Page 34

SETH | EKEZ

“ S unshine?” Aurelia’s deathly still and too fucking quiet by the time we reach the edge of the lake. I’d been praying that Thanatos hadn’t come to steal her anyway. “Sunshine, can you hear me?”

“Mmm, Seth, no,” she whines with her eyes closed. “Sleepy.”

“I know, baby, but you got to stay awake. At least until we get you warm.”

Khalil rushes past me and starts getting a tent set up near the fire. It’s probably not a good idea to make camp at the scene of a crime, but we can’t risk the longer trek back to the meadow, and we still need to dispose of the bodies.

Pete’s included.

Realizing we’re back at the camp, Aurelia’s head lifts, and I know she’s searching for him. I tuck her head back against my shoulder before she can spot Pete lying in a pool of his own blood with his throat slashed. I know she ran to save him, and I don’t want her to be sad that she failed. His death was quick rather than the slow one we planned, but I know asking Sunshine to see the bright side in that will likely send her right back out onto that lake.

“Can you stand?” I ask once we’re by the fire.

She nods, and I carefully set her on her feet before lowering the zipper on her coat and pushing it off her shoulders. Khalil shoos Thorin away when he tries to help with the tent, so Thorin comes over and pops a squat on the log while I undress our girl.

“You too, Thorin. Clothes off,” I order when he rocks the log from how hard he’s shaking.

He’d already shed his coat before going into the lake after Sunshine, so he fists his wet thermal and lifts it over his head without a word. Thorin isn’t much of a talker, but he’s unusually quiet even for him, and my mind shifts to the reason why before I can stop it.

Something happened between him and Aurelia on that ice, and whatever it was, Aurelia now clings to me instead of pushing me away. I could kiss Thorin if I thought he’d go for it.

One thing at a time.

The talk they had, not the kissing.

Khalil has the tent set up by the time I’m done getting Aurelia’s clothes off. Even drugged and hypothermic, it doesn’t take our princess long to notice that she’s naked out in the open. I can only imagine how this would look if someone were to happen by and see dead bodies everywhere, a naked and drugged-out girl, and the three of us like rabid guard dogs protecting their bone.

“Heyyyy…where did my clothes go?” she sluggishly asks as I walk her back toward the tent with my arms around her waist.

“I took them.”

“Whyyyyy?”

“Because they’re wet, you’re cold, and I’m going to warm you up.”

“Mmm, I know how you can warm me up,” she teases uncharacteristically.

“Yeah?” I can’t help but smile down at her. It’s too bad my cock is soft-serve after almost losing her again.

There will be no fucking tonight.

I get Aurelia inside the tent and into one of the bedrolls Khalil has laid out. Thorin follows, and I try not to be jealous when he climbs inside with her but no luck.

I’m jealous as hell but not murderously so, like when I saw Aurelia grab Pete’s hand.

I can hear Khalil outside the tent moving the bodies, so I make sure Aurelia and Thorin are both tucked in tight before kissing Aurelia’s forehead. I fuck with Thorin by trying to do the same and he scowls at me while mushing my face away.

“I’ll be right back, Sunshine. You two stay put.”

Leaving the tent, I find Khalil standing at the back of the van with the doors thrown wide open. He’s already done hiding the bodies inside, but he has a weird look on his face, and then he mutters, “This shit looks like something out of a serial killer documentary.”

“What is it? What did you find?”

His head snaps toward me, and then Khalil rushes to close the van doors. “Seth, I want you to promise me something,” he says once they’re secure and he’s standing in front of them, making it clear I’d have to get through him to see whatever the hell freaked him out.

“Yeah? What’s that?” I only half listen as I look around to see that the bodies are gone, and the blood’s been covered up with fresh snow just in case anyone happens to pass by. It’s sloppy and risky, but it will have to do until we can figure out a way to cover our tracks properly.

“Do not under any circumstances look inside this van.”

That gets my attention. Unfortunately for him, it also piques my curiosity. “Why? Because of the bodies?”

“No. Just trust me.”

It’s an automatic response for me to say that I don’t trust him, but for whatever reason, the words don’t come.

I…do…trust him.

And it’s all because of Aurelia.

