Chapter 3
Three
Merit
When I woke up, Ike was missing, but Wraith was still in the chair he’d been occupying when I’d gone to sleep the night before.
The moment I moved, his eyes locked on me, like he was aware of my presence on a cellular level.
And while I should have found it alarming and even frightening, I felt oddly safe.
They had rescued me. And after all the shit I’d been through in my life, all the trauma I’d endured for years, I wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Sure, Wraith and Ike—whose names I’d learned while they were on the phone with their fathers the night before—would be acquired tastes, I had a feeling being theirs wouldn’t be such a terrible thing.
They were taking good care of me, after all. I hadn’t been cared for like this… well, ever.
“Sleep well?” Wraith asked.
I nodded. I’d had the best night’s sleep in…
well, as long as I could remember, really.
How expensive was this bed? And the room had remained cool all night, unlike the hot and muggy room I usually slept in this time of year.
And instead of a threadbare blanket, I was cocooned in expensive sheets and a soft comforter. And I actually had a fucking pillow.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been allowed a pillow while sleeping.
“I slept fine,” I rasped. Pushing myself into a sitting position, I looked around, but I still didn’t spot Ike anywhere.
“Where’s your twin?” They had to be twins.
Sure, siblings looked alike, but they had a lot of similarities in both their build and their looks.
Their only major differences were their hair color.
Ike’s hair was nearly black, and Wraith’s was brown. And their tattoos were different.
“Ike?” Wraith asked. I nodded. He hummed and stood, his long, lean body easily filling the room, despite how large it was. “We’re actually part of a quadruplet. We have three other brothers, two of which look identical to us.”
I shook my head. “You two aren’t identical, so I doubt the others are.”
Wraith smirked. “No?”
I shook my head and rubbed at my gritty eyes. “No. Ike lacks any kind of emotion in his eyes. It’s easy to pinpoint who he is. And he’s much more blunt, and I’m pretty sure he has conversations in his head that sometimes get said out loud.”
Wraith chuckled. “Picked up on that, did you?” He walked over to a dresser and opened it.
“Ike is the least… human, you could say, out of the four of us. He’s more of a textbook psychopath, and he’s the hardest for our parents to keep in line.
But he and I are the closest. He uses me to pick up on social cues, to know how he should act, when he should mask…
” Turning, he held out clothes to me. “These should fit you. Why don’t you shower?
If you don’t like these, this whole dresser is full of things for you. ”
I pushed myself off the bed, my chest tightening. I actually had my own things? I hadn’t had that in years. “For me?” I croaked, staring at the dresser he was standing in front of as I made my way closer.
Wraith nodded. “We knew you were going to be ours the moment we laid our eyes on you. So, we began preparing to have you live with us, and we made sure you had everything you may need.”
Ike burst into the room at that moment, lowering his phone from his ear. “Pops is growing impatient.”
Wraith rolled his eyes. “He’ll live.” Looking at me, he pointed to a door off to the right. “That’s the bathroom. Use whatever. When you’re done, just come downstairs, and I’ll have breakfast ready.”
“I…” I didn’t know what to say. Clean clothes that would actually fit? Privacy in the bathroom? Fucking breakfast?
“Not that big of a deal,” Ike grunted, peering at me with those unnerving dark eyes.
I scowled at him. “It is a big deal,” I snapped, feeling defensive.
“Do you know the hell I’ve fucking gone through?
Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been able to shower alone?
I’ve never had clothes that actually fit, and they certainly weren’t new, Ike.
And breakfast? Fuck, I probably haven’t had actual breakfast since I was allowed to be in school before I was sold. ”
During my speech, Ike had erased the distance between us, and his hand snapped around my throat.
I sucked in a sharp breath of air, trepidation skittering along my spine.
His hold wasn’t punishing though. He was merely asserting his dominance over me, and trust me, he was getting his fucking point across.
My pulse was hammering against his fingertips.
“Watch your mouth with me,” Ike warned, his voice a mere growl.
But a fire burned in his eyes, the first hint of real emotion I’d seen from him.
The fire wasn’t anger either. It was a need to own me, and goddammit, part of me wanted to let him.
“I know what you’ve been through. But I’m telling you breakfast is not that big of a deal because it’s not.
It’s a basic human need. Eating is normal.
Being able to bathe on your own is normal.
Having your own clothes is also normal, and Wraith and I will make sure that it becomes normal for you as well. ”
He loosened his hold and rubbed his thumb over my pulse point. Cocking his head to the side the slightest bit, he smirked, and my stomach swooped. That smile was both deadly and enticing. “You like my hand around your throat, don’t you, little killer?”
Jesus.
I parted my lips to answer, to say something, but I couldn’t get the words out.
Wraith suddenly wrapped his arms around me from behind and pressed a kiss to my jaw.
I shivered, my defenses falling like a stack of cards.
“In time, Merit, we will own you. Together. But you need a little more time to heal and come to terms with what’s happening.
” He kissed the shell of my ear next, then both men released me at the same time. “Shower. Dress. Then, come eat.”
With that, they both left the room, quietly shutting the door behind them with a slight shnick.
And if I had to sit on the bed until my knees stopped wobbling… Who could fucking blame me?