Page 42 of These Monstrous Ties

I close my eyes, a smile on my lips. “You don’t know me.”

He kisses my lips, my cheeks, my nose. My brow.

“I don’t leave what’s mine. We can take forever getting to know each other.”

I sigh. “The baby…” I don’t know why I say it, but it’s one of many things I don’t understand.

He runs his finger down my jaw, coming to rest on my throat. I keep my eyes closed, afraid what he might say next will hurt.

“We’ll figure that out. With you by my side, we’ll figure that out, Lilith.”

I smile.

And then the world goes black.

I dream of strange things.

Hands around my throat. A whisper in my ear. Someone screaming, far, far away. The sound of groans, of angry male voices. The feeling of love and lust wrapped into one. Into me. The shattering of a heart. A piercing, guttural cry for someone to “Stop!”. But no one stops.

The lights go on.

Someone weeps.

I’m taken away, and the Unsaints are left scattered around the asylum.

Chapter Fourteen

Present

Jeremiah set us up.

Or rather, he specifically told Nicolas he wouldn’t be back until morning to see exactly what we might do in his absence.

And he’s fucking waiting when Nicolas walks past the guards at the door, me over his shoulder in the black body bag.

I know Jeremiah is there before I see him. Before he says a word. Because Nicolas stills, his hands gripping me tighter around the waist.

Fuck’s sake.

Gently, he sets me down, and I know he makes to unzip the bag when Jeremiah stops him.

“Don’t,” he says quietly. Calmly.

I hear Nicolas back away. I close my eyes tight, wishing my brother a slow death. He is going to drag this out. He is going to keep me in here, make me learn my lesson. But I promise myself that if he throws me to Kristof again, I will run away and never come back.

Ever.

I’ll still kill Lucifer for him, because it’s for me, too. But I’m not going to do anymore of his bidding if he puts me in a position to be raped again.

“Is this what you want?” he asks quietly. From the sound of his voice, and the nearness, I know he’s kneeling down beside me.

I roll my eyes, unseen by anyone but maybe the devil himself.

“Fuck off.”

Sure, maybe I should keep my mouth shut. It’s one in the morning. No matter the hours of the Rain mansion, no one is really themselves in the night. We wear masks when the sun goes down. Our dirtiest deeds come out to play. Our ugly souls. In the night, we are our wildest form.

My brother is no exception.