She makes everything better. It doesn’t hurt as much inside Zeke’s head because all I can think about is her, and I don’t hate Thorin and Khalil anymore. Well, at least not enough to kill them. Anyone who knows better than to let precious treasure like Sunshine get away can’t be too bad.

“Or you can stop treating me like a child and tell me. I can handle it, Khalil.”

“And if you can’t? Aurelia is ten feet away, Seth. Bane could—”

“Bane won’t be a problem, so stop stalling and tell me what’s in the van.”

Khalil debates it before sighing heavily and saying, “Honestly, I can’t decide what creeps me out the most, but you should know there’s a cage.” Khalil watches me carefully while my skin prickles with unease. “I’m guessing it’s where they kept them.”

“Who?”

Khalil glances at the van again and pales. “The girls that came before Aurelia.”

I’m guessing the ones who weren’t as lucky to have a few monsters of their own on a leash.

Pete would have put Sunshine in that cage.

Pete would have done things to her that I don’t have to imagine. Because once upon a time, in a different place and a different cage, I was the one in the cage.

And yet, Aurelia held Pete’s hand without a thought and not mine.

My gaze drifts to the van again and the cage inside. It’s where Isaac kept us when he wasn’t taking Zeke apart piece by piece. The cage was no bigger than a large dog’s—no room to stand, sit, or stretch my legs in. It got so uncomfortable at times that I longed for the sharp edge of Isaac’s knife or his favorite—the volts of electricity when he tried to fry me from the inside out.

“Seth…you with me, buddy?”

I hear Khalil, but he sounds far away.

I’m not on our mountain anymore.

I’m on that cold metal table. I can feel the leather straps holding me down, biting into my torn, flayed, and charred skin. I can taste the blood, tears, and vomit in my mouth. I can hear Isaac telling me what an honor it is to be chosen as a sacrifice. I can see his face, a carbon copy of Zeke’s father, and those soulless eyes staring down at me from under the single light that swings back and forth above like a pendulum.

You were born to die.

You were born to die.

You were born to die.

I was born to die.

I’d forgotten how dark it is here.

I’m back in the cage, and the bars are closing in on me. I push against them, and I’m back on the table. I scream from the pain of Isaac’s knife, and I’m in the cage again. The cycle never end—the pain, mutilation, and torture.

Wishing I was dead…

And it won’t…not until we give in to Isaac.

Zeke has to die so that Isaac can live forever.

It’s Zeke’s penance for their father having an outside child with Zeke’s mother, and immortality is the gift Thanatos offers Isaac in exchange for Zeke’s sacrifice.

“Seth!” Khalil snaps. “Goddammit. I told you that you couldn’t handle it!”

“Sunshine,” I gasp. “I need Sunshine.”

It’s so so dark here.

If I don’t see Aurelia in the next ten seconds, I can’t promise I won’t drown Zeke in the lake to make it stop .

Dropping to the ground, I curl Zeke’s body in on itself because I can’t convince my brain that we’re not in that cage. The scars and burns on his arms, chest, and legs bite like they’ve split open again and we’re bleeding.

I used to be able to handle the pain. It used to be all I knew, but then Sunshine…

“All right, Seth. Come on. I’ll take you to her.”

I can’t move, so Khalil tries to take my arm, but I jerk away and bare my teeth before he can touch me. All I see is Isaac’s hand holding the knife. Khalil’s brown eyes flash with hurt, and I know all he can see is Zeke—his best friend—too broken to trust him. The sting of my rejection fades, and his tone is patient when he speaks.

“I won’t hurt Zeke,” he promises patiently and then pauses. “I won’t hurt you either, Seth. I got you. I got you both.”

I know.

I don’t tell him that, though. Every time I try, the words get stuck in my throat.

He left Zeke all alone.

I can’t trust him. What if he leaves again? Zeke doesn’t need him. He has Bane and me.

I don’t need him either.

I don’t.

I don’t, I don’t, I don’t.

Exhaling harshly, I shove past Khalil and leave him standing there in that disappointing silence as I enter the tent.

