was looking at the container in distaste when I walked back in.
“I don’t milk my fangs like this,” he said indignantly. Disgust consumed his features as if the prepped container made him ill.
“I know for a fact, the prison made you do it like this. I do it like this. In my house, this will continue. I won’t have a walking weapon in my fucking house when I have other things to worry about.” I wanted him to milk because it made it less likely for him to attack Raphael. He would want to save that last drop to protect himself if it came to that, not threaten me.
He was glaring as he opened his mouth, and his long fangs dropped. I knew he had spent centuries with my aunt, and they had used each other to control their venom. I knew the textbook reason why mated couples did, the aphrodisiac effect those truly immune to naga venom received when bitten by their partner. His mate, however, was dead. The only thing he could do with those fangs was kill people, and if I was going to use him, I couldn’t let him stay too deadly and unmanageable.
Why am I not just killing him? He fucking deserves it. He’s here, practically asking for it by sitting on my couch, defenseless. It’s my damn job.
I turned to Raphael as Nakul finished up.
“Can he have your room?” I asked, hoping to lock Nakul in there. I had ways of locking off each area of the condo and intended to use them. It would help with the conflicted shit I was feeling.
“Yeah, you want me on the couch?” Raphael leaned on the wall, crossing his arms. “It’s fine if you do.”
“I’ll take the couch. You take my room.” It would put me in a good position to protect him, even if he didn’t want that. It wasn’t his lack of power I worried about. He just didn’t know everything, and that lack of intel would get him hurt, adding in the problem there just wasn’t time to teach everything to him.
He raised his eyebrows.
“I’m not making you sleep on the couch in your own condo,” he replied, shaking his head. “Not going to happen.”
“Then we share, but I want you in a secure room,” I said, hissing a little at his chivalrous attitude. Just like Cassius in that respect. He never let me sleep on the couch as it somehow made him feel like he was treating me poorly. It’s how I got my own room at his place to begin with. I never really liked sleeping all night next to him or anyone else.
With that settled, I pointed at Nakul and gestured for him to follow me. Part of me was still dying to kill him, do my job, and end his miserable existence before someone like Adhar or one of the Tribunal found out I was harboring him. I knew my bosses would want me to kill him. I knew Adhar would want me to keep him alive. At the moment, I was sitting in limbo, not sure what to do with him. I had a responsibility to my own kind to keep our numbers as strong as possible, and Nakul had vital information. I had a responsibility to the Tribunal to kill any inmate that illegally left the prison’s compound.
I’ll lock him in here and not let him out. That way, I’ve at least contained him. That will have to do.
“Thank you for this,” he said softly as I grabbed several of Raphael’s clothes from the drawer, so my roommate wasn’t stuck in the same thing for however long this took.
“These are all mostly spelled for Raphael, so don’t put them on. We’ll find you something. Or you can stay in your jumpsuit since you’ll be going back eventually,” I replied sharply, trying not to look at him. I was aware of him. Like me, his body temperature fluctuated a little, and now that I was aware of his presence, I would never lose that awareness, not with my life riding on keeping him where I could see him. I couldn’t afford to forget about him.
I left the room and opened my phone once the door was closed. Engaging the locks and the security for the room, I watched a second metal door come down from the top of the door and shut.
“Kaliya!” Nakul yelled from inside. “What is the meaning of this?”
“Protection. For both of us,” I answered loudly.
“Wow,”