28. Ava
AVA
“ N o fucking way,” Ciaran snarled, slamming his fist on the table. “I’m not drugging you and dragging you to some goddamn tomb like—like a sacrifice.”
“You have to,” I said, my voice steady despite the turmoil swirling inside me. “It’s the only way.”
“For once,” Ty said, from across the table, “I agree with him. It’s reckless, Ava. It’s too dangerous.”
Ciaran paced the room like a predator caught in a trap, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. Each step he took radiated barely restrained fury, his movements sharp, precise, and entirely focused on me.
Ty sat stiff and silent, his usual calm tinged with visible tension. His knuckles were white as he gripped the edge of the table, his body angled toward me, protective but no less stern.
Their eyes burned into me, both of them waiting for me to say something, to refute them, to justify the plan I hadn’t even fully voiced yet .
But my tongue felt heavy, glued to the roof of my mouth as I stared at the scattered journals on the table before me.
The room was thick with tension, shadows from the lamp stretching across their faces. My silence only amplified it, the air between us humming like a live wire ready to snap.
My stomach churned at the thought of what I was about to ask them to do, the risks I’d have to take, the lives we’d all be gambling. The stakes towered over me like mountains.
If I went through with this, if I let Ciaran carry me into their lair, he’d pass their initiation, but I’d be risking my life—and Ciaran’s too.
One wrong move, if they got even an inkling of our true plan, and the Sochai would kill us both without hesitation.
I could enter that passagetomb and never come out. This could be part of the High Lord’s plan, to capture me once and for all.
My mind reeled with possibilities, each one more terrifying than the last.
But if I refused, if I walked away… we might not get another shot at taking them down. It could take months, years, to find another crack in their twisted fortress, if ever.
There would be no justice for Liath. The Sochai would keep taking girls, keep abusing them, keep killing them when they were unwanted, and no one would stop them.
Their secrets would remain hidden, their power unchallenged.
And me? They’d hunt me down and kill me, just as they had so many others. They’d gotten so close—too close—too many times before. It was only a matter of time .
I tried to steady my breathing, but the weight of the choice pressed down on me like a physical force.
I thought of Liath, her bright smile and quick wit stolen too soon. I thought of Mona Donahue, who had suffered so cruelly at their hands, and Mr. Buckley, who had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had died to protect me.
All of them—gone. Because of the Sochai.
I tried walking away once. And I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it now, either.
A flicker of resolve flared in my chest, burning through the fear. No more running. No more hiding.
It was time to attack the Sochai head-on.
I lifted my head, meeting their stares with a fire I couldn’t allow myself to extinguish.
“We have to stop them,” I said calmly, willing the steadiness in my voice to drown out the pounding of my heart. “And this is our best chance.”
Ciaran’s pacing stopped abruptly. He turned to me, his frustration snapping like a live wire. “Are you hearing yourself, Ava? You’re talking about walking into their lair unconscious! What if they don’t let you leave?”
“You claim me as your ‘daughter’ through their ‘inheritance’ rule. Members aren’t to touch another member’s ‘daughter’ unless their owner decrees.”
The room fell into a stunned silence as they both stared at me.
I reached for one of the journals on the table and snatched it up, waving it toward him. “It’s part of their disgusting manifesto. ”
My hand trembled as I held the journal, the weight of its twisted knowledge bearing down on me.
Ciaran’s face twisted with outrage, his fists clenching at his sides.
Ty, sitting stiffly across the table, recoiled like he’d been slapped.
“Those sick bastards,” he muttered, his voice low and seething.
I dropped the journal onto the table like it burned, the revulsion curling in my stomach making it impossible to hold on to any longer.
“We use their strict rules against them,” I said, my voice quieter but no less resolute.
Ty exhaled a sharp, bitter sigh. “Fuck.”
Ciaran rounded on him, his fury now directed at his brother. “Are you actually entertaining this madness?”
Ty’s jaw tightened as he straightened in his chair, his voice calmer but taut with tension. “I don’t like it either, Ci. But maybe with some precautions—with you ‘claiming’ her, with me nearby as backup…”
Ciaran stepped closer, his eyes blazing. “Easy for you to say. You’re not the one who has to carry her into their den—unconscious—like a lamb to the slaughter.”
Ty’s expression darkened, his calm veneer cracking.
“Then I’ll do it,” he said, his voice cool and cutting. “I’ll pretend to be you.”
Ciaran barked out a laugh, sharp and humorless. “Please. You couldn’t pass as me even on your best day.”
Ty leaned forward, his gaze steady and unflinching. “What? Like playing an impulsive hothead is hard?”
He smirked slightly, his tone turning teasing as he glanced at me. “Please, I’ve fooled even Ava before. Haven’t I, rabbit ?”
He winked at me, and for a moment, his face shifted—animated in a way that was eerily reminiscent of Ciaran.
My breath hitched as I shivered, memories of Scáth stalking me in the shadows flooding back. How many times had I assumed it was Ciaran chasing me, stalking me, fucking me… when it could have been Ty?
Ciaran noticed my reaction immediately. His eyes narrowed, and he turned on me, his voice low and dangerous. “What is he talking about?”
Ty leaned back, folding his arms across his chest.
“We don’t need you, Ci,” he said with quiet finality. “Ava and I can do this on our own. If she chooses to go through with it.”
Ciaran’s voice cracked as he fell to his knees before me, clasping my hands in his like a prayer, his dark eyes brimming with an emotion I wasn’t sure I could bear to face.
“Please, Ava. Don’t do this. We’ll find another way. I can’t—” His voice broke, then steadied into something raw and desperate. “I can’t drug you like this. What if something goes wrong? What if something goes wrong and you’re just lying there un-fucking-conscious?”