Aurelia’s already sleeping off the drugs with Thorin curled around her front, so I strip off my shirt and lay down next to her to lend her my body heat. The jostling must stir her awake because her eyes open when I take her from Thorin and turn her to face me.

“Seth?” she asks groggily.

I bury Zeke’s nose in her hair and ignore him pushing and clawing to take control. He’s ready to wake up, but I’m not ready yet. H I know he’s curious about her, but it will be in vain.

I won’t let him remember.

I know I promised Aurelia that I’d tell him about her, but I can’t. She’s mine. All mine.

“I’m here, Sunshine.”

“What’s wrong?” Her question is barely more than a sleepy rumble, but I still understand her.

Just like she apparently understands me.

“Nothing.”

Her eyes blink open and slowly clear at whatever she sees in mine. “You sad, Seth?”

I hold her a little tighter and sigh when her peaches and daffodils scent hit me. “It’s better now.”

Khalil still hasn’t come inside the tent, and I know it’s because he’s keeping watch. We’re exposed out here, and me losing my shit a few minutes ago only reminded him of the threat of Isaac finding us.

If he’s even still looking.

I’m starting to wonder at the real reason why we’ve never tried to know for sure. It wouldn’t be hard, but the others swear it’s too risky.

It’s quiet in the tent, so I assume Aurelia’s gone back to sleep until she does the last thing I ever thought possible.

She starts to sing.

I don’t recognize the song, but then again, I don’t recognize most songs. I don’t really listen to the words anyway—something about love, memories, photographs, waiting, and coming home. It doesn’t matter. She could be singing about toast, and I’d be completely gone for it. It’s her voice that holds me.

It rises as the song’s tempo picks up, and the tent flaps part as Khalil ducks inside. I don’t look away from Aurelia, but I can only imagine the look on his face mirrors mine.

She’s incredible.

A handful of verses later, the song is over.

“Oh, sure. Sing for him,” Thorin grouchily says as he turns over in his sleeping bag and gives us his back.

Aurelia blushes and elbows him, but he’s already sleeping again.

“Is that one of yours?” I ask.

She smiles lazily without opening her eyes. “‘Photograph.’ Ed Sheeran.”

“You should sing us one of yours one day,” Khalil low-key begs.

“Don’t count on it. They’re terrible.”

“I’ll love anything that’s yours, Sunshine.”

She shakes her head and sighs. “They’re not mine. They never were. They belong to the countless songwriters my uncle trusted more than me to make a hit.”

“Words are words. It was you that made them beautiful,” Khalil says. “It was you. All you. All along. Every time. It was how you used those words to make people feel.”

“Feel what?”

“Anything. Everything.”

“Yeah, no offense to ole Ed, but I doubt I’d like that song half as much if he were the one singing to me.”

“Remind me to make you eat those words one day. He’s pretty good.”

“Nah. You’re better,” I say confidently. She still eyes us skeptically, so I start singing what I remember of my new favorite song—the Aurelia George version.

Aurelia squeals after only a few choppy notes and slaps her hands over my mouth. “Stop! You’re butchering it.”

I grin while kissing her cold palms, and I’m still smiling when she slowly drops them like she’s afraid I’ll start singing again. I waggle my brows. “See?”

“Okay, I get your point. Just don’t ever do that again. Stick to dancing, Seth.”

“Oh, yeah? You like the way I move, do you?” I suggestively press my hips against hers, and damn it, my dick twitches to life when she presses back against me like she’s game for a quickie.

“Cut it out. Both of you,” Khalil scolds. “She’s not out of the woods yet. She needs to rest.”

“Actually, I could use a little more body heat.”

The tent is intensely quiet for a few seconds, and when Khalil’s dumb ass doesn’t catch on to what Aurelia is asking, my irritated gaze travels to him. He seems to be caught in a trance, staring at Aurelia, but he must feel me watching him because his gaze shifts to me, and I buck my eyes.

His brows shoot up, and then he bolts into action, crawling from where he was lounging with his back against the tent’s pole near the opening. His blood-stained shirt is already gone, and his skin is clean again as if he washed up in the lake.

When Thorin rolled over, he left a spot open that was just big enough for Khalil to fit. He slots right in, and I try to remember not to act jealous and possessive when he takes Aurelia in his arms, and she rolls right over to him.

