Kings of Anarchy

by Caroline Peckham

  I pushed the covers back, crawling into Saint's lap and pushing my fingers into his tight curls. "Why do you make it so hard for me to hate you these days?" I asked.

  I swear I was breaking apart inside from that story. It was too real. To raw. And the honesty in his eyes made me think he really had changed when it came to me, that he was trying to let me see him as more than a devil with no heart.

  "Maybe I don’t want you to hate me. So…will you?" he asked, his voice raspy. "Stay?"

  I kissed him, having no answer but that one right now and I gasped as he kissed me back, leaning in rather than pulling away for once. His tongue pushed into my mouth and I moaned as he wrapped his hand in my hair, tugging tight to take control of the kiss. He explored my tongue with hungry movements and I tasted all the sins he'd ever committed and all those he was yet to. But more than that, I tasted that dark and stormy pain inside him which he concealed so well. I felt his hurt as I slid between the walls he confined himself within. I fell into him so deeply that I could sense all of his demons and I faced them down with all the strength I had, wanting to fight them for him and promise him he didn’t have to face them alone anymore.

  His strong arms wrapped around my waist and I started to pant as I felt his hard length driving into my leg as I tried to get nearer to him. I could be consumed by the darkness in Saint, it was so potent it seemed to breathe down the back of my neck and push me closer to him. And I wanted it. I revelled in the way he drew me in and every atom in the room seemed to spark with the need to drive us close too, like the earth suddenly revolved around us instead of the sun.

  Saint yanked my hair hard enough to break the kiss, his breaths coming heavily as he stared at me, tasting his lips. The rules no longer kept us apart. He could take this further if he wanted. And I could too. I wanted to so badly that a strained whimper escaped me. He leaned forward, not running away at last and my heart drummed out an exhilarated tune as I wondered if this was the moment he would let his guard fall for me at last.

  His phone rang sharply on the nightstand and I jolted at the piercing sound. Saint released my hair with a growl, picking it up, his eyes returning to me as he pressed answer and held it to his ear.

  "Father," he said curtly and I was suddenly totally alert. Saint's thumb shifted on the screen and his father's powerful voice suddenly filled the room.

  "-calling because my people have finished working through Donovan Rivers’ work and there seems to be some files missing."

  "Missing?" Saint questioned coolly and I frowned. Had someone tampered with Dad's stuff?

  "Yes, there should be documents which detailed a continued analysis of a test subject who had taken a trialled vaccination. Obviously, you can understand the importance of such documentation, son."

  My throat thickened as I realised that must have been the vaccination me, Dad and Jess got. There had been paperwork mentioning it amongst the documents he’d given me and it sounded like there’d been more detailed information in his work files.

  "I do," Saint said simply. "But I'm unsure why you're calling me about it."

  There was a pause where I suspected Troy was calculating his next words and my gut tightened. "Well, if I were to guess, these files have been removed manually."

  "Perhaps Donovan deleted them,” Saint suggested, taking my hand and threading his fingers between mine.

  "Why save the rest of these valuable documents only to remove such vital information as that?" Troy questioned. "It almost seems as though he was protecting somebody..."

  My heart clenched in my chest.

  "Maybe, or maybe the documents were deleted a long time ago because the data was irrelevant. If there was a working vaccination, then surely it would say so in the rest of his files?" Saint asked.

  "Yes...perhaps you're right," Troy said, but it didn't sound like he was convinced.

  "Have you made any progress towards exposing this conspiracy, father? It is concerning that a CIA agent could-"

  "Mortez was not CIA That much I have confirmed."

  "Why didn’t you inform me?" Saint bit out.

  "You are a teenager, not an employee," Troy said simply. "I will only inform you of anything that concerns you."

  Saint's jaw pulsed angrily but instead of snapping at him like I expected, he just answered in a deadened tone. "Yes, father."

  "If you remember anything about those missing files, be sure to call me, son."

  "I will," Saint said hollowly.

  "And perhaps you could have a word with his daughter to see if she knows anything about them."

  "Of course," Saint agreed then the line went dead.

  Tense silence spread between us for a moment, then I asked him the question that was tearing through my mind.

  "Did you delete those files?"

  He nodded, his fingers firming on mine. "I would not share the truth of your immunity from the Hades Virus, Tatum. Even if keeping this secret meant every star in the heavens would fall from the sky and everyone on earth would die in a fiery blaze."

  I inhaled deeply in surprise then leaned forward and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tight. "Thank you."

  "I'm your Night Keeper, Tatum," he purred. "And I will keep you safe from anything and everything I can.”

  I smiled at him and he leaned in again as if to kiss me, my breath catching in my throat. But then the door slammed downstairs and the sound of Kyan, Blake and Monroe talking in concerned voices reached up to us.

  “Where’s Tate?” Blake asked anxiously and I drew away from Saint, chewing my lip as I gazed at him.

  There was a vow in his eyes which told me he was going to show me how deeply he could possess me soon enough. But not now. And that was infuriating, because I was desperate to show him how deeply I could possess him too.

