Dark Night of the Brotherhood

Chapter 1 | Anna

Waking up next to an immortal warrior every day was the best thing that ever happened to me.

Because there were moments when my life went off the rails—when I stood in the wreckage of what used to be and wondered how I’d survived. I always came back to the same truth—I didn’t do it alone. I made it through because one person stood beside me without asking permission.

Destiny was a lot easier to face when you didn’t face it alone.

Morning light slashed across my closed eyes. I refused to open them. I burrowed deeper under the covers and closer to the large body in the bed next to me. Kincade’s form was warm. It was like sleeping with a portable heater, which was great in the winter. Not so great in the summer.

At least summers in Somerset, England weren’t like those in Texas—scorching hot.

He continued to snore softly. I cracked an eye to see his arms under his pillow, his face in quiet repose. For a guy who was two-thousand-plus years old, he hadn’t aged a day since I met him.

Hard to believe that was last summer.

I, however, felt as though I’d aged several decades despite my twenty-nine-year-old body.

How about that. Me sleeping with a much older man and digging it.

Kincade’s cheeks and chin were shadowed in stubble that was ever present.

Like he didn’t want to shave. Like he liked it that way.

There was no knowing with him. It took a lot of self-control not to reach out and run my fingertips over the scruff.

I didn’t want to wake him, but my fingers itched to feel the prickle of his beard.

Six months ago, I died and was resurrected on the battlefield in Megiddo.

Life had been different since then. Kincade moved into my bedroom.

He didn’t ask. He started sleeping with me as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Sometimes, though, when he wasn’t being a hard-ass warrior, he’d let his guard down.

And I saw the man under the armor. Something he did for me.

It felt sacred. I honored that with my silence.

I no longer received mysterious postcards pointing me in the direction of a Holy Relic. I had no more quests. No more facing death and destruction of all mankind.

I wasn’t even sure if I was still the Keeper of the Holy Relics.

All of them had been returned to their rightful place with the angels.

Except for the Ark of the Covenant. I had a feeling it was still hidden away in that cave in Israel for when it was needed again.

I’d even lost my lightning power and the Godlight.

At least I could still dream walk. I think. I hadn’t attempted to use that part of me in months.

I asked Kincade once what I was meant to do now that all of it was behind me.

He told me we were going to live until we needed to fight again.

Live. Like he was giving himself permission.

Honestly, I hoped we would never have to fight again. But things usually didn’t work out like that for me.

Things had been peaceful. Mostly I spent my days wandering through the manor, trying to decide what to do with my endless hours.

Next to me, he stirred. With eyes still closed, he reached for me, pulling me against the honed planes of his muscular body. His heat washed over me in a wave, making the hairs at the back of my neck tingle with a delicious sensation.

“You think too loud.” His voice was gruff against my ear.

His breath was hot on my neck as he planted a feather-light kiss there, sending a spiral of delight through me.

It was something he said often. I had long since stopped guarding my thoughts from him. What was the point? He read me like a book and, much to my dismay, he knew me better than I knew myself.

My reply was to push him onto his back and kiss him. I loved that I could kiss him whenever I wanted.

His thumb brushed against the angelic necklace at the base of my throat—the one he’d given me as a belated birthday gift—and the familiar weight of it against my skin felt like a promise.

His hands caught my waist and pulled me over him, his mouth claiming mine with a low, appreciative sound. I barely had time to tug my shirt over my head before his fingers slid into my hair.

A sharp knock sounded at the door.

He answered by hauling me closer and stealing another fierce, heated kiss, my body fitting instinctively against his.

Another knock.

“Don’t these people know what time it is?” he growled.

I glanced at the bedside clock. It wasn’t that early, but definitely too early for visitors. Especially when we were trying to get it on.

I rolled off him and out of the bed, reaching down for his discarded shirt. Tugging it over my head, the hem brushed the tops of my thighs. From behind me, he groaned.

“When you get rid of whoever that is,” he said, “I’m going to need you to keep that on when you come back to bed.”

Ah, he knew the way to a girl’s heart. I flashed him a grin over my shoulder as I cracked open the door.

Piers stood in the hallway.

“Yes?” I said with a heated hiss.

He took in my rumpled appearance and the fact that I was wearing a shirt that didn’t belong to me and blushed. I’d never seen Piers blush. He planted his gaze firmly on mine.

“Ah, my lady, there is… someone downstairs to see you both.”

“Who the bloody hell is here this early in the morning? Don’t answer that. Get rid of them.”

I started to close the door, but he put a hand on it and kept it open.

“I’m afraid he said it was urgent.”

“Urgent, huh?” I cut a glance back to Kincade who lounged on the bed with his arms behind his head. The bedcovers were bunched around his waist. Dammit. I bit my bottom lip as I turned back to Piers. “Well, who is it?”

“He said his name was Silas.”

Behind me, Kincade went still. Then, under his breath, “Fuck.”

I straightened upon hearing the familiar name and gave him a nod. “We’ll be down in a minute. Tell him to meet us in the dining room. The least we can do is feed him breakfast.”

“Very good, my lady.”

I closed the door. When I turned, Kincade was already there, inches from me. He pinned me against the door, pulling up one leg and wrapping it around his thick waist, which made me stand on tiptoe to meet his height. Before I managed a protest, he was doing all those magical things to me.

“But… Silas…” I breathed against his mouth.

“Can wait ten minutes.”

I gave him my most evil grin. “Only ten?”

He growled in response.