Like the handsy asshole he is, Khalil starts rubbing on her ass even though he’d just told me to keep my hands to myself.

Rolling onto my back, I stare up at the ceiling. It’s not dark yet, but it will be soon. Khalil’s already set up a few chem lights around the tent so that I don’t wake up in the dark and lose my shit again.

“Seth?” Aurelia asks. I can tell by her groggy tone that she’s finally falling asleep after only a few minutes of Khalil massaging her butt.

Noted.

“Yeah, babe?”

“Are you okay now?” she asks in a tone that isn’t mockingly sweet like she’s taunted us with before. It’s genuine.

Rolling over until I’m pressed against her backside, Khalil hisses and yanks his hand away when I inadvertently trap it between Aurelia’s ass and my cock. Ignoring him, I kiss her bare arm. “Perfect,” I answer just as earnestly.

“What happened?”

“Cages trigger him,” Khalil answers because he knows I won’t.

I can’t.

My gaze travels from Aurelia to Khalil in silent thanks.

Aurelia stiffens at the answer, and when she speaks, I rub my eyes tiredly because fuck me, she’s sounding wide awake again. None of us are going to sleep until we’re sure she’s out cold, and I’m tired as fuck. “Where did you find a cage?”

“Inside the van. I’m guessing it was for you.”

Her head lifts from Khalil’s arm where it had been resting, and she frowns. “Why would they have a cage for me? They couldn’t have known we’d cross paths.”

“Judging by the filthy blood and semen-stained mattress I also found inside, you weren’t the first girl they drugged.”

“And they live on this mountain?”

I can hear the fear in her voice, so I roll over to mold myself against her back before pressing a kiss to her shoulder.

“No. We’re the only ones who live on this mountain, Sunshine.”

“They’re drifters,” Khalil answers. “They were just passing through.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“By the way, we’re never getting a dog,” Thorin grumbles out of the fucking blue.

“I’m confused,” Khalil snaps. “Are you sleeping or just being a dick pretending to?”

Thorin makes over-the-top snoring noises.

Aurelia’s the only one who laughs, but I do crack a strained smile while Khalil rolls his eyes.

“Dick,” he grumbles.

“Been a long time since we’ve snuggled for warmth, eh, Thor?”

“Shut up.”

Aurelia giggles again. “You three are awfully close. Have you ever—”

“No,” we all say at the same time.

“Well, there was that one time Thor lost a bet to Khalil.” Which I only know because Zeke told me.

Aurelia gasps and sits up. “No way!”

“Yeah, well, sorry to disappoint you, but forget it,” Thor snaps. “We’re not talking about this. And as far as I’m concerned, it never happened. End of discussion.”

“Wow,” Aurelia dryly teases as she lies back down. “Touchy.”

“It was a handjob,” I blab. “Thor gave. Khalil received.”

“Seth!” Thorin and Khalil bark.

I roll my eyes. “Big deal.”

“How the hell do you know that anyway? Zeke was awake when it happened.”

“He told me.”

“Of all the things he could have shared, that was most important?”

“I don’t write the reports, Khalil. I just read them.”

“So, what was the bet?” Aurelia asks curiously.

“I bet him that I could hit a bullseye from a thousand feet away.”

“All those years spent hunting for our food, and Khalil can’t hit shit but put a hand job on the table, and suddenly he’s Chris Kyle.”

Snorting, I roll over onto my back and tuck my hands under my head. “Khalil reciprocated,” I say.

He reaches over our girl and punches me hard as fuck in the stomach. I groan and curse as I roll over away from Aurelia and fold into the fetal position.

“So, I take that to mean it’s not something you’re interested in repeating?”

“Sorry, Goldilocks. It wasn’t for me.”

“Yeah, whatever. You liked it,” Thorin taunts.

Khalil ignores him. “Anyway. We have you now. I don’t have to settle for rough palms and no eye contact over there.” He tosses a thumb toward Thorin, who flips him off.

“What about you, Seth?”

I let my eyes drift closed as I get comfortable again. “Pass.”

“How do you know if you’ve never tried it?”

“Aurelia, baby, gorgeous, light of my life…go the fuck to sleep.”

