Page 90 of Lock Up the Darkness

Jonah stepped across the threshold and Killian and I followed at his back.

And there Aurora was, leaning against the foot of the bed, her arms folded across her chest, eyeing us steadily.

I couldn’t read her expression. She was employing the same tactic that I did to hide whatever meaning and intention lay just beneath the surface.

I shot a quick look at the wreckage surrounding her.

The sheets ripped from the bed, two dents from her fists plunging into the dry wall, a chair from beneath the desk overturned. Food and drink I’d had brought to her all over the floor now.

Lovely.

While I didn’t appreciate the mess she’d made of the place, that could be dealt with and I could swallow the insult of it down in the name of dealing with what really mattered, the big picture issue. But something that I was finding more trying to simply blow past and place into a numbed state like I did with most things that weren’t business matters, was the sight of her wearing one of Killian’s hoodies.

She had the zipper only done up halfway, making the outline of her breasts prominent. It was one of his shorter hoodies, one he used when on a workout run through the grounds, so it came down to the middle of her thighs, putting a lot of leg on display. The deep green contrasted with her tanned skin, highlighting all the bare elements more so. Her white-blonde hair was disheveled and looking much like just-fucked hair. The whole thing was eliciting complicated contradicting emotions in me—arousal and what appeared to be verging on jealousy. The fact I was feeling anything at all was irritating enough, and it had me having to push harder to maintain my poker face and unaffected demeanor.

It didn’t exactly help when her attention went to Killian first. “So, in my pain and med addled state, I made the mistake of allowing myself to feel comfortable enough to fall asleep while you were still in my house, and this is how you respond? You have me kidnapped?”

“Kidnapped is such an ugly word, firecracker,” Jonah stepped up to tell her, while Killian fumbled to find the right response.

Well, he’d been partially correct about the erotic distraction of his, because Aurora did pause for a few moments at the sight of him. Honestly, it wasn’t just arousing to her. But I was more used to it. He often tried to tease me with that delectable body of his. It was a little game we played. It kept him happy and it kept me amused.

“You need protection right now until you’re healed and back to your hardass self.”

“That’s what my Sig is for. A backup in case I’m compromised.” Her eyes darkened. “Or if I need a quick kill.”

“It wasn’t in your hand when I walked in, which means you couldn’t reach it in time.”

“Then I’ll sleep with it under my pillow.”

“Not good enough,” I spoke.

Her eyes narrowed on me, before dropping to the site of my injury. “How’s your stab wound treating you?” she bit at me nastily. “Doesn’t look like you’re walking too good, psycho.”

Psycho? Hmm, yes indeed.

“It’s delectably searing proof that you’re almost as vicious as me, little beast.”

Killian scrubbed his hand over his face. “Look, I didn’t want to wake you and I actually told you I wouldn’t. So, we moved you here while you were sound asleep without disturbing you.”

“Also known as kidnapping.”

“There was no ill intent behind it.”

“You locked me in this room like the weapon I am to you all, like I lock my gun up until I need it.” She glared at me. “How about we lock you in here too until you’re healed? You’re a weapon too, a highly valued commodity.”

“You lock me in here with you and we won’t be healing up,” I warned.

“What?” she barked. “If that’s a threat and—”

“I’ll tear into you, sweetheart.”

She sucked in a stilted breath, crossing her shapely legs, the hoodie riding up in response.

“And I won’t stop until you’re a writhing, screaming, and begging mess for me.”

I felt Jonah and Killian’s eyes on me, their stunned reactions that I’d actually gone there.

It had been a hell of a long time since any slight interest had sparked in me toward anybody, other than Jonah.

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