Page 37 of Martyr (Sterling Falls Rogues #3)

Reese, Jace, Apollo, and I are almost back to the VIP room when the sounds of sex stop us. Reese looks from Jace to Apollo, his eyes crinkling with his smile.

“Maybe you guys should get back to your house. Check on Kora and Wolfe,” he suggests. “Clear out for a few hours…”

Jace huffs, seemingly caught between amused and disgusted. Apollo, though, is firmly in the disgusted camp. He grabs Jace and hauls him back the way we came.

I snicker at their hasty exit, then focus on Reese.

“What?” I question.

“I’m just…” Reese sighs. “I don’t know what to think about you.”

I sober. “That’s understandable.”

“Do we trust you? After everything?—”

“Yes,” I say simply. “I regret the decisions I made that led us to here. And I will spend however long it takes apologizing for them.”

The truth of the matter is, I thought Ouranos was right.

In the beginning anyway. He was a means to an end when I first arrived, and then I got sucked in and lost my moral compass.

Clearly , I couldn’t see what was right in front of my face: that his takeover of Sterling Falls would result in a lot of deaths.

I believed him when he said it would be peaceful and that the things he was setting into motion were for a gentle takeover.

Then he set a rabid dog— Gabriel —loose.

“Okay,” Reese says. “Artemis is the final judgment call on that, man. But it means a lot for me to hear you say that.”

I smile just as the sounds of Tem’s climax reaches us.

Damn, that’s hot .

Without another word, Reese and I enter the room.

I’m not sure exactly what I pictured, but Tem straddling Saint, with his hand on the back of her neck and their intense eye contact, was not it.

They’re not kissing, but her hips move slowly.

They don’t notice us—they’re locked in an intimate moment, which is the first I’ve seen of them in a while.

And they’re fully clothed except for where they’re joined… which just won’t do.

Anticipation prickles at my skin, but I hesitate. After everything, I don’t know if my touch is welcome. Reese strides forward, but I hang back. He makes a comment that has Artemis focusing on him, and her lazy smile creates a knot of tension in my chest.

He kisses her.

“Kade,” Saint rumbles.

I focus on him, and shock flickers through me. He seems different. He’s the version of Saint Hart that I expected to find on Isle of Paradise. Cocky, self-assured. Aware of our history and not afraid of it.

“You remember?”

He nods. He doesn’t seem to mind that Reese and Artemis are now making out while he’s still inside her. He just leans back, giving them room, and inclines his chin.

A dare.

I take a step forward. Then another.

“Saint, I?—”

“Save it for later,” he says. His body flexes, hips thrusting his cock into Tem, and she moans into Reese’s mouth. “Come here.”

I approach. I stop at the edge of the table. Reese has a knee on the seat and a hand planted next to Tem’s thigh. I stare at them, at their tongues, and my heart skips.

She breaks away and focuses on me. Her gaze sharpens.

Here comes the part where she tells me to get lost. She reaches out and curls her fingers around the top edge of my vest. Instead of shoving me away, she drags me in. I catch myself on the table and lean in.

She kisses me.

She’s kissing me.

Why is she kissing me?

Every warm feeling about her, that I’ve been trying to bury for weeks, suddenly rushes to the surface. I didn’t want to become attached. I didn’t want to think about her at night. I didn’t want to betray her to save Reese.

My heart cracks open at all I put her through.

All I put them through. Saint and Tem and Reese—they’ve been a unit, and I’ve been their opposition.

Why?

Fucking why ?

I pull away and shake my head, but she still has a hold on my vest. She hangs on, not allowing me to get far.

“I’m sorry,” I blurt out. Saint said to save it, but I can’t contain myself. “I’m so fucking sorry, Artemis.”

She exhales.

“You’re in a burning building,” Reese says suddenly. “Who are you saving?”

I meet Tem’s eyes. “You.”

Her brows furrow.

“You’re in a burning building,” Reese says again, but this time, he’s staring at Saint. “Who are you saving?”

“We’ve already had this conversation,” Saint says.

He grasps Tem’s hips and lifts her off him. Reese helps her stand, and he pulls her pants up. His tattooed cock stands at attention, the head an angry red color. It’s the only part that isn’t covered in ink. The length of him is wet from Tem’s pussy.

Reese jerks. “You?—”

“I’d dive back into it for any of you,” he finishes.

“This is a hypothetical, though,” Artemis says slowly. She buttons her pants and frowns. “And no one asked who I would save.”

“You’d save all of us,” I say.

“You already have,” Reese adds.

She smiles.

It feels like a moment that should be underlined and saved

“Poor Saint,” I murmur, focusing back on him. “You didn’t come?”

He hasn’t moved, but now he swings his legs around. I step out of the way and allow him the space to hop to his feet. He drags his jeans back up over his boner, somehow managing to get the zipper up and the button done.

“Time for that later,” he says.

Artemis looks ready to argue, but he shakes his head.

“No. Let’s deal with our problems so it isn’t hanging over us.”

He has a point.

“Ouranos,” Reese says. “And the Cyclopes.”

Artemis sighs and rubs her eyes. “Bradshaw is in the hospital… but do we know where Malik is? Didn’t Gabriel say he might be here? I can’t believe I forgot?—”

“You were a bit distracted,” Reese murmurs.

I frown. “He wasn’t in the building. We cleared the whole thing.”

Saint grabs her hand and kisses her knuckles. “We’ll find him.”

“He’s like family,” she says to me and Reese. “I grew up…”

“You were in the Hell Hounds?” I ask. That’s news to me.

“No.” She climbs down from the seat and slips between us.

On the other table are her weapons that she unloaded earlier.

“No, I didn’t. Apollo, Jace, and Wolfe did, and I was…

around. Where else would I have gone? Malik was always like a brother to them.

An older, annoying brother. He taught them the ropes.

And, by default, I was the annoying little sister tagging along when Cerberus wasn’t looking. ”

Saint snorts.

“From Terror to the Hell Hounds…” Reese seems stricken. “And you can still smile?”

“I’m sure you saw worse.” She peeks over her shoulder at us. “You were deployed. You saw real war. You smile just fine.”

“He didn’t for a while, Tem,” I tell her.

“The military was penance.” Reese elbows me. “It’s fine.”

“You know what isn’t fine?” Tem turns around.

The handgun is back in its holster at her hip, the wide belt accenting her figure.

The Kevlar vest is strapped on tight, and she holds the rifle her brother gave her.

I’m sure the rest of her magazines are in pockets, a knife in her boot…

Everything about her screams warrior . But she’s not, is she?

She’s a martyr for this city. She’d rather die for it than see it ruined.

Hell, she proved that by coming back here. By enduring everything she’s been through.

She flicks her braid over her shoulder. “People come into this city with plans . They keep trying to take what’s ours. But it isn’t for sale. It’s not up for grabs. And we don’t go down without a fight.”

Reese sucks in a breath. One look at his face tells me everything: he’s invested.

He didn’t answer his own question—about the burning building—but I have no doubt he would run through Hell to save Artemis.

Tem lifts her chin. “Lucky for you guys, I have a plan.”