Chapter 3
Chapter Three
CY
I’d spent an absurd amount of time studying every single inch of my pixie, down to the little freckle she had on the left side of her cheek and the way she only tucked a pencil behind her left ear.
I knew what she liked, what she didn’t like, and what was considered her ‘normal’ behavior.
Which was how I knew that something was different.
Something had changed, and it had to do with Saint and her mating. I had no idea how they had managed it, but I was so absurdly jealous it was unreal. The only thing that made me feel better was the way her hair was pulling back, revealing a silver scale-like patch on her neck.
I couldn’t express the level of primal satisfaction that radiated through every inch of my being at seeing that mark on her.
When it had first been brought to my attention, I had nearly lost my shit and pinned her to her bed, wanting to claim all of her so that every single inch had a reminder of me on it.
At the time, what had held me back was her safety and the effect that my magic had seemed to have on her…
Yet somehow she had successfully mated with Death himself and come out unscathed.
In fact, she looked impossibly more radiant, and while the aroma of death clung to her skin, it wasn’t unpleasant.
It just had me knowing that something very big had happened between the two of them, besides the obvious, and if I had to guess, it was something that had caused Razar to practically bring down the institute and send all of us running.
Something that had to do with Saint marking her soul.
Although, when we got down there, it had clearly ended, and I could tell that Arabella’s shoulder was slightly injured despite her acting as if it wasn’t. Normally I would have asked her about it, but Razar looked tormented enough as it was, and I wasn’t really in the mood to bring him to snapping.
I would just tend to her after we were done with her plan.
Maybe this time I could strip her down and inspect every inch of her like I’d wanted to do for years now, instead of being worried about hurting her.
My cock hardened at the possibility that I could truly experience all of that with Arabella.
She didn’t seem any less delicate or breakable…
but maybe I was just not seeing the full picture.
Or Saint had just killed her while they fucked and brought her back.
I didn’t like that concept at all, so instead of focusing on it, I kept my gaze fully focused on Arabella’s pert ass as she strode forward ahead of me, past the massive set of doors that had previously barred the entrance into a secondary chamber.
Razar, who was standing next to me, offered a pained noise as she walked next to Eve into the sub-chamber, as if it was no big deal how much danger she was courting.
I offered him what I hoped was a sympathetic expression before following.
I gave it about an hour until Razar tried to find a way to grab my pixie and lock her in her room until all of this was over.
Whenever anything became too chaotic around her, his default was just to remove her from the situation.
I shook my head, a specifically vibrant memory coming forth of the last time he did just that…
“Why are they fighting?” Arabella asked, her fingers intertwined with mine. I lifted her hand up and brushed my lips across the soft skin there. I swear, the woman was soft everywhere, and I craved to know what her skin would feel like under my lips.
“Because they are trying to establish dominance.” I shrugged, indifferent about the two Class A teams.
“So why not fight you guys?” she asked curiously as the room shook from the collision between the two groups.
I had Arabella back against the wall and tucked against me as the rest of our team attempted to stop them.
I was trying to keep her somewhat distracted, but I also knew that none of this actually bothered her. It was very hard to rile up my pixie.
“Because no one would risk fighting us,” I explained softly. “We aren’t the same level of A team as them, even if we are in the same category.”
“Maybe we should come up with a new category,” she suggested.
Honestly, it wasn’t a bad idea.
As it stood, I had a feeling there was another team code already, even if it wasn’t common knowledge.
The institute had been around for so long and served as a foundation for most nightmare societies after the ‘fall of the veil,’ so the depth of organization when it came to societal groups was extensive.
While nightmares didn’t have an official government system, we had dominance levels. It kept others in line, which was ISS’s true purpose. It would be very hard to find a group of nightmares as powerful as us, especially outside of the institute, but I don’t think Arabella realized that.
That was fine by me. I never wanted her to have a reason to fear us.
“That’s a good idea,” I murmured, but I muttered a curse under my breath as I watched Razar walk over.
