Amick #2
“Yeah, and bring us down with her,” Creed grunts a second before her soul slams against theirs.
The caress she sends my way is so tender and full of devotion, it almost brings me to my knees again.
They pant and slump across my desk as their bodies take a moment to recoup the energy they just spent. I rise from my chair and run my fingers down Thayla’s spine. I love how goose bumps chase my trail.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” I say as I lift her into my arms.
“Damn it,” Kyzen mutters, glancing down at my desk then back up at me. The guilt on his face has my eyes narrowing. “I made a small mess. Nothing big.”
“Clean it up,” I grit out.
Thayla chuckles into my chest as I step around them and head for my bathroom.
“Thayla!” I freeze as the bellow of her name echoes from our living room. My head pivots toward my door and my brothers stop shuffling behind me. “Thay, where are you?”
“Oh shit,” she says, tapping on my chest to put her down. I don’t. She’s completely naked. “That’s Lambrit.”
“I hear that. You have no clothes on.”
“Fuck. Right. Someone go out there and check on him,” she says as I finally release her and she races back to my desk. We all fall still and turn toward the door once again when he yells her name.
He sounds quite upset.
While she stumbles around, trying to find her shorts I tossed somewhere, the four of us march out of my room. Lambrit whirls around, shoulders sagging as soon as he sees us.
“Thank goodness. I thought you had all gone somewhere. Where’s Thayla?” he asks.
“You okay? You seem a little worked up?” Riven asks instead of answering him.
“Yeah. I just—”
“I’m here,” Thayla yells, crashing out of my door. “What’s wrong? Is it Laney?”
He tilts his head, studying her incredibly disheveled—stunning—state. Thankfully, he doesn’t comment on it.
“She’s fine. I’ve…well, I just need all of you to come with me. The others are already outside waiting.”
She latches onto his arm as he not only motions toward the front door but stomps that way. “Whoa, hold on. The others? What’s going on, Lambrit?”
“I need this to be a no-questions-asked situation until we get where we’re going, Thay.”
Her eyes widen and her mouth falls open.
“Shit. Okay. Do we need our armor?”
“No,” he says, then turns but stops after a step or so. “You probably should put pants and shoes on, though.”
“Fuck,” she mutters, racing toward her room. In the blink of an eye, Kyzen has all our shoes gathered and is handing them to us.
“What kind of trouble are you in?” Creed asks.
Lambrit rubs the back of his neck. “None. Yet.”
“Damn, Lam-the-man. It’s not like you to get into some shit. That’s usually our thing.”
He cringes and turns from us.
“I know. We’ll be waiting on you all outside.”
Without another word, he stalks out our front door, and we all stare at each other.
“What in the realm has he done?” I ask.
They all shake their heads until they whip toward the racket coming from Thayla’s hall.
“I’m ready. I’m coming,” she hollers as she trips trying to put her shoe on while running. “Fuck.”
“Good thing you’ve already come, angel. I don’t think we have time for that now,” Riven teases and she scowls as she approaches us. Then her features morph into worry.
“Where did he go?”
“Outside. Come on.”
She laces her hand with Creed’s outstretched one and we race out our door. Sure enough, Yemi and her entire Valtrue are out here, plus Rose and Havar. All look like they were startled out of sleep.
It is well past bedtime.
No wonder Thayla came and distracted me.
“Everyone, starshoot outside the Athenaeum.”
“The Athenaeum?” We all repeat, and Lambrit huffs.
“Please, guys.”
I catch the concerned glance Yemi, Rose, and Thayla share, but nonetheless, we all nod. In seconds, we appear in front of the double doors, and he holds them open while we all pile in.
“I hope that same god I knocked out isn’t here,” Thayla whispers.
“Shit, I forgot you told us about that.” Riven laughs and we all glare at him as the sound echoes far and wide through the space.
“There are no guards here tonight. Follow me.”
For a fleeting second, we each gawk at Lambrit’s back, then sprint to catch up with him. My heart pounds louder in my ears the closer we get to where I know he’s going.
Valories, don’t let it be.
What has he done?
Sure enough, he slings the doors for the restricted hall open without a care in the realm. Kyzen and I glance at one another as he prepares his power.
“Lambrit, what the hell?” Thayla asks.
“Look, I know, just…just come on.”
The absence of a god standing guard at the restricted room’s door has the hair on the back of my neck standing up. My eyes widen as we slow to a stop and he produces the key to enter from his pocket.
“You have so much explaining to do, Lambrit,” I say.
“I know and I will once we’re all inside.”
He turns the knob, scampering inside as he holds the door open for us to follow. My footsteps fall still as I gaze around the room.
The room that is completely out of order.
“Explain,” I demand as I turn to face him when the lock clicks shut.
He opens his mouth, but Thayla beats him to speaking.
“This is where you’ve been running off to every night.”
“How did you—” He cuts his eyes to Rose.
“A powerful birdie told me,” Thayla cuts in.
His head hangs as he pinches his nose.
“V. Of course.” He sighs, then glances at me. “We both know that Ellian knew this would happen. We talked about this.”
“You two talked about this?” Thayla whisper-yells.
“No, not with the exact words, break into the restricted room by yourself and leave it in complete disarray,” I say.
“Then with what words?” she asks through her clenched jaw.
I scowl at Lambrit for getting me in trouble.
He gives me a guilty smile before giving her the summarized version of his first day as Ellian’s assistant and the conversation between the two of us.
I knew that pep talk was going to come back around on me.
“Regardless, we were supposed to plan for something like this, Lambrit,” I say. “Even if this is what Ellian ultimately wanted, he’s still bound as the High Chancellor of the Godsdawn to protect this knowledge. We aren’t only jeopardizing ourselves by being in here, but him as well.”