My eyes are closed, but I can hear her pouting when she grumbles, “Fine.”

I can tell it’s morning by how unbearably goddamn cold it is.

When Thorin and Khalil rescued Zeke from Isaac’s cult, and I got to experience life outside of constant torture and endless pain, I compiled a list of my favorite things and everything that I can’t live without, even if the world ended tomorrow—Meat Lovers pizza, rap music, frappé, cute kittens, fantasy novels, Christmas, and cotton candy.

Lame, I know.

But waking up with Sunshine in my arms?

Top of the fucking list.

She rolled away from Khalil and back to me at some point, and the weight of her warm body pressed against mine was better than any soft pillow or warm blanket. I drift off again to the smell of her golden curls in my nose, and I’m not sure how long I’m asleep before I feel her pulling away again. It’s probably Thorin or Khalil, and I’m too tired to fight them for her, so I let her go and fall asleep again.

“Where are you going?” I hear Khalil ask the next time I’m jarred awake.

“Nature calls,” Aurelia answers.

Hearing the rustle of the sleeping bag, I peek my eyes open to see Aurelia slipping on my shirt that stops just under her butt. Khalil follows her out of the tent, and Aurelia doesn’t argue like she did when I tried to escort her yesterday. She’s either still exhausted or knows there’s no point after her run-in with the drifters.

“Ooh! Ooh! It’s cold! It’s cold!” she squeals as soon as her bare feet touch the frozen ground. I can see her tits bouncing from her mostly-naked ass, hopping around outside the tent.

Thorin jerks awake from all the noise she’s making and sits up to snatch the crossbow resting against the tent wall next to him. “What is it? What’s happened?”

“Nothing.” Sitting up, I crack my back from sleeping on the uncomfortable ground and whisper, “Just Aurelia being dramatic.”

Overhearing, she yells, “Shut up, Seth!”

Khalil lifts and carries Sunshine over to the fire, where I left her clothes out to dry. He sets her on the log, and she folds her legs against her chest while she watches Khalil shake out her boots.

Thorin stands, and I can see that his cock is hard when he walks out of the tent with the crossbow. The moment his bare foot touches the ground, he swears viciously.

“See?” Sunshine shouts.

Rolling my eyes, I’m tempted to go back to sleep, but I don’t want to without Sunshine. And since no one else seems to care how fucking early it is, I get up and leave the tent too.

My gaze unwillingly travels to the blue van with the cage and dead bodies piled inside, but I look away just as quickly and focus on Aurelia. She’s already watching me and holds out her hand with a small smile.

I pretend my stomach isn’t doing somersaults as I take it, and the trembling in my hands immediately stops as I let her pull me to her. Sitting on the log next to her, I lean over, and she lets me kiss her good morning.

Aurelia even slips me her tongue and doesn’t bitch about morning breath this time.

It once again reminds me that something huge happened on that lake, and I’m not sure how much longer I can wait patiently until Thorin and Aurelia clue Khalil and me in.

Once Khalil’s done checking to make sure her clothes are dried completely, he helps her into her clothes, and then they walk toward the trees, where they disappear from sight.

Thorin finishes getting dressed and stalks after them to relieve himself, too.

I stare at the flickering fire and ignore my bladder as I count the seconds until Sunshine returns.

I make it to five before I say fuck it and follow them.

Aurelia and Khalil are only a few steps ahead of us. When she turns her head to see Thorin and me following, she says wryly, “Wow. An armed escort just to tinkle. I must be the luckiest bitch in the world.”

“You should be used to it,” Thorin returns. “Didn’t you have bodyguards?”

“Yes…but they went away when I told them to.”

Thorin hums but doesn’t respond any more than that. He just tosses his arm over her shoulder when he catches up and whispers something in her ear before kissing her forehead.

Whatever it is makes her blush hard as fuck.

Aurelia finds a suitable bush for her needs after five fucking minutes of searching and then makes us turn around and cover our ears while she goes.

We return to camp after we’ve all gone, and Thorin whips up some instant coffee once we’re all around the fire again. As usual, we all sip quietly and pretend it’s good.

Well, all of us except for one.

