Page 14 of Wicked (Dark Delights #5)

“One could argue that what happened wasn’t real at all.

It happened in your head. I’ve never actually touched you like that.

” His eyes trailed down Isaac’s muscular body.

Freckles dotted his pale skin like stars in the night sky, too numerous to count.

Coppery hair dusted his chest and trailed down his stomach, framed by his ripped shirt.

Blood had dried in streaks, leaving behind only the memory of the cuts Talon had made.

The sweet scent filled the air, and Shadrach wanted to lick him from head to toe.

Color flushed from Isaac’s cheeks down his neck. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” Shadrach asked, his gaze lingering on Isaac’s groin. Yes, he’d only touched him in a dream, and he wanted to experience the real thing. It was like an itch under his skin, one he was desperate to scratch. He didn’t think he’d ever wanted anyone this much.

“Like you want to eat me.”

Shadrach smiled, slow and wicked.

Isaac glared.

Talon’s voice rang out from beyond the doorway. “Shadrach, get the fuck out here!”

He sighed.

“And keep that one away from me,” Isaac said.

Shadrach leaned in close. “Noted,” he whispered. “I’ll work on the food and water. Don’t go anywhere.” He snickered as he went to the door.

“Hilarious,” Isaac drawled.

He closed and locked the door—the lock was new, likely installed moments after Talon got Isaac tied to the chair.

The others were waiting in the sitting area.

Talon was pacing. Alex, sitting on the sofa with Nathan and Luke, shot Shadrach a helpless shrug.

Wolf was missing, and Shadrach glimpsed him through the glass front door, cell phone pressed to his ear.

Talon whirled to face him, jabbing an accusatory finger. “What the fuck was that?”

“What was what? You can’t kill him, remember? He can’t answer shit if he dies .”

Talon’s laugh was a cold and cruel thing. Over Talon’s shoulder, Shadrach saw Malachi and Storm exchanging a knowing glance at the sound.

Talon ignored him, turning toward Ira. “It can’t be him.”

“Why not?” Ira asked calmly.

“Because he’s an asshole!”

“Shadrach’s an asshole,” Ira said, like it was obvious.

“Hey!” he protested.

Everyone ignored him. Ira went on, “They’re perfect for each other. They just don’t know it yet.”

Shadrach tried to scoff, but the sound tangled in his throat. Isaac was all he’d been able to think about since the moment he laid eyes on him.

Ira had warned him that he’d fall for a human. This human? The one with a taste for blood and an affinity for violence? The one who smelled like pomegranates and surrendered like pleasure was the greatest torture?

Dread and hope left him breathless. He wasn’t even sure he wanted Isaac to be the one, and yet he couldn’t deny the fragile feeling that took root under his skin. He wanted him, and he was terrified of it. Isaac didn’t want to be here, didn’t trust him, and most certainly didn’t want him .

Ira studied him carefully. “You already knew, didn’t you? You can feel it. That thing pulling you toward him.”

All eyes found him, waiting.

“I-I don’t know, okay?” he said snappishly. “He’s interesting .”

Talon’s head fell back in despair. “Oh goddammit.”

“Talon,” Alex admonished. “You remember what it was like. And we didn’t start off with anywhere near as much animosity as these two have.”

“He betrayed your friends!” Talon said. He pointed at Nathan. “While this one was having secret meetings trying to convince people not to want you dead for leaving the guild, that one ,” he jabbed a finger in the general direction of the storage room, “was spilling all their secrets to the enemy!”

“Yeah, about that,” Shadrach said, folding his arms. “I don’t have the full picture yet, but they did something to him. There’s a reason he’s so blindly loyal. I just don’t have the whole story yet.”

“Did something like what?” Luke asked. “We were all taught the same things.”

“Did they ever restrict your food?”

Luke and the others exchanged a look. “No,” he said. “Did Isaac say that?”

“I saw it in one of his dreams. Sloan punished him with no dinners for a week and… something to do with Hawley.”

“The priest?” Alex said. “He never had a hand in our punishments.”

“What kind of punishments did you have?” Talon asked, his fury forgotten in favor of concern for his human.

Alex shrugged. “Detention-type stuff. Write lines from the Bible. Clean the weapons in the storage locker. Father Hawley just handles the sermons on Sundays and Wednesday nights.”

“Does the guild’s church have a confessional booth?” Shadrach asked.

All four humans shook their heads.

Shadrach found Talon’s eyes and pointed at the humans.

“See? There’s something weird about Isaac’s history with the guild.

They treated him differently than the others.

That human in there was nearly good enough, after over twenty-four hours restrained and without food or water, to take down a leviathan and escape this place, but they have him so terrified of retribution that he’s willing to go through this torture to avoid angering them. ”

Nathan looked stricken. “You’re saying they… hurt him?”

He sighed, bracing his hands on his hips. “I don’t know. It’s hard to say. I only saw flashes in his dream.”

“Then maybe you should wait until tonight and go back in,” Talon suggested, folding his arms. “That might be the easiest way to find out what we want.”

