A collective gasp filled the room.
“You’ll regret this, Justice,” Fiona said.
I threw up my hands. “When the fuck did I fall into a badly scripted teen drama?”
Joti openly chuckled this time, and Fiona shot her a lethal glare before turning on her heel and striding from the room.
One of her friends was waiting for her in the doorway, her attention on me. Was that a slight smile on her face? No, maybe I’d imagined it, and then she’d been swept from the room by Fiona.
“She’s dangerous,” Joti said softly. “I just wish I understood why.”
Not my problem, unless she made it so. Right now, I had a one-on-one lesson to go to, and then the barracks awaited.
Brady waited.
Twelve
It was good to be back at base, feet up in the watchtower, cocoa in hand, watching the mist roll by. The control panel beeped occasionally, signaling checks being done by other shadow cadets in the sector. My job was to keep a manual eye on the terrain through the many windows that lined the enclosed balcony.
I looked over at Lloyd’s profile. His eyes were half-closed, his mouth parted. It was the most relaxed I’d seen him in ages. He was dressed in sweats, a long-sleeved tee, and gray slippers hugged his feet, one of which was braced on the balcony as he watched the mist through the windows. The telescope sat between us, but neither of us had used it yet. Watchtower duty was chill duty.
The radio was silent, buzzing periodically with a burst of static.
Yeah, this was quiet time, but even though Lloyd was super cool to hang with, as were all the other guys, right now, I wished that Brady could be up here with me.
“How long is he going to avoid me?” I looked to Lloyd for a reaction.
He puffed out his cheeks. “This is new ground for him. For all of us. Brady is … he’s always been an enigma. But this is more about you. About what you want. Brady knows what he wants.”
My stomach trembled. “Yeah. I get that.”
“Just take each day as it comes. Right now, we need to focus on the raiders.”
“Do you think the knights are down there now? In the critter tunnels we found?”
He nodded. “Probably. Venerick said they were arranging a party to investigate the route.”
“There could be other entrances like that …”
“I know.”
“What are they going to do about it?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure we’ll get orders soon.”
We fell into companionable silence again for a while.
“You’re okay, you know that, Justice?” he said.
“Oh, man, are we going to get all sentimental and hug?”
He choked on a sip of his cocoa. “Like hell. A Faraday hugging a Justice? Hell might freeze over.”
“Minnie hugged me all the time.”
As soon as her name was out there, a shroud of loss fell over us, as if she were dead, as if we were grieving, which I suppose we were in a way.
“I fucking miss her,” Lloyd said.
“Yeah, me too.”
He sighed and leaned back in his seat. “I used to think you were a bad influence on her, but I get it now. I get why you’re here, and I think you were probably one of her favorite people.” He slid a glance my way. “And the fact Brady feels the way he does about you …well, that just confirms your worth.”
His words came from the heart, and they touched mine. I ducked my head. “Damn, Faraday, can you write that all down so I can frame it and look at it when I need an ego boost?”
He shook his head. “There you go, covering your emotions with humor.”
“There you go, trying to psychoanalyze me.”
“You’re not hard to read, Justice. You act all tough, but you wear your heart on your sleeve. I can read you like a large-print book.”
I turned in my seat and locked gazes with him. “Go on, tell me what I’m thinking right now.”
Lloyd grabbed the thermos and poured more cocoa into his mug and then gestured for mine. I held it out for a refill, and he topped it off.
“You wanted more cocoa.”
I gasped in mock surprise. “You can read my mind.”
We sipped our beverages in happy silence.
“Look at us,” he said. “Nightbloods addicted to Brady’s cocoa.”
I snorted. “It’s a real thing. There should be a support group. Cocoa Addicts Anonymous.”
I didn’t know what Brady did, but the stuff was delicious. Still, I did need to feed, though. The last time I’d fed had been two days ago, and we’d been running low on blood bags. Shit. I’d meant to report that.
