Chapter 8

Ivy

Thankfully dressed this time, I'm sitting next to Atlas and his brothers in the living room of the house. It's a formal space with two couches, a chair, a huge gas fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the surrounding forest and the snowcapped mountains beyond. The oldest brother, Rome, I think, is sitting in the lone chair, looking a little like a king holding court. He doesn't smile very much, but his dark eyes are always assessing, measuring, deciding. The jokester, Samson, the middle one, is needling Luka, and both are on the couch across from where I'm sitting with Atlas. The final brother—Tate, the youngest it would seem—is sitting on the stone hearth, his elbows to his knees.

They are all variations of tall with dark hair in various manners of dishevelment. Only Luka's hair is neatly styled and combed. Tate's is styled, but in a way that it"s supposed to look messy. Samson's got his pulled back into a bun. Their eyes are a matching dark of Atlas's. Though they don"t look the same, it is very clear they are brothers.

"That call about where to meet came in four days ago?" Rome asks. "From Onyx City?"

I shrug. "That's where I'm supposed to go."

"And you're supposed to be there…" Luka asks, ignoring Samson.

"In two days," I say, my eyes drifting to Atlas.

It"s a strange thing, being surrounded by all these men. I've spent most of my life with just my mother and my sister. Our father died shortly after Hazel was born, and neither of us remember Graham Day. Mom spoke fondly of him, but there was an unwritten rule that we just accepted that men weren't a part of our lives. I didn't question it. We just moved from place to place, Mom striving to make ends meet and keeping Hazel and I insulated from others. While Hazel and I snuck hanging out with others at school—including boys—eventually we hid when we dated them, covering for one another. We knew our mother wouldn't have approved, and worst case, she'd move us again.

"Men are dangerous," she'd preached, even though she'd loved our father.

Being the lone woman in this group of intimidating men might feel dangerous, only it doesn't. For some inexplicable reason, I'm surrounded by strangers, by men, and I feel safe, and I can't quite put my finger on why. Atlas's presence next to me, his arm slung over the back of the couch behind me, feels like a warm coat on a cold day, but my logic is rioting against relaxing into that feeling. Even as that power he's spoken of just because he's close is thrumming through me.

"She can't leave. Not until—" Rome said, looking at Atlas.

"I'm right here," I tell him, annoyed. "And you don't get to tell me when I can leave."

"Do you know why?" he asks, and there's a challenge in his tone, a narrowing of his dark eyes.

"Rome." Atlas's tone is a warning.

Atlas's oldest brother is a dick.

He scoffs. "Withholding the truth doesn't help her." He looks at me. "It doesn't help you."

I turn my head to Atlas who has gone tense against me. "You lied?"

Atlas shakes his head. "I haven't withheld any truth."

Rome leans forward in his seat, his elbows to his knees, and I see Tate is a younger version of him. "Fine. You haven't disclosed all the details."

"What's he talking about?" I ask.

Atlas pushes away from the couch and stands, staring at Rome. The loss of his immediate presence near me almost feels like losing a limb. Really, Ivy?

"I'm trying to do this my way."

"But her sister changes everything," Rome snaps. "You don't have time."

"Why? What are you talking about?" I ask.

Rome looks at me with that intense gaze. I thought Atlas's was intense. Rome's is… intimidating. "The incitare."

My cheeks heat. "He told me about that."

Atlas turns his head to look at me. "And remember, I mentioned that until the bond is sealed, the demons will come for you?"

So much has happened in the last twenty-four hours, I scramble to remember everything that we've spoken about. Atlas notices my confusion. "When we first got here," he reminds me.

It isn't safe. Not until after the joining…You won't make it fifty miles to any of the nearest towns let alone on a bus or a train or a car before something comes for you.

I nod. "The demons will come for me until the joining or something. Because of the bond?"

"Right."

"And that means…" I stopped.

"You need to fu—" Samson is interrupted by Luka.

