a Lord, that girl might vanish off the face of this earth by tomorrow.
As Axel studied me, his lips pressed together, cutting off any more words of protest. He knew when to back off—preferably before I dropped the perfect facade and let my anger win.
What the hell is wrong with me?
My hand trembled as I reached for the knob, dreading the situation Bass was about to involve me, and yanked the door open to the grandiose room draped in satin and silk. And death. Bass still loomed over the bed where the naked brunette was sprawled amongst the twisted covers, bruises forming on her neck.
How hard had he choked her? I seriously doubted she had asked forthat.
Gage leaned against a wall, watching the girl’s partially dressed friend rocking back and forth in a corner on the floor, sobbing. His gaze flicked to a leather gag on the nearby table. He was probably dying to use that thing to shut her up. Slate stood near the bathroom as if preparing to dart inside and puke.
“You should call Stan,” I said as Axel closed the door behind us and locked it.
Bass’s head snapped toward me, his blue eyes hardening to jagged gemstones. “We’re not calling my father for shit.”
I yanked my black mask off and motioned it toward the bed. “You want to call the cops?”
His boisterous, slightly unhinged laughter grated on my eardrums. “Of course not.” He pushed away from the bed and shortened the distance between us, his sinister expression lifting the hairs on my nape. “You and your friends are going to take care of this.”
My fingers crumpled the mask in my hand. “You want me to cover up a murder?”
Bass snatched my arm and ran his thumb over the tattoo of a serpent coiled around a dagger. “Our blood is from one cup. Our bones are from one beast. Our soul is from the same shadow. Brothers above all. We enter this world together. And we shall only leave with a dagger pressed against our throat and the serpent’s poison in our veins.”
“Don’t spout the motto like it’s some sacred law.” I yanked out of his grip, thankful to be free of the stench of bourbon and sex wafting from him like cologne. “You don’t give a shit about any law until it benefits you.”
“Weallbenefit from the organization.” My stepbrother circled his hand around the lavish room stocked full of liquor, and probably a generous stash of recreational drugs. “You knew what you signed up for. You expect to get the perks of being a Lord of Stonewall without pulling your weight?”
“Pulling our weight is one thing, but doingyourdirty work is another, Davenport.” Gage’s sharp words sliced through the choking tension building in the air.
“If you call Stan, I’ll let him know all of you refused to protect your Domnus.” Bass’s smirk sent my pulse soaring. “Just because your fathers are part of the Inner Circle of Ascended doesn’t mean you can always get away with breaking the rules.”
Icicles clawed through my veins, freezing my blood as if winter had descended. The guys and I could get away with bending some rules, but neglecting our Domnus wasn’t something we could do without severe punishment.
Of course, they’d want to know when an unsanctioned murder occurred. We couldn’t just go around killing anyone we wanted without consequences.