“Lloyd, who stocks the blood for the barracks?”
“Shit!” He sat up straight, spilling precious cocoa onto the floor. “I was supposed to call it in.”
“You were?” Thank God it wasn’t on me.
“I noticed we were low last night,” he said. “Protocol is to call in, and they restock within twenty-four hours. I got distracted, though. Fuck.”
He pushed back his seat. “I best call in now. You okay to man solo for a bit?”
I gave him a jaunty salute. “I’ll resist the urge to throw myself off the balcony.”
“Do that. Broken bones take ages to reset.”
He left me to the night and half a cup of cocoa, which I drained immediately. My stomach clenched with hunger.
Blood.
Now that I’d thought about it, my body remembered that I needed it, and the craving began.
Urgh.
Twenty-four hours before they restocked. How would I last that long?
The door opened, and my body went into alert mode, my heartbeat picking up as Brady stepped onto the balcony. His huge frame ate up space as he lowered himself into the seat Lloyd had vacated.
My mouth was suddenly dry. “Hey.”
“Hey.” He glanced over at me. “Want company?”
“Always.”
Our gazes met, and the words I’ve missed you were on the tip of my tongue, but I bit them back.
He took a seat, then lifted the flask and shook it. “Looks like you’ll need a refill.”
I opened my mouth to reply, but my stomach chose that moment to grumble.
Brady froze for a second and then slowly put the flask down. “When did you last feed?”
“A couple of days ago. But I’m fine. Lloyd is ordering more blood.”
“Twenty-four more hours,” Brady said. “You won’t be any good to us if you’re weak from hunger.”
“I can handle it.”
He reached out to the door and flipped the latch to closed and then turned to me. “Come here.”
My stomach did a hard flip, and then my pulse was hammering in my throat. “What?”
He leaned forward in his seat, reached over his shoulder, grabbed the neck of his tee, and pulled it over his head. Oh, God, he was half-naked. Bare-chested and glorious, slumped in the seat, legs splayed so I could run my gaze over his abdomen, all muscles and velvet skin.
“I’m going to feed you, Indigo.” His baritone was even deeper than usual. A rumble that vibrated through me.
My gums began to throb in time to the pulse at the apex of my thighs. I wanted him. His blood and … more. If I fed off him, I wouldn’t be able to control myself.
“I can’t.”
He reached for me and lifted me easily off my seat and onto his lap so that I was straddling him. He swelled beneath me, his hardness pushing up against my crotch, making me instantly wet.
I tucked in my chin. “Brady, I … I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself.”
He brushed a thumb across my cheek and then used the crook of his finger to tilt my chin up so he could meet my eyes. I melted into the stars that shone in there.
“Leave the control to me. Just feed. Take what you need.” He tilted his head to the side to expose his neck. “Take it, Indigo.”
Oh, fuck. My fangs slid out from my gums. I laved his
neck, once, twice, feeling his cock jump against me. A rush of power coursed through me, and then I bit him. Hot, potent blood filled my mouth, hitting my senses like a pleasure shot, and then I was drinking him in, wrapping myself around him like a fucking limpet, and sucking on him.
His hands tightened on my hips as I moved against him, riding his cock through the layers of fabric, spiraling toward that place of light and explosions. But he didn’t move with me. He kept still. He didn’t make a single sound. The only indication of his excitement was the swelling of his hardness and the rapid pulse of blood spilling into my mouth. And then the world was shooting away, and I was in my head, on my back on a bed, naked with him deep inside me. Every thrust an epiphany as he claimed me, as we rode the wave that dashed us into oblivion.
I broke contact with his neck. Head threw back, gasping for air as an orgasm ripped through me. I clung to him, whimpering as it rushed through my body, decimating every atom and leaving me weak.
His chest rose and fell against my breasts. And slowly, almost painfully, he peeled his fingers from my hips.
