by Katya Moore
A knock on the door sent me rocketing back about a foot on the bed, panting and straightening my clothes. The door opened a crack.
“Alex, can I talk to you for a moment?” Roc stuck his head through the door and surveyed the two of us with amusement. “If I’m not interrupting anything.”
“No! I mean, I’m coming.” My eyes widened. Luxe snorted and covered his mouth. “I mean I’ll be right there.”
“Right then.”
I bounced off the bed and bolted for the door.
“That bad, huh?” Luxe said, a touch mournfully.
I glanced over my shoulder. “I wish.”
I closed the door on his look of confusion and followed Roc down the hall.
Chapter Fourteen
If he’d seen anything or had any opinions about what he’d seen, Roc wasn’t telling.
“Sorry to interrupt, but Cory needs to talk to you. He’d never admit it in a million years, but he needs your help.” He led me down the hall at a casual stroll. “How are you settling in?” I thought I caught a hint of a smile at that.
“Well enough, thanks,” I said, cramming any embarrassment down the nope-hole as well as I could. “Luxe and Feral helped me pick up what I needed.”
He paused in his tracks. “Feral didn’t say where he was taking you.” His gray eyes stared deep into my soul.
I put on my best poker face. “A nice department store, the campus shop at UCLA for some neighborhood camouflage, a wig shop. I got what I needed to fly under the radar.”
“Where’d you get the books?” he asked.
Fuck. He’d only stuck his head in my room for a minute, max.
He smiled. “You’re a lousy liar, Alex.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I didn’t lie.”
“Omission.” His eyes twinkled. “You’re fitting in already. Don’t worry. Feral already told me where you went, and where I could shove it if I didn’t like it. I was just curious.”
“About what?” My teeth were going to wear away if I kept gritting them like this.
“Whether you’d cover their asses for them.” He ran a hand over his mouth, wiping away an amused grin. “Interesting.”
“You said Cory needed to see me?” I asked. I didn’t like where this conversation was headed. I didn’t like the feeling that I was an accessory to their crimes. Dealing with Cory’s whole-assed assholery seemed like an oasis.
He nodded and knocked on a door.
“Fuck off!” Cory shouted from within.
“I brought Alex,” Roc replied calmly.
“Fuck way off!”
I rolled my eyes. “Look, if he doesn’t want my help, I’m sure as hell not going to force myself on him.”
Roc raised his voice. “He needs your help, and he’s going to accept it. Civilly.”
The door opened. To my surprise, it was Kit. His face split in a broad beardy grin. “Hey! Good to see you. Come on in. We were just discussing your former employer’s choice of jewelry, and needed an eyewitness opinion. I’ve found a hundred photos online, but nothing closer than portrait range. She’s curiously private about the Tears.” He cocked his head. “Maybe not so curious, all things considered.”
I raised an eyebrow to Roc. He nodded, gave a slight bow, then turned to walk away.
“Wouldn’t Luxe be the better choice?” I said, confused. “He was her wardrobe manager. Didn’t he help dress her?”
Kit snorted. “Nah. She had her own people for that. He never got close enough to her to get a really good look at the amulet.” The grin returned. “You, however, had two sit-downs with her. You might have been concentrating on her, but I bet you got a better look at the amulet than we did.”
He held open the door for me. I walked in, then stopped. The walls were painted the same blood red as my mother’s back room, but the art couldn’t have been more different. Album covers for a number of metal and goth-industrial bands surrounded the window on the far wall. The clothing bar held fifty shades of black clothing. The shelf held coils of black rope and a black duffel bag with carabiners clipped to the many straps. The bed was draped in black sheets and a blood-red comforter. The only light sources in use were Kit’s laptop on the bed, and a shop light over the desk Cory was hunched over. I could smell hot metal in the air.
“We’re not having a branding party, are we?” I asked.
Cory snorted and half-turned, revealing his handiwork. A large soldering pad sat in front of him. On it sat…
“That’s incredible,” I said, taking a few steps closer. It was the Soul’s Tears pendant, sans tears but still a stunning replica. I saw a small container of red gems sitting off to the side, awaiting selection.
