Chapter 43
Zane
My mask feels heavier tonight.
I run my thumb over the rough weave, staring at it like it might give me answers. But all it gives me is a tight feeling in my chest I can’t shake.
Phoenix insisted on a detailed perimeter sweep tonight. All of us. No exceptions. First time we’ve left Ivy alone since we found her. He says it’s to check for weak spots and ensure every trap and trick is in good working order.
But we can do that in shifts.
Beside me, Phoenix adjusts his gear with practiced movements, untouched by anything as usual. As if he’s not thinking about what I’m thinking—Ivy, left in this place… alone.
“Myles is downstairs waiting. He’s playing calm but he’s losing his shit about leaving her,” I mutter, buckling my knife to my thigh.
“He’ll live,” Phoenix says without looking at me. “If we’re gonna keep her in a bubble, then we can’t keep delaying. You know what comes next. This town needs to be Fort Knox before we leave.”
The headhunt. The farm. Those cult fuckers. Spending days away from here. From her.
When we leave… she won’t just be alone. She’ll be vulnerable.
That thought? It carves me hollow.
Phoenix finally looks at me through the eyeholes of his mask. “Think of it as practice,” he says. “See how she handles it.”
“Handles what?” My brows pull tight.
“Being without us.” His tone is blunt, but the meaning is a fucking sledgehammer.
He’s planned this to test her. To prepare her for the possibility of us being gone for days hunting the cult. She’s found comfort in us… maybe more than comfort. Something none of us are ready to admit.
I nod once, even though my chest feels like it’s wrapped in barbed wire. “Yeah. Practice.”
We head for the stairs, boots heavy on the old floorboards.
“What if we just left?” I murmur.
“What?”
“What if we moved? Took her somewhere else?” I throw it out there like nothing. As if I haven’t been chewing on it since the second those cult bastards proved our ‘safe zone’ wasn’t so safe.
Phoenix stops, blocking the hallway with his shoulders tensed like a brick wall.
“The road is too dangerous for her,” he growls.
I scoff. “It’s no safer here.” Rubbing a hand down my face, I exhale. “Look, I’m not saying don’t get revenge. But we can’t keep Ivy inside forever. Eventually she’s gonna wanna go outside. And then what? What are you gonna do when she steps in a bear trap? Or triggers a tripwire, huh?”
“We’re not discussing this now,” he deadpans, continuing down the stairs without another word.
But he knows I’m right.
My fingers brush the hilt of the blade strapped to my thigh as I follow him. Down into the main hallway. Toward the sitting room where Myles is lighting a fire in the fireplace for Ivy.
The door’s cracked open just enough to allow a clear voice through.
“Fuuuck,” Myles groans, breath ragged.
I freeze, hand halfway to the door.
Phoenix stops too.
Then we hear Ivy’s moan. Muffled. Like prayer dripping from her lips.
I push the door open with two fingers. Slow. Silent.
And the sight nearly drops me.
She’s on her knees in front of him.
Myles is splayed against the couch, head thrown back like he just saw God, panting heavily through his mask. One hand fisted in her hair, the other gripping the armrest so tight the veins in his forearm bulge.
And her… goddamn.
Her plump lips stretch around his cock like they were made for it.
She moves steadily, taking him deeper with every dip of her head.
Her tongue works him like she knows his every weakness, hair spilling around his wrist. Every soft sound she makes might as well be a blade carving through my control.
For a second, I can’t move. Can’t breathe.
My stomach knots as I fight to look away. I shouldn’t be watching. I shouldn’t be turned on. My muscles twitch to reach for my growing cock but I force them to stay rooted where they are.
And the worst part? I’m not jealous. Not even close. I’m high on it.
She pulls back with a wet sound, saliva shining on her lips, cheeks flushed, eyes glassy. Myles murmurs something low, and she nods, giving him a sultry look before taking him into her mouth again.
Then it hits me—she’s not just sucking his cock.
She’s giving him everything. Submission. Trust. Her whole fucking soul if he asks.
Phoenix tuts and pushes past me, stepping into the room. The air changes immediately. As if the oxygen just turned to gasoline.
“Myles,” he interrupts, voice commanding.
Myles doesn’t move. But Ivy does. She flinches, pulling off his cock with a pop, her lips swollen, chin slick.
“Phoenix…” she gasps, voice dripping with guilt.
I brace for the explosion. For him to drag her out and put Myles through the fucking wall.
But he doesn’t. He actually steps closer. Calmly. Controlled. And that restraint is far more threatening than rage.
“I was just—” she starts, but his hand lifts, cutting her off.
“It’s okay,” he says, but the edge in his tone tells me it’s a lie.
I’m holding my breath like letting it out will trigger a bomb.
But then Ivy rises slowly, steps like she’s walking into fire, and lays her hands on Phoenix’s chest. Her eyes flick up once, searching his before she tilts her chin up and presses a kiss to his mask.
A soft peck. A test.
Phoenix’s restraint snaps like a wire.
His hands crush her hips, and he yanks her flush against him as he rips the mask off and crashes his mouth to hers.
My gut turns molten.
Myles is on his feet in a breath, sliding in behind her, sandwiching her tiny body between them. Caged like prey between predators.
And God help me, the sound that spills from her when they both touch her… it wrecks me. A moan so raw and sweet I swear I feel it in my fucking bones.
I should hate this. Should rip the door off its hinges and tear them away from her. But instead? My cock throbs like it’ll split my zipper, and all I can think is how goddamn beautiful she looks like this.
Held. Claimed. Worshipped.
Phoenix peels her shirt over her head and my breath hitches. Ivy has always had a beautiful body, but we feed her well.
Her breasts are fuller, her hips curve softly to strong thighs. Myles’s hand disappears between them. She gasps as his fingers find the right spot. Phoenix growls low against her mouth, and her knees nearly buckle.
Until she looks at me. Eyes heavy. Lips parted. Breath stuttering. Like she wants me to watch. As if she sees what this is doing to me and revels in it, receiving her rightful veneration.
That look punches the air from my lungs. Heat floods my veins as I grip the doorframe. All those years of caging my demons—and they’re clawing at the bars.
Because watching them like this? It feels like The Pit. Watching the depravity play out in front of me while I got off on it. It was sick. But for the first time in years… I don’t want to fight the feeling.
When she moans louder, as if she wants me to hear, her gaze locked with mine?
I’m gone.
The heat. The hunger. The need to own every second of this, hits me like a freight train. She wants me to watch.
And in a moment, the plan for tonight is burned to ash.
My hand presses against my cock through my pants, trying to readjust. But it only sends a jolt down my spine that makes me shudder.
“I should’ve known you’d pull a move like this,” Phoenix growls against her mouth as he wraps a hand around her slim throat. “We have to go, Ivy. It’s just for one night.”
Myles groans something into her ear, muffled by his mask. And then Ivy—sweet fucking Ivy—whimpers. “I don’t want you to go. Please do the perimeter thing another night? Stay with me.”
A broken sound rips from my throat at her plea as I rub myself harder.
Phoenix kisses her again. Myles’s hand moves faster. Ivy cries out, body trembling between them like she won’t be able to stand much longer.
Their sounds create a symphony of heavy breaths and wanton moans that fuel the fire burning at the base of my spine.
And me?
I just watch.
Hypnotised. Wanting. Standing there like a sinner at confession. Drowning in this fucked-up, beautiful, combustible thing we’ve agreed to try.
And I don’t want it to stop.
Not now. Not ever.