10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Raevyn

W e were going soul hunting. For Hades, the King of the Underworld. Could this day get anymore surreal? Not only that, but I was also going to get revenge on my coven when I went topside. My magic liked that idea. It tumbled through me like butterflies, fluttering with excitement at the thought of finally having enough power to challenge my grandmother. That old witch was going down. And I was going to make sure she felt as helpless and pathetic as I had done.

"You okay there, Lilac?" Rook asked dragging my attention back into the room. I realised I'd stopped walking, and I was stood in the middle of the sitting room I know knew was the Revenants' home. I guess it was my home now too. And Hawk's. Although I didn't know how the others felt about me adopting the guy like a stray. But I couldn't help it. He was mine. Just like they were.

Not that I understood why. Or how.

I looked at Rook, his green eyes sparkling with amusement. "Can you feel it?"

"Feel what?"

I placed my hand on his chest, just above his heart. "This connection? Whatever it is that's tied us all together."

"Yes," he replied breathlessly.

Relief flooded through me at his simple acknowledgment. I hadn't realised how much I needed to hear it.

"I am not sure what spell your coven used, Raevyn, but it has affected us all." Korbin came to stand in front of me, his footing sure and pace steady. It amazed me that he was so comfortable and confident even though he couldn't see. He raised his hands in front of may face. "May I?"

I nodded then shook my head at my stupidity. The guy was blind.

You need to use your words, idiot.

"Yes," I replied, my tone a little shaky.

"Don't be nervous, I'm going to show you what I see," Korbin said softly. "Close your eyes and relax."

I did as he asked, and his fingers traced the arches and planes of my face.

"Pretty sure you're copping a feel there, love," Rook chuckled, and I felt my face heat under Korbin's fingers. His hands stopped and he went to pull them away, but I grabbed his wrists.

"Don't stop," I said. "Please." I was enjoying his soft touch, the way he was learning the shape of my face.

Korbin audibly swallowed but he started to move his hands again. His thumbs swept over my cheek bones before stopping on my temples, his fingers tangling in my hair at the back of my skull. "Hold tight. This might feel like a shock."

He was right. The world exploded into a myriad of colours behind my eyes. Each one of them impossibly bright, all moving and swirling together. Then they shifted into something similar to what I had seen before I closed my eyes. I could sense Korbin in front of me, his aura I guess, and Rook behind him. There was a link between them, a bright thread spun with gold binding the two of them together. Was that their love?

Then I looked down and I gasped. Spreading from my chest were five lines, each of them a different colour and connected to the five men. I instinctively knew which thread belonged to which man. Silver for Korbin, a bright emerald for Rook. Casimir's was red, Nox's midnight blue and Hawk's a vivid amber.

"You are tied to all of us, Raevyn. We are yours, just as much as you are ours," Korbin said as he let go of my face.

I blinked my eyes open, the room coming back into focus although it seemed much brighter than before. "That's how you see the world? All the time?"

Korbin smiled, but there was a sadness to it. "No, not always. There are moments when I see things in blinding clarity, others like the one I showed you where it's all colours and auras but mostly, there's just nothing."

I cupped his face, moving slowly so I didn't startle him. "Well, thank you for sharing that with me. For letting me see as you do. It was beautiful." I stepped up on my tiptoes and brushed my lips against his cheek. His breath hitched and his hand tightened on my hip. Maybe whatever this connection was, affected them as much as it did me.

I stepped back and looked around the room, wanting to take in all their expressions except one of them was missing. "Where's Hawk?"

A thud came from the other side of the door. "Let me in, assholes."

I had a feeling these guys were going to drive me insane. I rolled my eyes and went to open the door, but Nox grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into his lap as he sat down.

"Raevyn, we need to talk," he said as he twirled his fingers in my hair.

"What do you want to talk about?" I asked sweetly, knowing full well he was talking about Hawk. By bringing him back with us I knew I was upsetting whatever the dynamic was between the Revenants. But to be honest, I figured I'd already upset the equilibrium when I dropped on a stone slab, so what's another guy gonna do to it?

Nox's eyes darkened. So far, he'd always seemed so playful but this chaos I could feel brewing under his skin had me intrigued. And yep, you guessed it, a little turned on.

"I don't like Hawk. I didn't like him when he was alive the first time," he said simply, slowly twirling my hair around his fingers. "In fact, just looking at him fills me with this compulsive urge to rip him limb from limb. I want to gauge his eyes out when he looks at you and I need you to let me do that, pretty girl. I'm not sure if he can die twice, but for you, I'd be willing to try."

Oh. Wow. That was some serious possessiveness right there. I should dislike him for that, but with the way I was starting to feel about the guys and Hawk, I completely understood where he was coming from.

"No," I said while running my thumb beneath his bottom lip, tracing those fucking lip rings. "And if you even think about touching Hawk, I'll gut you with your favourite knife, then bring you back to life just so I can do it again."

He groaned and pulled me closer. "Don't say things like that, pretty girl."

"Why?"

He wrapped his hand in my hair and yanked my head backwards. His tongue ran the length of my throat before his sharp teeth nipped my jaw. "Because it turns me on so much that I'd have no qualms about stripping you naked and fucking you on this couch in front of the others."

Heat pooled in my belly as the image of what he wanted to do flashed through my mind. There was a collection of groans behind me, and I turned to see Korbin, Rook, and Casimir looking at me like they wanted to devour me. I didn't think I'd mind that one little bit.

There was another thud the other side of the door, much louder than the last one. "If you don't let me in, I'll break this door down and rip your throats out so I can bathe in your blood."