Shadrach bobbed his head noncommittally. Isaac had just asked him not to invade his dreams again. Was he willing to damage his human’s already nonexistent trust in him to sate Talon’s curiosity?

“Do you even think he knows anything?” Alex asked, and Shadrach blinked at him, surprised no one else had thought of it yet.

“That’s a good point,” he agreed. “If Isaac has been treated like…” his mouth twisted, seeking the right epithet, “like an attack dog, he wouldn’t know what the master has planned, would he? ”

“He’s not an attack dog,” Luke said, sounding defensive. “He’s a paladin.”

“By all rights, paladins are the lowest men on the ladder,” Shadrach said. “They train you up and throw you at the monsters. They protect the children, they protect the prophets, but the paladins themselves? The field agents? They’re expendable, aren’t they?”

The humans withered before his eyes, and Talon, seeing the slump of Alex’s shoulders, shot Shadrach a glare. “That’s enough.”

“No, he’s right,” Alex said reluctantly.

“We were expendable. We all knew it. It’s part of the reason why we were all tempted away from the guild.

Sloan never would’ve told me his plans for the future of the guild.

What makes us think Isaac knows? He’s not a member of the council.

As far as I know, he’s never even sat in as a witness on one of their meetings.

Nate has, because he was a captain, but wasn’t Isaac deemed unfit to be a leader? ”

Luke hummed. “Yeah. Something about his medical records, I think. He didn’t tell me much, just that he was denied the promotion. He didn’t seem to want to talk about it, so I let it go.”

“Fine, maybe he doesn’t know anything, but we can’t just let him go,” Talon said. “There’s nothing stopping him from running back to Sloan.”

Ira sighed, pushing himself to his feet. “Let Shadrach talk to him. Pain doesn’t work with Isaac, but maybe Shadrach can get through to him. We’ll make sure he doesn’t know anything and then let him go.”

Shadrach’s brows twitched downward at that.

He didn’t want Isaac going back to the guild that hurt him and treated him like he was expendable.

He wanted to sink his claws into Isaac and never let him go.

The need to possess, to own, to claim roared within him, rising up so fast he felt like he was drowning in it.

He turned away as Ira passed in front of him to go to the fridge, withdrawing a sandwich wrapped in white paper and a bottle of water.

“Here, give these to Isaac,” he said, carrying them over and pushing them into Shadrach’s hands.

Wolf stepped inside, blowing out a breath as he strode to Ira’s side. “What’d I miss?”

Ira waved him over and filled him in quietly. Shadrach tried not to listen, turning away with the intention of returning to Isaac. Talon’s eyes tracked him across the room, and for the very first time, Shadrach felt uncomfortable under the other leviathan’s gaze.

“Hang on a second,” Wolf said before Shadrach could flee. “I’ve got some news you need to hear.”

“What now?” Alex asked.

Wolf sat down beside Ira, smoothing a hand across the human’s back with absentminded fondness.

“I got a phone call from Magda on my way here. She’s one of the new bartenders at In Extremis, and a friend.

She said Lilith’s opened In Extremis back up to the public. The repairs are officially complete.”

“Good for her,” Malachi muttered dryly.

“She also said Lilith sent out a text message after the announcement. She forwarded it to me. None of us got it, for obvious reasons.”

Wolf handed his phone over to Talon, who took it and frowned down at the screen. His brows rose slowly, then he cleared his throat and read aloud, “First to bring Talon’s head to me, one mil.”

Oh shit. Shadrach forgot about the food and water in his hands as adrenaline prickled down his spine.

“No fucking way,” Malachi said.

Alex looked between them. “Tell me that doesn’t mean what I think it does. Tell me that’s not a bounty on my demon’s literal head.”

Talon sighed. “I’d hoped keeping our distance would help cool her off. Apparently not.”

“How do you want to handle it?” Shadrach asked.

“I doubt she’ll be walking around out in the open now that she’s done this,” Talon said. “Finding her probably won’t be easy.”

“You’d kill her?” Nathan asked.

“I think I’ll have to,” Talon replied. “End her and the incentive to kill me goes away. Nobody will bother coming after me if there’s no one to pay.”

“I can track her down,” Shadrach offered.

“No, you need to stay here and keep working on Isaac,” Ira said. “We need to find out how to break their hold over him.”

“She knows we’re friendly, anyway,” Talon said. “She won’t pop her head out of her hole if she knows either of us is looking for her.”

“I’ll keep my ear to the ground,” Wolf said. “I have some contacts on her side who might be willing to talk.”

Talon gave him a pleasant smile. “That’s why we’re friends.”

Shadrach shifted impatiently. The rope in his chest was tugging hard, his longing to return to Isaac growing stronger with every moment he delayed. How could he walk away from this conversation without looking too eager?

Ira, ever observant, flapped a hand at him. “Go let him eat. He’s probably starving. We won’t set any plans in stone without you.”

Shadrach seized the opportunity and escaped, ignoring the weight of Talon’s gaze as he went.