devour us at any moment. But the fire that burned in me was entirely on the inside, making me hot and needy. I wanted to disappear into him and forget my pain time and again. Kyan wasn't gentle like Blake, he saw my pain and offered me a different kind. His answer to my grief was more darkness, but the type that made me forget, not the type that made me weep.
When he pulled away, we were both breathless and his eyes cut into mine as he stared at my swollen lips. He traced his thumb across them with a hungry gleam in his gaze. "One day I think I'll eat you up, baby." He gnashed his teeth at me and a smile curled up my lips.
"Not if I eat you first." I slipped away from him and he took chase, capturing my hand again and letting me pull him along this time.
“I’m not ready to share you again,” he admitted.
“Greedy,” I teased and he smirked, not denying it.
We reached The Temple and my heart pounded faster as we approached the door. A part of me was yearning to reunite with the rest of the Night Keepers. My tribe. The men who had come for me in my most desperate moment of need. But it was so strange to feel that way about them after everything. I just couldn’t shake it off.
I pushed through the door and shouts and grunts caught my ear. I frowned as I kicked off my shoes and jogged further inside to see what the hell was going on. Saint was on the floor in the lounge while Blake knelt over him, trying to force pills into his mouth and simultaneously wash them down his throat with a bottle of water locked under his arm. It was squirting everywhere, soaking Saint as he fought Blake off with his good arm. As I watched, Saint’s hand latched around Blake’s throat tearing bloody nail marks into his golden flesh.
"What the hell?" I gasped as Kyan moved to my side, barking a laugh as he watched.
Blake looked up, but Saint's focus didn't waiver. He managed to get his knee between Blake's legs and jammed it into his balls. Blake fell off of him with a yell of pain, cupping his manhood and rolling from side to side on his back as the water bottle tumbled away.
Saint struggled to his feet and looked to me, his scowl lifting marginally in what very almost could have been a ghost of a smile. I noticed the place was generally a mess and Saint looked like he hadn't slept a single wink since we'd left.
"He won't take his fucking painkillers," Blake snarled as he got up, one hand still on his junk. "And I'm done trying to make him." He tossed the pills at Saint's back, serving him a sneer from the devil he’d engaged as he strode to the refrigerator, took out a beer and twisted off the cap. Blake threw himself onto the couch and started playing an Xbox game, ignoring the furious wraith that was Saint Memphis.
"This place has gone to hell," Saint snapped, his voice harsh and cold. "Rebecca is having time off for Christmas and Blake won't tidy a single fucking thing up. I can't keep up with the mess he makes because I've been too busy."
"Busy doing what?" I asked in confusion as Blake stood up from the couch, striding towards me confidently. “Wait,” I gasped, holding up a hand. “I should wash my clothes and everything first and…” I looked to Kyan, the words on the tip of my tongue that I was immune from the Hades Virus, but what about him? “We should quarantine for forty eight hours.” I found I hated keeping this secret, but my dad had told me in confidence and it felt wrong to just blurt it out.
“Right, yeah.” Kyan looked between his friends in concern. “You’d better come bunk with me for two days then baby and Blake will have to cook for us and use Saint’s bathroom until-”
“No,” Saint hissed, his face twisting in rage. “I will risk the Hades Virus over sharing my bathroom with an ogre who will tarnish my clean space.”
Blake scowled. “Well I’m not gonna continue waiting on Lord OCD. And anyway, I’m a Night Keeper. And I’m officially making a new rule of my own. If one of us gets sick, I’ll get sick too.” He shrugged like it meant nothing even though it