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Octavius sighed and watched Saint help Jayden climb into the truck’s back seat. This couldn’t end well. The driver probably wouldn’t make it through the night.
Octavius started back toward them. Jayden was traumatized, and Saint had beenoffsince the run-in with Mikalis. There was no way Octavius could ditch them now. He had to see this through.
“Oh, there you are.” Saint grinned. “Ah, yes, my partner, sorry, did I not mention him?”
“Partner?” The man failed to hide his disgusted snarl. “Like, a couple?”
“Is that a problem?” Saint asked.
“No, I guess.” The driver faced away, focusing on the road. “Get in.”
Octavius climbed into the cramped half-cab beside Jayden and settled in for what would hopefully be an uneventful ride. The driver asked where they were headed, Saint gave him a bullshit story and said they’d go as far as he’d take them, and they all fell into an awkward silence.
An hour in, Jayden shifted, slumping against Octavius’s side, then dozed there. His human warmth burned through Octavius’s clothes, and his feeder scent tingled Octavius’s senses. He’d forgotten he’d given Jayden his blood, but there was no chance of forgetting it now. Having Jayden close reminded him how, when he’d straddled him to save his life, Octavius’s instincts had kicked in, demanding he take the weak and dying Jayden as his.
Octavius avoided human contact. Always.
Kazimir used to take a new one to his bed almost every weekend. Octavius had hated him for that, for being so careless, for needing sex. But trapped in the truck cab with Jayden plastered to his side, old, buried instincts began to simmer to the surface. Apparently, he wasn’t as cold as he tried to be because the physical urges making themselves known didn’t care Jayden belonged to Saint.
He forced the feeding thoughts from his head by thinking of Mikalis, and how Octavius was generally fucked. He’d believed he could make Mikalis see the truth, because the truth was true. He’d believed Mikalis would see that. Until now.
If Mikalis wasn’t going to be reasonable, Octavius had to work on one of the others in the Brotherhood. Not Storm, he was too close to Mikalis. Zaine was possible. He had questioned Mikalis in the past. Something had happened between them, some prickly incident that had added tension to the room whenever they were together.
Zaine might be a weak point to get back inside the Brotherhood, in terms of having them listen, but considering Zaine’s reaction to the phone call, it wouldn’t be easy getting him to listen either.
Whatever happened, Mikalis was a lost cause.
No wonder Saint was like he was. From the back seat, Octavius could just make out the line of Saint’s neck, and how his short brown hair curled at its ends, unkempt but free.
He’d loved Mikalis once. And it had all gone wrong for him too. Octavius felt that same grief-like sting in his chest. Was it really over? Had the Brotherhood given up on him?
Jayden yawned, slid down Octavius’s chest, and rested his head on his lap. Octavius froze. The feeder fell asleep again in moments, but now he wasonOctavius. His floppy blond hair lay in shaggy curls. Some rested on his neck, over his flickering pulse.
“You good?” the driver asked, glimpsing him in the rearview mirror. Octavius hadn’t cared to remember his name.
“What? Yes. Fine.”
Saint smirked in the side mirror. Octavius narrowed his eyes back at him. Saint grinned, as though he knew everything and was always right. Although, in Mikalis’s case, hehadbeen right.
They pulled into a truck stop, and the driver hopped out for apitstop, as he called it.
Alone, in the dark, in the quiet of the cab, Octavius could feel Jayden’s rushing blood against his thigh. His warmth beat too, like a drum, calling to Octavius. His fangs ached, eager to be freed. “You need to get Jayden off me.”
Saint laughed and twisted to peer into the back. “Let him sleep. He’s not doing any harm.”
“He took my blood. This is… uncomfortable.”
Saint’s eyebrows lifted. “It was just a little blood. You can control yourself. It’s not as though you’re turning nyk, is it?”
How could he joke about such things? “No, I’m fine, I just… He’s warm, that’s all.”
“Relax, we’ll ride with this guy for a few more hours, then…” He trailed off. “Hm, this looks interesting.”
Octavius followed his gaze to see a group of three men approaching the truck. Their masculine swagger suggested all three were hungry for violence.
“I guess our driver doesn’t much like us,” Saint said in a monotone voice that had Octavius’s insides flipping over and a flicker of nerves clenching his gut, but in a strange, needy way.
Violence scented the air, a heady mix of male sweat and adrenaline. “Hey, you guys. Get out of the truck!”
