Chapter 21

Nix clasped his hands and stared down at the muddied tips of his boots as they waited in the Roost. West had dragged him there—though, to be honest, it hadn't taken much effort on the Demon's part. He'd been too in shock to really argue, and the thought of returning to his dorm and acting like nothing had happened…

His stomach tightened and he swallowed the bile that threatened to climb up the back of his throat. He was in the leather lounge chair, the one West had been in when Nix had been forced to blow him. Yejun had already come and gone, taking the mysterious—and disgusting—package with him.

The front door clattered and a moment later Lake entered, gaze instantly seeking out Nix. He was halfway to him before he seemed to compose himself, coming to a complete stop. "Where is it?"

West, who was seated on the couch nearest Nix opened his mouth to reply, but Yejun gracefully dropped down the winding wooden steps that led to the second level, interrupting them.

"Here." He walked over and then chucked the wrapped item onto the center of the coffee table.

Both Nix and West shot back in their seats, the latter cursing.

"Relax," Yejun reassured. "It's fake."

"Huh?" West pointed at the item. "It looks fucking real to me."

"Well, it isn't." He turned to Lake, crossing his arms. "It's a believable fake. They even added fur. Whoever did this, they've got some art skills."

"What is it?" Lake peered down at the item.

"A dead luk," Nix said, staring at the item as well. Part of the back legs of the small rodent-like creature poked out from the paper that was wrapped around its tiny body. "And a note warning me to stay the hell away from you guys."

"It's a fake dead luk," Yejun corrected, seemingly losing his patience.

"Oh, and I supposed the note is fake, too, then?"

Yejun stilled, but West beat him to the punchline.

"Thinking about bailing now that you've been threatened by an outsider?" He leaned in and planted a heavy palm possessively to the back of Nix's neck, jostling him slightly. "Sorry, Nixie, not an option."

"Is this what you wanted?" He ignored West and instead glared at Lake. "Is this the kind of attention you wanted me to have?"

"We don't know this came from the hacker," Lake said.

As badly as he wanted to push the issue, Nix had to admit he was right. He deflated and dropped back in the chair, freeing himself from West's hold in the process. When he batted the Demon's arm away, West even let him, probably sensing how freaked out he was.

"I've never been threatened before in my life." Nix hadn't really known anyone or done anything worth receiving threats over either, but he kept that to himself.

"Come on," West drawled. "That's not true. We've been threatening you since your arrival on campus."

He blinked at him. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Yejun snorted.

"Focus," Lake ordered. "What are the odds this came from the hacker?"

"Considering the note was scrawled in red paint and warned him against associating with us," Yejun said, "slim. The hacker we're after would want to try and use him, not scare him off."

"Unless he came to his senses and gave up," West pointed out, shrugging when his friends both sent him droll looks. "Yeah, I don't think that's the case either, but it's worth mentioning."

"Who else could it be then?" Lake asked.

"Could be one of your crazy fans," Nix guessed, "telling me to get out of the way. Or one of the people who hate you."

"No one hates us," West stated, frowning when Nix quirked a brow at him. "What?"

"Tons of students hate you," he corrected. "They're scared of you and think you're all actual demons."

"And you've spoken to some of these people before?" Lake's eyes narrowed. "Who are they?"

Nix opened his mouth, caught himself, and slammed it shut again.

"Names, Songbird."

"No." He ran a hand through his hair, realizing too late that he'd walked straight into a spiderweb. Grady and his friends were the first to come to mind, but the last thing Nix wanted was to throw them into a snake den without any proof. "I'm sure it wasn't them."

"How sure?" Yejun said. "You can't trust anyone. People screw other people over. It's in their nature."

"Dark, man," West shook his head at him. "When are you going to get over that and move on already?"

"Hey." Lake obviously didn't agree with that sentiment.

"Don't hey me," West snapped. "You weren't even here. Who do you think had to pick up the pieces after?" He motioned to Yejun while scowling at Lake. "You want to know how much carnage I had to clean up because of his piss poor mood?"

"You stabbed someone in the eye," Nix's voice, quiet yet firm, caught all of their attention, and they turned to him. He blew out a breath and met Yejun's gaze. "Right?"

It was hard to put those two images together. The one of a man capable of blinding someone out of rage and the one who'd been so gentle with him in the studio. The Yejun Nix had been introduced to had the ability to be cruel, sure, but aside from that first night, he hadn't shown it.

Even knowing that, Nix had allowed him to lay him down, spread his legs, and enter his body. He hadn't just accepted it either. He'd welcomed it.

He covered his mouth as another wave of bile threatened to come up.

"How could you do something like that?" he demanded when none of them denied it.

"He deserved it," Yejun said.

"He—" Nix stood. "And you all wonder why there are students willing to do shit like this." He pointed to the fake dead animal in the center of their coffee table with a grimace.

"We don't know why they did it," Lake began, only for Nix to chuckle humorlessly.

"If that shit doesn't scream ‘I hate you' I don't know what does," he told them. "Whoever sent that to me wants me to back off. I agreed to help you find a hacker, not whatever the hell this is."

"West is right, Firebird," Yejun's voice softened, as though he were trying to lessen the sting of the following blow. "You don't get to leave."

