Chapter 28 Thane #2
I rub my eyes with my palms before I spiral again, though the new drugs Killian cooked up have been helping more than ever.
My demon isn’t clawing the inside of my skull for once.
I barely touch my food over lunch, and when Killian asks me if I’m going to eat any more of it, I shove my tray across the table and go back to watching her while everyone ignores me. But she doesn’t.
I have to wonder if she feels the weight of my simmering obsession, because there’s no use in denying it now.
The stairwell.
The lake.
When Luther came home smelling of her the first time.
Touching her in the Medical Center…
At the club, when she kissed me back. When she—kept me safe. Even after I’d lost my shit on her and OD’d. Killian told me after, how she tried to comfort me before Roth and Luther found us. And—this is the part that I still can’t figure out—came to my defense when Roth interrogated her.
On Samhain, when she looked so broken, and it killed me to watch her walk away.
Now she’s in my class. I can see her, talk to her, without needing an excuse.
She can’t get away from me now.
Thane Rorvik
@Killian how was Chem?
Killian Hastings
Someone’s an eager beaver.
Thane Rorvik
I’m going to eat you one day.
Killian Hastings
I surfed your demon last week. He loves me too much to eat me.
Roth Kovacs
Did you partner with her?
Killian Hastings
Yep, partners for the rest of the year. Didn’t even have to draw blood. Kinda disappointed ngl.
Luther Falke
I’m sure you’ll get another chance with how many people are sniffing around her.
Roth Kovacs
I’d like to know how she’s gotten in with Mondragon and the necromancer.
Killian Hastings
I volunteer as tribute.
Thane Rorvik
I thought you said she wouldn’t talk to you?
Killian Hastings
Like that’s ever stopped me.
Luther Falke
[typing]
Killian Hastings
Oh shut up, Goliath.
No matter how many times I try to get Killian to talk about her, he keeps deflecting, and by the time I head back to our apartment later that evening, I’m ready to wring his fucking neck.
It doesn’t help a single fucking bit that I round the corner and see Ramsey and Nyx walking back to the dorms with to-go bags from one of the restaurants in the Student Union.
The Mexican place, from the smell of it.
They’re too far in front of me to hear what they’re saying, but her laugh cuts through the frigid night air and settles into my bones.
I want her laugh.
I want to see the smile reach her eyes.
What kind of things make her laugh, I wonder, and add it to the mental list of information I’m going to pry out of her so long as we’re in the same class.
And afterward too, if I have any say in it.
I quietly quicken my pace to close the distance between us, but Ramsey must sense me at some point because he lifts his head and turns, inhaling deeply without breaking stride with Nyx.
I pause and duck behind a tree when they stop at the door, and then my blood fucking burns when his hand brushes against her cheek and she tilts her head back, eyes twinkling from the moonlight.
He lowers his face to hers, and then they’re kissing, dinner forgotten when the bags hit the ground.
She wraps her arms around his neck and lifts up to her toes, deepening the kiss.
His arms slip to her waist and he pulls her into his body.
She melts into him, and my body responds with a rush of pure heat and need at the sight of her surrendering to him.
When he breaks the kiss, they’re both panting, just in time to for a group of students to open the doors on their way out.
He picks up the fallen bags and hands them to her, nodding his head for her to go inside.
The group of students I vaguely recognize as third years pass by, and I step out of the darkness.
He turns to face me and licks the taste of her from his lips.
He smirks, crossing his arms over his chest. “You enjoy the show?”
My demon rumbles in my chest, a reminder that we’re not just two men interested in the same girl. We’re two apex predators, salivating with the urge to draw their rival’s blood.
“Are you laying a claim on her?” I ask, my demon bleeding into my voice. At my challenge, his eyes glow green, pupils narrowing into slits.
“Yes,” the dragon says, unequivocal. “Are you?”
The answer comes without thought of what it means to challenge the Moratus dragon prince, or how Roth and Killian and Luther will react when I tell them what I’ve done.
What I’m going to do.
“Yes.”
His chest rumbles with a menacing laugh. “You can try, snake.”
My demon screams in my head, a stream of familiar shrieks, piercing clicks, and crooning warbles, but the sound that comes out of my mouth isn’t one I’ve ever heard before as he crawls up my throat and speaks.
“Your blood will stain the sea before you ever get the chance, wyrm.” My vocal cords are left burning and raw as he slinks back into the depths of my mind.
Ramsey snaps his jaw in anger, but he manages to subdue the dragon before triggering a full shift.
By the time we’ve gotten our inner monsters under control, we’re both breathing heavily.
He points his finger at me. “You fuckers are done playing with her.”
