“Someone come get me when the password is cracked,” I muttered, heading for the hall.

  “Nyx.”

  I ignored Maliki the first time he said my name. He didn’t give me a chance to do it a second. I hit the foyer and found myself being lifted off the floor.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  He ignored me, carrying me towards the stairs.

  “Malik, put me dow—!”

  He slapped my ass. “Shut up.”

  I let myself become dead weight, thinking that would make him sit my heavy self back on the floor.

  A small laugh, and then both his hands were grabbing my ass and using that to haul me.

  After we made it to the top floor and he opened one of the bedroom doors, he finally set me down again.

  Before I could speak, I was pressed against the door and his muscular arms were caging me in on either side.

  “Don’t ever walk away from me. All I want to do is help, not make it worse. That’s what I’m here for.”

  “Is that all?”

  “I’m here for whatever you need, whether that be someone to vent to or someone to fuck you until you can’t remember your name. I’m here.”

  I pushed down the emotion trying to escape from my eyes and studied his face. How did I get lucky enough to land someone like him? And what happened when the Badlands tried to take him away?

  “What if I just want you to hold me?” I questioned shyly.

  Without a smartass remark or smirk, he dropped his arms and pulled me closer, wrapping me up in his embrace.

  “Then I’ll hold you until you can stand on your own again.” He walked us backward until we reached a bed, and then he pulled me down onto his lap.

  “The video…” I began, licking my lips.

  “It makes you wonder, right?” he finished for me.

  “Yeah, it makes me wonder about a lot of things I don’t want to think about.”

  “If she’s still out there and she’s resilient, I can’t say she’ll be okay, but I can say she knows how to survive. If she’s dead, even better. No one should have to live with the demons that follow something like that.”

  Furrowing my brows, I leaned back and took a good look at his face, staring into his eyes. “Why does it sound like you speak from experience?”

  His fingers began to thrum against my hip, and his throat bobbed. “Because I’ve been in a similar situation.”

  I didn’t say anything, biting my tongue to prevent myself from throwing off his flow.

  “My mom was raped by some Venom. I was born nine months later.” He shifted beneath me. “She told me that when she looked at me, all she saw was darkness and misery. I was shopped around until I was six or seven, and then Zane’s dad showed up. Mom was killed and I was taken to the cell with Zane. Been with him ever since.”

  Turning all this over in my head, I was reminded of the way he and Zane grew up. I’d never known a childhood like that. I had my mom, dad, and baby brother…acolytes. “What do you mean she shopped you around?”

  “I mean she offered my ass as barter for her survival. And before you say anything, I wasn’t trying to make this about me or downplay what happened to that little girl. I guess I wanted you to know that people are resilient. We come back from a lot of shit.”

  “You’re not as bad as you think you are,” I mumbled. “You’re sweet.”

  He laughed softly, tracing a finger down my spine. “Only to you, babygirl. I’ve never been like this with anyone.”

  “Gwen?” I dared ask.

  “Nyx? Those blondes you see me with. I’m not fucking them. I’m destroying their bodies and then discarding them like trash. Everything I want to do to her.”

  That caught me off guard, but it also explained the blood on his jeans the other night and why he didn’t have his shirt on.

  “Because she broke your heart?”

  He laughed again and leaned back, taking me with him. Once I was positioned so that I was lying on top of him, he moved his hands to my ass.

  “That bitch never had my heart, and I was never in love with her. I was in love with the idea that someone could love me.”

  I placed a soft kiss on the tip on his nose. I wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so I said the only thing that I could. “I think I could fall in love with you.”

  A cocky smirk had one side of his mouth hitching. I glared and tried to get up; he rolled so that I was beneath him.

  “You think? If you had any doubt that you wouldn’t fall in love with me, you’re wrong. It’s already too late.” He grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head. “And I’ll love you back, but we don’t need to rush this. I’m not going anywhere and neither are you. When it’s right, we’ll know.”

  “So poetic,” I deadpanned, internally celebrating this moment.

  He cocked his head to the side and stared down at me. “We’ve got some time…”

  “And?”

  “Let me play?”

  He was full of surprises, it seemed.

  Completely naked and face down on the bed, I waited anxiously, wondering what he was going to do next.

  I knew he was on my right; I sensed him.

  “You’re more gorgeous than I could explain,” he said softly. I heard him move, and then his hand was flat on my back.

  A second later, something cold pressed against my left globe. I flinched involuntarily, releasing a small squeak when it cut me. I felt the trickle of blood travel across my skin, and then his tongue was there, soothing the sting.

  I released a small groan as teeth sunk in around the small cut.

  The blade traveled to my other globe and he repeated the same process, but this time, his tongue swiped all the way to the center of my ass.

  He continued to knick my flesh, soothing each cut with his tongue. His weight settled over my back, just enough that I felt him but not enough to crush me.

  Warm lips went from one shoulder blade to the other, skimming to my neck. Goose-pimples followed in their wake.

  “Turn over,” he breathed in my ear.

  His body shifted so that I could turn, placing my torso beneath his spread legs.

  “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.”

