Kings of Quarantine (Brutal Boys of Everlake Prep #1) - Caroline Peckham ,Susanne Valenti Page 0,78

it in. Because I had him pegged now. And so did they.

“Enough,” Saint snapped.

I pushed myself to my feet, standing before them with fury in my heart.

“What do you want?” I demanded, knowing that if I ran they’d only catch me. Besides, running was a coward’s move. And I wasn’t going to let them see me blink.

Thunder crashed in the sky right above us and the wind dragged my hair out behind me and made their capes dance in the air. I would have laughed at their ridiculous outfits if they hadn’t somehow made them look so damn terrifying.

“This place is a burial ground for the bodies which were left in the lake by the Night People,” Saint said in a dark tone. “Bones still wash up from time to time…”

I shuddered, wrapping my arms around myself against the biting cold as Saint went on.

“They left this stone here as a warning of their power,” he growled. “And the legend of the sacred stone states that anyone who touches it willingly and gives the oath must become Night Bound to us. That means their soul will be owned by the Night Keepers along with their mind and body,” he explained and I looked to the rock with a grimace. “When you touch it, you’ll do our bidding, every single thing we want you to do, without question. Forever. You’ll be ours.”

I shook my head with a snort of dismissal. No chance, assholes.

“You’re going to touch it,” Kyan threatened and Blake nodded his agreement.

Lightning flashed through the sky, the jagged line of it carving a path all the way to the other end of the lake. The rain was about to fall, I could sense it in the most primal part of my being.

I glanced between them and tried to ignore the fear clawing up my spine. Something about the way they looked right now made them seem more animal than man. “There’s just one problem with that, douchebags. Saint said willingly. Which is never going to happen.”

The three of them closed ranks, walking towards me like devil hounds on the hunt for blood. I steeled my nerve as I lifted my chin and prepared to face them, refusing to budge an inch.

“Fine, don’t touch it,” Saint said in a deadly tone; his smirk said he wasn’t going to let me go. “The alternative is far worse.”

They continued closing in until they formed a triangle around me and their dark shadows seemed to consume every lasting bit of light in the sky.

“We’ll tell the whole school to fuck with you,” Blake growled and I glanced toward him with my heart thumping madly against my ribcage.

Kyan yanked my hair to get my attention and I turned to him with my teeth bared. “We’ll make every day insufferable, unliveable. Far worse than it’s been this week.”

They tightened the circle and Saint pinched my cheek, forcing me to look at him next and making my heart lurch into my throat. “You’ll have no friends and anyone who even glances at you too long will be severely punished for it. You’ll wish you were an Unspeakable, you’ll beg us to let you join them again.”

Their triangle closed even tighter so their bare chests were crushing me in the middle. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think straight. And I suddenly didn’t know which choice to make.

“Do you care about that pretty little roommate of yours?” Saint purred, making my heart clench for her. I couldn’t let him hurt Mila. Not because of me.

“And do you want the full, uncut version of our sex tape aired to the whole school?” Blake growled. “Do you remember how you begged me for it?”

“Shut up,” I snarled, but my voice was somehow lost to the wind and fear hammered harder against my chest.

I shut my eyes as I tried to block them out as they continued to whisper all the awful things they were going to do to me if I didn’t agree to this.

I hooked onto my dad’s teachings and dug deep for that inner place of peace he’d taught me to cultivate. A place no one could touch. Somewhere I could go when the world seemed impossible and the stress was too much.

I took one breath, two.

They were pulling at my clothes, my hair, trying to make me listen but I blocked them out. Forcing them from my private, inner space. I wouldn’t ever let them in there.

I have to make the right choice.

The right choice means survival.

The