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“If I don’t make it back.”
“You’ll make it back.” He started walking again.
Saint waited until he’d done another lap and said, “But if I don’t, make sure he’s safe.”
“He’syourfeeder. You’ve already fucked him up. I can’t cure that.” He walked on.
Saint shook his head in disbelief. What had he just been thinking, that Octavius was better than the rest? “I haven’t tainted Jay with venom.”
Octavius stopped so fast, his boots skidded in the gravel. “Bullshit.”
Mikalis’s indoctrination was strong. “We control whether to inject venom. Most nyks don’t care, but I do. I haven’t warped Jay’s mind. He’s not addicted. His blood is clean. Whatever he feels, it’s real.”
“C’mon, I wasn’t born yesterday. You guys fuck like rabbits and you’re telling me you haven’t bitten him, not once? I may be naïve in the ways of… in intimacies, but he’s definitely ingested your blood, else you wouldn’t have needed me to save him outside the lake house.”
“By choice. He ingested itby choice.”
“Yeah, off his head with lust for you.”
Saint shrugged. “I’m not going to deny we have vigorous, fantastic sex—”
Octavius marched to the front of the truck again and leaned against the hood, arms crossed.
He had some strange hang-up about sex. Saint considered asking him how long it had been since he’d been intimate with someone, then decided against it. The Brotherhood resisted intimacy due to all the complications around venom and creating feeders, and Octavius was already uptight enough while waiting for his brothers to arrive.
The things Saint could do with that body though. He eyed him now, angled away from Saint and sprung so tight he practically buzzed. Octavius wasn’t imposing, not physically. If it weren’t for the white hair, he’d vanish in a crowd. With his hood up, he might have been unremarkable, until you saw his eyes. His blue eyes pierced like daggers, as though they could see your soul and didn’t care for it.
Saint had mistaken that look for disdain, and he figured he wasn’t alone with that assumption either. But Octavius deliberately kept everyone at arm’s length. He knew what he was doing when he was a vicious prick. That just made Saint want to unravel him even more. He’d be a goddamn revelation between the sheets.
“Chopper,” Octavius said, glancing over his shoulder.
Saint heard it too, the distantthwump-thwumpof rotor blades. He jumped from the truck seat and joined Octavius. Mikalis would arrive before his Brotherhood, else their fearless leader risked his secrets spilling to the whole team. Any moment now…
“I’ll make sure Jayden is safe,” Octavius blurted. “You have my word.”
“Ah, youdolike him.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Just admit it. He’s easy to like. Say the words, nobody is listening. It’s just you and me, and the stars—”
“Saint!” Mikalis bellowed from the tree line.
“Scratch that.” Saint pushed from the truck, rolled his shoulders, then pulled the nyktelios from within him. Wings burst from his back, fangs filled his mouth. He was going to need every weapon he had to survive this.
He strode forward, spotted Mikalis, and broke into a run toward him.
It had been a nice life. Even after so many centuries, it hadn’t been enough. Given the choice, he’d have lived a thousand more. But Mikalis didn’t give choices.
CHAPTER17
Octavius
Saint veeredtoward the forest behind the hardware store, and Mikalis took the bait and followed.
Now all Octavius had to do was separate Zaine from Storm—assuming they were the pair arriving in the chopper.
The chopper’s lights blinked in the distance, coming closer.
