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The question blindsided Octavius and shocked all thought from his head. “I… No, we’re not talking about me. Or that.”
“Why not? You brought it up,” Jayden pushed. “Seems like you could do with a good humping. Just an observation.”
“I don’t needthat. I don’t do sex. It’s not a thing I… want.” He glanced at Saint in the mirror and wished he hadn’t. The nyk smirked, probably remembering how hard Octavius had been when he’d had Saint against the wall. He felt the need to explain how sex hadn’t been something he’d enjoyed for as long as he could remember, then bit the words back. He didn’t need to explain anything to either of them. “We’re discussing how his venom has infected you like a drug you crave, and you can’t ever leave him. Do you understand that? Sometime in your future, you’ll die, out of your mind with lust and madness for a creature you can’t have, because he’s dumped you at the side of the road. Or, he’ll just kill you when he’s done. Your pathetic life will be over, only having achieved being a cum-dump for a parasitic nyktelios.”
“Fucking hell, Brotherhood.” Saint laughed. “Who hurt you?”
Hurt him? How abouteveryone. “Fuck off. If I weren’t trapped in this car, I’d get the hell away from both of you.”
“Pull over,” Saint said.
Jayden pulled the car to the curb along a quiet winding strip of back road.
“Go ahead then,” Saint said. “Get out.”
Octavius eyed the stretch of road outside. “It’s daylight.”
“You’ll be fine under the trees. Go on. We don’t need you. My life was just fine before you showed up, trying to recapture me for your fucking Lord of the Night, Mikalis. The only damn reason I haven’t shattered you into a million pieces is because you saved Jayden. That’s it. So leave.”
Octavius swallowed. He could leave. Heshouldleave. So why wasn’t he? “We have an agreement. You need me to help you get closer to Mikalis without him killing you.”
“Not really.” Saint reclined back in the seat. “The chances of my redemption are so slim, they’re not worth clinging to.”
Octavius huffed. He couldn’t leave. He did need them. Well, Saint, at least. And Saint needed Jayden. They were necessary. “I’m staying,” he growled through clenched teeth.
Saint nodded, and Jayden pulled the car back onto the road. They rode in silence a while, until Jayden fiddled with the radio and found something Korean with a plucky upbeat note. He hummed along and tapped the wheel in time with the music.
Octavius slumped lower.
Perhaps it would be a mercy if Mikalis showed up and killed them all.
CHAPTER12
Zaine
Storm landedthe chopper at dusk on a wide patch of driveway beside the damaged lake house. As the rotor blades wound down, Zaine climbed out, ducked under fluttering police tape, and meandered through the rubble, searching for anything unusual.
It was a nice spot, right by the lake. Quiet, out of sight. The perfect place to hole up for a few days, or weeks. Or even months. Had that been Octavius’s plan, just to hide? Why attempt to bring down the Brotherhood, only to hide out in the woods?
They were missing something—like a motive for Octavius’s betrayal—but they’d find it.
Raiden had called while they were en route to inform them of the property’s owner. The hotshot land developer in St. Louis had no idea anyone had been living in his house.
Zaine toed his boot through the debris. Any tire tracks had been obliterated by emergency service vehicles.
“Here,” Storm called from down by the water.
Zaine approached and caught an old scent of blood on the breeze.
“Someone bled out here.” Storm crouched by a patch of stained grass.
The debris from the explosion hadn’t made it as far down as the water’s edge, and there was no sign of drag marks. Whoever had lost a lot of blood here had been carried to that spot.
Zaine crouched and touched the dried blood, then the scattering of dark red flakes beside it. “He was here.” He showed Storm the ashy substance on his fingers. “And he bled.” A few days of daylight and Octavius’s blood had disintegrated, whereas the human’s blood still coated the ground.
Storm straightened and squinted back at the house. “There’s no body and there were no reports of anyone being hurt or killed.”
“Perhaps a fight?” Zaine considered. Whatever had happened in the house had played out on the lakeshore too.
