Page 6 of Crucible

THORIN

K halil’s the first to enter the cabin, with Zeke trailing behind him and me bringing up the rear. We silently shed our heavy coats and boots in the mudroom before we go our separate ways.

Something feels off, but I dismiss it for being gone longer than we planned. This morning, we’d been readying to set out and look for the survivors when an avalanche large and close enough to make our cabin groan in agony had us leaving in a hurry to investigate. The single male boot we’d found buried in the snow had kept us searching for hours to no avail.

Zeke disappears downstairs to the basement to sulk, and neither of us goes after him. He needs the space to work his shit out, and since we can’t keep an eye on him twenty-four seven, we learned to trust him not to do anything stupid.

Khalil stomps into the living room and beelines for the second-hand recliner with a permanent print of his ass. I’m about to head for the kitchen for a drink to warm my blood when I hear Khalil bark, “Yo, what the fuck?”

“If it’s a spider, forget it,” I call out as I enter the kitchen. “Man up and deal with this one yourself.” I quickly locate the gin, but when I don’t hear a peep from Khalil, I don’t bother with a cup and carry the bottle into the living room.

Khalil’s back is to me, so I can’t see what startled him. I’m about to ask what his deal is when he slowly turns. There’s a heavy winter coat clutched in his brown hand, but it’s not one of ours.

Time seems to slow, and then it speeds up before I can process what it means. I snatch the coat out of Khalil’s hand, but he doesn’t seem to notice because something else catches his attention.

A pair of boots are by the fireplace, and a blood-stained scarf is lying next to it. The boots are small, too small for whoever this coat belongs to.

Whoever broke in is not alone.

I think about the tracks we found in the cave, and my gaze rises to meet my brother’s.

Khalil’s chest expands from the breath he takes.

“Someone’s here,” I say hoarsely.

Nothing else needs to be said. We race for the stairs at the same time. I reach them first, but I can feel Khalil hot on my heels as we make our way to the basement.

“Zeke!” Khalil calls.

He doesn’t respond, and my heart is in my stomach, which is twisting and crumbling the dead organ to dust by the time we reach the den.

A shadow moves inside Khalil’s room, so I bend and remove my handgun from my ankle holster. I creep toward the bedroom, removing the safety as I go. I can’t see or hear it because Khalil is an apex predator, but I know he’s doing the same.

The door is open, and one of the bedside lamps is on, so when I enter, I spot Zeke immediately.

He’s still while he stares at the bed, and even though I can only see his profile, it’s enough. The curiosity, the excitement, the mischief…

I inhale sharply.

He knows we’re here, but he doesn’t acknowledge us. It isn’t until I’m brave enough to take my eyes off Zeke’s body for even a second that I see what has his attention.

I almost forget the real threat in the room when I see her.

A girl.

There’s a fucking girl.

She’s passed out in Khalil’s bed, her unkempt golden curls fanned out on his pillow. That ridiculous green and brown dress she’s wearing makes her look like some kind of milkmaid in a porn rag. It’s torn and filthy, but not nearly as much as my thoughts.

The girl obviously needs rescuing, and while my military training demands I answer the call, the darker side of me wants to be the thing she needs rescuing from.

The hem of her dress is bunched around her thighs, and my fingers curl, itching to touch, mark, and own that silky brown flesh. Her tits are spilling out of the torn white bodice, kept in place only by the embroidered corset.

She’s dirty and probably terrified if she was foolish enough to wander where she’s not wanted, but I still want to sink my teeth into her.

Her chest is moving up and down, so she’s alive, which poses a problem.

Zeke’s head slowly turns toward me, but the person staring back at me isn’t my best friend.

I know that smile.

He looks like the rabid cat that tortured the canary before eating it, like shit hitting the fan, like trouble on the horizon.

Seth.

Khalil impatiently edges around me and into his room when I continue to block the doorway. He’s beelining for the closet to check for monsters when Seth speaks.

“I didn’t know it was my birthday, boys.”

Khalil stops dead in his tracks, his head slowly pivoting toward Zeke’s body.

“The plane crash was a bit much, but I appreciate the surprise.” Seth reaches out and curls Zeke’s hand around the girl’s ankle. She doesn’t so much as twitch.

