CHAPTER 21

Silas

Terrified didn't coverthe feeling when my brother's face appeared out of fucking nothing—the demon of my nightmares, the boogeyman under my bed, the monster in my closet. And there the wanker stood, in front of the only woman I'd ever loved. Could ever want or need. The woman whom I'd lay down my life for if it meant saving her. If it meant freeing her from the prison she didn't deserve.

Because, fuck me, I loved her with this bleeding black heart of mine, and I'd never go back. I'd never let her go. I'd burn this entire place down to keep her safe.

Take on the world. Be the villain. Make them all pay so her light never faded.

I didn't deserve her. I didn't even try to pretend I did. But I'd do whatever it took to be the enforcer of her every wish; the swift vengeful spirit haunting her side, raining down hell on any person who thought they could harm or steal the sweet princess from my side.

The beautiful Fae might never feel the same, might only let me hold her in weak moments because she didn't have anyone else to lean her pretty little head on, but fuck if I wasn't ready to take every scrap she tossed my way. I'd be the shadow following her light around all bloody day if only to feel its warmth and goodness in those brief moments she smiled or touched me. Or just fucking breathed in my direction.

Nika's beautiful ethereal eyes caught mine before she looked back—looked into the eyes of the one person I never wanted to see again. Stood a hair's breadth away from the one person who I couldn't be sure wouldn't capture or kill her before I could send him back, kicking and screaming, to the dark abyss where his black soul belonged.

A fear so debilitating I was drowning in it drenched my insides with dread before, suddenly, Rilas was gone and the other three were covered from head to toe in soul-stealing ice, well and gone before I could blink.

Did she take their souls? Are they in her head, making use of my bird like she's a bleeding five-star hotel? Wankers better hope I don't find some way to remove them soon, or I'll—

"No. Rilas did."

The statement hit like a blow to the chest, making it hard to breathe for a second. Every bloody scenario of what it meant for Rilas to have that kind of power, to possess their souls, to own their powers, to match her terrifying abilities passed through my head one after the other.

He'd come back as a Soul Collector. No, my brother was worse than that. Worse than any person who'd ever deigned a reason to call themselves a Soul Collector.

Rilas was Death.

I could feel it in my bones. The connection we once shared, the connection of brothers who shared the same face—and at one time, the same fate—told me the second I saw Rilas that he had become the darkness. He was the bleeding After. He'd brought it with him. Brought every fucking soul he'd stolen. Their sadness and anguish filled the air, weighing it down and making it impossible to catch your breath. And the minute he was gone, the world was brighter.

She was brighter.

But next to him, next to that wanker's darkness, my beautiful rebel's light was dim, her glowing body drenched in shade. I couldn't explain it, but the second Rilas stood there in front of my Nika, he tainted her beautiful colors. Darkened and blackened them.

I'd fucking die before I ever let him steal her light.

It took every ounce of training I'd undergone in several shitty lifetimes of existence as a stone-cold killer to keep the emotion from my face after I removed my mask. I didn't want to scare my goddess—my reason for fucking living and fighting. If I reacted, she'd take the lion's share of the blame. She'd want to do something about it. She'd be convinced only she could.

And she'd be right.

But I wanted to do everything in my power to hide her. Take her to a corner of the world and disappear with her. I had the means. I'd saved enough money. I knew who to go to for the artifacts, and I was prepared to find a tiny space where no one would find us. It wouldn't be easy, but it wasn't impossible either.

Then the sweet goddess who'd been silent, watching, anticipating the fucking circus in my head, reached out and embraced me. In an instant I became the blubbering troll in a heavenly thing's arms. "I'm sorry you had to see him like that; that you had to be the one to...kill him."

Is she really worrying about me right now after nearly being stolen away by my evil fucking twin?

I didn't have time to react because Nika cradled my face in her soft, incredibly small hands, bringing my startled gaze to her mouth as she spoke again, softer than before, like she worried I'd break down over that shit brother of mine who tried to take her away from me.