  Holding eye contact, he placed the edge of the blade at my throat and began to drag it down, between my breasts, lifting it to circle my left nipple and thinly cut beneath it.

  I hissed and sucked my teeth, moaning the second his mouth came down to suckle and tease my hardening nipple.

  Dragging bloodied lips across my chest, he did the same to my right breast. The serrated metal slid down my navel, circling my belly button and then moving to the lips of my pussy.

  My stomach dipped, legs parting as if they had a mind of their own. I felt flushed and everything ached.

  His tongue teased my clit, the blade slipped between my sensitive, wet folds, slipping up and down. I moaned, reaching down to cup the back of his head.

  The first knick brought pain intense enough to make me whimper. The sweeping of his tongue slowed and he pulled against my hand and looked up at me as if unsure.

  “Keep going,” I breathed, pushing his face back into my pussy.

  “Hold still,” he rasped.

  His hand moved quicker, blade moving upward. He pressed the tip against my clit, flicking it up and down and circling it at the same time he began to fuck me with his tongue.

  I knotted my fingers in his silky, obsidian locks, fisting the sheets with the other to keep myself rooted. A gush of arousal had him swapping places. He closed his mouth around my bundle of nerves and began to slip the blade up and down my slickened lips.

  “Malik,” I moaned, chest heaving as pressure built in my core.

  One last knick, teeth nipping my clit, and a trickle of blood had the blade disappearing just in time. I came with a barrage of moans, watching through half-lidded eyes as he tossed the knife aside, tore off his shirt, and shoved down his jeans.

  Repositioning himself between my legs, he lifted both so they were on his shoulders, lining his cock up with my entrance.

  I bit my lower lip as the smooth head rubbed against the tender cuts, another gush of warmth flowing out.

  He eased inside me slowly, creating a gentle, pleasurable burn, seating himself fully. I reached up and cupped his face, pulling his mouth down to mine.

  Pulling away after a few seconds, he pulled out and thrust back in, silencing my moans with two fingers slipping into my mouth. “Bite down when you need to scream,” he intoned, picking up his pace.

  Pinned beneath him with my legs bent and his hand coming to grip my throat, I did as he instructed almost instantly, sinking my teeth into his flesh.

  He fucked me until I came, choking on his name and flooding his cock with come, and then he fucked me some more.

  Chapter Thirteen

  trece

  We didn’t immediately go downstairs.

  I watched her dress, wanting her all over again as I took in the cuts. They were superficial. I would never scar her. But they looked good on her beautiful flesh all the same, like tiny additions to her tattoos.

  “These are going to be a pain in the ass,” she grumbled, pulling her shirt back over her head.

  “Was that a pun?”

  She looked back and gave me a flat look.

  “We just had sex in some random pervert’s bed,” she snipped.

  “We just fucked in some sick holier than thou motherfucker’s bed. And we did we him a favor; now it’s been blessed by a pair of ungodly gods.”

  “Gods, huh?” She turned and walked over to where I was waiting by the door, placing her hands on my chest.

  “Me and you are the best kind of gods, babygirl.” I cupped her face and forced her to stretch up, getting lost in her whiskey colored eyes. “With your crazy thoughts and my vicious mind, the two of us could set this whole fucking world on fire and dance in the flames.”

  She smiled softly, giving me a light kiss, one I made sure went deeper so she would think of it long after it ended.

  “Thank you,” she said, pulling away.

  “For what?”

  “For coming after me, for telling me about your past.”

  I reached behind me and pulled open the door, taking her hand. “Someone had to intervene before you went off in your head again.”

  “And when you’re not around to placate my demons?”

  “I’ll always be around, babygirl, because me demons are beginning to love yours.” I winked and pulled her into the hall, taking a mental snapshot of her smiling.

  “And you don’t have to thank me for telling you about me. I plan to do that much more. Like I said, we’ve got time.”

  Whether that was true wasn’t relevant. She would know all there was to know soon enough. I had no reason to hide who I was. What my mother had done to me was wiped away the day Zane’s dad had me put a bullet between her legs.

  It was her rejection that still stung all these years later. Call me weak or a pussy, but all I’d wanted was my mother to want me. When that didn’t happen, I sought out chicks to make me love me. None of it mattered, none of it seemed real. This was different. Nyx was different.

  We headed back downstairs, and the aroma of food grew stronger. Hearing someone in the kitchen, I paused and glanced back at her. “Why don’t you go grab something to eat, even if it’s light? I’ll see what progress has been made.”

  “Okay.” She gently pulled her hand away and headed in the direction of the noise.

  I ambled down the hall, hearing only male voices from within the computer room.

  “Nice of you to rejoin us. Enjoy my cousin?” Luce asked.

  “I don’t think she would appreciate that type of discussion.”

  “Good answer,” Ice said, blue eyes trained on the monitor.

  “Excellent fucking answer,” Luce reiterated.

  “You testing him?” Zane came to my defense.

  “I’m making sure my cousin is as well protected as my sister. She doesn’t have a brother, so the responsibility falls to me.”

  I kept my face blank, flicking my gaze to Zane and then back to Luce. That was an odd thing to say considering Nyx certainly did have a brother. That wasn’t a normal type of slip up, either.