I lowered my chin to look down into the face of control. Into eyes swirling with a cosmos of stars and down to a mouth parted and soft, ready for something he was willing never to take. But I wanted a taste. I needed it. I leaned in, my mouth aching to feel his.
A series of sharp warning beeps ripped through the air, and sharp static filled the balcony, jolting us apart, and then a voice followed. One I’d recognize anywhere, and right then, it acted like a bucket of ice water to clear my head.
“All available units to barracks six,” Hyde ordered. “Raiders east of barracks six.”
Brady and I exchanged shocked glances, and then I was off his lap like a shot.
Playtime was over.
Thirteen
We couldn’t leave barracks four unattended, and since I was the only nightblood fueled up, I got to go with Brady, Aidan, Devon, and Harmon. Lloyd, Carlo, and Thomas stayed to man the base, but Thomas wasn’t happy about it.
There was no arguing with Brady and Lloyd, though.
Barracks six was half a mile away. The twins and Harmon shifted to wolf form and shot off ahead. Five AM posts had gone down simultaneously, just before the call from Hyde. Five. How many raiders were in this party? How many cadets were already at barracks six? Hyde wouldn’t have called for backup unless they were short-manned.
Brady and I followed the moonkissed at a run, and more questions pooled in my mind. Was barracks six Hyde’s posting? Was he hurt? Were the raiders still there? What would we find? Brady’s blood rushed through my veins, giving me a boost in power. His body heat still coated my skin, and my cheeks felt flushed, but there was no time to dwell on what had happened between us or what had been about to happen.
The mist was thicker now; my lungs felt the detrimental impact. Brady slowed, and I joined him.
I placed a hand on his bicep. “You okay?”
He punched his chest. “Fucking mist.”
“Yeah, me too.”
We continued at a jog, and then snarls and growls filtered toward us through the mist. Barracks six appeared, a two-story structure with two towers – one on either side. Figures came into view—some armored, some not. They were all in motion, making it impossible to gauge numbers, but there were a lot. A proper skirmish.
I pulled my blade from its holster and attacked a clay-coated figure. It leaped out of range and then swung at me.
A club with spikes.
Old-school, huh?
I brought my blade up to connect with the club with a clang. The metal sliced into the wood and stuck. The fomorian bared its white teeth and then tugged, bringing me and the blade toward him. Shit, he was huge. At least half a head taller than Hyde and wider than Brady. He was a bear, and this close, I felt like a gnat.
I had to let go of my blade, but before I could, a dark shape shot out of the mist and slammed into the fomorian, knocking him off his feet. My blade jolted loose, and I staggered back.
Harmon, in wolf form, locked gazes with me before letting out a lethal snarl and attacking the off-balance fomorian.
Hands cupped my shoulders. “You all right?”
I turned to Hyde and nodded. “I’m okay.” A shadow loomed behind him. “Watch out.” I shoved him aside and brought my blade up in time to intercept a machete bite.
Once again, metal clanged, but this time, there was no sticking. The impact reverberated up my arms and settled in my teeth. I swerved and spun, bringing the blade around and burying it in the fomorian’s side. He grunted in pain but didn’t go down.
Shit. What was he made of?
For a moment, we were locked together, my blade in his torso, his glare on my face, and then I slid my blade out and kicked him in the chest, sending him onto his back. Hyde’s sword arched down onto his neck, finishing him off.
Hyde nodded at me. “Good work.”
And then we were being rushed by two monoliths. We fell back to back on instinct, just like in the catacombs. Ducking and swerving in synchronized unity as we fought off our attackers. But my lungs were growing tight, and my eyes were watering. The mist, the exertion. Shit.
“To the east,” a thick guttural voice cried out.
My arm tingled.
“They ran east with the cargo.”
The fomorians were talking. I could understand them.
I stabbed at my attacker, who leaped back, turned, and ran. I gave chase, rounding the barracks after him, and skidded to a halt to find him grappling with a smaller clay-covered figure. What the fuck? Why were two fomorians fighting each other? I caught a flash of violet eyes, and my pulse kicked up.