And for a second, I wondered if I would. But not for the reason she worried. I might say something bloody stupid. Ramble like a troll and try to express how I felt about her. I was in real danger of bearing my bleeding black soul to her again just to keep her hands on my face and body close.

"My father helped me break free. I can feel him here...in my head. I can feel his warmth, love, and support. Is it wrong that I don't want to let him go? That I want to keep him forever? But I know I can't. I want him to find happiness in his next life."

She closed her eyes, a tear escaping down her face. I wanted to brush it away, nearly did, but then she opened her eyes and huffed a soft, mournful breath, smiling so beautifully it was like fingers around my heart, squeezing.

"And I'll find a way, Silas. I owe them that much. The others...I can feel all of them. I was able to collect a few souls Rilas stole. They deserve to find peace. I'm the only one who can help them. I can't explain it, but I know there's something I can do."

I wanted to argue that it wasn't her burden to carry, but I knew better than to argue with the strong-willed rebel Fae. She wanted to help her father and the others. Even Bear Claw who didn't deserve a drop of her fucking kindness. So, I'd make sure we found a way. Whatever it took, I'd turn over every stone, break through every wall, cross oceans, part them if I bloody had to so she got everything she wanted.

I'd give her the world if she asked.

"But it wasn't my father who saved us," she added, dragging me sharply out of my head. I couldn't suck in a breath long enough because her confident eyes beamed, and it was absolutely breathtaking. "We're at the advantage here, Silas. You were right. This is fate. It has to be. Rilas might think I'm his Fated One"—Wait, what the bloody fuck?!—"but you and I are bound by our souls. He told me so. I..."

She trailed off, her eyes falling to my mouth, and the blood that had been pumping in my head made a sudden detour for my cock. Fuck me.

What business did this creature have looking so bloody beautiful when the world was falling down all around her? Why couldn't my cock act like a fucking gentleman for once by not thickening at the thought of those lips on mine with the world burning all around us. It was bloody maddening, it was.

Wait a bleeding second, did she just say we're bound by our souls?

"Bound, you say?" I finally managed through another throb of my cock.

Three Fae bastards dead behind me, her father's soul somewhere watching, and all I could do was try to keep it in my pants.

I'm a fucking troll, and I don't deserve this heavenly creature.

Looking around, Nika let her hands fall, and it took all the remaining blood in my head not to go chasing after her. "We should go. Something tells me Rilas can't track us, so the sooner we leave, the better. He might be powerful, but that asshole had to lure us here. Now that he knows I have my father's soul, he'll need to be smarter."

My shameless knob throbbed again, and I hated myself as deeply and as powerfully as I was captivated by the woman in front of me. "I have somewhere we can go to get answers, but it'll mean asking that friend of yours for help."

Her eyebrow rose.

I couldn't hold back. I dipped down, hands around her neck, desperate to say I loved her but too bleeding scared to utter the words. A fucking coward. So, I kissed her. Dove into the calming warmth of her mouth and swallowed every heady moan and relieved breath. Tongue fucked the beautiful minx into oblivion. She responded by wrapping her arms around me and kissing back without hesitation, without one second of delay. I groaned so loud it was nothing short of the beasts living in her head. I kissed the rebel Fae like I loved her, and that would have to be enough for the moment.

Pressing my forehead against hers and inhaling her delicious scent, just so damn glad I still had her in my arms, I soaked in the moment as neither one of us spoke.

She'd let me keep her. For whatever bloody act of the universe, I was permitted to be this beautiful creature's shadow. The emotions, the words I refused to say because I was afraid of losing her, sat like acid in my throat.

Fuck, I'd never been so scared in all my life.

Losing Rilas didn't compare to the thought of losing her. I'd lost him well before I realized, and maybe that was what made it easier to let go. But Nika was here in my arms, her hot breath mixing with mine, her lips moving, chasing, seeking mine the same way mine did hers. I didn't fucking deserve her, but I'd never let her go. I'd never let anyone else have her. She was mine, not his.

I'd kill him.

I'd kill everyone.