Jesus, she’s out cold.

“It’s not your birthday, and she’s not for you.” The hostility in my voice can’t be shrugged away. Seth may look like my brother, but right now, he’s my worst fucking nightmare.

“No?” Seth coos without taking his hand or eyes off her. “Shame.” His hand slowly moves up her leg, curling around her calf. “I would have enjoyed playing with her.”

Except there would be nothing fun or joyous about the games Seth likes to play—at least, not for this girl who helped herself to our cabin. We never considered needing a Keep Out sign, but I’m thinking about it now.

Maybe one that says Beware of Dog.

I’ve got the leash out and ready for Seth when his eyes flare wide with surprise. I watch as Seth pulls his hand back to examine the crimson coating his fingers. “Fuck, she’s already broken.”

My gaze searches her leg for a wound. “She’s hurt?”

“Who gives a shit?” Khalil snaps. “Who is she?”

“How would I know? She’s either lost or right where she wants to be. Either way, she’s a problem.” Khalil doesn’t respond, but his expression twists as he stares past me, drawing my gaze back to Seth. “No, don’t—”

Seth slips Zeke’s bloody fingers between his lips and hums.

Khalil gags even as he walks over to the bed for a closer look at our trespasser. “Zeke, you know I love you like a brother, but you got to reign in the weirdness, man.”

“She tastes like the sun.”

Khalil’s weirded-out gaze flicks to him. “Or not.”

“He’s not Zeke.”

Khalil’s frown deepens, and then he gives Ezekiel a careful once-over. He’d heard the variation in Zeke’s tone and accent earlier but probably dismissed it.

Khalil isn’t ignoring it now.

He takes in the new confident posture, the wildness in Seth’s gaze that replaces Zeke’s melancholy, and the dark hair now slicked back instead of shielding his green eyes before Khalil explodes.

“Aw, fuck. Fuck! FUCK! FUUUUUUCK!” Khalil takes an astonished step backward and then forward again. “Seth?”

Seth sketches a mocking bow. “Been a long time, bitches. Missed you.”

Khalil just looks at me for an explanation.

I shrug a little too casually, considering shit just got exponentially worse. My head is already throbbing. “Zeke must have seen this bitch and split,” I explain with a nod to the sleeping girl on the bed.

Khalil turns back in time to see Seth crawling onto the bed. He’s already sneaking a hand up this foolish girl’s dress.

Who the fuck does she think she is, letting herself in and making herself at home? This cabin and mountain are ours.

Khalil’s reflexes are legendary, his aim precise as an arrow as he lunges, catapulting himself over the girl and tackling Seth off the bed. Khalil’s arm rears back once they hit the floor, and then I hear more than I see the punch land. A rapid flurry of vicious blows follows.

“Zeke!” he calls in between punches. “Zeke, you fucking coward. Get out here!”

If only it were so simple.

Seth doesn’t ever give up control of Zeke’s body until he’s good and ready. The only one who can make him is Bane, and that animal is an even bigger pain to deal with. Bane doesn’t give a shit what problems Seth causes us as long as he isn’t trying to hurt Zeke.

It’s as convoluted as it sounds, but this is our life—a never-ending cycle of violence and blood.

My gaze unwillingly returns to the girl.

She has no idea what kind of hell she’s walked into, but the moment she wakes her ass up, we’re going to show her.

Isaac and his flock aren’t the only reason we’re hiding on this mountain. Zeke, Seth, and Bane don’t do well around others, and we refuse to let the courts lock them up, so Khalil and I took our brother and fled.

“No can do,” Seth taunts. His mouth is already filling with blood when he bares his teeth more than smiles at Khalil. “Zeke’s sleeping.”

Beating Seth to a pulp will get us nowhere, so I walk over and wrestle Khalil off him. He hurls obscenities and threats as I put distance between them while Seth rolls onto his side and groans. I don’t have to question if Khalil got in more than a few good shots.

But he’s still no match for Bane, and we don’t need him waking up if Khalil does too much damage to Zeke’s body.

I shove Khalil to the other side of the room, back near the door, to keep them apart. Khalil wastes no time trying to put his fist through the wall. The only thing he succeeds in doing is splitting the skin around his knuckles. The moment he draws blood, I stomp over and snatch his hand away before the idiot breaks it.