  I sat at the table opposite Tatum's in the library, not so subtly watching her back while she worked with Mila on their Chemistry assignment. Supposedly I was working through some emails on my fancy new laptop that the school had gifted me alongside my promotion, but as every other one was some complaint from a parent, I was finding it hard to give it my full attention. Why couldn't rich people ever just get to the point? The email I was currently reading had six full paragraphs praising me on the way that I was handling the lockdown situation before reaching the single paragraph outlining the point of this bullshit. Pearl Devickers was in line for a solid C in English and that GPA wasn't what mommy dearest wanted to report back to her country club friends. There was a less than subtle suggestion that her grades be given a second look in case they might have been awarded a little too harshly by mistake and a very generous donation had been made to the school in appreciation of the difficulties we were facing due to the Hades Virus. Nice.

  I typed out a quick reply, fighting the urge to just hit the entitled bitch with a squid emoji which I felt would have made my point better. Instead I thanked her for her generous contribution and assured her that I could get Pearl into the remedial program to give her a shot at boosting her grades. It meant five additional hours of school work a week for the brat but if she wanted to pull her grades up, then that was the only cure I knew. No doubt mommy would be horrified to realise I hadn't read between the less than subtle lines about the bribe she'd just been offering but if she expected me to take a bribe, she was going to have to offer one more plainly than that to get her way.

  The library was emptying out and my gaze slid over to Tatum as she sketched something in her notepad before biting down on the end of her pencil while she concentrated. The sight of her doing that had me coming up with all kinds of things I wanted to do with her the moment I got her back to my place tonight.

  There was something about us only getting one night in every four days together that made the anticipation unbearable and yet the night itself so fucking satisfying that it was hard to think of anything else, particularly on the days when I knew she was mine.

  I sorted through several more emails, internally muttering about
the stuck up douchebags who sent their kids to this school the entire time and when I looked up again, I found that we were the last ones left in the room.

  The sun had been shining today, spring most definitely in the air and I'd heard several kids talking about a party down at the Oak Common House. I probably should have reminded them all about social distancing, but really, with all of us locked away from the world in here, it seemed pointless. And I had zero desire to spend my evening following a bunch of horny teenagers around and trying to stop them from hooking up.

  No. I had much more appealing plans for tonight.

  Tatum looked up at me as she felt my gaze on her and the smile that touched her lips was its own kind of promise which had my dick twitching with ideas.

  She faked a long yawn and turned to Mila, suggesting they call it a night and hit the party. Unsurprisingly Mila instantly ditched the books and started up a monologue about some designer dress her mom had sent her which had been waiting for a night like this.

  Tatum swore to meet her there and Mila hustled out of the library like a woman on a mission, leaving the two of us alone.

  The silence in the room felt heavy with promise and I slowly closed my laptop, leaning back in my chair as I looked at the creature who had been sent here to corrupt me. She was a temptress, a siren, an itch that I could never get enough of scratching and the perfect kind of noose to hang myself with.

  What we were doing was insane, but I'd long since gone beyond the point of trying to convince myself to stop. The ache I felt for her was never satisfied by a taste and the demand in my body only grew more potent with each moment we got to share.

  Tatum gave me a heated look and slowly slid her tie undone before loosening several of her shirt buttons and offering me a glimpse of the black bra she had on beneath it.

  I got up slowly, my gaze fixed on hers as I crossed the room, peering down at her with every dirty thought I was having burning in my eyes for her to see. But it was more than that, too. I wanted her physically like an addict needed their next hit, but I needed to protect her with the ferociousness of a demon because she was the first person who had even come close to knowing the true me since before my family had been taken from me. She was the one person I'd let in fully, knowing that the things I’d told her about me could be weapons in the wrong hands while trusting her never to use them against me.

  She wasn't just some girl I wanted to fuck. She was fast becoming everything to me. Even my thirst for vengeance didn't seem so desperate when I was in her arms. It was still a sharp and hungry desire, but it wasn't everything anymore. Maybe she was though. Maybe this girl was everything I'd never wanted to admit I needed and everything I should have been fighting to resist. Because I'd sworn I'd never love anyone ever again after feeling the keen burn of losing that love and having my soul shredded by it. I'd made an oath to myself never to care about someone that deeply again because I knew I wouldn't survive losing it a second time.

  But even if I wanted to try and turn back, I knew it was too late now. There was no way that I could do it. I was already in too deep and I knew I'd rather drown in her than surface alone again.

  "Fancy seeing you here," she teased, watching me approach with a gleam in her eye that said she was just as excited as I was about our night together.

  "I heard there was a student in here causing issues for the staff," I said slowly, reaching out to push her books aside so that I could lean over the desk and get closer to her.

  I shoved her things a little too hard and managed to knock one of her books onto the floor, causing her to pout at me.

  "I should complain to the administration about that," she teased. "I'll tell them you're harassing me and throwing my shit all over the floor."

  "We both know that you're the one harassing me, princess," I murmured, placing my hands flat on the desk and leaning over her so that I dominated her space.