Rook sniggered. "Good luck with that. The door's impenetrable."

I narrowed my eyes at Rook and hoped I'd assessed his relationship with Korbin correctly. "How would you like it if someone was deliberately keeping you from Korbin?"

His smirk immediately dropped, and a sheepishness slid over his lovely face. "You have a point."

"She does, baby boy," Korbin said as he swatted Rook playfully on his ass. "Go let the Moroi in and apologise."

Rook grumbled under his breath, but he did as Korbin commanded and fuck, that dynamic was hot to watch.

Hawk burst into the room, his gaze immediately homing in on me. " Draguta ," he said before storming across the space.

A squeal escaped me as he wrapped his arms around me and lifted me into the air. I had a feeling this guy didn't know how to share. "Hawk. Put me down."

"I don't want to," he said with a pout and boy was it adorable.

I rolled my eyes. We all really needed to have a heart to heart about this new dynamic we found ourselves in.

"Can you at least sit down so we can all talk?" I asked.

He huffed a breath but did sit on the sofa with me cradled in his arms. His intoxicating scent of fresh grass and icy winds surrounded me, and I relaxed into his hold.

"Look. I know things have changed for you all, but we are all connected. I don't know how, and I don't know why but I do know we're stuck together." I tried to sound confident, but I think I sounded more pleading than anything else.

"Well, if you think any of us are letting you out of our sights, you're very much mistaken," Nox said with a feral grin that had a shudder traipsing up my spine.

"I agree," said Rook. "Not sure about Hawk though."

Hawk growled behind me, and I felt the sound reverberate through his chest behind me. I sighed. Were we ever going to figure this out?

"Rook," Korbin said with a sharp warning in his tone.

"Sorry," he replied quietly, and the room descended into an awkward silence.

"We have spare rooms. Two in fact. Perhaps this is fate," Nox said, his voice low and spooky but in a corny way that had me laughing. Thank the Gods for Nox and his inability to read a room.

I turned to Hawk. I didn't know what had happened to him in his previous life or how he'd been with the Revenants. There seemed to be some unresolved feelings and, if we were going to work as a dynamic, we needed to fix this. "Will you be happy here?"

He smiled down at me, and damn it had me hot under the collar. The man was gorgeous when he smiled. "If you are here, I will be happy."

"Great. Perfect. Now we're all friends, can we go and catch some ghosts?" Nox said, jumping to his feet excitedly.

"We're not the Ghostbusters ," Casimir grumbled.

Nox pouted. "But I'd look so good in a boiler suit."

I laughed and had to agree. Nox would look good in anything. A bright ping ran through the air, and I watched Casimir pull out his phone. That right there seemed odd. Someone so ancient being at ease with something so modern.

"Hades has sent the list," he said, as he scrolled through something.

"They must be in some serious trouble over at G.R.I.M," Korbin mused, and I wondered what the Grim Reaper had to have done for them to get shut down.

"Has this ever happened before?" I asked.

Korbin shook his head. "No. It's worrying, and I don't know what effect it's going to have topside."

"Ooh the potential for carnage, violence, and mayhem is waiting for us? Count me in," Nox said with a wide grin.

I rolled my eyes at him. That guy definitely seemed to thrive on chaos.

He strolled over to me, his blue eyes twinkling, and bowed with a flourish. "Care to join me, my lady?"

I took his hand. "It would be my pleasure."

He pulled me to my feet and smiled. "Let's go get you kitted out."

I looked down at my oversized tee and leggings. "Guess these won't stand up to much soul catching, huh?"

Nox leant closer and whispered, "I just want to see you in tight leather pants." Then he pressed his lips against mine in a firm, hard kiss. "Mmm, you taste good. Come on pretty girl, let's get you some weapons."

I was too stunned to respond before Nox disappeared from the room and was he skipping?

"Did he just…?" Casimir asked.

"Yep," Rook replied, popping the ‘p'.

"What?" Korbin asked, a delicious frown between his eyes.

"The maniac kissed her," Hawk grumbled as he stood behind me.

"Oh. Well, in that case," Korbin said as he approached me. His hands cupped my jaw and angled my face, and then his lips met mine softly. I moaned as his tongue traced my mouth, before dipping inside to brush the tip of mine with the briefest of touches. A promise of things to come. Then he too walked out the room. I blinked. What the hell was happening here?

Rook came next, his kiss playful and teasing and he nipped at my lips, making me smile against his mouth. Casimir, on the other hand, kissed me like there was no tomorrow. I had thought the guy had hated me, but he kissed me like he wanted to devour me. He forced my mouth open, his hand a firm grip around my throat, squeezing slightly and stealing my breath.

Then there was Hawk.

He looked down at me with a dark hunger burning in his eyes, the rich amber disappearing into a bright ruby red.

"When I kiss you, draguta , it will be in your bed with me about to fuck your tight little cunt."

I jolted at his blunt words and a hot, electric surge of heat ran over my skin as he flashed me a wicked smile. He pressed a soft kiss against the top of my head and then took my hand, pulling me towards the door. I was still too stunned to speak. To make sense of what had just happened.

"Come on. I too would like to see these tight leather pants," Hawk said with a grin.

I huffed a laugh, but I followed him to find the other guys. Was this really my life now? Soul hunting and living with five extremely hot men? Not to mention the whole necromancer magic. I could tell you one thing though, I couldn't fucking wait to see the look on my grandmother's face when I knocked on the door. I was going to take that bitch down.