Khalil shoves me away, and my spine smarts when I fly back and crash into the bedpost. The tides have turned, and we’re glaring at each other now as we both try to remember why we can’t tear each other apart. Unlike me, Seth won’t bother trying to break it up. He’ll gleefully watch us kill each other, so I quickly get my temper under control.

Khalil does the same.

“Fuck, it feels good to be free.” Seth rises to his feet and stretches Zeke’s muscles as if he’s indeed been caged for months.

Six, to be exact.

The last time Zeke split and let one of his alters take over had been after a particularly bad nightmare—one terrifying enough to feel real. It had taken us weeks to force Seth back, and during that time, he’d nearly driven us all insane.

Hence Khalil’s reaction to seeing him back.

“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it,” Khalil snarls at him.

Seth feigns a pout and then takes a bored look around the room. I see the moment his gaze catches on the cuffs still looped around the bedposts from the last time he visited us. For the first time, he looks nervous, casting a wary look at us.

I hold his gaze, silently communicating that we’ll use them again if he steps even one foot out of line.

Seth snorts to save face and then returns his attention to the sleeping girl. “I see you two finally stopped being boring,” he says coolly. “Who’s the toy, and when can I play with her?”

“We don’t know,” I answer. “We just found her here, same as you.” Seth hums, the green in his eyes turning acidic as he stares at her. And then he reaches down to adjust his hard-on. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Why not?” he challenges. Seth’s amused gaze flicks over my shoulder, and then he’s smiling like he knows something I don’t. “I’m not the only one.”

Frowning, I look for Khalil and see he’s gravitated back to the bed again. He’s got one arm resting on the canopy as he stares down at our mystery girl with this intensity that can only mean trouble.

I can see him tracing her curves, and there are plenty . He’s making a roadmap of every line he wants to explore—and all the ones he’ll stomp all over if she doesn’t play ball.

Khalil Poverly is somewhat of a legend back in the civilized world—not just from his fighting days but how voraciously he pursued the opposite sex. He was the same in high school, bedding all the girls in our town—and the neighboring ones, too—like it was his mission in life to fuck himself to death.

Going cold turkey had really taken its toll on him the most. It even got so bad he begged me for a handjob once.

I…don’t want to talk about it.

“Stay focused,” I snap.

I don’t bother keeping my voice down, either. The girl hasn’t woken yet and probably won’t anytime soon. The cabin could collapse around her, and she’ll likely sleep through it. From the way things are going, that just might happen.

The idea of fighting my brothers tastes like ash in my mouth, but we don’t need the trouble this girl will inevitably bring.

We need to get rid of her.

Khalil’s voice is thick with lust when he speaks. “Look at her, brother.”

“I’ve seen her.”

I’m wound tight and feeling all kinds of exposed when he drags his gaze away from the girl to hold mine. “Then look again and tell me you don’t want a piece.”

I can’t.

I’ve been so careful not to let my attention linger for that very reason. It feels like a trap for how tempting she is. How easily she calls to my baser instincts like a dog to a whistle. It’s all too convenient how she just appeared out of thin air right when the three of us were splitting at the seams.

I know I shouldn’t trust it, but my dick doesn’t care. Spy or not, she’s a warm, wet hole to get lost in.

Unable to resist the pull, my magnetized gaze is drawn back to the bed, and I don’t look away this time. I drink her in like I’m dying of thirst, and she’s an oasis in the middle of the desert.

Because she fucking is.

She’s everything we’ve been silently craving. The only thing we’ve been without in nine long celibate years.

She’s on her back, but her head is thrown to the side, exposing the graceful slope of her neck and hiding some of her face.

The half I can see pours liquid fire into my belly and hardens my cock.

Even with her eyes closed, she’s fucking breathtaking.

And her body? Fuck me. I want to commit despicable acts to that body.

There’s no recognition, but it doesn’t calm the violence swirling inside, pushing me to punish her for finding us and stirring this storm inside of me.

Maybe if I explore all those curves, I’ll uncover all her secrets.

