Page 28 of Die for You (Diamond Devils #4)

Finn

She’s ours. Fully ours. As long as we can keep her.

Aurora was so brave in that courtroom. Speaking in front of a judge to tell her all about the hell that asshole put her through.

Something I fantasized about doing to my own mother as a kid.

Telling a cop, a judge, somebody about all the ways she made my sister cry.

How she silenced me, screaming at me every time I spoke.

Locking me in my room for so many hours, they turned into days. Silence my only companion.

I’ve never been more proud of Aurora than when she strode out of that courtroom with a huge grin on her face.

But I’m not convinced that’s the last we’ll be seeing of the asshole. So I’ll be keeping an eye on him.

Damien’s SUV comes to a lurching halt in a deserted parking lot on campus. Dusk casts the nearby woods in deepening shades of burnt orange and red. “Get out.”

At Damien’s order, Aurora balks. Her brown eyes harden. Delicious mouth puffing out in a perfect pout. “What?”

From the driver’s seat, Damien turns to face her. “Get. Out. And run.”

A smile tugs at the edge of my lips. This will be fun. After all the stress of dealing with Aurora’s ex, classes, practice, and games, we could all use a night off.

“What the hell is going on?” Her glare swings between the three of us. So fucking adorable when she pretends to defy us. “I said I wanted you to take me home .”

“You are home,” Knox insists.

Aurora’s brows furrow, and she opens her mouth to protest, but I cut her off. “With us.”

That snaps her lips closed. She knows. This is where she belongs. With us. We’re her home now. And she’s ours.

Knox grins at her from the passenger seat. “You said you wanted to be chased. So run, angel. And don’t let your devils catch you.”

“What happens if you do?” She’s doing her best to sound coy, but there’s a hint of nervousness behind those brown eyes.

“Exactly what you want to happen,” Damien rumbles. “We’re going to make you forget everything but our names.”

Her suspicious gaze roves over our suits. “You’re going to chase me in those clothes?”

“Would you rather we chase you naked?” Damien drawls. “That can be arranged.”

Knox grimaces. “Speak for yourself. Sounds painful.”

I hook my finger under her chin and squeeze. She winces, but she doesn’t object or pull away. She loves everything we want to give her. “Welcome to your fantasy, baby.”

A flicker of a smile pulls on her lips.

“Last warning, angel,” Damien calls. “ Run .”

Aurora doesn’t hesitate for another second. She shoves the door open and leaps out, sprinting right for the woods. “You’re all crazy!” she shouts without looking back.

Damien chuckles. “We’ll give her a head start. She’s going to need it.”

He’s right. Her hips sway, arms swinging comically, and her hair floats behind her, but she’s not moving fast. She’s a musician, not a runner. She doesn’t have the endurance for this. But she’ll build up an endurance for us.

My mouth salivates. I already can’t wait to get my hands on her. Inside Damien’s SUV and that dark room at the Sigma Chi party were a sampling. Appetizers. I’ve been starving for her ever since.

We meander out of the car, and Damien pops the trunk. “Good thing we’ve got our gym shit back here.”

From our duffle bags, we dig through shorts, trainers, socks, joggers, and compression shirts.

I toss my jacket, slacks, and button-up in Damien’s trunk.

Aurora might like us dressed up, but every time I put on the stiff, starchy clothes, I want to rip them off.

For her, though, I’d wear them every day.

I opt for joggers and trainers, skipping the shirt. She’ll like that.

Damien claps me on the bare shoulder. “You get the license plate number?”

On my phone, I show him the note. The license plate number I jotted down before the Crowders sped off in their Mercedes.

“Atta boy.” Knox grins.

I’ll do what I can to track their movements. Who knows how much of what his mother said to Aurora was bullshit. Moving back home, leaving her alone. Aurora’s confident that he values money more than her, enough to stay away.

I need more convincing. Insurance. This is a start.

Along with their names, addresses, property values, phone numbers, email addresses, business addresses?—

“That whole story about him moving back home with mommy and daddy could all be bullshit.” Knox’s usual grin is replaced with a frown, a line between his brows. “We need to make sure they actually follow through.”

Damien folds his arms as he stares after Aurora, who has finally disappeared into the woods. “I don’t want that asshole within fifty miles of her again.”

I nod. We’ll keep him away from her. No matter what it takes.

Finally, we slide our masks over our faces. Identical gas masks so maybe in the dark, Aurora won’t know which Devil has caught her.

But even in the dark, even beneath a mask, I hope she’ll know it’s me when I get my hands on her. Whisper my name. Tug me closer.

