Page 14

Seth

L ux cowered under my desk, her rabbit-like pulse practically shook the floorboards.

She was completely naked, other than the cross strap of the bag I’d given her at the start of the night.

Her once long and wavy hair was matted with sticks, like it’d been full of mud and then dried.

Her hands and legs were spattered with blood, but it didn’t look like it’d belonged to her.

The only wounds decorating Lux were slight scrapes, likely from running around outside, and bruises.

Never had a bride even thought to prowl around in my library, let alone find those. And I wasn’t sure what to do about this faux pas. Anyone with an ounce of decency knew not to look for what their host had hidden. But our Little Light didn’t seem to be very ladylike .

I stood slowly, not wanting to jostle the surrounding air more than needed. Normally, I didn’t shower until the full moon was done. But this whole thing had me so on edge that I needed the feeling of water on my skin.

But now that I was out of the shower, my body still buzzed from the steam, and the rapidly cooling droplets, mixed with the damp towel sticking to my waist, had formed my own personal hell.

My knees cracked as I stood up and fingered the first drawer on my desk. It slid open just in time for Lux to shift. My skin prickled with the movement, and my jaw locked. The razor-sharp fangs the WRAITH project decided I needed dug into my lower lip, causing tears to prick my eyes.

The taste of copper danced on my tongue as I patted around the drawer before finding the plastic frames of my glasses.

I’d never needed them before the experiments, but after I lived for a month with nothing other than my sense of touch, my vision never fully came back.

Like some type of fucked up joke.

For the most part, the others healed. Ronan was fine. Cassian was fine. Solomon couldn’t smell the best, but that was it. I was the only one permanently damaged.

Sure, glasses fixed most of it, but losing sight wasn’t the worst part. It was the chronic overstimulation, the need to trudge around in fleece-lined clothing to prevent everything from being overwhelming, even in the summer.

Fuck—if my skin got slightly too dry, it felt like I would explode.

My life had become a series of endless steps to make what I’d become somewhat more bearable.

And for a while, I thought I wanted to be loved.

Somehow, in my fucked up mind, if we could find someone to shine despite our darkness, that we could bask in the glow and heal.

All we needed was a little light.

But we were now ninety minutes away from sunrise, and somehow, Lux Rhodes had not only survived, she appeared to be thriving.

Most brides were dead by now, or simply being toyed with. Sometimes tortured. But, Lux, while scared out of her mind, still roamed the house. No mortal wounds. Nothing that would even scar.

I should have yelled for Ronan the second I felt the air shift in here. He wouldn’t hesitate to rip her apart limb from limb. The thought caused me to grip the desk so hard that I was shocked it didn’t splinter.

Once a month, a woman must die. As is written, not in stone, but in our way of life.

I’ve grown used to this, and though I’d started this evening praying that Lux could be our Little Light, our bride, the one who loved us though we’d forgotten how to love ourselves, the thought of changing our routine killed me.

On our worst days, we were no better than sharks. Mindless creatures driven by a hunger that food could never satisfy, and little to no impulse control. We knew not to attack each other, but Lux would be different, right ? And, when blood lingered in the water, what existed to stop the slaughter?

Nothing.

One of us would snap, hurt, or even kill her, and the family we’d cobbled together would dissolve.

I could feel as Ronan stalked the halls. His steps were far too heavy, leaving the earth to rumble under my feet. That meant I should march over to that door, tear it off its hinges, and demand he take care of the pest in my office. After all, it wasn’t in my nature to hurt a lady.

But something heavy in my chest anchored me in place. I slid my glasses into position, careful not to drag them across my skin. I blinked twice as the world came into view, and once more, I crouched down to look at Lux.

She shook like a leaf, but didn’t dare move, other than to shift her bag to her lap.

“I’m going to count to three, and you’re going to crawl out from under the desk. If you cannot do so, I will come and get you.” I stood once more after my warning. “If I have to come get you, I will make anything else that happened this evening look like child’s play.”

I turned and faced the now-empty wall, glaring at the outline of the missing portrait before counting.

“One.” I kept my tone clipped, knowing she’d fucking test me.

Because, why wouldn’t she? She’d already learned my name and made it further than most other brides. Who knew what the fuck she’d done to my men.

I forced out an irritated breath. “Two.”

