“Come up here, my darlings. Daddy’s got something good for you.”
Through the dim light, I saw the whites of Torin’s eyes widen. I recognized the voice of one of the school’s groundskeepers, and I would bet Tor knew it as well. In sync, we crouched to listen and watch as the waning light over the lake revealed the man tossing what looked to be human remains at the hungry reptiles. My stomach lurched at what was left of a man’s leg was chomped by waiting jaws. Tor shuddered at my side, and I gripped his hand, afraid to move.
“Eat up, babies,” the gravelly voice said. “Show what happens to bad interlopers.”
Tor’s hard body pressed to mine, still smelling of sweat and sex, neither of us moving, and barely breathing until the man disappeared toward the school. By unspoken agreement, we shot out of there in the opposite direction, feet flying over the forest floor as we made our way back to our secret portal.
Riley and Tor’s dad jumped to their feet at our arrival, their eyes searching our faces. “What happened?” his dad asked.
Tor and I glanced at each other, his poker face intact as always. How to tell them we wasted time fucking out four years of anger?
“So?” Riley’s expression turned guarded when we didn’t answer immediately.
We shook our heads, unable to explain anything yet.
“Any luck on your end?” I asked, and they shook their heads.
“Victoria is working on some extra finding spells now,” Gerald said, but he looked as if he didn’t approve. It didn’t take much of a leap to figure she must be using dark magic to do it. It made me fear for Heath and Sierra.
“Did you see anything suspicious?” Tor’s dad asked.
“Let’s just say that it was interesting,” Torin drawled, and I nearly laughed.
Riley eyed us suspiciously but didn’t push.
“We didn’t get too far,” I finally said, my voice low and strained as I recalled the gruesome sight of what the alligators were devouring.
“They have fucking alligators guarding the lake. And the groundskeeper is feeding them something that looks an awful lot like human remains.”
“Christ,” Riley muttered, his expression a mix of horror and disgust. “That’s fucked up.”
“Exactly,” Torin said tightly, his jaw clenched. “They’re disposing of their enemies as well as trying to keep people out, which means they’re hiding something – something big.”
Gerald sighed, seeming to have aged even more since he’d been home. “I wonder what—”
He didn’t get to finish his thought. Tor’s mother burst in, waving a piece of paper. “I think I’ve found them!”
CHAPTER 14
HEATH
I had no idea where we were. Or how long we’d been there. I only knew that I had begged her to kill me. And she refused.
I attacked her, again and again. Tried to set my Dark One free so she’d be forced to take me out with it. I denied repentance. Told her I’d do it all again.
She didn’t fucking believe me. After all I’d put her through, Sierra still had faith in my worthless ass, and it was killing me. I could still feel the darkness seething inside my bones as I sat bound by some kind of fucking magical chains she’d pulled out of nowhere when I’d refused to repent and let her take the darkness. She had more tricks than I could even imagine. She must have learned more during her time in the Underworld than I had in all my years of my parents’ tutelage and Ravenswood put together.
I snarled at her, letting her see the evil within that wanted her power. Wanted her dead.
“Keep trying, buddy. I’m not going to kill you, Heath, no matter how much you think you deserve it.”
My neck jerked from the force of the Unconsecrated. “Then join ussss,” it hissed at her. “You can be so much more than a Reaper.”
She laughed, as if it had something cute, then smacked me upside the head with the flat edge of her cleaver.
Fuck, that hurt.
But it brought me back to myself.
“Please, please put me out of my misery. It’s the only way to save you. With or without the Dark One, I’ll always want to be with you. Always want you in ways I shouldn’t. I don’t trust myself, Sierra!”
Her face paled and pain clouded her eyes. I pressed my advantage. “Do you want to live with desires you shouldn’t have?”
She was silent for so long, I thought she was finally considering it. I closed my eyes, waiting for the blow that would surely come.
Her voice was small when she finally spoke. “I can’t, Heathcliff. I can’t kill you. I know I should. But … I … I still love you. Whether you’re my half-brother. My distant cousin. A stranger, or a … lover.” Her voice broke as our hearts did.
“We’ll get through this somehow,” she said more firmly. It had to be more to convince herself than me. I was never going to get through this.
“If you love me, then set me free! Take the estate. Take the school – save them. Save your family. Save Enzo. And Tor, and Riley. Find your brother. Find Artemis. Let them help get you past this. But for god’s sakes, Sierra, let me die!”
She fell to her knees, clutching her head in her arms, and sobbed in huge, ugly gasps. “No, no, no, no, no. Please don’t ask it of me. I can’t do it. Please don’t ask me to live without you.”
Fucking hell. All her stubborn refusal, I’d been able to meet with my own stubbornness. But this. This raw pain …
God fucking damn it. I would have to live with that pain rather than make her go through it.
“Alright, already” I sighed. “I repent.”
