~ Asher ~
“Greatworkoutthere,”I said, bumping Raine with my shoulder as we walked down the tunnel back to our rooms. “Knew you’d win against that demon.”
She blew out a long breath. “Piece of cake.” Sweat covered her brow, but otherwise, she appeared untouched.
“Don’t pretend you weren’t shitting yourself like the rest of us,” Kade said from behind me.
Raine turned to stare at me with a raised brow, but I kept my face sincere. “Never doubted you, Sharachi.”
She smiled, and I could tell she didn’t believe me, but what was I going to say?You’re a great fighter, but it was a bit hairy there for a while. I was sure you were goin’ to get yourself sliced and reveal you’re still a human. Then I planned to leap over the railing and fight any monsters who tried to get to you.But hey, it turned out great because you kicked ass.No, she didn’t need to hear that. But it had been close.Tooclose.
There had been two one-on-one fights that night. The vampire against the bear shifter, and Raine against the demon who’d won the redemption fight the night before.
The fight between the vampire and bear shifter had been close, but the vampire had used her claws to slice a gash into the shifter’s flank before leaping onto the beast’s back and sinking her fangs into the bear’s neck. Raine’s fight had taken longer, but it had ended with Raine’s sword poised at the demon’s chest and without any of her blood being spilled.
Thank fucking Halced the red-haired female could fight like a devil. As usual, the crowd applauded her victory, but I hadn’t been deaf to the whispers of the monsters seated in the stands. Raine had been in three fights and still hadn’t shifted, and some were starting to suspect that she shifted into something weak and was too embarrassed to change. Worse, some were starting to question if she was a shifter at all. If she didn’t shift during the final fight the next night against the vampire, an alpha might take it upon themselves to fight her and try to draw her creature out. And that would be a fucking disaster because then I’d have to get my axes out.
From the way Losak, alpha of the House of Silat, had watched her during the last fight, I was willing to bet he’d be the first in line. With Losak being the leader of the high house of shifters, if Raine had been a shifter and wanted to join a house, accepting an offer from him would have been the best option for her. Wolves were the most common shifters and had been able to form the House of Worzel, but the only other high house for shifters was the House of Silat, which housed all manner of other shifters from Losak the basilisk to Alec the giant eagle shifter.
But I wasn’t letting Losak, the scaled bastard, anywhere near her. Not when I knew she didn’t want to join a house. And not now that I realized how she fucking belonged with us. It wasn’t just the sex, though that had been incredible. When I was with her the night before, I’d felt it in my very soul. This female was meant to be with us and only us.
You deserve so much better.Her words from nights ago repeated in my head more often than I cared to admit. She hadn’t judged me when I’d told her my story, and she hadn’t judged me when I’d frozen up when her hand had brushed my horn.
Oh, it had felt good.Somind-numbingly good to have her touching me there, but I’d been ruined to the point that sometimes I confused pleasure with pain and warmth with fear. But Raine hadn’t shied away. In the past, I’d always been careful not to let any females touch my horns or tail, and if they did, the night would be over for me. But not with Raine. With her, I’d almost considered asking for more. But I couldn’t. Still, she hadn’t turned from me when I’d become cold.
My gaze slid to where Raine walked beside me. Her brows had lowered, her face molded into the same serious expression she’d worn from the moment she’d awoken in my bed with Darian and me beside her.
Snaking my arm around her back, I rested my hand on her hip and pulled her closer to me. “Ah, don’t tell me you regret last night,” I said casually. Darian, who was walking on her other side, didn’t turn to look at her, but his blue eyes were sharp as he stared straight ahead, and I knew he was paying attention. Locke was striding behind us with Kade, and the vampire hadn’t commented about us all being with Raine, though he’d no doubt figured it out.
Raine’s body relaxed at my touch, and I grinned.
“Would it hurt your ego if I said I did?” she teased.
“A little,” I admitted, squeezing her hip.
Her lips twisted to the side, but then her smile fell as if she remembered something she’d been trying to forget. “I don’t regret it, but I don’t see how this would ever work.”
“We’re good at findin’ ways to bend the rules, Sharachi. Don’t sweat it,” I said.
From the look in her eyes, I guessed she wasn’t just talking about the Taratun and the fact she was supposed to join a house, but I didn’t question her about it. I was too busy thinking about if it was possible to break the rules in this situation. Newbloods were spectacles and the shining examples of how monsters always found their places in Katakin. The Taratun wouldn’t accept a newblood defying those rules. Especially not just so the newblood could join my brothers and me.
But I wasn’t going to let Raine walk away from us if she didn’t want to. And while we were bonded with whatever strange magic was between us, we couldn’t let her out of our sight.We’ll find a way.I’d have to chat with my brothers later.
CHAPTER 25
~ Raine ~
AsmuchasIwanted to pretend that being with Kade, Asher, and Darian hadn’t meant anything, I knew it had. Every time I’d been with Kade, I’d been able to convince myself that it didn’t really changeanything, but not now. Waking with Darian and Asher beside me and Kade’s scent clinging to my skin had my heart feeling so full that tears welled in my eyes. That was right. Fuckingtears.
I’d managed to blink them away, but that wasn’t the point. In a short time, these monsters were making me feel things that weren’t just pleasurable, they were downright dangerous, and I needed to get out before the thought of leaving them made me want to scream. I already knew it would be difficult, but I wasn’t in so deep yet that I wouldn’t do it.
I was quiet as we made our way to the after-party that night, wearing another of the red dresses Locke had ordered for me. With a sweetheart neckline and beaded lace-up corset, the dress made it hard for me to breathe, but aside from the impracticality of the thing, it was stunning. A skirt of red velvet draped to the floor, a single slit in the middle showing off a generous amount of my legs as I walked. Thankfully, despite the slit, the dagger I’d strapped to my thigh was hidden from view.
I’d enjoyed letting loose the night before, but now that I was sober again, I reminded myself what I had to do. Sleeping with Kade and the others wasn’t helping. “Will Warrick be at the party?” I asked Asher.
Asher nearly stumbled at my question, and he lifted a hand to his chest, clearing his throat. “Who knows? He’s usually in his lab and seems reluctant to leave the place.”
Kade peered at me from my other side. “Why do you ask?”