It was the fomorian who’d saved me from the fir bolg. He fell back as the larger fomorian swiped at him with a fist, and then he broke into a run. The huge fomorian followed. My paralysis broke, and I made to run after the pair, but an arm snagged me around the waist and hauled me back.
I lashed out.
“Whoa, Justice, it’s me,” Hyde said.
I tried to shake him off. “We need to track them.”
“The moonkissed are on it.”
Several wolves raced past me and after the fleeing fomorians.
“They’re probably feeling the effects of the mist,” Hyde said. “Hopefully, they’ll slow down, and we’ll catch them.”
“I saw the guy from before, the one who saved me.”
Hyde released me. “Are you sure?”
Was I? “I think so. He was fighting the fomorian that attacked us.” I looked up at Hyde. “The raiders, the one he called fir bolg.”
Hyde led me back around the barracks. “Or he was with them, and they got into an altercation.”
I didn’t know what to think.
Around us, the fight was dying out. The raiders were either dead or escaped.
Hyde looked down on me with a small, satisfied smile. “You did well.”
“I had a great teacher.”
We locked gazes, and a lance of heat bounced between us. My heart did the painful, squeezing thing it had the habit of doing around him as if a fist were crushing it. I exhaled sharply.
I cleared my throat to dispel the feeling. “What happened? I mean, I thought the knights were doing something about the underground passages. How did these raiders get past?”
“We’ve posted guards,” Hyde said. “But it seems like there may be more exits. The tunnels are a vast network, and they’re all interconnected.”
“And what if the raiders vanish into one of these exits?”
“Then we’ll have found another breach.”
“Great, so what now?”
“They’ve called in an expert. They’ll be shutting down the tunnels using explosives. But it’ll take a couple of days to identify the best spots to cause cave-ins.”
Another set of cave-ins. “Do you think we’ll ever get tired of slicing up shit and blowing up shit?”
He grinned. “Never.”
“Yeah, me either.”<
br />
He was looking at me with that hungry look in his eyes again, the one that made me want to tear off my clothes and beg him to lick me.
His radio crackled. “Archer? Archer, are you there? Over.”
It was Deana.
The hunger in his eyes cut off as if he’d flipped a switch. He turned away. “I’m here, Deana. I’m fine. Over.”
“Oh, thank God,” Deana said. “I was so worried. Uncle let me use the radio. Over.”
“I have to do a headcount. I’ll call you later. Over.”
“I love you, Archie. Over.”
There was a long beat of silence, then, “I love you too. Over and Out.”
Thanks for the reminder, Deana. I needed it. I walked away.
* * *
The fomorian bodies had been piled in one corner. Seven of them. Huge, hulking, clay-covered bodies.
Dead now.
The rest had gotten away. The moonkissed who’d given chase had doubled back a few minutes ago.
“They can fucking fight,” Devon muttered, rubbing his shoulder. The blade wound was healing slowly. “I think I’m gonna need herbs.”
Aidan examined the wound. “We’ll get you patched up in a bit. Got me two fuckers.” He held up his hand where there was a nasty gash that was slowly healing.
“The AM posts will need to be repaired,” Brady said as he approached us.
I held up a hand. “I’ll do it.”
Brady nodded. “Let’s get the headcount done, and then I’ll liaise with Hyde, see what he wants to—“
“Venerick? Has anyone seen Venerick?” Hyde called out.
I looked about. Wait … where was Harmon? “Guys, where’s Harmon?”
The last I’d seen him he’d knocked the raider with the club off me.
“Master Hyde!” Aidan called out. “We’re missing Harmon too.”
The fomorian’s words filled my head. “They ran east with the cargo.”
Hyde pulled out his radio. “Everyone into the barracks now.” His eyes were on the mist, on the terrain.
Shadow Weaver: The Nightwatch Academy book 2 Page 9
