Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,70

gotten her out of my system.

“I say we fall back on the legends that gave us our name,” I said, eyeing the assholes in the row before us to make sure they weren’t prying.

“The Night People?” Kyan asked, raising an eyebrow as that idea intrigued him.

“Yeah,” I said. “One legend in particular, the one that includes the sacred stone.”

Kyan blew out a breath of surprise and Blake turned to me fully with pure hunger in his eyes. Hell, he might have needed this more than I did. We used that legend as a threat all the damn time, but we’d never gone so far as to implement it before.

“You want to make her touch the sacred stone?” Kyan asked, his eyes lighting up with that idea.

“And bind herself to our desires and eternal wishes,” I purred.

I didn’t know why the three of us had taken such an interest in the legends of the Kotari tribe who had once lived on this land, but we had. And there were more than a few tales amongst them that could be turned to our advantage when we wanted them to. But we’d never used the sacred stone legend before. The one which stated that a sacrifice who touched the stone and swore themselves in debt of the Night Keepers would be forever bound to do their bidding. And if there was one girl I wanted bound to do my bidding for all of time then it was definitely my very own Barbie doll.

“That legend says the sacrifice has to choose to have their soul bound to the Night Keepers,” Kyan said, waving a hand like he was dismissing the idea. “She’d never do it.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” I hissed, my gaze still fixed on Tatum as she leaned forward to write something down. “She’ll swear it. She’ll fucking beg for it by the time I’m through with her.”

“How?” Blake asked, his eyes lighting at the idea.

“We make her life unbearable unless she agrees,” I purred. “She’ll have no choice but to lay her soul at our feet.”

“You really think we can make her bow?” Blake asked.

“I do.”

“Well, I’ll believe it when I see it,” Kyan announced.

“Then be prepared to see it.”

Kyan snorted a laugh and I smiled as my gaze stayed rooted to our target, our enemy, our Tatum.

She already belonged to the Night Keepers.

She just didn’t know it yet.

This day was already the longest one of my life. And as lunchtime scraped around, I knew it was time for me to face the dining hall again. Except this time, I was going to be ready for the Night Keepers’ horse shit. In fact, I was gonna order up a gift basket of Viking goodies including a longsword and a war horn for Mr Monroe. Because as much as I hadn’t wanted to come back to class, or this damn school for that matter, I now had him to thank. Because now I’d seen how much I got under those three demon boys’ skin. I itched at them like a rash that needed more than a course of antibiotics to fix.

I was here to stay. Not by choice, but screw it. I might as well make the most of the one weapon I had against them: I hardcore bothered the fuck out of them. And the more defiant I was, the more angry they seemed to get.

In truth, my plan was probably insanity. Baiting the Night Keepers was an extreme sport in itself. And I knew the more I pushed back at them, the more hell they’d rain down on me. But bowing wasn’t in my nature. I wasn’t made to sit at the feet of preppy assholes who thought they owned the world. I was made to rule them.

I didn’t know if Mila was avoiding me or not, but she hadn’t been waiting for me in the hall outside my morning classes like she had on day one. That hurt more than I wanted to admit, but as I walked up the tree-flanked path to the Redwood Dining Hall, I spotted her lingering outside the door. She was combing her fingers through her mane of hazel hair and when she spotted me, her eyes widened. I thought she was about to bolt, but she did the opposite. She rushed toward me, throwing her arms around me and crushing me to her chest.

I was so taken aback, it took me a second to remember to hug her in return.

“Are you okay?” she asked