Page 64 of In the Shadows

“What the fuck happened?” Kaos bellows, and this time when I try to pry myself from their hold, they allow me to go. “Did the princess escape? Or were you fucking stupid enough to take her out of the complex?”

I round on him and pause for a moment, my gaze sweeping over the sight in front of me. His black shirt and huge arms are stained with blood. The pants he’s wearing aren’t faring any better, and his face is covered in crimson flecks that make him look every bit as insane as the stories I’ve heard imply him to be.

“Fuck off, K.” Kovu shoves me back behind him, using his huge body to shield me, as if he thinks Kaos would hurt me. I don’t have an overly high opinion of the guy, but I don’t think hurting a woman is something that would sit well with him. After all, that’s their only rule. It’s the fucking law among the five families. Women and children are not to be hurt. It’s something I respect them for, even if I would ever tell them that to their faces. They’re cocky enough without me adding fuel to the fire.

Another car pulls in, a sleek black BMW that screams power and influence, telling me without me ever having seen the car that it without a doubt belongs to Crew.

His long legs slide out of the door within seconds of the engine turning off, and his mismatched eyes meet mine from around Kovu’s shoulder. He looks just as pissed as Kaos is. It’s tempting to cower behind the wall of a man standing between me and them, but that’s not who I am. I’ve never been one to run and hide, and if the last month has taught me anything, it’s that any combination of those two things does not work for me.

“Which one of you is going to tell me what the hell happened and why Bishop just texted the fucking clean-up crew?” he snaps, and it takes everything in me not to flinch.

I steel myself against his harsh tone, keeping myself rooted in place as I hold his gaze. I’m not sure if Bishop plans to tell them the truth, so I keep quiet, not wanting to provide more details than he’s happy to give.

“I took Camilla out for ice cream,” Bishop admits. “She’s been cooped up for weeks and has given us no reason to think she plans to try to escape. I took every precaution I could to make sure she wasn’t recognized, but on the way back, we were followed and cornered in an alley. Camilla shot the guy before he could call into whoever hired him.”

“Are you sure about that?” Crew asks, his temper barely holding on by a thread. He strikes me as the kind of man that prides himself on control, and all the stories I’ve heard about him confirm that, but right now it seems like the slightest of winds could knock that carefully crafted control over, and the real Crew would come to the party, something I’m not ashamed to admit I want to see.

Bishop stares at his father, defiance shining brightly in his eyes. The tension radiating from the two men is so thick it makes it hard to breathe, but I watch them with interest, waiting for one or the other to break. “No,” he sighs. “I’m not one hundred percent sure.”

Crew curses. Kaos throws something. Kovu holds me tighter against his back. And Bishop watches with resignation the same way I do. I’m surprised they don’t come to blows like this more. The amount of testosterone in this place is stifling.

I glance toward the door to the hallway, which I know leads to my bedroom. I could be there in under a minute, and they probably wouldn’t even notice me leave, but Kovu’s grip on me is too tight to break without raising suspicions.

I tap him on the shoulder, and his wild eyes turn to me, a deep-seated anger staring back at me. If I hadn’t spent my life dealing with men just like him, perhaps I would cower, but instead I keep my head held high. “I’m going to go back to my room. I don’t think I should be here for this,” I whisper, but I’ve garnered the attention of all four men.

“You shouldn’t be here at all,” Kaos snaps, his eyes so dark they’re almost black with rage.

I turn my glare on him and step out from behind Kovu. “Then send me away,” I growl. “I’ve given you the opportunity. So fucking many of them, in fact. So if you don’t want me here, I’m more than happy to get out of your hair.”

Kovu stiffens, and I almost tell him I don’t mean it like it sounds. But I do. I don’t want to be here if they don’t want me here, and I won’t be the thing that drives a wedge through them. It’s clear they like to share, but I don’t think it’s something only a few of them participate in, so it’s only a matter of time before Kaos gets his way and I’m gone. I’d just rather that happen before I fall any harder for the other three.

Each of them has crawled their way under my skin, and I’m already afraid of how much it will hurt to be away from them, to know I’ll never feel their hands on my skin again or see their rare smiles that seem reserved for me and me alone. The sooner they send me away, the easier it will be for me when all this is said and done.

“Take Camilla back to her room, then we’re meeting in my office,” Crew announces as he turns his back to us to head toward an elevator I didn’t notice earlier.

I’m about to argue when Kovu gives me a short shake of the head, and I snap my mouth shut. I know I need to pick my battles with these men, but at what point do they allow me to be a part of the decisions they’re making about my life?

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

CREW

Bishop has never been the one I’ve had to worry about.

Kovu used to get into fights at school and got arrested more times than I can count before we moved into our current lives.

Kaos was angry after his father died. So fucking angry that he would go to bars and beat men within an inch of their lives just for looking at him.

Hell, even my brother was more of a problem than Bishop ever has been. Caleb had a penance for fast cars and fast women, which got him into trouble more than a few times because he couldn’t keep his foot off the pedal or his dick in his pants.

But never Bishop.

He was always the responsible one. More responsible than me at times. He was instrumental in getting us where we are today, because even when he was in high school, he could read people better than anyone else I’ve ever met, and that made him our secret weapon.

So how could he be so fucking stupid to take Camilla out of the complex? How could he put her in that kind of danger?

It’s not as if we haven’t spent the last three weeks trying to outsmart Davenport to ensure her long-term safety. It’s not like we haven’t been all pulling long hours, including Kaos, who claims to not be able to stand the girl, in order to make sure he has no claim to her when she returns to the world.

Fuck. Just the thought of letting her out of these four walls makes me tug at my collar, desperate for air. I’ve gotten far too fucking attached to our little houseguest, but it’s too late to go back now.

---