My chest ached at the way his voice wavered, but I couldn’t afford to let my emotions show. Not now. I had to find a way to convince him to take a chance on this. On me.
He searched my face, looking for a crack, a glimmer of hesitation.
But I couldn’t give him that.
My expression remained calm, unreadable, even as my heart broke under the weight of what I was about to do .
“What if…” I said slowly, “what if I’m not actually drugged?”
Ciaran froze, his brow furrowing in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
I glanced at Ty, and understanding flickered in his eyes, a small shift that spoke volumes. His gaze softened, though his knuckles remained white where he gripped the edge of the table.
“She’s pretended before,” Ty said, his voice measured. “Played the part. And succeeded.”
Heat flushed through me as the memory surfaced—how I had faked being paralyzed to escape Ty. He’d touched me, licked me, brought me to orgasm, and I hadn’t made a sound, hadn’t moved an inch.
I’d fooled the man who lived to study my body. If I could fool him…
A flicker of resolve ignited in my chest. I could do it again. I had to.
Ciaran’s head snapped toward Ty, his eyes blazing with frustration and betrayal.
“Don’t fucking encourage her,” he snarled, venom lacing every word.
Ty’s expression hardened. “I’m not encouraging her. I’m being realistic. If she’s going to do this—and we both know she will—then she has to do it in a way that gives her some control.”
Ciaran barked out a humorless laugh, his voice rising. “She won’t be able to last two minutes without giving herself away.”
I took a deep breath, steadying myself, and looked directly at Ciaran. “I can do it. ”
Ciaran shook his head, his voice laced with bitterness. “You think you can fool them? These people are predators, Ava. They’ll see through it. They’ll see through you .”
I straightened, meeting his fiery gaze with a calm I didn’t quite feel. “Then I’ll prove it. I’ll lie down right here, and you can do whatever you want to me. I won’t move a muscle.”
His eyes widened, shock breaking through the anger etched into his features.
“You’re serious?” he asked, his voice disbelieving.
My heart pounded in my chest, but I kept my expression unreadable. “If I flinch, if I cry, if I so much as twitch, the plan is off. But if I pass your test, we go through with it.”
Ciaran hesitated, his jaw tight as he warred with himself. Finally, he crossed his arms over his chest, his voice cutting. “Fine. But when you fail, this plan dies here.”
Ty remained silent, his gaze flickering between us like he was caught in the crossfire.
The weight of what I’d just proposed hung heavy in the room, but I didn’t give myself time to second-guess it.
Without a word, I turned to the table where journals and notes lay scattered across its surface, a chaotic reminder of the horrors we’d already uncovered. I swept a few aside, making space for myself, and climbed onto the table with deliberate calm.
The wood was cold beneath me, grounding me as I stretched out across the surface. I closed my eyes, forcing my breathing to slow.
Inhale, exhale.
I let my body go limp, my muscles relaxing one by one until I felt weightless .
With my eyes closed, all my other senses heightened.
The musty scent of old leather and ink filled my nose, mingling with the faint spice of Ciaran’s cologne and Ty’s musk.
Every sound seemed amplified—the rasp of Ciaran’s uneven breaths, the brush of clothes as Ty picked himself up off the floor and walked around me, the distant hum of the loft’s floor lamp.
The hard edge of a journal pressed into my shoulder, and a cold draft brushed over my skin, raising goosebumps I fought to ignore.
I kept my face slack, my breathing steady, pushing down the adrenaline surging through my veins.
“Well?” Ty’s voice broke the silence, expectant and sharp.
“Well, what?” Ciaran snapped back, his frustration bubbling over.
“This isn’t much of a test, is it?” Ty replied. “ Do something to her.”
“Do what?” Ciaran’s tone was wary, his voice tight with suspicion.
Ty hummed thoughtfully under his breath, and I felt the faint brush of his thigh against my arm as he leaned closer.
“Whatever you’d like to do to her,” he murmured, his words a slow, deliberate taunt.
Anticipation began to hum under my skin, the tension unbearable.
“What… What would you do to her?” Ciaran’s voice faltered, low and raw.
I could almost imagine the wicked hint of a grin that played like a passing shadow over Ty’s face .
“Would you like me to show you?” Ty asked, his tone dangerously soft, as if daring his brother to say no.
Before Ciaran could answer—or maybe he just nodded—Ty ripped my top open, the cool air making my nipples harden instantly.
He ran his rough palms over my breasts and I lay there like a doll as pleasure surged through me.
It had been weeks now since my twisted therapy with Ty in Blackthorn. But the dark sensation of not being in control of my body had never left. It lurked in my subconscious.
I clung to it, a wicked thrill rushing through me at the thought of being helpless and laid out on this table for my two dark lovers.
Ty rolled my hard nipple between his thumb and forefinger, and the desire to moan was so strong that it made my chest tight to the point of pain.
But I clutched on to that darkness deep within me, cold and slick as oil. And I kept silent.
Ty slapped my breast hard enough to leave a mark, but I didn’t even flinch.
“Don’t hurt her!” Ciaran yelled.
Ty’s chuckle under his breath made shivers go down my spine. “Hurt? Hardly. She can handle more pain than you realize, dear brother. Go on… try it.”
I couldn’t see my Scáth from behind my closed lids. All I could use to judge his state of mind was his ragged breathing and the lusty strain in his voice as he said, “This is wrong .”
And yet, despite how wrong it was, Ciaran also began to touch me, hesitant at first, his fingers brushing down one arm, from my shoulder to my hand.
Then he kneeled down beside me, his hot breath against my hand as he sucked my fingers one at a time into his mouth.
Shivers broke out over my skin, but I did not move.
Ty, I was sure it was Ty, continued to cup my breast, rubbing his thumb over my nipple. “Come on, Ci. You can do better than that.”