“This has to be the worst coffee I’ve ever tasted,” Aurelia remarks after taking a single sip.

“Yeah, it tastes like sand, but it warms you up.”

“So, any reason we’re hanging around instead of going home? It’s bad enough we spent the night where a mass murder occurred. Don’t you think we’re pressing our luck?”

“Mass murder? That’s a stretch.”

Sunshine’s incredulous gaze rises to meet mine. “You killed four people for no reason. How is that not a mass murder?”

“We had a reason,” Thorin says unbothered.

“A very good reason,” Khalil adds.

“Besides, killing rarely makes sense to anyone but the person or people doing it.”

“You’re all crazy.”

“For you?” Khalil flirts. “Definitely.”

Seeing that she’s getting nowhere with this bullshit argument, Aurelia drops it with a roll of her eyes. She can feign sympathy all she wants, but I don’t see her shedding tears for the drifters.

Aurelia doesn’t care as much as she should that we killed them, and that’s what bothers her most. We’ve seen her bloodthirsty need for vengeance firsthand, so Aurelia can’t even claim she wouldn’t have done the same had she known what they intended.

And we wouldn’t believe her if she tried.

Sunshine pouts for a solid five minutes before I grab her hand and pull her down into my lap. Aurelia straddles me without a fight, and when she smiles softly at me, I’m struck with this intense longing to keep her there.

“I want to eat your ass so fucking bad,” I say to her before I even realize it’s on my mind.

On the other side of the fire, Thorin pauses sharpening his knife, and Khalil spits out his coffee and starts coughing.

Aurelia’s eyes flare with want, and then she smirks as she rubs my chest. “Sure you’re ready for that, virgin? It’s not for everyone.”

Lifting my face, I rub the tip of my nose with hers. “Are you forgetting that you deflowered me, Sunshine? Trust me. I’m ready.”

“Hmm…”

“Don’t even think about it,” Thorin’s cockblocking ass commands when he realizes Aurelia is considering it. “As much as we’d all love to see that, we don’t have time for it. We need to clear these bodies out and clean the scene.”

“Party pooper.” Tapping Aurelia’s butt, she climbs off my lap so I can stand and stretch. “So, what’s the plan?”

Thorin thinks about it for a moment and then asks, “We still have that lye lying around?”

“Sure. I think so. What about the van?”

Khalil shrugs. “We wipe it down and do our job. We call it in. Let Sheriff Kelly see what those sick fucks were up to. It puts the heat on them and off us. He’ll assume they ditched it and disappeared on their own.”

I nod my agreement and then steal a peek at Aurelia to see where her head is with all of this.

She’s gazing at nothing, and I doubt she’s heard a word we said.

Edging a little closer, I place a hand on her hip. “You okay, Sunshine?”

“I’m hungry.”

It’s quiet for a moment, and then Khalil blinks and shakes his head. “Okay. New plan. We feed our girl, and then we dispose of the bodies.”

Smiling, Aurelia sidles up to Khalil and wraps her arms around his neck. He grins down at her, and Thorin sighs heavily like he knows what she’s about to say.

“I’ve changed my mind,” she whispers to Khalil. “You’re my fave.”

I smirk when they start slobbering each other down while Thorin glowers at them. Jealous asshole. “Cheer up, Thor. I offered to eat her ass, and I’m still not her favorite.”

Thorin and Khalil had taught me a lot about the opposite sex but forgot to mention how fucking confusing they are.

As soon as Aurelia breaks her kiss with Khalil, Thorin seizes her hand and tugs her into him hard enough that she collides with his chest. Shoving his hand in her hair, he wraps his other arm around her waist. “Why do you continue to test me, wolf?”

“Because you like it, Thorin.”

Sunshine rises onto the tips of her toes and pecks his lips once before pulling away. He lets her but tracks her every step as she walks away from him.

Eyeing the compound hunting bow, Aurelia lifts it from the ground. “What do you guys say I catch us breakfast this time?”

“We’ll never eat,” Thorin quips.

Aurelia’s gaze cuts toward him, and then she goes for her pack that—judging by how fucking heavy it looks—Thorin must have put together for her. Aurelia says nothing as she grabs a handful of yellow arrows sticking out of the flap and leaves the camp.