“Whatevs,” Cory said, but I could see a glimmer of pride in those dark eyes.
From my new vantage point, I could see the right-hand wall, and my breath caught in my throat.
“Holy shit, is that a Caravaggio?” For a hot second, I thought it was a print. Then I saw the glisten of oils, the shadow of brush strokes in the glow of the shop light. “You stole a Caravaggio?”
That glimmer became a gleam. The smirk was dangerously close to becoming a smile. “Nah. Not yet, at least. Someday, my work’s going to hang in the Palazzo Barberini, and I’m going to have the real Judith and Holofernes. But for now, it looks pretty sick on my wall.”
I goggled at him. “You painted that?” I moved closer to it. “It’s… breathtaking.”
Kit gave a soft snort. “Yeah, if you’re into decapitations.”
Cory and I both gave Kit a withering look. Kit turned his attention back to his laptop.
Cory scrutinized me for a long moment. He jerked his head toward the desk. “C’mere. Boss wanted you to look at this and tell me if I fucked up.” His voice held less of an edge. I wouldn’t call it friendly, but at least the open hostility was gone.
I leaned over his shoulder. He smelled faintly of ozone, whether from the soldering or something else I couldn’t say. My stomach did a couple small flips at our proximity. Nerves, I told myself, but the warmth that accompanied it said something more. Oh my god, you are completely ridiculous, he hates you, stop perving. I concentrated harder on the necklace.
“I only saw it twice up close, and I was really paying more attention to the conversation…”
The hands hold the key.
The key holds the blood.
The blood holds the power.
The power from out of time.
From out of space.
Calling me.
Calling my name.
Telling me to comply.
To obey.
To love.
She is love.
Glory is love.
“Hey Kit, could you get Roc now please.” Cory’s voice was a million miles away, but held a strange calm to it. An unnatural calm.
Kit looked up from his laptop. “Why? What…holy shit!”
“Please don’t disturb the glowing girl hovering over me, dipshit. Just go get the boss. Now.”
The glowing girl? I looked down at myself. Then I looked down at the floor. Way down.
I yelped, then slapped my hand against the necklace beneath my shirt. The Elder Sign burned against my flesh, and I plummeted into Cory’s lap. His arms wrapped around me reflexively, holding me close for a moment before releasing me and jolting back. I slipped off his lap and landed with a thud on the floor.
“Nice one, asshole,” Kit said, kneeling next to me. “You okay? You kind of did a… thing.”
“I told you to get the boss,” Cory snarled.
“Get him yourself. You just dropped her. I’m picking her back up.” Kit turned his full attention to me. “Do you need anything? Ice? Water? An exorcist?”
“Now who’s the asshole?” Cory stepped over us and headed for the door. “ROC!”
I sat up with some help from Kit. His hand rested on the small of my back, offering gentle support. My head spun. Without thinking about it, I rested it on Kit’s shoulder and closed m
y eyes.
“Stay with us,” he whispered, stroking the shaved part of my head.
I sat on the edge of Cory’s bed, alternately pressing an ice pack to the back of my neck and the spot seared by the Elder Sign.
“She was floating?” Roc chewed at his thumbnail and studied me like I was a particularly interesting specimen.
“Yes, she was. She’s also sitting right here,” I growled.
“Sorry.” Roc went to a knee in front of me. “What did you see?”
I closed my eyes. “It’s not so much seeing as hearing. Feeling. There’s a voice…” I chuffed. “Great, I’m hearing voices. That’s never a bad sign.”
“Neither’s floating a foot off the floor with glowing eyes,” Cory snarked.
I glared at him. So did Roc.
“What did the voice say?” Roc pressed.
I struggled to remember. “It was about the necklace. And love. And Glory.” I opened my eyes. “I remember now. What it looks like. Get me paper. Quickly.” I made urgent grabbing motions with my hands.
Cory produced a sketchpad and a pencil and thrust it at me. “Have at.”