Those wide hips, fuckable tits, and thick thighs would be a perfect place to start. She’s more Khalil’s type than mine, but those lips…those plump, rosy lips were molded for fucking, and I can’t look away. They’re parted as she sleeps, and the soft snores that escape sound like moans to my horny ears.

Take it.

She wants it.

She’s practically begging for it.

Mine.

I inhale deeply, but it’s a mistake. Her scent fills my nose, and I groan. Her perfume or shampoo pollutes the air, mixing with her sweat and blood and lingering terror. It’s fading, but it’s there. Something inside me clings to it.

Chases it.

Wants it.

“Dibs on her ass,” Seth blurts, breaking the spell.

Suddenly, I’m aware that I’m standing closer to the bed, my hand reaching for…I quickly lower it before anyone notices.

“How do you think she got here?” Khalil asks. He’s all business once again—at least for now.

“She came from the sky,” Seth answers reverently, and I groan. He’s already obsessed, and we don’t even know her name.

“Seth,” I force out through gritted teeth. “She didn’t—”

I stop myself when I remember the plane crash. I’m too used to dismissing the shit Seth spews as insanity, but right now, it’s the only thing that makes sense.

These mountains are mostly uncharted and closed to tourists for most of the year. No one else lives here or even comes this far up. It’s too dangerous. We’ve been the only ones desperate enough to take our chances with the mountain rather than what’s waiting for us the moment we step off it.

Wanting his thoughts, I look to Khalil. Feeling my attention, he finally tears his gaze away from the girl’s tits long enough to shrug noncommittally before going right back to ogling her.

I’m pretty sure he’s already worked out what position he wants her in first. As for how much he’ll take before he’s satisfied, there’s no telling.

“All right. Well, whatever. We need to get rid of her,” I announce firmly.

Both of their gazes snap to mine, and the sheer panic in them tells me that getting Khalil and Seth to see reason will be an uphill battle. And whenever it’s two against one, blood is almost always shed.

“Why the fuck would we do that?” Khalil barks. “She looks so…so fucking ripe .”

Ripe for fucking, he means.

And he will, even if she doesn’t spread her legs on her own. He’s too hungry for it.

We’re not the men we used to be. On this mountain, the rules are what we say, and in return for that power and safe asylum, the wilds severed the chains of societal law—and our morality with it.

“She’s a gift,” Seth whispers from my right. I turn my head toward him to see that he’s inched a little closer to the bed. Fuck. “She’s ours.” He reaches a hand out for her, but my voice stops him.

“No.” He looks at me and tilts his head in question. I shake mine and sigh. “We can’t keep her, buddy. I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

My lips part, but when no words come, I look to Khalil for help. He only cocks a brow at me and doesn’t step in to help.

Asshole.

Khalil’s better at getting through to Zeke and his alters because while I’m more disciplined than him, Khalil is far more nurturing.

“She might be one of them,” I remind these idiots. “She could be a spy for Isaac.”

Seth stiffens and then backs away a step. I hate myself for it—using Zeke’s trauma against him when Seth himself is a product of the horrors Zeke faced at his brother’s hands. Seth being there for Zeke when we couldn’t and taking his pain is the only reason we let him stick around.

At least for a little while.

“All the more reason to keep her here,” Khalil retorts. “She can’t tell him what she knows with my dick in her mouth.”

My anger surges as I whirl on him. “Can you think about anything else?” I snap.

Khalil blinks at me and, with absolutely no fucks in his tone, says, “No.”

“ Try . And in case you didn’t notice, she’s a problem, not a plaything, Poverly.”

“I can smell her pussy from here,” Seth says rabidly.

The sheer hunger in his voice has me spinning around in time to see him climbing on the bed, his hand unzipping his snowsuit, and his gaze intent on the girl still sleeping soundly and blissfully unaware of the danger she’s in.

I’m no one’s goddamn white knight, and frankly, I don’t give a shit what happens to this bitch. I’m trying to shield my brothers from the fallout of biting into forbidden fruit.

I grab Seth’s nape with one hand and his jaw with my other, and I don’t bother with being gentle when I haul him back off the bed.

“I said no, Ezekiel.”

“Not Ezekiel!” he yells. “Seth!”

