Page 5 of Desecrated Saints
CHAPTER 2
BROOKLYN
OUT OF THE BLACK - ROYAL BLOOD
Hands clutching a mug of tea, I settle into the sofa beside the empty fireplace. It’s late summer, but the temperature is cold up here. Soon, we will need thicker clothing and logs to burn. If we are to remain here for the rest of our days, we have to prepare.
There’s nowhere else for us to go. We’re outlaws now. Even more than we were before, far beyond the constraints of society. As I look around the cottage that Kade’s mum organised for us, I realise it can’t last. We’ve been missing for almost a week already.
They will come for us.
What we did to escape won’t go unpunished.
In the kitchen, Kade and Sadie chat in low, urgent tones. She accompanied us up north with no preparation. The presence of Seven—or Jude, as she calls him—changed everything. I have a feeling the temporary peace is about to explode.
“Firecracker?”
Hesitating with a beer in hand, Phoenix looks longingly at the empty space beside me. I sigh and pat the cushion for him to sit.
“You don’t have to ask.”
“I didn’t want to assume.”
“I’m not made of glass, Nix. Just sit the fuck down.”
He curls up by my side, tentatively resting his head in my lap. I hesitate before stroking his brown locks, sifting the strange hair with my fingertips. It looks so wrong, this colour. Like the person I knew has also faded away.
It doesn’t take long for Eli to approach like a silent sentry. He doesn’t bother asking permission, burrowing into Phoenix’s side so the three of us are curled up in a dog pile. Their familiar scents wrap around me, slipping beneath my skin and warming the empty shell of my heart.
“You feel so fucking good,” Phoenix whispers.
I swallow the lump in my throat. “You do too.”
“I didn’t think I would ever see you again. None of us did.”
Eli lets out a rumble of agreement, but no words. He hasn’t spoken since we found each other in the ashes, communicating with little looks and deep frowns.
“Yeah,” I say lamely.
“Did you miss us, Brooke? As much as we missed you?”
I flex my spasming fingers, fighting to regain control of my extremities. His question has me feeling all kinds of fucked up. Eli grabs my hand. I meet his green gaze, shining brightly beneath the nasty bruises he gained in the riot.
“I had to… put you guys aside to survive,” I admit.
“What does that mean?”
“There’s stuff you don’t know. If I remembered you, I wouldn’t have survived what Augustus made me do. Losing myself was the only way to make it through.”
“What did he make you do?”
“Christ, Nix. Lay off.”
His head lifts from my lap to pin me with a glare. “We deserve to know. Do you have any idea what we’ve been through in the last four months? Fuck, Brooke. You’re not the only one that barely made it through.”
I find the entire room listening to our argument. We’re a sorry sight, all covered in bruises and lacerations, bandages and pained grimaces. Kade and Sadie are seated at the cluttered kitchen table, while Hudson rests against the countertop. Every single one of them is staring at me.
“Don’t shut us out again,” Phoenix begs.