Damn me straight to Lilith's sultry circle of Hell because this gorgeous creature was the only thing I'd ever wanted; the only thing I worried about staining with all this black—all this shadow—but I couldn't let go. She was mine and I was hers. Two marked souls. Two broken pieces. Shadow and light, colors and nothing but black. We didn't make sense, but it didn't matter.

She was mine.

Sighing and not ready to let this moment go but worried the evil tosser would come back, I stole Nika's hand and walked over to the motorcycle I hid nearby.

Without the Brotherhood after us, we could move around a little easier, but I wouldn't take any chances. She still had an entire society of Dark Fae out to claim her head. Now my fucking resurrected brother with the power of the souls he collected.

Death was chasing her, but hell if I'd ever let him catch her.

Just try it, Rilas. See what a man with nothing to lose and a goddess to protect does about it.

As I climbed onto the bike and fitted her arms around my waist then revved the machine to life, I thought back on the one thing the goddess holding onto me mentioned that I didn't get clarification on.

Fated One? Where had I heard that term before? I knew it. The cogs in my head were doing a little turn trying to remember why it felt so familiar—so important. But I couldn't wait to find out what happened when I blinked and everything was done and dealt with. When Rilas stole those three bastards' souls.

He'd be stronger with them. Who knows what souls he collected before the Death Team. The more time he had to collect, the greater the danger. Fuck, she'd never be safe. I'd have to send him back to the Dark Underworld before he was too powerful to conquer, and that meant stealing the tomes her own society kept locked away.

Guess we'd be paying Lev and Yuma a visit sooner rather than later, and I'd get to take care of some of the names I needed to write in silver. Because I hadn't forgotten. I never would. The wankers who tortured her would get what was coming to them, and I'd make sure that Lev named every single one if Nika refused to.

The little bird flutteredanxiously, a visible mess the second she knew her friend was on his way. Oh aye, the lass put on a good show. Anyone else wouldn't see the fear igniting her eyes or the dance of anxiety living in the muscles exposed all over her body, but I was painfully familiar with the agitated dance she did when stressed and scared.

Though my knob was another matter. The vixen with her stomach exposed and sultry body bouncing and in a constant state of motion did terrible things to me, the insatiable troll. No matter how many times I had her, the craving never went away.

But Nika was in a quick spiral—the crux of her world coming to a head right here in this open field. While it normally was a source of pride to know she only ever felt safe to show these parts of herself around me, it bothered me to stand there watching her walk back and forth, flipping the dagger I gave her in her hand just to check the distance and listen for any sound of her friend's approach.

The earlier relief that had washed over the ice princess when Lev answered our call on the communication stone was rapidly replaced by worry when the reality of what he'd face coming here dawned. It was clear the rebel Fae didn't want to put him in danger, but we weren't exactly swimming in options either. I needed those tomes. We both did. Without some idea what we faced with her power—with his power—we'd be at a disadvantage.

Since I couldn't bend the ear of those useless head-squatting plonkers like she could, even should I trust them—which I bloody well didn't—the information might not be enough. We needed more. We needed society-level secret intel.

Yuma was too quick to pull the trigger on a swaddled babe. From what I gathered from the memory Bane fused with the necklace, her grandmother had the same power. Which meant that sea witch knew a whole bloody world of shit we didn't, and I'd find out what secrets she kept. Or if that trollop was behind this entire thing.

It seemed a little too on the nose she'd hire the same group that had a personal reason to want Nika. Being the bloke who'd assassinated everyone around the head of the Dark Society over the years, some of the strongest Dark Fae to ever walk those halls, meant I knew when something was off.

It'd be risky to take Yuma on before knowing exactly what she put into motion the day she sent the Brotherhood after Nika—or what was set into motion when Bane went and killed everyone but her—but that crafty hag was the least of our problems. She was nothing compared to what lurked out there in the shadows.

Death was here, and I'd send that wanker back to his well-deserved endless afterlife of torment before I bothered to worry about some old minger who didn't know how to do anything but get others to fight for her.

