Page 82 of Lock Up the Darkness

I blinked to see Killian staring at me worriedly.

I looked from him to my wound to see he was no longer working on it. It was fixed again, even a fresh gauze pad taped over it.

“All done,” he said. “Just take it easy for the next few days.”

“I was taking it easy until I heard somebody invading my house.”

“I’m sorry, I was worried when you didn’t answer for over three hours. Especially after I found out that Ash had fucking well stabbed you.”

“I stabbed him too.”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “Jonah told me.”

“You’re seriously amused by that? Your close friend, your brother, being injured?”

“Nah, darlin’. I’m amused that someone was able to get one over on him.”

“Judging by the scars all over his body, it’s not the first time.”

“Those are different.”

“How?”

A haunted look plagued his features. “Aside from the one he willingly sustained from your father, the rest were inflicted by his father.”

I started. “What?”

“All part of Carson’s training to make his heir apparent strong.”

“Even the gunshot wound in his upper back?”

“Even that.”

“Fuck, that’s brutal.”

“And it’s the world you’re entering by doing this.”

I sighed and rested my head back on my pillow. “It is what it is.”

“Aurora—”

“I’ve waited three years for an in, to take a major step forward in my quest to get my dad back. Now I finally have it. So there’s no way in hell that I’m turning back now.”

“You fit in too well already. Passing all of Asher’s tests. More than that really—transcending them. Going toe-to-toe with us all. Coming out on top during that battle with Asher… and—”

“Why do you care? And why are you here right now?”

He scrubbed a hand over his face, looking out of sorts and distressed all at once.

“Killian?”

“Because, I realized I like being around you. With the secret of your intentions out in the open between us, there’s no longer a wall up either, so it’s more intense. More obvious.”

“You mean, no more shoving me up against the wall and strangling me to get me to bend the knee?”

“It wasn’t strangling. Although, knowing what I do now, what went down with you and all three of us in turn, I’m thinking you’d actually be up for that.”

Off my look, he chuckled, then laid his hand on my arm. “You see me, darlin’. Past the façade, past all the bullshit I have to put out there. There’s no need to pretend when I’m with you, I can just… be.”

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