“I’m not playing,” I say, returning his hard stare, and he turns, following her into the building without another word.
I smother the roiling emotions in my gut before heading up to our apartment.
When I open the door, Roth, Luther, and Killian look up from where they’re already eating at the dining table.
“What did you do, Killian?”
“What crawled up your ass, dude?” he says through a mouthful of food.
I sit down next to Roth and glare at him. “What did you do to Nyx?”
He finally swallows as Roth and Luther exchange a glance out of the corner of my eye.
“You’re going to have to be more specific.”
I close my eyes and inhale, trying to calm myself down. “Why won’t she talk to you?”
He runs his hand over his mouth and crosses his arms over his chest, and turns to Luther, whose eyes narrow.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he fumes.
“Explain. Now,” Roth commands.
“Last day of finals last term, we were walking through the common room and Nyx was there alone so naturally, being the gentleman I am—” Luther scoffs, but Killian ignores him. “—went over to say hello.”
“You downed an entire fifth of whiskey in ten minutes.”
“I don’t know why you’re bitching so much about that.
She also said you smelled good, and thanked you for coming to her rescue when she got knocked out, and said she wanted to keep you as her sparring partner instead of me.
Actually, maybe that should have been my first clue that she was drunk because who in their right mind would say no to my shining personality. ”
My mouth hangs open in shock and I glance at Luther.
“Don’t.”
Roth’s menacing stare stops us before I can respond. “Enough. You will tell me everything. All of you.”
Killian sighs and closes his eyes, like he can’t bear to see our faces when he tells us—
“We hooked up. I blacked out after we started kissing in her bed, and left before she woke up the next morning. But Jesus fuck, I just know it was incredible. I remember that much.”
“You said you were good,” Luther begins. “You said you were just going to walk her back to her room. You said you went for a run after, and that’s why you didn’t come back until morning.”
“You’re one to fucking talk,” I hiss at him.
“What do you mean?” Killian looks between us.
“I—,” Luther starts, but shakes his head. “I set her dress on fire on Samhain. On accident.”
“You what?” Roth asks, but Luther just glares at Killian.
“You goaded Mondragon and sent him into a full shift. Are you seriously telling me you don’t see the issue with publicly challenging the Moratus? You were too busy panting after her to consider the consequences to all of us, if you lost that fight.”
“No fucking way, you’re not going to blame me for almost killing her. What the fuck, dude?”
“I just wanted her run back home with her tail between her legs since she’s still fucking here despite everything the Legacies have done to drive her off.”
“You’re such a fucking hypocrite. You were all over her at Wyckd, but I can’t be?”
“You’re the fucking Heir!” He emphasizes. “What you do—what you all do—fucking matters.”
Roth looks him dead in the eye, his voice ice-cold. “We, Luther. What we do matters. All of us.”
“Then you should know, I laid a claim on her. With Mondragon.”
All three of them snap their eyes to me.
“When?” Roth asks.
“Just now. They were coming back from dinner and he must have caught my scent, because he pulled her in for a kiss and she wrapped her arms around him—” I shake my head as the memory makes me chest tighten.
“He sent her inside and I asked him if he was laying his own claim on her. He said yes, and asked me the same. And I said I was.” When he looks at me, I know he’s replaying our conversation from the night I almost lost it after the Med Center, and every moment since, just like I did earlier today.
“His dragon rose. Told me ‘I could try’. And then… so did mine. Roth—he spoke.”
That surprises all of them. “And?”
“Felt like my throat was being ripped apart. He told Mondragon, ‘Your blood will stain the sea before you ever get the chance, wyrm.’”
They’re all silent for a breath, before Killian laughs. “Fuck, that goes so hard.” The tension between us eases just enough to take a deep breath. “So they’re fucking, then?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so, at least not yet. I didn’t smell him on her in class, did you?” he shakes his head.
“Well, if you’re both laying a claim, then I am too. What about you two?” He turns to Roth and Luther. Luther doesn’t answer, instead he picks up his fork and keeps eating. Roth looks between me and Killian.
“Is your demon under control? We can’t have another repeat of Wyckd.”
I nod, relaxing into my chair. “The new batch seems to be working. I was clear-headed, even when my demon spoke.”
Roth nods, his mind working to process the bombs that we’ve all dropped. “Stay close to her. Keep an eye on Mondragon. And the necromancer. For a powerless nobody, she’s certainly insulating herself with powerful allies.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you want her?”
He thinks for a moment as Killian and Luther pause to watch him, and I see his demon flash in his eyes.
“Not like you two. Or you,” he side eyes Luther, who scowls.
“I want to watch her fire burn hot and bright until she begs so sweetly on her knees for me to put it out. I want to bring her to heel.”