Chapter 22 Killian #2
“Hey, I tried ignoring you assholes, but clearly that didn’t work out so well for me,” she gestures to the both of us.
“Fair point,” I concede.
“And besides, you’re all fucking dangerous,” she mutters.
Also a fair point.
“His demon is volatile,” I continue. “And powerful, and when it wants out, it takes everything he has to keep it in.”
“I still don’t get how the whole ‘demon’ thing works.”
“The ‘demon thing’? Oh, you sweet summer child.”
“Fuck off.”
I chuckle at her glare and run my hand through my hair.
“It’s hard to explain. It’s like… Picture all of the intrusive thoughts you bury deep, deep down.
All the times you wanted to hit someone for being an asshole, when you wanted something so badly you do anything to get it, things like that.
And inside your head, there’s this voice that whispers ‘Why not? Why shouldn’t I take what I want?
’. Except that voice is usually attached to claws and teeth and wields magic. ”
She considers me for a moment, brows furrowed. “How is that any different than shifters? Ramsey was saying—”
“You’re talking to Ramsey? Ramsey Mondragon. The growly, disfigured dickhead about yay high—”
“Can you not be such a fucking asshole for once,” she rolls her eyes.
“Okay, okay.” I put my hands up to placate her. “Do you even know who he is though—”
“Yeah, yeah, deadly Moratus etcetera, etcetera.”
Oh my God, she’s gonna get killed.
“Well, there’s that too. But I said who, not what—” she puts her hand up to stop me.
“If he wants to tell me, that’s up to him. I don’t need to hear it from anyone else.” My mouth gapes in disbelief, but she doesn’t look away, daring me to argue. Eventually I groan and lean back against the wall, closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose.
“Alright fine, we can table that for now. The short answer is: shifters are two sides of the same coin—one and the same. Demons are monsters masquerading as men—we may look human, but in here,” I tap my temple, “buried deep down, is a well of power.” The last word ends in a low rumble as my demon surfaces and she stills, fingers poised above Thane’s forehead like she’s remembered she shouldn’t be touching him.
I have to look away to compose myself when something in my chest tightens.
“This power is a bottomless pit of wanting that will never be filled.”
She rests her hand gently on his shoulder as we share a moment of charged silence. Whether it’s the alcohol or the lingering arousal from watching her earlier, seeing her comfort my friend after coming to our rescue, or the way she always snipes back at me, something shifts.
“You all need therapy.”
I can’t help but snort and shake my head.
Oh baby girl, you have no fucking idea.
“So then, how do you control it?” She looks straight ahead, but I manage to catch her absently playing with the collar of his shirt.
“What?”
“The power.”
“He uses drugs,” I murmur, nodding towards Thane. “I keep moving. Working out, running, things like that.”
“And that’s really enough to not hulk out on people? Or whatever it is that happens.”
I shrug. Not even fucking close.
“Sounds exhausting.”
My eyes snap to hers, those dark brown pools with flashes of red that catch the light. Like rubies.
No, that’s not right.
Like garnets.
The sudden crash of the door banging against the wall shatters the moment of peace and my demon rises swiftly to the surface of my mind, ready to rip apart whoever’s just—
“Roth, holy fuck. About goddamn time you assholes showed up.” Luther is a hulking shadow behind him, eyes flitting over me then moving to Thane who’s still unconscious in Nyx’s lap.
Roth is locked onto her, and the little brat refuses to blink first, her brief lapse in grumpiness replaced by wariness and defiance.
“Killian?” Roth nods to Thane.
“He’ll be alright by the time he wakes up. Shit, I should have asked, did he say anything about what he took?” I turn to ask Nyx, who’s now staring down the fucking gargoyle like he couldn’t crush her skull with one hand. She finally wrenches her eyes from him when I nudge her.
“No. We were just—” she begins, but side eyes Roth and Luther before continuing. “Dancing, and then he started freaking out and kept saying he wanted to go home.”
“So then, why didn’t you take him home, Killian?” Roth turns his menacing stare on me.
“He was overdosing,” Nyx cuts in before I can respond, drawing Roth’s ire once more.
“And how, exactly, did you come to that conclusion?”
“His pupils were blown out, he was agitated, confused, and started stumbling around.”
“And now he’s in your lap.” Luther says, crossing his arms, and I roll my eyes. The motherfucker knows how obscene his muscles look when he does that. I open my mouth to come to her rescue, but once again, she cuts me off.
“Would you rather he’d’ve split his head open or fall on top of me when he collapsed?” She crooks her eyebrow, but we all notice the unconscious tapping of her fingers on his shoulder.
Roth takes a deep breath, closing his eyes to subdue his demon from rising. “Did anyone see you?” I don’t even bother trying to answer before she does.
“Well.” She turns to glare at me before locking eyes with him again.
Seriously she’s going to get herself killed looking at people like that.
“Before you ruined it for me I was actually pretty good at being invisible. So no, no one saw us.” Luther tenses and narrows his eyes, and Roth’s pupils dilate slightly.
There’s no way she knows what Luther can do, right?
The flash of her dancing, head tipped back with his hand around her throat and fingers between her thighs makes my demon rumble in my chest.
As does Luther’s. Well now, this just got interesting.