"We own you," Lake stated, a lot more aggressively than his friend had tried to be. "You signed a contract."

If it weren't for Branwen, Nix would have told them all to go screw themselves right then and there. But if he did that, he'd lose any chance at a lead he had, and no matter how freaked out he currently was, he couldn't give that up. Besides, the animal was a fake, and the letter, while scary, was crass and a bit cliché.

Whoever had sent it was just trying to warn him off, not harm him. Now that he'd had time to consider everything, that became more and more apparent.

"Give us names, Songbird."

He shook his head. "I'll talk to them myself."

"As if."

"It wasn't them," he insisted, holding up a hand to stop Yejun from speaking when he went to argue. "I know, I know. There's no way for me to be sure. But there's also no way I'm going to potentially feed innocent people to you guys either."

"We don't stab everyone in the eye," Yejun drawled.

"Just beat them up in the middle of a cafeteria," Nix let on he knew more than he'd brought up.

"Who's been whispering in your ear, Nixie?" West asked. "I don't like it."

"Which is why he's going to tell us their names," Lake insisted.

"Fuck off, no, I'm not." The room went dead silent and Nix plopped back down into the chair, hoping that he could appease them by showing he'd at least stay put. Which pissed him off even more because since when had he started to automatically cater to them?

From the beginning?

Probably.

Shit.

He groaned and covered his face. "This is so messed up."

"We'll find who sent you the dead luk," West tried reassuring him, but it didn't really stick the way the other man clearly hoped it would.

"And then what?" Nix asked, meeting his gaze. "You guys beat them up? Cripple them?"

"It's unlikely, but we can't rule out that it's the hacker," Yejun said, completely ignoring that question.

"Oh, so it's cool if you maim someone so long as they're this hacker you've been after, that it?" Nix straightened, lips pursing. "Wait. Is that what I'm helping you guys do? Am I going to become some accomplice in a horrible crime? Because that's not—"

"No one is going to make you personally harm anyone," Lake cut him off.

"Just because I'm not the bullet doesn't make me innocent if I'm the one aiming the blaster." He'd been so caught up in his thoughts of vengeance for Branwen, he hadn't taken a moment to stop and think . Anger for his cousin had driven him, but now that they were here and he'd learned about the types of things the Demons did to those who'd crossed him… "I don't belong here."

Not just in the Roost either.

Nix didn't belong at Foxglove Grove.

He stood again, head swimming. How absolutely foolish he'd been to think he was the type of person who could come all this way and enact revenge like some storybook character. Mentally, he could hold his own, but physically…He'd never so much as harmed a fly before. How the hell had he believed he could harm another person?

Sure, he'd wanted answers, but deep down he'd known that wasn't all he was coming here for. That wasn't everything he was going to demand of whoever had dragged Branwen down to that pit of despair. Did he know exactly what kind of punishment he would mete out? No. But the plan for punishment had always been there.

How could he stand here and scold Yejun and West when he'd had half a mind to torture someone himself?

"It's late," Lake said, waiting until Nix had lifted his head before adding, "You'll stay the night."

"Here?" He couldn't do that. The last thing he wanted right now was to be coerced into sex with one or more of them. "No. I can walk back. My dorm isn't far."

"Someone threatened you today," Yejun reminded, coming over to rest a hand on his shoulder.

"So then," Nix latched onto the first compromise he could think of, "walk me there. That'll be fine, right?"

"You're staying," Lake stated before Yejun could answer. In a few steps, he was at Nix's other side, latching onto his wrist. He ignored it when Nix made a pained sound as he was tugged and half dragged across the room toward the stairs.

"Dude," Yejun called after them.

"Be careful with him," West urged.

Lake merely lifted a hand and flipped them the bird, stomping up the steps two at a time as he pulled Nix behind him.

He almost stumbled on the stairs but righted himself just in time, fear and irritation only taking a backseat once they'd made it to the second level. It had the same cozy, mysterious vibe as the main floor, but the hallway branched off in two directions, encircling a center room with the door closed.

Lake led him to the left and down the hall before taking a right and selecting the first door. As soon as he had it open, he shoved Nix through and secured it, the flick of a lock drowned out by the sound of rain hitting the domed skylight.

It took up most of the ceiling, casting moonlight down on the king-sized bed and the crisp white sheets that covered it for a second before Lake flicked the lights on. Six orbs hovering around the room blared to life all at once, and Nix got a good look at the rest of the space Lake called his own.

"The Roost is built around the mountain," Lake said, still standing by the closed door, watching Nix explore with his gaze. "The structure is unique because of that. Some of the rooms are circular, like this one. Others are more angular or standard rectangles."

"You like to read?" Nix dared to run his fingers over a low bookshelf, noting it was one of many cluttering the walls. All of the furniture was made of the same dark and polished wood, but the accents, things like his bedding, the throw rug, and the blanket tossed over the leather chair by the window, were all white.

It was so…normal. Everything about it screamed cozy and relaxed, the very opposite of where his mind went whenever he thought about the man at his back.

That ease was shattered fairly quickly though.

"Get undressed."

Nix startled and spun to face him. "What?"

"You heard me, Songbird." Lake took a single step away from the door. "Take off your clothes."