“Fine,” I concede, silently cursing my slip. “Seth.”

“To reject this gift is to defy Death,” he immediately babbles. “The Savior won’t like this. He’ll punish us. He’ll—”

I’ve heard enough. “Keep that murdering nutcase out of your head and take your meds!” I roar.

“This is stupid,” Khalil grumbles. “Why can’t we do both? Use her and then get rid of her. Everyone wins. Well, except her, but who cares?”

I let Seth go to face Khalil.

“That may have worked back in the real world, but out here, women aren’t lining up to fuck Khalil Poverly. There’s only one. So, can you really do it? Can you use her once and then toss her, knowing it will be another nine years—maybe more—before you get another?” I lean in, my voice almost taunting. “If ever?”

Khalil’s brown eyes glow possessively now at the thought of his new toy being taken so soon.

Behind me, Seth’s breathing quickens.

I thought so.

“We both know Zeke can’t handle it out there, and Isaac will never stop looking for him. We’re trapped here,” I remind them both. “It would be so easy to trap her, too. We could tie her down if she fights it and make her ours. We could use her sweet pussy, abuse that ridiculously lush body, and there’s nothing she can do about it. No one to hear her scream. Nowhere she can run.” My voice dips lower. “A few more days and what’s left of that plane will be buried under snow until spring. No one will ever find her. You know they won’t. This is our mountain.” I can feel myself growing harder with every word, but I don’t stop. God, I don’t think I can. “So, can you really do it? Can you give that up? Give her up?”

Khalil drops his head and rubs a callused thumb over his torn-up knuckles. He gives himself away, though, when he steals another peek at our impudent intruder.

Khalil is a certified pussy fiend. A fighter and a lover.

One hit is all it will take to make him an addict.

“That’s what I thought,” I say smugly.

Khalil rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. “You made your point, asshole, but tell me this,” he demands before I can give the order to dump her ass off the nearest cliff. “What exactly were you trying to accomplish with that little speech? Who were you trying to convince? Us to let her go? Or you to keep her?” Khalil’s gaze pointedly falls to my crotch and the not-so-subtle hard-on I have for this girl.

“She goes.”

“Sure. But we should probably question her first,” Khalil suggests sarcastically. “See what she knows.”

Questioning her means risking the chance that this spell of hers takes root. On the other hand, my male ego can’t handle the idea of running scared from this slip of a woman.

“Fine. I’ll do it and let you know what I find out. You two can go.” I nod to the door.

Khalil’s glower returns, and Seth begins his agitated pacing. “Why do you get to question her?”

“Because I’m the only one thinking straight.”

“Yeah, Thor. I’m sure she’ll tell you everything she knows with your boner in her face.”

“It’ll go down!”

“When?” he taunts. I want to wipe that smug look away with my fists. “I bet you’re thinking about fucking her right now, aren’t you? You’re bigger and stronger. Sleeping Beauty doesn’t stand a chance of fighting you off. You could wake her up with your cock. She’s pretty fucking out of it. You could be balls deep before she even opens her eyes.”

“The sun is rising,” Seth cuts in, sounding uncharacteristically panicked.

Khalil and I ignore his useless babbling. “It’s not enough that you’re obsessed with your own dick, but you have to be obsessed with mine too?”

“Get the fuck over yourself,” Khalil barks. “It was one handjob, and as I recall, I returned the favor, so you can just—”

The sudden rustling of sheets and movement from the corner of my eye shut us both up. At first, I assume it’s Seth making a play for the girl again while I’m distracted. I’m mid-sigh when I realize he’s frozen where I left him.

Oh, fuck.

I turn toward the bed in time to see the girl sitting up.

Her frostbitten arms are stretched wide above her head as she yawns. Slowly, her eyes open, revealing dark-brown irises. She blinks one, two, three times, and then her gaze widens when she realizes she’s not alone.

If I were capable of finding anything about this funny, I’d laugh at how the three of us are frozen like deer in headlights while this girl, easily half our size, takes her time assessing which one of us she’ll eat first.

“You’re here,” she greets, and if her voice weren’t filled with sleep, there would be no emotion at all. She speaks as if she’s in charge. Fucking laughable. “It’s about time. I’ve been waiting.”