Lux breathed, stirring the air around us, but it was a sign she’d braced herself for what was to come.

“I swear to God , if I get to three–”

The floor creaked. The slow brush of her hand followed the sound. Goosebumps prickled my skin, and I cursed myself for taking a fucking shower. This would have been so much easier with my mask and heavy jacket.

I turned on my heels, and at first, I didn’t see Lux. Then, I looked a little lower. She was still on the ground, now positioned on her hands and knees. Her gaze was trained on mine, and thanks to my glasses, I now had a much better picture of Lux’s wounds.

Most of her bruises seemed intentional, except for the ones on her back. She hadn’t died , not yet. But tonight certainly hadn’t been easy for her.

And though she looked scared, no part of her looked ready to beg for mercy.

“Up,” I ordered.

Without thinking, I extended a hand.

Her eyes flicked to my palm, and then to me. Lux didn’t take my hand, and I wasn’t sure she’d considered it for even a moment. Instead, she pushed herself up, using the desk to steady her posture.

Lux’s whole body shook, and I could tell by the gentle sway in her stance that she was exhausted . It was likely that her adrenaline had run dry, leaving her to face the rest of the evening on her own.

Good .

I curled the fingers of my outstretched hand into a fist, letting it fall to my side.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” I asked, doing my best to sound calm rather than paranoid.

Lux gnawed on her lip for a beat, and I wanted to scream at her to stop. Just watching her caused my skin to crawl. And then, her chin tipped up and her face turned into the picture of defiance .

Something in her stubbornness caused my stomach to twist.

“No.” Her voice was raw and barely audible. “Your handwriting’s shit, by the way.”

I blinked twice. “Excuse me?”

Lux crossed her arms to her chest and cocked a hip against the desk. “Your handwriting is shit . It’s barely fucking legible. I think most preschoolers could keep a better journal than you.”

My chest heaved. I couldn’t remember a bride ever being this mouthy.

But, fuck me, I liked it.

“Which files did you read?” I pointed at the stack on the desk.

She flicked her hair over a shoulder and shrugged.

“Nothing important. They mentioned your name a lot.” A teasing lilt decorated her words.

I took a step closer, and despite all her bravado, she flinched. Lux recovered quickly, but I could tell how hard it was getting for her to hide her fear.

“I bet you think we’re monsters ,” I rasped.

That was the only word for us.

But, Lux shook her head. “I know you’re human. All of you, even Solomon.”

I breathed a little slower at the mention of another’s name. She wasn’t supposed to have my name, let alone anyone else’s. And, while I should have been mad at that fact, I couldn’t get over the sound of Solomon on her lips . Anger flared in my chest.

This was my house. My game. My pack of rejected super soldiers. The only name on her lips should have been mine.

My fingers twitched at my sides, begging to dig into her flesh. I didn’t hurt women. It was impolite, but, fuck she was doing something dangerous to me.

“Bet you’ve fucked all of them tonight, haven’t you?”

Another step closer, and another flinch back. She nearly sat on my desk now.

“Yeah. I have,” she said, unabashedly. “I thought that was part of the game.”

The twist in my stomach tightened.

“How many of them came in you?” I barely managed the words through my gritted teeth.

“All except Solomon.”

There it was again. His name on her lips.

His name on my lips. Everything about Lux Rhodes was made for me.

Made for me to worship . Made for me to keep .

Made for me to ruin. No one else, and though I never minded sharing with my comrades, the sound of Solomon’s name on her tongue was enough to make me snap.

With one hand, I held her wrists, the other, I tangled in her hair. Yanking on the strands, I forced her to look up at me. Her lips parted, big, dark, doe eyes stared into mine. I shoved her the rest of the way onto the desk, nearly knocking over my monitor.

She gasped but didn’t scream, and I savored how soft her skin was against mine. Most times, it hurt to touch or be touched, but not right now. For the first time since the experiments, the warmth of another’s body felt good.

I barely had time to process that fact because she spread her thighs without needing to be asked.

What a good fucking girl.

“Even with all of them, you still want me? Greedy Little Light.” I scoffed, looking down at her with mock disdain.

A shy smile curled one side of her full lips. That was the first thing I’d noticed about this bride; everything about her looked so soft, so inviting, so touchable .

Mine. Mine. Mine.