I am not an artist. But somehow, I became one for a fleeting moment. I scribbled out a passable rendition of the Soul’s Tears, then began to fill in tiny details. A scratch along the wrist of the right hand. Two tiny chips on the crescent. The right tear was a fraction of a millimeter bigger than the left, and just the tiniest bit darker. The fourth link on the left was the tiniest bit open.
“There,” I said. I was breathing like I’d run a marathon. “That’s what I’ve got. What you can’t do is make it feel the way it does.”
Roc tilted his head slightly. “How does it feel?”
I thought back to the meeting. “It gets in your head. It makes you want to do things for her. It makes you want to prove your love.” I shuddered. “She touched it, and I would have died for her right then and there.” I met Roc’s eyes with a hard look. “You’re destroying it, right? You’re making sure it goes away forever?”
Roc reached out a hand and placed it over mine. “It will never hurt anyone again,” he said. I could hear the conviction in his voice, strong as steel, warm as summer. “I promise you that.”
I felt a tremor in my hands, but it wasn’t fear. His hand was strong, slightly callused, and very warm on mine. It was all I could do not to take those fingers between mine. Our gaze lingered, intensified. My breath caught in my throat.
“I should be able to work with this diagram. I’ll call you in for the final pass when it’s done.” Cory looked at me, then Roc, then cleared his throat. “If you’re done eye-fucking, get the hell out of my room. I’ve got work to do.”
Roc let my hand drop and rose to his feet. If he was embarrassed, he didn’t show it. “Go get some rest,” he told me, then turned and walked out without even acknowledging Cory.
I rose to my feet and stumbled to the door.
“You need help getting back to your room?” Kit offered.
“Nah, I can manage.” Pride reined in the stagger.
I stepped out, closed the door behind me, then leaned on it for support for a few steadying moments.
Then I heard the raised voices from down the hall.
Curiosity won out over wooziness. I crept down the hall, back toward my room. I recognized one voice immediately. Luxe. I wondered briefly if Roc was chewing Luxe out for making out with me. But it wasn’t Roc’s voice that answered.
“She’s been through enough without putting this kind of pressure on her! What are you thinking? Oh wait, you’re not, not with your upper head.” Feral’s voice came through the thin wooden door across from mine, rough and angry.
A defiant laugh from Luxe. “You’ve got a lot of balls, bro. She told me. So who’s putting what kind of pressure where, exactly?”
Silence. Curiosity got the better of me. I leaned my ear against the door.
“She’s special. You know it. I know it.” Feral paused. “So, how are we going to deal with this?”
The door opened suddenly, and I tumbled in.
Chapter Fifteen
Feral’s reflexes were solid. I was in his arms, warm, safe, and utterly humiliated.
“I was…umm…” Think, Alex.
“Eavesdropping?” Luxe said with a wry grin.
“Yeah. That.” I conceded defeat as I dangled from Feral’s grip.
Feral set me back on my feet with a shake of his head. “It’s only fair. We were talking about you behind your back. No higher ground to be had.”
“How much did you hear?” Luxe’s expression sobered.
“Enough.” The guilt was back. “Look, guys. I…” A self-conscious laugh slipped out. “Look, you’re both hot. Like, really hot. And you’re both…” I struggled for words. “There’s something about you both that I could really be into, apparently, because I can’t seem to keep my lips off of you.” Luxe flashed me a victorious grin. Feral’s eyes smoldered. I ignored the twinges between my legs and kept going. “But I don’t want to cause trouble.” I met Feral’s smolder with a pleading gaze. Please stop melting my panties. I’m trying to talk. “Luxe told me about you two. Growing up together. All the shit you’ve been through together…”
Feral shot Luxe a look. “What exactly did you tell her?”
Defiance returned to Luxe’s eyes. “The truth.” Feral cocked a brow. “The actual truth. I told her about your folks…”
I raised a hand. “Wait. I want to hear it from Feral.”