“Where the hell are you going?” Thorin shouts after her.

Turning around to face us while walking backward toward the trees, she yells back, “To catch some rabbits, you asshole!”

Cursing, Thorin snatches up his crossbow from where it is resting next to their packs before following after her.

“You’d think the two days they spent alone fucking and hunting would have helped them get along,” Khalil remarks.

“I’m pretty sure being at each other’s throats is how they flirt, Khalil.”

He grunts, and then his brows rise as he watches Thorin stomp after Aurelia. “Yeah, I think you might be right.”

My gaze flicks toward the van, and I say, “But just in case, you should go with them. Make sure they both come back in one piece.”

Khalil thinks about it for a moment and then sets aside the canteen he was drinking out of. “Right again.” He stands and takes one step before pausing to peer at me carefully. “You good here, Seth?”

I make a show of sitting down and getting comfortable. “Of course.”

Khalil hesitates a moment longer before making a decision and holding out his fist for a pound as he goes.

I give him what he wants and then watch over my shoulder as Khalil stalks through the trees where Aurelia and Thorin disappeared moments before. I wait a little longer to make sure they’re gone, and after a full minute passes, I suck in all the air my lungs can handle and exhale as I stand from the log.

Inching over to the van, I don’t give myself time to back out when I reach it.

The moment I yank open the rear doors, the stench of death and rotting bodies hits me before I even notice the cage. Khalil stacked them on top of the filthy twin mattress that’s stuffed between the cage and the cabin. The one I killed for stabbing Aurelia stares back at me through unseeing blue eyes.

Finally, I let my gaze travel to the black bars of the cage and the cramped space between them.

It’s the same size as the one Isaac kept Zeke in.

Seeing no lock, I curl my hands around the bars on the door and pull. When it creaks open, I take one last look over my shoulder for Aurelia, Thorin, or Khalil, and then I climb back inside my cage.

My nose starts bleeding the moment the cage door closes behind me, but I wipe it away and ignore what it means.

I have to do this.

For Sunshine. For me.

For Ezekiel, Thorin, and Khalil too.

I thumb the scar from an old puncture wound in the center of Zeke’s right palm, and like nerves that connect, the one on my neck throbs. Those scars are from the few that Isaac didn’t cause, yet are the ones that hurt the most.

I have to prove to myself that I’m not a danger to them.

God, it smells awful in this van.

I lean my head against the bars and take small breaths only.

Death is a friend. Pain is my enemy.

No.

I feel my hands quake with the need to reach for the knife hidden in my boot. If Thorin or Khalil knew I had it, they’d tie me up and tell me it was for my own good.

Maybe.

But I wouldn’t believe them.

Isaac may not have succeeded in converting Zeke—in convincing him to sacrifice himself for his brother’s immortality—but he did succeed in making Zeke want to die.

Zeke’s pain is so great that it bleeds over to me, and when the worst of it hits, I have no choice but to do what I was born for. Outside of Isaac’s compound, there’s no physical pain to take for him, only the one that torments his mind and soul.

I’ve tried to end it for Zeke many times, but Khalil and Thorin are always there, getting in the way. And when I nearly succeeded the last time, Bane stopped me.

Meddlesome fuckers.

That’s all past me now. I won’t let Isaac win anymore, and not because it doesn’t hurt anymore. It will always hurt. Pain lingers on the edges of our minds, waiting to strike the moment we remember it’s there.

Sunshine makes it better. With every smile and every touch, the shadows retreat a little further.

Maybe I should let Zeke meet her. Maybe I should let him see.

But not yet.

I’m not ready for her to look at this face we share and see anyone but me. And maybe that’s selfish, but I don’t care.

Somehow, I fall asleep among the rotting corpses. Perhaps because I once felt kindred with them. A walking, talking, rotting corpse.

I’m still dozing when I hear the others returning.

Khalil murmurs something, and then Aurelia says more clearly, “Green doesn’t look good on you, Khalil. Don’t hate.”

“Ain’t nobody hating. I’m just saying that it was a lucky shot.”

“Anyway.” I imagine Sunshine rolling her eyes. “Where’s Seth?”

