by Caitlyn Dare
"Motherfucker," I grunt, the beast within me ready to take Kingsley down once and for all.
Channing says something to Sasha, and somehow, she takes Mia's weight and continues walking with her toward her bedroom while Channing and Alex come to stand in front of me.
"Get out of my fucking way."
"No can do." Channing actually fucking smirks at me. "You’re not going down there."
"He needs to fucking die."
"Maybe so, but you don't need to go fucking with him. You knew this was going to happen. You promised to protect her."
"Fuck you, Rexford. Fuck you."
I take a step, ready to push past, but the pair of them overpower me and my back slams into the wall behind me, the force of the hit knocking all the air from my lungs.
"Mia will be fine. She's stronger than you think." Channing stands toe to toe with me, his forearm pressing lightly against my neck, ready to show me exactly how strong he really is.
"I know, I just…"
"Leave it," Channing growls. "You need to leave it. You go down there all guns blazing then you're playing right into his hand. That is what he wants."
"But—"
"But fucking nothing, Bexley. You need to let it go."
"But—"
He growls, pressing harder against my neck, and I relent.
He's right, and I fucking hate it.
"Mia is okay. He didn't hurt her."
"She's fucking broken."
"Bex," he sighs. "You need to get it together. Their Coglio is right around the corner. You need to figure out a way to let this happen."
I stare into his eyes as he silently begs me to find a way to get through this.
"We'll find a way to make this right, but it's not going to be fast. Things need to happen first."
I nod at him, remembering our conversation about whatever kind of deal he's struck up with Q that might just allow him to be with Sasha one day, and I know that I've got to trust him.
He's not on Cade's side. He's on mine.
He's on Mia's.
"O-okay," I concede, nodding my head slightly.
"Go get fucked up or something," he suggests before releasing me and taking a step back. "Sasha will look after her, you don't need to worry."
"Easier said than done," I mutter, turning back toward my bedroom.
Every inch of my body screams at me to walk toward Sasha's room, but something tells me that Cade is watching my every move right now, just waiting for me to fuck up.
I don't look back to see if anyone is following me, but I'm not surprised when Alex catches my door as I try to swing it closed. "Make yourself useful and grab whatever it was you'd taken the other night. I fucking need out of this hell."
"Bex, you can't—"
"Get it, Alex. I don't give a fuck about the past or what I should and shouldn't be doing right now." I may never have fully confessed to Alex about the sins of my past, he does know the basics about why I've stayed away from drugs since I moved to Gravestone.
Old habits die hard, and I'm always just one bad decision away from becoming that person once more.
When he returns, I don't even bother asking what they are before I throw the pills back, chase them down with the bottle of vodka he also helpfully brought me, and fall down onto my bed, ready to leave my nightmare behind for a few hours.
"We need to talk," I say, dropping into the chair beside Mia in class the next day.
I once again waited for her to arrive so I could follow in after. Thankfully, her arrival was much less dramatic than yesterday, and she managed to get inside without signing anyone's death certificate.
"Bex," she warns, the defeat in her voice gutting me.
"No, don't even try to fight me on this. I need to know what happened last night." I turn my eyes on her and she gasps. I know why. I look like a fucking mess.
I have no idea what time I finally passed out last night, but I'm pretty sure the sun was already starting to rise. What I do know is that I had more pills than I've consumed in a long time, and the bottle of vodka was long empty.
It worked, though. For about twenty blissful minutes, I forgot about everything. I felt light. I felt happy. I felt… numb.
I missed my class this morning. Hell, I missed all of my alarms and Alex and Channing coming in to try to drag my ass from bed, but I knew I wasn't missing this afternoon and my chance to get close to her.
"What did you do?" she asks, narrowing her eyes at me.
"I drowned it all out. But that's not the point. After class, we're talking."
"It's not going to make any of it better," she sighs.
"Maybe not. But it'll stop my fucking imagination going wild."
Her gaze darts away, her face showing her own lack of sleep last night. When she fixes her eyes on me again, I add, "And I need you to tell me what to expect for this Coglio. I need to know exactly what’s going to happen so I can be prepared for it."
Her fists clench in her lap at the mention of the upcoming ceremony, but I think we both know at this point that there's very little chance of her getting out of it, no matter how much it eats me up inside.
She's going to become Cade's.
Officially.
24
Mia
Bexley and I sneak into the woods after class. He goes first, and I follow him. Then, he guides me to a secluded opening and lays out his hoodie for me to sit on.
“Come on.” He tugs me down onto it.
“Tell me what happened first,” I whisper, noticing how tense he is.
It’s peaceful out here, so serene, but the way my heart races in my chest is anything but calm.
“I… fuck.” Bexley drags a hand down his face, over and over, and eventually, I take his hand in mine and peel it away.
“You can trust me,” I say.
“Fuck, Mia, it isn’t about trusting you. It’s about admitting something that might change the way you look at me.”
Dread snakes through me. “What did you do?”
“Cade… he… he took me and Alex to this warehouse on the edge of town. There was this guy. He wanted Alex to kill him.” He sucks in a harsh breath. “Shoot him at point-blank. It was a test… but Alex totally froze. I knew he couldn’t do it. He’s not built for this life.”