  Tatum raised her chin, those full lips beckoning me in for a taste and making my heart pound as I considered taking one. But we'd sworn not to make careless moves like that around campus again. Especially when we knew for a fact that the fucking stalker was still watching her at every opportunity.

  We really shouldn't have been having sleepovers at my place either, but I wasn't giving that up for anything.

  "Aren't you going to pick that up?" she breathed as I got so close to her that not kissing her felt like the most impossible task in the world.

  "Sure thing, princess." I smirked at her and drew back, loving the heat in her gaze as she watched me pull the chair opposite hers aside and drop to my knees so that I could reach beneath the desk to find the fallen book.

  I spotted it right away, but my gaze snagged on her bare legs beneath the table and a growl of longing caught in my throat.

  I moved under the table and reached out to run my fingers over her ankle, earning myself a surprised gasp as I circled the flesh there and slowly began to run my hand higher.

  "Nash," she breathed, part warning, part moan of longing.

  My fingers made it to the top of her knee length socks and I slid my hand up her inner thigh, dipping it beneath her pleated skirt as my dick swelled and strained within my pants.

  I shifted forward so that I could reach higher, my heart pounding at this dangerous game. But no one could see what I was doing down here and if anyone appeared, I only had to grab the book and get up.

  As that thought crossed my mind, I looked around for the book so that I'd know where it was if I needed it. But instead of spotting it, my gaze caught on something taped to the underside of the table.

  I stilled the movement of my hand between Tatum's legs just as I felt the brush of her panties against my fingertips and a breathy moan of longing escaped her.

  I jerked my hand back sharply as I stared at the little listening device.

  "Why are you stopping?" she protested with a lusty purr to her voice and I quickly crawled back out from beneath the table before placing a finger to her lips to silence her.

  Tatum frowned in confusion but she held her tongue and I slid my cell phone from my pocket before turning on the camera and dipping it beneath the table to take a picture.

  When I pulled it back out and showed her the photo of the little microphone, her lips popped open in surprise.

  "Come on, Princess," I said loudly, picking up her crap and quickly shoving it into her bag. "The Night Keepers are waiting for us."

  "Yeah...okay," she agreed, catching on to the idea that we needed to remain subtle around that thing.

  I finished putting her stuff away and swung her bag over my shoulder before grabbing my laptop and leading the way outside.

  Tatum fell into step beside me and we wordlessly began to head for The Temple.

  We kept our silence all the way down the path and I thanked everything in this fucking universe that I hadn't just done what I'd been considering doing to her beneath that table. A recording of that could have had me sent to prison and the stark reminder of that reality had me twitching with nerves.

  Tatum unlocked the door as we arrived back at the repurposed church and the two of us moved inside. We found the others all sitting around the TV while Blake and Kyan destroyed zombies and Saint read something on his iPad.

  "We have a problem," I announced as we moved over to join them.

  "Oh yeah?" Blake asked, pausing the game to give us his full attention.

  Saint had perked up like a Labrador who'd just spotted a tennis ball and I had to wonder if he thrived on bullshit or if he just needed a challenge to take his mind off of his own psychosis.

  "We were in the library and I found this taped beneath the desk where Tatum always sits." I offered up my phone as evidence and Saint promptly snatched it from me before the others had a chance to do more than give it a cursory look.

  "This cannot go on any longer," Saint growled, narrowing his eyes so that I could practically see the cogs turning in that cunning little brain of his.

  "Well you're the
one who's supposed to be coming up with an amazing plan to stop this asshole," I growled. "And they clearly still have their sights set on Tatum. We need to deal with it fast."

  "I say we just go down to the dorms and start beating the shit out of people until we get a confession," Kyan said in a menacing tone. He reached for Tatum over the back of the couch and when she let him take her hand, he yanked her into his arms, dragging her over it and planting her in his lap.

  “Kyan,” she protested through a laugh as he placed her back to his front and wrapped his muscular arms around her.

  “I want you close right now, baby, don’t fight me on it,” he growled in a low voice and she gave in to his demands with a half hearted eye roll that said she secretly loved his macho bullshit.

  "Yeah. I think I'm with Kyan on this now," Blake said. "This is our girl they're fucking with."

  "No," Saint snapped, pushing himself upright. "We've tried intimidation and it clearly isn't working. If we start beating the shit out of innocent idiots we will lose the support of the masses and that's unacceptable too."

  "What then, asshole?" I demanded. "You always seem to be so full of all these bright ideas and amazing plans but none of it ever seems to come together. You claim to be able to take down your father, Royaume D’élite, this ninja/stalker motherfucker and no doubt countless other threats besides, and yet I don't see any evidence of you actually doing any of those things."

  "Watch your tone with me," Saint snarled, shoving to his feet and getting in my face.

  "Or what?" I sneered. I was already pissed over this whole situation and if he wanted to get in my face like a jumped up little asshole then I wasn't afraid to put him in his fucking box. We may have decided to work together now, but that didn't mean I was totally convinced that he didn't have the cruelty and vindictiveness of his father in him. It was just better the devil I knew.