  Buddy had said the kid was sick, but how would Luce know he had died before any of us?

  Why was I asking myself this?

  This was Luce. I had demons strong enough to bring the toughest man to his knees but, when I looked at Lucifuge, all I saw was the next devil in line.

  His words were always laced with double meaning, his mind a fortress of debauched thoughts and valleys of secrets only he could navigate.

  “Any luck with the computer code?” I asked Ice.

  “As a matter of fact, yes. I got in five minutes ago.”

  I looked towards the screen that showed everything he was seeing and watched him scroll through a batch of files.

  “So, there’s about thirty-five videos just like the one you caught, all different girls. This is who you saw.”

  He double clicked one of the folders and an image appeared, an older version of the girl from the video.

  There was a number like cattle on the side of her chest, the letters A.R.C above it. Doing the math, she had been with these people since the video was shot. That was over four years of brainwashing and abuse.

  Death would have been much kinder to her than life.

  “And this.” He exited the file and clicked into something else. “This has four cameras but only three…er…never mind. I’m in!”

  “Z.” I crept closer to the screen to make sure I was seeing things correctly. The person on screen was tied to a chair in a small room, tape over his mouth.

  “Do you know where this is? Can you find out?” Zane demanded, walking up beside me.

  “One sec.” There was a tapping of keys and then a white box popped up on the screen. “This is live from…shit…two streets away.”

  “That’s Demon,” Luce was late to note.

  “Yes, and if he was taken by Stags, why the fuck is he wired to an A.R.C camera?”

  “We need to get to wherever that is,” Zane stated.

  “This could be a trap. No, it probably is a trap,” Luce warned.

  “I’ll go in alone. You can all wait here.”

  “What? Fuck no,” Zane snapped.

  “Wait,” Luce interjected before I could respond. “That could work. Send him in alone, but he is not going alone. We’ll all go together. We can cover his back.”

  “What about the girls?” Ice asked my next question.

  “Leave them here and have one watch this screen. If we aren’t back in fifteen minutes, have them haul ass to the SUVs.”

  “Leave them here?” Zane questioned.

  “These aren’t defenseless little girls, Z. They can handle themselves for fifteen minutes,” Luce replied.

  He was silent for a minute before slowly nodding in agreement. “All right, let’s go.”

  We filed out of the room and went to the kitchen.

  I used the short walk to steady my nerves and get my mind centered on what we needed to do.

  Entering the large kitchen, I saw Trix still at the stove and Nyx with a glass of water. Addy had dozed off on a daybed bench, off to the side, which was even better for the time being. Nyx took one look at the four of us and stood up, a concerned frown on her face.

  “What’s going on?” Trix asked once she turned around.

  We filled them in as quick as we could. I didn’t usually rush things like this and used much more caution but, if my little bro was really tied to a fucking chair two streets away, I was going to get him back.

  “You don’t have to explain this,” Nyx said, walking up to me. “He’s your brother. Go get him. But if you aren’t back in fifteen minutes, I’m not running away. I’m coming to find all of you.”

  I pulled her into me, placing a quick kiss on her lips.

  “I’ll come back to you. We all will,” I reassured her before stepping away.

  “You better,” Trix warned.

  Looking to Zane, I waited for him to say bye to Addy but he simply shook his head.

  “She wouldn’t be half as chill as Nyx just was about this. Plus, I never tell her goodbye anymore. We’re more into hellos.”

  That made a lot of sense to me.

  Leaving the three of them behind was still one of the hardest things I’d ever done. Locking the door behind us and pulling it shut, I did one thing I never did. I hoped this wasn’t a colossal fucking mistake.

  Chapter Fourteen

  catorce

  Watching him leave was hard, but I wouldn’t dare make him stay.

  If it had been my brother, I may not have even stopped to explain what I was doing. I stared at the monitor, tapping my foot in place, waiting for a sign that something had happened.

  So far, all I could see was a kid the same age as Lilith and Sam tied to a chair. There wasn’t any color, but the picture was clear as day.

  If Addy woke before they got back, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep her in the house.

  Seeing Ice had left his USB plugged into the computer, I reached out and unplugged it, shoving it into my back pocket as a means to distract myself. I took a deep breath as denim pressed against sore ass from the movement.

  When I glanced back at the monitor, my heart jumped. Maliki was cutting through Demon’s restraints, but the second he tore the duct tape from his mouth, the cameras cut off. One by one, they blacked out until I could see nothing.

  “Shit,” I breathed, tapping random keys to see if I could bring it back. “Come on.”

  Hearing the echo of the front door opening and closing, I froze. Unless Maliki had superhuman speed, that wasn’t possibly him. And the only way for it to be one of the others was if they left him behind.

  Fuck.

  I rushed from the room, scratching the cuts on my back as I ducked out of the splintered doorway. Creeping down the hall, I pulled out my Glock, reminding myself there were few bullets left.

  I reached the kitchen just as a pair of Stags entered from the dining room. My confusion as to why it was them who were in this house and not the Cardinal didn’t have time to fully sink in.