Oh God. Bile churns in my stomach as blood roars in my ears.
“Did you…”
“I had to.” He finally looks at me, and what I see there guts me. “I had to do it.”
“You killed a man?”
He nods, his eyes shuttering on another sharp intake of breath. “And I don’t think it’ll be the last time.”
“The guy in the mausoleum?” A chill runs through me.
“I don’t know. No one would tell me what happened.”
“You didn’t kill him,” I say, refusing to believe it. “He was still breathing when they hauled him out of there.” Unconscious but breathing. He’s okay. He has to be okay. Bexley isn’t a murderer… he isn’t like Cade and the rest of them.
But the look in his eyes…
“Does it matter? I did that… I…” He jams his fingers into his hair and tugs the ends sharply. “I fucking hate this.”
“James said—”
“James is just as bad as them.” Bexley’s head whips up. “Playing with our lives, our futures. We’re just pawns, Mia. Pawns in a game I’m still not sure I understand.”
Silence settles over us as we stare out at nothing. The trees are dense around us, closing in until I feel a weight on my chest. Then Bexley says six little words that make my heart shatter.
“What happened with Cade last night?”
“Don’t ask me that.” I let out a shaky breath.
“I’ll kill him, Mia. I’ll fucking kill him if he—”
“He didn’t.” I twist to look Bexley in the eye. “And I’m okay. That’s all you need to know.” He told me his truth, but I can’t tell him mine.
“It isn’t…” His fist clenches ag
ainst his thigh and then his hand shoots out, curving around my neck. “The thought of him touching you…”
I blink, overwhelmed at the intensity in Bexley’s voice. “The Coglio is soon. You need to accept that if I go through with it, I’ll have to be—”
“Don’t,” he hisses. “Just don’t.” His eyes drop to the ground, and it’s like he reached into my chest and ripped out my heart. I need him with me on this.
I need him.
“You need to understand what it means, Bexley. What I’ll have to do. The ceremony at Gravestone Hall is only a formality… it’s the union after that seals the—”
“I can’t. I can’t hear you talk about… being with him.”
Pain snakes through me. “If you don’t want to be with me, I understand.”
“How can you even say that?” His eyes flicker to mine, full of desperation and regret. “I love you, Mia. I’m so fucking in love with you that I can’t see straight. But the thought of letting him—”
“It’s okay.” I press my hand to his cheek and shift closer. Bexley surprises me by scooping me up and dropping me on his lap so that I’m straddling him.
“Nothing about this is okay. I’m your guy. I’m supposed to protect you. I’m supposed to be able to keep you safe.” He brushes the hair off my face and gently wraps his hand around my throat again. “I would kill him for you.”
“Don’t say that. Don’t ever—”
“It’s true. If I thought it wouldn’t start some kind of war, I would end him for ever looking twice at you.”
“You think it’d start a war?”
“Yeah, something still doesn’t add up. If Q are pulling all the strings, why leave Cade to run things with the Electi? He’s a liability. They know that…”
“They need him to continue the Kingsley line.” I shudder at the very thought of ever bearing his child.
“But why does it matter? Q is powerful. We know their reach is far beyond Gravestone… Unless someone else is calling the shots.”
“James alluded to other players,” I say, and Bexley nods.
“What if they want Cade around?”
“And Q is trying to buy some time to figure out their next steps.”
He nods again. “I think we have to assume Q are not the ones holding all the power here, which means their control over Cade is shaky at best.”
“I keep thinking about that list of names… why would my dad have it? It doesn’t make any sense. Not unless…” The words die on my tongue, because there’s no way.
“Unless he was involved,” Bexley finishes for me.
A resigned sigh falls from my lips. “It doesn’t make sense, though. He works security for Phillip. He’s not an… an assassin for Quinctus.”
Is he?
I swallow over the words that have been plaguing my mind ever since I Googled those names. “I should talk to him—”
“No, Mia. You can’t even let them know we know. Not until we connect more of the dots.”
“But he’s my dad…”
“I know.” Bexley levels me with a sympathetic look. “I wish I could take you far, far away from here, little mouse.”
“You can.” My hands slide up his chest as I lean in to kiss him.
“Mia, I’m not sure—”
“Shh,” I soothe. “Give me this, Bexley. Make me forget.”
A low growl rumbles in his chest, vibrating through me as I circle my hips above him, creating the most delicious friction. His hands slide down to my butt and to grind me on top of him.
“You’re playing with fire, mouse.”
“Maybe I like the burn.” I ease back to smirk at him.
There’s something thrilling about being out here with him, surrounded by nothing but the trees and nature. We could get caught at any second, but after everything that’s happened, after the way Cade defiled me last night, I can’t find it in myself to care.
This moment feels like a fuck you to Cade and Quinctus. I’ll probably regret it later, when the lust-filled spell I’m under breaks, but right now, I want Bexley to fuck me like he might never get another chance.
“I need you,” I purr against his mouth, kissing and sucking his bottom lip between my teeth. Bexley groans, his hand flexing over the curve of my hip.