Feral smirked at Luxe. “She learns quick.” Luxe pouted a little too adorably. Feral turned to me. “My folks took Luxe in because his mom was a high-priced junkie and his dad was too busy stealing half of feline-kind’s money in a Ponzi scheme to give a shit about him. I kept him from getting beat up for running his mouth, he financed my martial arts classes. He got me my first real job at a luxury car dealership. That’s how I learned how to really drive. His dad vanished, his mom OD’d, and my dad had a stroke. Luxe started turning a profit with his bullshit and helped my folks out. I kept him from getting beat up for running his mouth.” He smiled. “About right?”
I nodded. “The condensed version.”
“He does that,” Luxe said. “I have a tendency to expound on things.”
“If by ‘expound’ you mean ‘run your mouth until the end of time…’” Feral replied.
“Back to the topic at hand, asshat.” Luxe raised his eyes in a long-suffering look. “Alex was just trying to sacrifice her lustful urges to our continued fraternal bliss.”
Feral furrowed his brow. “Say what now?”
I took a step backward toward the door. “I was trying to tell you both that you’re awesome, but I don’t want to be the one who comes between you. So, no more kissy-kissy.”
Luxe rose from the bed and crossed the room to face me. “I don’t know. I think that sounds like an amazing idea.”
His proximity sent a surge of heat through me. “What sounds like an amazing idea?”
He reached out and ran his fingers down my arm. “You coming between us.” His blue eyes burned.
I swallowed hard. My heart pounded in my chest. My whole body trembled at his touch.
This is a terrible, horrible idea.
Bad. Very bad.
Naughty.
Sinful.
And many other words as well.
I closed my eyes and let his lips close over mine.
For a moment, I felt like I’d stepped out of my body. Luxe cupped my face between his hands, deepening the kiss and drinking in my quickening breath like fine wine. I kissed him back urgently, aroused past the point of rational sense. I felt his brother behind me, sliding his hands around my hips and pulling my ass tight against him. His lips pressed against the nape of my neck, sending shivers down my spine.
I was caught. But I didn’t feel trapped. If anything, I felt free. Free from the bonds of sanity, morals, the fly of my jeans, the hem of my shirt. Feral’s hands roamed my body, sliding benea
th the fabric of my clothes as Luxe immersed me in the sensuous caress of his kiss. Luxe’s fingers slid through my hair, stroked my neck, and slid down my arms, catching my hands in his and guiding me toward the bed.
Luxe hadn’t lied about his bed, either. The broad expanse was covered in silk sheets, blue like his eyes. He sat down on the edge and gently pulled me down to join him. Feral reluctantly released me, gazing hungrily at me as Luxe slid his arms around my waist and pulled me close to resume our kiss. Luxe’s fingers were soft on my skin as he slid his hands up beneath my shirt, caressing my back, pulling me closer still. His fingers deftly worked at the clasp of my bra, releasing me. He raised his hands along my sides, carrying my shirt and bra up over my head.
I felt a hunger in the air, with two sets of eyes gazing at me intently. I felt more exposed than I ever had before. But at the same time, I’d never felt more alive. Two men- two handsome, charming, intensely sexual men- wanted me. Me. And damn it, I wanted them right back.
Feral eased himself onto the bed, stretching out next to us, watching with ardent interest. I felt Luxe smile against my lips. A shiver of anticipation ran through me. If Luxe felt like showing off, I had the distinct feeling that I was about to reap the benefits.
Luxe did not disappoint. He drew my lower lip between his, tenderly sucking at it before releasing it to kiss his way down my chin, down my throat, along my collarbone. I felt my toes curl in anticipation as his lips moved lower, along the tops of my breasts, before drawing my right nipple between his lips. I couldn’t hold back the small cry of pleasure as his tongue flicked at the nub.
There was something about the feel of Feral’s watchful gaze that made me want to throw my head back and revel in their attentions. So, I did. Luxe consumed me, his lips coursing between my throat and breasts, like I was a banquet and he wanted one of everything. His hands roved over my back, supporting me and caressing me at the same time. I felt wanton, shameless, mad with lust for these near-perfect strangers. I knew- I knew- this was all wrong and I should be thinking and overthinking and pushing them away and not even contemplating any of this, but goddamn it all if it didn’t feel so very, very right and so very, very good. I smothered my common sense under a pillow of desire and let out a long, lusty moan.
