Page 123 of Lock Up the Darkness

“You know what this means? It’s Latin, right? I didn’t take it in high school, but given your hoity toity education at Royal Haven Academy during your high school days, I’m thinking you did?”

I’d known she’d done her research on us. It would’ve been foolish to approach us and even venture onto our territory in the first place without doing so. But whenever she brought up something she’d learned about us, it left me impressed all over again.

“Asher?” she pressed.

I grasped her phone, studying the word and the red numbers beside it, indicating that it had been mentioned over a dozen times through our combined data and intel that the program had sifted through, that it had made a connection centering around this.

“It’s an Old English term basically meaning brothel.”

“Brothel? Well, the Infidels are definitely involved in that sort of thing. Strip clubs, prostitution rings—”

I swiped her phone, finding mentions of Myltenhus Site A, through to J, all the sites that had been identified by the program from pooling our information and making connections that would’ve otherwise taken weeks to determine. “This is more than that.”

She peered at her phone in my grasp. I had my finger hovering over Site A and the address given. “You know what that is? Which brothel?”

“It’s not just that.” I swallowed hard. “It’s a dollhouse.”

Fuck me.

26

~Killian~

After some pushing from Aurora over the last couple of days, I’d made myself focus and sit down and study.

I’d rather be riding. With her.

Being on my bike gave me a sense of freedom and a break away from all the heavy bullshit wearing me down. But riding and racing with Aurora down the backroads right alongside me had been several levels beyond exhilarating. While Jonah liked to tear up the roads too, he was set on his muscle cars, most notably his Mustang, and it wasn’t the same as riding.

I mean, fuck, the woman could even pull off some impressive stunting feats, almost as good as mine. Hell, I lived and breathed it whenever I could, I’d spent hours perfecting those skills, while for her it was more of a hobby, something she did whenever she had any free time. There hadn’t been a lot of that with her mission.

I shifted in my rolling chair as thoughts of her had me getting hard. The other night was still living rent free in my mind. For the past two nights, I’d fallen asleep jerking off to the images of her being defiled by the three of us. I wanted a repeat. All we’d managed to share since was a kiss, because she’d been worn out, mostly because of Asher. I rolled my eyes, just like the stabbing incident, his actions were keeping her from me again.

My phone buzzed on my desktop and excitement brimmed, my mind darting right to it being her. Maybe she was already done with whatever she’d needed to speak to him about in his cave and wanted to hang out again. Tomorrow she was headed back to Hexwood U, so I’d have to fake it again around her and keep out of her way until all the way to the end of the day when classes were done and she was back in the house with us, safely ensconced away from everybody and everything.

Disappointment flooded me when I snatched up my phone and read the text.

Not her.

Asher had texted in our group messenger.

Asher: Get down here. Dining room.

Jonah: Aww, you made us dinner. Hold up, cooking’s not exactly your thing, you sure it’s edible?

Killian: So, you’re back on this plane now?

Jonah: We missed you. And you still owe me a punishment. Never dealt it out that night.

Asher: I gave it all to Killian instead.

Jonah: Boo. I feel left out.

Killian: Fucking psycho.

Jonah: Me or Asher?

Killian: Both of course.

---