Nika paced with a dagger clasped in her hand, the forest around us dead quiet except for the occasional chirp of bugs and rustle of leaves and branches. It wasn't ideal to meet in the open like this, but I couldn't be confident the lad hadn't been followed until I made bloody sure of it myself.

And Lev quickly agreed.

The sweet lad came through the communication stone, his face somehow aged in the weeks we'd been on the run. But when he saw Nika, it was as if the exhaustion and anguish were never there. His moss-green eyes beamed relief and happiness, staying with her the entire time we talked in code and decided on a meeting place.

I didn't like the feeling I got in my gut. It was bloody ridiculous to be jealous of some kid who'd been the only reason I crossed paths with the purple-haired Fae in the first place. Still, the mere thought of their strong, unfaltering bond was weight in my stomach. Made a bloke queasy just thinking about it, and if I was honest, a little uneasy. Three yappy nutters in her head was one thing, but Lev had been her faithful shadow for decades.

How does a bloke compete with that?

It wasn't something I was used to—jealousy. Being envious of some lad who'd protected her all these years was a twatwaffle move. He didn't deserve it. If anything, I should be bloody thankful he was there when no one else was.

I'd seen the scars and years of pain suffered under torture, and I didn't question for a second Lev was the one who comforted Nika after she'd been whipped, cut, and tormented an inch from sanity. For fuck's sake, the lad was the entire reason she escaped with her life at all.

But instead of being a grateful bastard, liquid heat coursed through my veins, deteriorating everything it touched. Envy took hold of my throat, making it impossible to swallow, and vicious, no-good thoughts whirled around in my head, worried I'd lose her before I could ever win her heart. Worried that Lev could give her what this black-stained soul of mine couldn't.

Fuck me.

Reaching out, I dragged the flittering bird into my arms. Her glaring eyes flicked up the length of my torso—so much smaller and such a perfect fit in my arms—and that look alone got the blood pumping straight to my cock. The gorgeous creature pushed on my chest, growling in a way that sent shivers and jolts down my spine. Worse, in a way a hopeless sod who was captivated by her every look couldn't handle.

Because if there was one thing I knew after being on the receiving end of that brutal strength of hers a time or two, it was that this lethal Fae didn't want to get away. On the contrary, she came closer, and it was all I could do not to act like the proper muppet I was.

Ugh, straight to the knob all that blood goes. She's anxious and worried for her friend, and you're here with another stiffy, you bloody sex-addicted troll.

Now I was in danger of the massively perceptive Fae discovering just how much of a perverted wanker I was, but I was a shameless sod who knew how to roll with the punches, so I'd play it off like I couldn't help it.

Because I couldn't.

Lilith help me...

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, you insatiable pervert?" she spat viciously, but the venom wasn't there. It hadn't been there since she cried in my arms. If anything, it carried a note of something wanting, yearning, desperate to be distracted, and it got my dick fucking throbbing.

My overactive pulse raged to life, ready for more, never satisfied, her willing troll.

Don't you fucking say it. She's anxious. Be a gentleman and comfort her.

"Oh aye, lass. Keep growling at me like that and I'll be forced to tie you up somewhere and have my wicked way with you. Make that friend of yours wait while I worship that vicious sass and lethal body."

Or you can be a gormless wanker. Bloody hell, I'm hopeless and going to get my ass handed to me by a killer beauty. And I'll deserve every bloody second of it.

But those luscious dark lips—ones I'd sampled enough to know what I was missing; ones I'd dreamed about having wrapped around my cock enough times to hate myself—lifted and hinted at a smile. And fuck, Lev better get here soon or he'd wonder if we were under attack by the sounds she'd be making off somewhere out of sight.

It was practically torture to have her in my arms, glaring that feisty heat, and not be in any position to do anything about it. If not for the genuine fear her friend might catch us, no matter how much the idea appealed to me, I didn't want to give Nika any more reason to distance herself from me. Not after everything we'd been through.

As if summoning the lad with the very thought, Nika pivoted sharply, and my eyes shot up, landing on a familiar figure coming away from the dense wall of forest. And just like that, she was gone, off to throw herself at another man.

Bloody fucking shit.