“You want me, take me,” he challenges, injecting liquid lust into my veins. Steadying myself against him, I make quick work of freeing his cock from his jeans and sliding him through my wetness.
“Fuck, mouse,” he hisses as I hook my panties aside and slide down on him until he’s seated inside me. “Nothing will ever feel as good as this,” he rasps, burying his hand into the hair at the nape of my neck. Thrusting upward, Bexley sends little bolts of pleasure shooting through me.
“God…” I pant. “I thought I was in control?”
He chuckles, pulling me down to kiss me hard. Our tongues tangle, slow, lazy licks that have me rocking back and forth.
“Fuck, Mia. You were made for me.” He breathes the words against my lips.
But it isn’t enough. I need more.
I lift myself up and slam down over him, making us both cry out. It’s messy and frantic, but it feels so good that I never want to stop.
“Harder,” he groans, and I circle my hips faster, sinking down as far as I can go.
Bexley’s hand travels up my stomach, squeezing my breasts then grabbing my throat. That combined with the tenderness in his eyes as I ride him sends me hurtling over the edge.
“Oh God,” I cry, shattering around him. But Bexley isn’t done. He flips me over and drives into me, hard enough that it hurts. But the pain quickly gives way to pleasure as he claws at my hips, my thighs, slamming into me over and over.
“Fuck, Mia… fuuuuck.” He collapses on top of me and we lie there on the cold ground, underneath a blanket of trees.
“This… this is what matters,” I whisper. “As long as we have each other, nothing Cade says or does matters.” I let my fingers trail over Bexley’s brow. “I love you.”
I only hope it’s enough to survive whatever is coming.
I didn’t go back to the Electi house. Cade hadn’t summoned me, and I didn’t want to be around Bexley, not after what we’d just done.
So I headed back to the dorms.
But as I pull open the door to the building, Brook saunters out as if she owns the place.
“Oh look, it’s Cade’s pet,” she sneers, blocking my entrance.
“This is a surprise.” I lift my chin and meet her icy gaze with my own. “I didn’t realize you knew anyone who lives here.”
“Oh, you’d be surprised.” She smirks. “I have friends everywhere. You know it’s the Coglio soon. Are you really going to go through with it?”
“I don’t have any choice.”
“Mila, Mila, Mila… when will you learn? There is always a choice. You just have to figure out what it is. How is Bexy, by the way? We never did get to compare notes.”
The blood drains from my face.
“Now, he was a very nice surprise. Had me purring like a kitten. And that thing he does with his tongue…” She fans herself. “I wouldn’t mind a little repeat of that. I came so hard I almost blacked out.”
Bile rushes up my throat, but I swallow it down.
Brook leans in as if we’re two girlfriends sharing a joke. “I bet it must really cut you up inside, knowing I’ve had his long, thick dick inside me. And what a dick it is.”
My teeth grind together, my body vibrating with jealousy. It crashes over me like an unrelenting storm.
“Interesting,” she drawls. “I guess you and I aren’t that different. Despite his… indiscretions and weird infatuation with you, I still want Cade. And something tells me that despite watching me fuck Bexley’s brains out, you still want him.”
I flinch at her cruel words, and she chuckles. “Oh, Mila. So much to learn about this world.” Brook taps my cheek like I’m a child. “If you need any advice about your Coglio, tips on how to pleas
e a guy like Cade, then you know where to find me.”
She struts off like she hadn’t just pulled the rug from under my feet.
I have never met someone as cruel and vindictive as Brooklyn Moore.
Instead of heading for my dorm room, I make a beeline for Annabel’s room. She opens the door immediately. “Mia?” Surprise glitters in her eyes. “What are you—”
“Can I come in?” I blurt out.
“Of course.” She steps aside and I slip inside. “What happened?”
“I just ran into Brook outside, and God, she makes me so crazy.”
“Brook? Here?” She balks, and I nod.
“Weird, right? She was saying all this stuff… about Cade… about the Coglio, and I just… it’s so hard, Bel.” Tears spill down my cheeks.
“Hey, don’t cry. I’m here, Mia. Whatever you need.” She pulls me into her arms, hugging me tight.
“You’re a good friend, Annabel,” I whisper.
Although things might be different between us now I’m Cade’s prosapia, she’s always been there for me.
She eases back and smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “That’s what best friends are for.”
25
Bexley
Despite wishing time would slow the fuck down to give Mia and me a chance to find out what's really going on, the days just seem to disappear.
I sit in the back of one of the Electi's SUVs as it speeds across town toward the church where this whole fucking mess started.
But tonight isn't a ceremony or even a meeting. Apparently, it's a party. A party to celebrate Cade's upcoming Coglio. Literally the last thing in the world I want to be celebrating right now, but according to the king himself, attendance is mandatory.
My stomach is in knots as we pull up to the old gothic building which already holds a host of more than forgettable memories, but I keep the blank expression on my face. The others were tight-lipped about what we could expect from tonight, but I'm more than aware that secrets never lead to anything good where Quinctus are concerned, so I'm trying to keep an open mind while preparing for the worst.