Knox tips his head back and lets out a howl that echoes beneath his mask. Damien barks a laugh, and we take off. Sprinting at full speed for the woods. Each determined to catch her first.

Will she crash through the woods in front of us, leading us right to her? Scream as she hears our footsteps getting closer? Or will she try to hide?

Beneath my mask, I grin. Can’t wait to find out.

My teammates’ footsteps thunder beside me for a few seconds before I edge past them. Damien is a bull on the ice and Knox a wolf, but I’m a bullet. On and off the ice.

I’m the first to clatter into the woods, twigs and leaves crunching beneath my trainers. Canopies of the trees shut out what little light remains as dusk settles. In the woods ahead, no one screams or runs or pants a breath.

So she’s hiding. I love a good round of hide and seek.

Silently, I slip through the trees. Haven’t even broken a sweat, my heart rate barely above resting.

Yards behind me, Knox and Damien crash into the woods.

“You see anything?” Knox’s voice is muffled beneath the mask.

“I don’t even fucking hear anything,” Damien growls.

I nearly chuckle. They’ll never hear anything if they don’t shut up. She’ll hear them coming and sneak away before they realize they were within twenty feet of her.

Knox likes the chase. Damien likes the fear. But I like the catch.

And the only way I’m catching her is if she doesn’t see or hear me coming. The silent shadow amongst the trees. The masked man just a step, a breath, away before his hand covers her mouth.

A muted crackle beneath my shoe. I wince. Freeze long enough to listen for her movements if she’s anywhere close.

Nothing.

Not close yet. My feet keep moving. I have a lot of experience stalking through the world in silence. She doesn’t stand a chance.

My cock twitches with anticipation. We’ll have to do this again after tonight. Already know once won’t be enough.

“Come out, angel.” Damien’s voice floats out in the still quiet of the woods. A few yards away.

No movement. Not a peep. She’s better at this than I thought she’d be. We’ll reward her well.

“There!” Knox shouts.

A cacophony of movement. Thundering footsteps, snapping bark, crunching leaves. Whoops of victory from Knox and Damien.

My stomach dips. Fuck. I should’ve gone with them. Now they’ll get to her first.

In the darkness a few feet ahead, a small, shadowy figure emerges from behind a tree. She glances over her shoulder, at the noise of the Devils heading in the opposite direction.

They must’ve spotted something else. A deer or something. A trick of the light.

Because our angel is here. Right in front of me.

Her attention remains on the chaos yards away from her as she backs away slowly, careful not to make a single sound.

She doesn’t notice the shadow sneaking up on her. Not until my hand clamps over her mouth.

Our angel screams beneath my palm, thrashing until I pin her against the bark. Her wide-eyed gaze darts between her surroundings and the black gas mask covering my face. But it’s not enough to conceal my identity from her. Once she realizes it’s me, her muscles relax and she stops resisting.

Aurora grins beneath my palm, and I drop it to pin her shoulders to the bark instead. My finger grazes over her cheek, her jaw, and her lips part.

With her mouth free, she whispers, “You’re not going to call them over?”

The three of us have always shared. In the years since we’ve known each other, it’s been rare for any of us to take a girl back home alone. And if we didn’t want to share a puck bunny, we’d invite her friend.

But I want some time with Aurora to myself before I share her. All of her attention. Her eyes only on me. My name the only one that leaves her lips.

Too dark now to use my hands to communicate. Damien and Knox have no problem using their words with her. Knox makes her laugh. Damien challenges her.

What do I do for her? Nothing that would ever make her choose me.

All these years later, I still hear my mother’s voice lashing through me. Shut the fuck up. I don’t want to hear your voice. The way she dropped hers an octave to mock me.

For Aurora, I swallow that familiar lump in my throat. For Aurora, I shove down years of conditioning and force words out of my mouth.

“You’re mine.” My mask brushes her cheek, the words grinding against my throat. An itch I can’t scratch. Beneath me, she shivers. “Not ready to share yet.”

She hasn’t heard my voice many times, but when she has, she’s never mocked it. Even before she’d finally warmed up to us. Since I hit puberty, people have been asking what’s wrong with me. Laryngitis? Bronchitis? Most eventually assumed I was faking it for attention.

But never Aurora.

In the darkness, her hand grazes down my throat, resting on my Adam’s apple as it bobs. “I love hearing your voice,” she murmurs. “I love when you speak, just for me.”

In the ensuing silence, my heart damn near stops.

No one has ever said they loved my voice before. No one. The closest any woman’s ever come to saying she loves me.