My cheeks flush when I realize I’m still in the cage. I hadn’t meant to fall asleep or let them find me like this. I’d planned to be lounging by the campfire, waiting for their return with a smile in place, like this cage hadn’t nearly set me back nine years.

“I don’t know. He was here when I left.”

“Look, there’s his pack. Seth!” Thorin calls for me.

I don’t answer because I don’t want them to find me in here. Those two fuckers will never let it go, and Sunshine…

No, I can’t let her see me like this.

As if she hears my thoughts, she yells for me. “Seth!”

“Seth, you here?”

“Check the tent,” Thorin orders.

A few seconds pass, then Aurelia says, “He’s not in there.”

“Where would he have gone?”

“I don’t know. Seth!”

“Shit,” Khalil swears. “You don’t think—”

Thorin growls, “Isaac.”

Shit. This is really getting out of hand, isn’t it? I still don’t leave the cage.

“How the fuck could they have found us?”

“I don’t know. Start looking for tracks. We weren’t gone that long. If we leave now, we can catch up.”

“I’m coming with you,” Sunshine says.

“Like hell you are,” Khalil snaps.

“Like hell you are,” she mocks. “I’m coming.”

“This isn’t a game. We’re not hunting rabbits. Isaac is dangerous, Aurelia. We know what we’re walking into. You don’t.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit, Thorin. Am I one of you or not?”

“Why the hell are we wasting time arguing?” Khalil snaps. “We need to go get Seth!”

Seth.

Not Ezekiel.

I rub my chest and try not to be so easily won over.

“Why are you yelling at me? Seth doesn’t even like you like that.”

“Really, wolf?”

“Fine. I’ll go get him.” I hear snow crunching as if Aurelia is indeed leaving the camp.

“You don’t even know where the hell you’re going!”

“Are you coming or not?”

I raise my brows higher and higher as I listen to them bicker and turn on each other at the very thought of me being gone.

“Can we stop and think first, Aurelia?”

“No! They’re getting away.”

“And what is your plan of attack, hmm?”

In a voice so cold it sends chills down my spine and raises goose bumps everywhere else, Aurelia answers. “Attack.”

“You were just crying over us doing the same when we thought you were taken.”

“That was yesterday. Why are you always bringing up old shit, Thorin?”

“It was literally two hours ago when you called us mass murderers.”

Unable to hold in my laughter anymore, I push open the cage door and crawl from the van. Luckily, the three of them are so busy arguing with one another that they don’t notice me right away.

“This is so fucking stupid,” Khalil says.

“I agree.” Aurelia, Khalil, and Thorin whirl to face me at the sound of my voice. “I’m right here.”

“Seth?” Khalil asks when he notices my hunched posture from the cage and the melancholy I haven’t completely bounced back from.

“It’s me,” I admit reluctantly.

That wariness fades when I see his relief, and I wonder, is it because Isaac doesn’t have me or that I’m not Zeke?

Aurelia rushes forward and throws herself at me. I catch her and kiss her forehead repeatedly while she stares up at me with too many questions in her eyes.

“Where were you?” Khalil demands.

“I was here.”

“ Where ?”

“Here. Let’s just leave it at that.” Khalil doesn’t look happy about it, but he thankfully drops it. “So, what’s for breakfast?”

Thorin lifts the huge snake he’s holding, and I make a face. Not my favorite game, but it will do.

“Damn, you caught that, Sunshine?”

She nods proudly. “Yup! Khalil scared it out of its hole, and I shot it on the first try.”

“Mm-hmm. Wow.”

Thorin is raising his canteen to his lips when my questioning gaze meets his over Aurelia’s head. He pauses, his lips pursing as he gives a subtle shake of his head.

I cough to suppress my laugh.

I’d seen him sneaking a couple of arrows out of Aurelia’s pack when he grabbed his crossbow earlier, so I figured it was more likely that he made the shot and hyped our girl up by letting Aurelia take the credit.

Thorin sips his water but chokes on it when Aurelia rests her head against my chest and says, “I saw that, Thorin.”

He swiftly changes the subject. “All right. We have bodies to bury, team. Let’s eat so we can get this over with.”