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I glared, my muscles twitching with anticipation at the crackle of energy in the air. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Kade stared at me for a painfully long time, but Asher let out a chuckle, breaking the silence. “Well, this is going to be fun.”
Locke turned to the others. “Kade, tell Lyr we’re going to need to call in that favor she owes us. Ash and Dar, visit the newbloods. Find out if any of them are exhibiting unusual abilities. And keep an ear out in case anyone’s making noise about the missing human. I’ll take the first watch with our…guest.” He fixed a predatory gaze on me, and I grabbed the edge of my shirt under the blanket, crunching the fabric in my fist.
Without another word, the monsters filed out of the room.
CHAPTER 15
~ Asher ~
“Hmm,yesAssholeTwosuits you perfectly,” Darian said with a teasing smirk, pretending to analyze me as we strode down the tunnel.
“Fuck off,” I said with a laugh, shoving him hard enough that he stumbled on his next step before gracefully correcting himself.
Flicking an invisible speck of dirt off his shirt, he smoothed his hands down his chest as he walked. “Maybe if you had treated our lovely Raine nicer from the beginning, she would have given you a better nickname.”
I gave Darian an incredulous look. “We are supposed to terrify the humans to get them to turn faster. It’s our job.”
“That’s no excuse for poor manners.”
“As I remember, you almost had her jumpin’ you when you were in the water. Did you ask her politely before makin’ her straddle you?” I said with a grin.
A wicked smile lifted his lips. “I wasn’t going to let it go far. How was I to know she’d bonded us? I just needed to know what would happen if she touched me again. The female is very interesting…”
“You’re tellin’ me. Whatever this link is that she’s created, just bein’ around her makes my dick hard. It’s bloody torture.”
“You and me both,” he said with a chuckle.
We walked in silence for a short while, our footsteps echoing along the tunnel when he asked, “How do you think the newbloods are going?”
Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair. “I’m guessin’ as well as can be expected.”
“What do we have? A vamp, three demons, one ogre, one incubus, three sirens, a banshee, and a bear shifter. The Taratun will be happy.”
I didn’t answer, my attention on the huge iron doors up ahead, guarded by two minotaurs. Thick black horns reached out from the sides of the guards’ bull-shaped heads, and wide golden bands wrapped around their muscled biceps, indicating their service to the Taratun council. We stopped before them, and the guards peered at us with small black eyes.
“Hi there, fellas, if you’ll be so kind as to open the doors for us,” I said with a smile. I wondered if that was polite enough for Darian.
The guard on the right tightened his grip on a double-headed battle-ax. “We don’t follow the commands of deserters,” he snarled.
Darian shifted beside me, and I knew he was readying himself for a fight. The pair of us could have crushed them if we wanted. The Taratun’s guards were trained well, but against the two of us, they’d stand no chance. They knew it too, but they also wanted to have their say.
Monsters always stayed with those of their kind. Vampires stayed with vampires, demons stayed in houses that contained demons, and so on. The fact my brothers and I had made our own odd clan bothered a large portion of the monster community. We only got away with it because we were four of the strongest monsters to grow up in this hellhole. That, and thanks to Locke’s father, but that sadistic asshole had his own agenda and made Locke pay for his help.
I knew the council would find a way to break us up eventually. But I’d do whatever I could to keep us together. Like hell was I going back to join the House of Thorem, the high house of demons. And if the price of us being together was dealing with this shitbag, then I was all right with that.
“Ah now, don’t be like that, we’re still around. You don’t need to be salty about missin’ us.”
The guard’s face scrunched with anger. “You four are not fit to be in this mountain. Go back to the slums where you’ve been hiding.”
“Now that’s enough,” Darian drawled, but his gaze was sharp. “We all know you’re letting us in there. We have official business with the Taratun, and if you don’t let us in, we’ll make you. Save yourself the bruises and open the doors.”
“They’re not worth it,” the other guard muttered to his comrade, opening the door on his side.
The first guard spat on the ground with disgust, but he opened the other door. “Your time will come, deserters.”
“Lookin’ forward to it,” I said with a wink and strolled through the door.