“Sweetheart, if that’s how you usually dance, I can guarantee you’ve never been invisible.”
Her cheeks flush, but it doesn’t temper her attitude. “You can fuck right off, thanks.”
“What? I’m just saying, it was fucking hot.” So is she when she gets all riled up. Like a hissy little kitten.
“How I dance is absolutely none of your business.”
“Who were you dancing with, by the way?” I ask, completely ignoring her. “I want to ask him what it felt like when you came on his fingers, and then cut off his hand so he can never do it again.” Her cheeks redden even further, but unlike me and Roth, she doesn’t notice Luther’s holding his breath.
“You’re a psychopath.”
“Baby girl, you’ve got me confused with Roth, he’s the psychopath. I know it’s difficult to keep track since we’re all so devilishly handsome,” I smirk, wagging my eyebrows.
“It’s a shame your personalities are shit.”
The casual insult makes me laugh so hard I start tearing up. “You hear that boys? She agrees we’re handsome.”
“Of course that’s the only thing you heard,” she mutters, rolling her eyes, but stills when Roth’s measured steps echo in the empty room as he stalks toward her. Even under the weight of his foreboding stare, she tracks every movement.
Smart. You should never take your eyes off a predator like him.
“Did you like dancing with him?” he asks calmly as he crouches, peeling back Thane’s eyelids, and I’m relieved to see his pupils reacting normally to the light.
Nyx quirks her head. “I don’t know how you want me to answer that.”
Huh, maybe she’ll live to see another day after all.
“It’s a simple yes or no question. Did you like dancing with him?”
“Sure. Yeah. It was all fun and games until I realized he was out of his mind.” She responds with a hint of sarcasm.
“And did you also like his fingers in your cunt?” He asks in that ice-cold voice that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Fuck, even though I know what he’s doing, I don’t want to watch him crush her like he’s done to so many others.
For the second time in as many weeks, my conscience whispers from the back of my mind like a fucking mosquito buzzing in my ear.
She narrows her eyes, but unlike my psycho bestie, her voice is full of fire and fury.
Oh fuck, she’s doomed.
“Why don’t you ask him, huh? He’s the one who left me half-naked on the fucking table and ran away after I got my shit rocked, as that one can attest to.
” She turns her glare to Luther for a split second, but wrenches her eyes back to Roth.
“I’ve done nothing but try to steer clear of you since I was dragged here but you,” she side-eyes me, “won’t leave me the fuck alone.
And let’s not forget that you put your hands on me first.”
Wait. What the fuck? Luther and I share a look before turning to Roth, but the scary bastard is fixated on her. His lips curl into a smile that’s made grown men piss themselves, but it only seems to stoke her ire.
“Oh, pretty bird. I can’t tell what I want more: to put you in a cage so you can sing just for me, or break your wings so you can’t fly away.
Either way, you—like all the others—remain at my mercy.
” By the time he finishes, his voice has deepened into the dark growl of his demon.
For fucking once, she does the smart thing and shuts her mouth as he reaches out to twist a lock of her hair between his fingers.
“Who’s next, hm? Killian? He’s foaming at the mouth to get at your cunt.
Or do you want Luther to ruin you? Because he would.
He likes to break his toys.” She doesn’t answer, but her chest is heaving—I can’t tell if it’s in fear, or anger. Probably both.
But at Roth’s flippant tone, Luther tenses.
Everyone thinks he’s just some brooding asshole.
And he is. But I’ve known him long enough to read his tells—he’s been twitchy about her ever since they started training together.
He tried to get her naked after those Legacy bitches stole her clothes.
He carried her to the Medical Center when that little shit Prosper knocked her out.
If he isn’t already down bad for her, he soon will be. And Roth is using him to terrify her.
“Roth.” He turns those black fucking pools of Wrath on me, but after a beat, hums in resignation. His eyes trace the flush of her skin as he brushes her hair behind her ear, even as she trembles.
“Luther.” He steps aside as our gargoyle slowly approaches Nyx like she’s some cornered animal, and well, fuck.
I guess she kind of is. His immense bulk nearly blocks her entirely from view as he leans down, but I manage to catch the way he locks eyes with her, how he’s careful not to jostle Thane too much as he scoops him out of her lap.
And then, how she puts as much space between them as possible with her back against the wall.
And I see that trademark coldness descend over his face when—whether he admits it to himself or not—he desperately wants her not to.
Roth waits until Luther’s tossed Thane over his shoulder before leading them both out the door.
Left alone together, I want—fuck. I want so many things. I want to thank her for her help tonight. I want to tell her that my fuckhead friends aren’t really so bad despite the drug use, the threats, the beatdowns. I don’t want to lose whatever this is, where she insults me and I kind of like it.
When I offer my hand to help her up because she’s had Thane’s dead weight in her lap for the last twenty minutes, she scoffs and clumsily stands on her own.
I shouldn’t have expected anything less, I suppose.
Letting my hand drop to my side, I meet her hard stare with my trademark smirk.
The one that says “I’m Killian Hastings, Heir of House Terra, second wealthiest of the four elemental dynasties and proud owner of the biggest dick this side of the Mississippi.
” Because that’s the only one people care about.
“See you around, Nyx,” I say quietly.
“Don’t fucking count on it.”