Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,220

the catacombs.

She moved towards me so suddenly that I almost didn’t know what was happening as she fell against my chest, her arms wrapping around me and her bare flesh pressing to mine in so many places that it overwhelmed me entirely.

My arms closed around her too as I pulled her closer, drowning in the scent of her and the exquisite feeling of her skin against mine.

I didn’t know how the hell we’d deal with all of this now, but I did know that we’d done the right thing. All of us. Even the Night Keepers. And this bond between us was real whether I liked it or not.

Saint appeared again suddenly, dressed in an outfit that looked almost exactly the same as the one he’d been wearing a few minutes ago.

In one hand he held a fistful of clothes and in the other he had a black bucket with two cloths swimming in it. The cloying scent of bleach washed over us as he drew closer, leaving the clothes on the stairs before approaching us with the bucket.

“Come here,” he said, his eyes on Tatum and his tone almost soft.

If it concerned him that he’d found the two of us wrapped around each other in nothing but our underwear, he didn’t mention it.

Tatum released me and went to him, not bothering to cover her chest this time as he grabbed a cloth and quickly started wiping the blood from her skin.

I grabbed my own cloth from the bucket, forcing my eyes away from Tatum’s body as I hurried to wipe the blood off of me too.

Saint diligently cleaned every spot of blood from Tatum’s skin. Her gaze remained fixed on him as he moved the cloth all over her flesh and she seemed to struggle for the right words to offer him.

Once he was done, she plunged her hands straight into the bucket and washed the blood from them too.

“Here,” Saint said, moving to pass me a pair of grey sweatpants and a black T-shirt which looked almost exactly like the ones I’d just been wearing.

I shrugged them on with a grunt of thanks and he gave his attention to dressing Tatum next.

“I had the same outfit for you in black,” he said as he offered her the matching leggings and sports bra. “It’s dark out tonight, no one should notice that they’re not navy now.”

“Thanks.” She dressed quickly and we ran up the stairs to find Kyan and Blake waiting for us wearing fresh versions of their last outfits too.

“Just like it never happened,” Blake said darkly as his gaze slid over us.

“I dunno if I’d say that,” Kyan growled, reaching out to take Tatum’s hand as he pulled her towards the door where fresh sneakers were waiting for us too.

“Let’s go,” Saint commanded and my skin prickled as he aimed that tone at me just as clearly as it was aimed at the others. Whatever this bond between us meant, it definitely didn’t include me taking orders from him.

Kyan scooped a baseball bat up off of the floor and I noticed a gun jammed in the back of Blake’s sweatpants. Saint didn’t take a weapon, but I spotted an old claw hammer laying on the flagstones and snatched it before following the others out into the dark.

Distant shouts coloured the air from somewhere up near the gates and adrenaline surged through my limbs as we turned towards the fight.

“Who the fuck do these assholes think they are breaking in here and trying to steal from us?” I demanded in a deadly tone.

“Let’s go show ‘em what happens when you invoke the wrath of the Night Keepers,” Blake growled.

Kyan cupped his hand around his mouth and hollered to the sky, his voice echoing all over the mountain in a deadly promise which made the hairs rise along the back of my neck. It was the cry of a hunter. And a vow of violence to come.

Saint smiled darkly and we started running without another word, the four of us taking up positions all around Tatum without anyone needing to order it. It could have been a coincidence, but I didn’t think so. We were all bound by this thing we’d done, but in truth we were bound by something so much purer than death. We were bound by her. This girl who’d shown up out of nowhere and managed to claim a hold on the corrupted souls of four broken monsters.

And though I might have hated what these