Page 18 of Sticks and Stones and Broken Bones

Oh. Wow. That was some serious possessiveness right there. I should dislike him for that, but with the way I was starting to feel about the guys and Hawk, I completely understood where he was coming from.

“No,” I said while running my thumb beneath his bottom lip, tracing those fucking lip rings. “And if you even think about touching Hawk, I’ll gut you with your favourite knife, then bring you back to life just so I can do it again.”

He groaned and pulled me closer. “Don’t say things like that, pretty girl.”

“Why?”

He wrapped his hand in my hair and yanked my head backwards. His tongue ran the length of my throat before his sharp teeth nipped my jaw. “Because it turns me on so much that I’d have no qualms about stripping you naked and fucking you on this couch in front of the others.”

Heat pooled in my belly as the image of what he wanted to do flashed through my mind. There was a collection of groans behind me, and I turned to see Korbin, Rook, and Casimir looking at me like they wanted to devour me. I didn’t think I’d mind that one little bit.

There was another thud the other side of the door, much louder than the last one. “If you don’t let me in, I’ll break this door down and rip your throats out so I can bathe in your blood.”

Rook sniggered. “Good luck with that. The door’s impenetrable.”

I narrowed my eyes at Rook and hoped I’d assessed his relationship with Korbin correctly. “How would you like it if someone was deliberately keeping you from Korbin?”

His smirk immediately dropped, and a sheepishness slid over his lovely face. “You have a point.”

“She does, baby boy,” Korbin said as he swatted Rook playfully on his ass. “Go let the Moroi in and apologise.”

Rook grumbled under his breath, but he did as Korbin commanded and fuck, that dynamic was hot to watch.

Hawk burst into the room, his gaze immediately homing in on me. “Draguta,” he said before storming across the space.

A squeal escaped me as he wrapped his arms around me and lifted me into the air. I had a feeling this guy didn’t know how to share. “Hawk. Put me down.”

“I don’t want to,” he said with a pout and boy was it adorable.

I rolled my eyes. We all really needed to have a heart to heart about this new dynamic we found ourselves in.

“Can you at least sit down so we can all talk?” I asked.

He huffed a breath but did sit on the sofa with me cradled in his arms. His intoxicating scent of fresh grass and icy winds surrounded me, and I relaxed into his hold.

“Look. I know things have changed for you all, but we are all connected. I don’t know how, and I don’t know why but I do know we’re stuck together.” I tried to sound confident, but I think I sounded more pleading than anything else.

“Well, if you think any of us are letting you out of our sights, you’re very much mistaken,” Nox said with a feral grin that had a shudder traipsing up my spine.

“I agree,” said Rook. “Not sure about Hawk though.”

Hawk growled behind me, and I felt the sound reverberate through his chest behind me. I sighed. Were we ever going to figure this out?

“Rook,” Korbin said with a sharp warning in his tone.

“Sorry,” he replied quietly, and the room descended into an awkward silence.

“We have spare rooms. Two in fact. Perhaps this is fate,” Nox said, his voice low and spooky but in a corny way that had me laughing. Thank the Gods for Nox and his inability to read a room.

I turned to Hawk. I didn’t know what had happened to him in his previous life or how he’d been with the Revenants. There seemed to be some unresolved feelings and, if we were going to work as a dynamic, we needed to fix this. “Will you be happy here?”

He smiled down at me, and damn it had me hot under the collar. The man was gorgeous when he smiled. “If you are here, I will be happy.”

“Great. Perfect. Now we’re all friends, can we go and catch some ghosts?” Nox said, jumping to his feet excitedly.

“We’re not the Ghostbusters,” Casimir grumbled.

Nox pouted. “But I’d look so good in a boiler suit.”

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