"What Sammy is trying to say is that until you and Atlas seal the bond through?—"

"Sex," I supply, realizing Atlas had been honest the night before, but I'm now wondering why he hadn't had sex with me.

Luka clears his throat and Samson laughs.

"That's a clear way of putting it," Samson says.

"Nicer than how you would have." Luka scowls at Samson.

"And it's only this feeling that indicates it even happened?" I ask. Though every cell in my body is leaning toward Atlas—sex definitely at the forefront of that lean—my brain is playing devil's advocate. My life is dependent on these strangers because of their word?

"No," Tate says. "The demons proved that."

Right. The monsters. "Because they want to kill me."

"Yes. And eliminate the power your bond will forge for Atlas." Luka smooths the front of his shirt. "For our kind."

"The sentinel and the calix."

"Exactly."

I turn and look at Atlas. "Why didn't you just say that. Last night?"

"How would that have sounded to you?" he asks. "You were already freaking out about the demons, about being with me as a stranger. How was I supposed to tell you that?"

He's right. I would have freaked out. I'm still freaking out, and his thoughtfulness is… well, that sweet, actually. I face forward, my gaze disconnecting from Atlas to look at a sculpture on the coffee table in front of me. "So, I can't get to my sister, unless we…"

"Fu—"

"Have sex," Atlas interrupts Samson. I look up and see Atlas shooting Samson a glare. He adds, "But that's additionally complicated. Which is why I think we let my brothers go after your sister."

"What the hell?" I jump up and face Atlas. "More complicated? And no. Absolutely not. She's my sister."

"Can we… talk? Just us?" Atlas asks, quietly.

My eyes narrow, suddenly wanting to go toe-to-toe with this man, a fight flowing through my veins in conjunction with the overwhelming desire to mount him. I shake that last unbidden thought out of my head. "I don't know. Are you going to continue censoring the information?"

He's annoyed and presses his teeth together. "Fine. That's how you want it. I can lay it all out right here." He swings an arm around indicating his brothers who are all watching this exchange with a range of looks, from delighted (Samson) to severe (Rome).

I meet Atlas's gaze. "Get on with it, then."

He leans closer. "After the joining and the bond is sealed, the gratus happens."

"And what, pray tell is that?"

"It's the insatiable need to fuck," Samson says. "Over and over for days and weeks on end."

Luka clears his throat. "It's a power share." Then to Samson he mutters, "What the fuck, Sammy."

"What the fuck?" I say, my gaze jumping from Samson and Luka and colliding with Atlas. Chills race across my skin.

"And I will not fuck you," Atlas says.

My mouth drops open.

"Oh. Shit. Didn't see that coming," Samson says.

"Not just to appease the bond," he adds.

I cross my arm, the presence of Atlas's brothers drifting into the background.

"So if you're thinking of just having sex so you can leave to get to your sister—I'm not doing it."

And that was exactly what I was contemplating. "How the?—"

Atlas leans away and crosses his arms over his chest, and damn me, I look at the muscles of his biceps straining against the short sleeves of his red t-shirt and the contours of his shoulders and his chest. I fist my own hands to keep from reaching out to touch him. The energy in the room shifts. I tear my gaze from Atlas and notice his brothers standing and slinking toward the kitchen now that Atlas has said he'd reject me.

With the room emptied out, Atlas shoves his hands through his hair twisting away from me, then turns back. "This bond means more to me."

"My sister means something to me."

"And you don't want me. You'd fuck me to appease the bond, but it won't work that way. Our power is aligned. It's like a fucking covalent bond, and even if you want to go that route, it isn't going to go like you think. We'll be linked… forever. I'm not in this—" he waves a hand between us— "for a one-time deal, Ivy. I won't do it."

"You can't possibly be saying you want me long-term, Atlas. You don't even fucking know me."

He presses his teeth together, crosses his arms again, and looks away, and I know as clear as day, that is exactly what he means.