I knew this motherfucker was about to try to take her away.
He offered me a look, and I saw the authentic anxiety there at how violent the others were growing, so I stepped back slightly, confusing Arabella only for a moment before she was up and in Razar’s arms.
Shaking my head, I watched him disappear with her. I had no idea how he got away with acting like such a psycho.
Maybe I would start to do the same…
This time around, though, I had a feeling Arabella would fight him on being just picked up and carted around. I could feel the determination radiating off her. Not much affected Arabella, but the idea of someone hurting her family or her home? Yeah, that would be enough to do it for sure.
“Saint.” Zain’s voice was tainted with curiosity.
I knew he had been acting weird when he first appeared outside and told us that Arabella was trying to recruit the nightmares held in the basement, but I could have never guessed why.
Now the stunned expression on his face was far more understandable.
I had somehow managed to contain my surprise, wanting to fully process what the hell I thought about this before reacting…
Unlike Blackwell. I eyed the man in question, his gaze glued to Arabella ahead, and I could practically see the wheels turning.
Fuck. I really hoped that Saint was about to pull out some shit that changed everything, because I wasn’t positive what would stop Blackwell at this point.
Razar, I knew, would attempt to keep him in check.
Hell, I wasn’t positive he would believe Saint even if the crazy bastard said that we could fuck her as hard as we wanted.
That we could all mate with her fully. I knew, though, that Damian and Blackwell would one hundred percent believe him.
Amun? I looked to where he stood slightly behind Damian, looking thoughtful…
Well, I wasn’t positive what he would do.
“Saint.” Blackwell’s voice was insistent, louder than Zain’s, as Saint turned around from where he was now walking on my other side, Razar having walked ahead to keep in close range to our girl.
It didn’t matter that she was only a few feet away or seeming to have a private conversation—no, none of that mattered at all to him.
I couldn’t blame him fully, though, because I could just imagine where his head was at right now.
Especially considering it was even more obvious from back here how she was babying that shoulder.
“Yeah?” Saint’s casual tone was complete bullshit. He knew exactly what was on top of everyone’s mind, and if he was going to play games with it, I had a feeling he would find himself in a violent situation very soon.
“How?” Damian demanded quietly, his voice edged in a far more serious tone than normal.
For once, I couldn’t tell you what was going on in his head, but if I had to assume, it was probably much the same as mine.
Wondering, hoping that there was a way, any way, to be able to fully love the woman we were all obsessed with.
If she wanted that, of course. I shook myself from that negative thought. I knew how much Arabella loved us. I knew that; I just felt like this was such a drastic change, and as one could imagine, after being alive more than two centuries, I wasn’t always the best with change.
Saint put his hands out and flashed a smile. “I told you she would be fine. Arabella isn’t a normal human. We don’t have time to go through all of this shit right now, but trust me when I tell you that she will literally survive anything like that.”
Not a normal human? Well, that was the first time he had ever mentioned anything like that.
I inhaled sharply at his words as I looked back towards Arabella.
This was bad. This was the exact opposite of what my self-control needed.
I mean, that was essentially a massive green light for me to snap Arabella up into my arms and steal her away.
To find the closest private space so I could take and absorb each and every sound and movement from her body that I could draw out.
If Saint was telling the truth, the woman was screwed…literally.
The quiet between all of us was a mixture of stunned silence and thoughtfulness, paired with the normal aggression that radiated from our team. I knew everyone was trying to sort through how they felt about this, but let me assure you, I was completely aware of how I felt.
I mean, besides being fucking thrilled and the entire situation feeling a bit surreal, I felt relieved. Authentic relief and hope. I had never thought it would be possible for me to love Arabella physically.
I had assumed that the most I would get from my gorgeous pixie was a kiss and maybe the ability to run my hands along her soft skin. But to bury my fangs inside of her as I sank every inch of my cock into her center? That was my definition of heaven.