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“No, little doe. It’s forever.”
Peony stares at Axel for far too long, her face etched in disbelief. She doesn’t understand, doesn’t believe us.
“You’re…”
“Lying? Don’t believe me? Go ahead. Ask Kaiden or Zie.”
Her eyes fly to Kaiden first, and even though I’m not surprised, it still stings. I know I treated her like shit but doesn’t our history mean anything to her?
Kaiden nods and she shakes her head in return. Unwittingly, her gaze seeks mine. I don’t even have to move, the answer’s written on my guilty face.
“No,” she gasps.
“Yes, Odile. The sooner you accept that, the easier all of this will be…on everyone.” Axel sighs in exasperation and it breaks whatever frozen in disbelief spell she was under.
Her head whips back to Axel and stone cold fury crosses her features. She’s a blazing, beautiful force to be reckoned with and anyone with half an ounce of self preservation would retreat right now. I even take a small step backwards.
Not Axel. He stands his ground and smirks at her fire. Smirks. I half expect Peony to whip out a knife and gut him where he stands but she doesn’t.
She surprises me.
By turning on her heel and leaving.
The door to the apartment slams with a force that rattles the artwork on the walls and Axel somehow grins even wider. I look to Axel, silently asking if we should go after her. He shakes his head no.
“Well, that went well,” he says with no trace of irony. I blink at him in confusion. Really? That went well? I’d hate to see what a fucking disaster would look like to Axel then.
Kaiden doesn't even attempt to hide his derisive snort and Axel turns on him in an instant.
“Something funny, Spirit?” he drawls.
“I can’t believe you thought that went well,” he sniggers, mirroring my thoughts exactly.
“Everyone’s still breathing, aren’t they?” He smirks again.
I love Axel, he’s a brother. We share a bond built on mutual history, pain and suffering, bloodshed and murder, and a love that can’t be broken. My loyalty will always be to him and Kaiden above all others - even the girl I loved. Which I have more than proven time and time again. But fuck if there aren’t times that I think he’s a complete psychopath. That trademark smirk of his is lethal and tinged with a controlled insanity that would make even the most mentally unstable quake in fear of crossing him.
He levels that smirk at Kaiden and his eyes take on a dangerous gleam. He’s silently challenging and taunting Kaiden to speak out against him. Kaiden, with all of his anger and trauma, and mummy and daddy issues, can’t help but rise to Axel’s bait as his hands curl into fists and his chest rises and falls with his rapid, shallow, angry breaths.
“Something to say, Kelly?” Axel pushes. The tension builds until it fills the room. It’s been brewing between the three of us since Odile stormed into the lunchroom and blindsided me. Kaiden’s barely kept his disapproval for what Axel’s done in check, and even though I’ve been much less vocal about things, I guess my simmering resentment hasn’t gone unnoticed either.
“I don’t understand it,” Kaiden spits.
“Which part?” Axel asks calmly. He speaks slowly like he’s talking to an idiot, which only enrages Kaiden more.
“Any of it.”
“It’s simple. Peony is The Doe. And we have to win the game.”
“Why do that to her though? Why place her in that much danger? After everything we did to her, hasn’t she suffered enough?”
Murder flashes across Axel’s face but quicker than lightning, it’s gone. He thinks he can school his features around us, but we know him best. He’s not as calm as he’s making out, and he hates the idea of causing Odile pain as much as we do.
“She’ll be safe once we win, and the three of us are more than able to take on the competition to ensure that that’s what happens.”
“With our lifestyle? Are you insane?!” Kaiden snaps. “The best thing we could have done to protect Odile is let her go. That’s what you said when we came here and left her behind. We didn’t want to but you insisted it was for the best. For her own good. And now, two years down the line, you’re dragging her back into our lives - back into danger - and telling us that you want to make it forever. Why? What’s changed? How on earth are you going to be able to keep her safe when we take over? How can we protect her when we overthrow—”
“That’s enough!” Axel roars, cutting Kaiden off mid-rant. I’ve kept silent but I agree with everything Kaiden is saying.
