Page 133 of Scars Run Deep

“I heard what you yelled. He actually accused you of being your father?”

I nodded. “He doesn’t want Aurora with an Infidel.”

He squeezed my shoulder. “That’s bullshit. And it’s not like he’s a fucking saint either. The shit he’s done, it’s not all white-knight acts. You never told Aurora any of that so it didn’t sully his good guy image for her, he should be damned grateful for that, not coming at you.”

“Our world is dark and brutal. He’s not wrong about that. Look at her, it’s already corrupting her, just like he claimed. I had to bench her, for fuck’s sakes.”

“That was already in her. If anything, it’s lucky she came to us, because we were able to give her an outlet for it, let her explore it. Bottling it up and trying to deny it would’ve made it way worse. Remember, I told you I saw it in her that first night she and I clashed? I’m never wrong about that shit. And that was back before we’d brought her into the fold. Nah, Asher, she was already infected with that before we got our claws into her. Trust me.”

I blew out a breath and sank back against the balcony railing, tilting my head back and gulping in the early morning air in a bid to soothe me and center me.

Jonah had me groaning in the next moment as he trailed his lips over my exposed throat, brushing soothingly, kissing, clearly trying to help the calming process along.

“For the record, you’re not him. You’re not Carson. There’s no doubt in my mind. I don’t give a fuck what anybody else says. Nobody knows you better than me, all right? And I’m telling you right here and now that you’ll never become that fucker, you don’t have it in you to sink to his level.”

I took his words in, letting them roll over me. “Thank you, sweet boy.”

He stroked the back of my head and breathed me in. “You ready to come back to bed now?”

I lifted my head seeing the need in his sleepy eyes.

I reached out and cupped his cheek and he nuzzled into my touch.

“As lovely as that sounds and as tempting as it is, I can’t. Revenant contacted me for a reason.”

He tensed and stepped back, his ready-for-anything rigid stance taking him over. “What reason?” he asked worriedly.

That worry definitely wasn’t unfounded.

Hell, it was fucking well warranted.

“Something has happened,” I told him.

And everything was about to come to a head because of it.

19

~Aurora~

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Killian and Jonah stared back at me.

Resigned expressions covered their faces.

Oh no.

“It’s a direct order,” Jonah told me. “You can’t fuck around with that shit when it comes to the Head Infidels.”

I cursed under my breath as I pulled on my yoga pants over my panties, the two of them eyeing me like fresh meat as I did.

Well, they’d caught me off guard when they’d banged on the door so determinedly, having me thinking it was an emergency, which had led to me throwing it open while I was just in my sports bra and panties. Killian hadn’t been able to utter a word, his eyes all over me, while Jonah had done all the talking and informed me of what had happened a few hours ago. The alert, the hostages being moved, and now this invitation they’d each received.

They’d been summoned to a fancy schmancy gala, one that Asher believed was a cover for an auction. The last dollhouse had been evacuated last night and the Infidels had transported them to a secure location to prevent the coming attack we’d planned. Now the only way to complete this portion of our mission was to take the auction itself. A much harder undertaking that would involve venturing into the belly of the beast.

“It’s way too dangerous,” I muttered, snatching up my grappling gloves from my bed.

Now I needed this workout more than ever. I had more than steam to blow off, which had been my original intent before they’d come to me with this, because I was still trying to get the frustration out of my system about being benched.

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