Page 32 of Blood for Blood

“Thanks for bringing her home in one piece.” Mateo jokes from the doorway.

“No problem.” Alaric clears his throat before he continues, “This isn’t going to make things weird is it?”

“Not at all. As long as no feelings are involved, everything is fine.”

“None of us really have feelings, so you’re good on that front.” He starts to walk out, but Lorenzo stops him.

“One question.” Enzo stands to face him. “Are all of you clean? The condom rule went out the window pretty quick there.”

“We’re all checked every couple months. Nyx was just checked when she got here.” He shrugs, but clearly something is bothering him. “Um. Do we need to worry about surprise babies?”

“No.” I chime in, laughing. “Not any new ones, anyhow. We both have IUDs.”

“Ok, good. Well, I’m off to shower.”

Aurora is still curled up in a ball on the bed when I’m done with my bath. I slide in behind her, pulling her against me. “You ok, Peach?”

“I’m just so tired.” She gives me a weak smile and I kiss her forehead. “Nap with me, please?”

“I’ll always nap with you!” The beds in this house are insanely comfortable, I don’t think I’m awake for two more minutes after that.

Chapter 21

Mateo

Lorenzo and I walk through this massive house trying to find one of the brothers, or even Nyx would work at this point. I’m about ready to abandon the search when Karrion walks into the kitchen carrying the top half of a woman’s head. Neither of us bat an eye when he holds it up, proudly displaying her for us.

“Jaws of death, am I right?” He laughs, looking between the two of us. “They’re named the Jaws of Life, but there’s no more life.”

I arch a brow at him, hoping he’ll elaborate because I have no clue what the fuck he’s talking about right now.

“You just pop it in the mouth and crank it open.” He continues, looking at us the same way we’re looking at him, confused as fuck. “Nevermind.” He shakes his head like he’s disappointed we didn’t get his joke. “What’s up?”

“Maybe we should just wake them up and take them with us.” Enzo says under his breath.

“Ya know, I’m not some sort of monster that just goes around killing women for funsies.” Karrion rolls his eyes, still waving the woman’s head around. “Sure, I kill them on occasion, but they always give me a reason!”

“What reason did that one give you?” Enzo points toward the head, waiting for a response.

“This one worked for me at the restaurant. Silas found out that our missing money was going into her bank account.” He grabs a large tupperware bowl from the cabinet, placing the head inside. “She tried to seduce me to get out of trouble.”

“She did manage to seduce you.” Nyx rolls her eyes as she walks past him. “She just didn’t know she would end up dying while you fucked her.”

“Jesus Christ.” Enzo turns back toward the stairs, but I grab his arm, stopping him.

“Is Ben still here?” I ask, “we wanted to check on him before we go home.” We didn’t even bother stopping at home when we got off the plane, we came straight for our girls. “Also, is Silas still around? I think someone hacked our phones so we couldn’t communicate with anybody.”

“Si has a tournament at one, so he’s probably warming up already.” Nyx chimes in. “I’ll go ask him to look into it.”

“Thank you, Nyx.” I nod before swallowing the lump in my throat. “I need to have a private conversation with you first.”

“I don’t think I like the sound of that.” Her nose crinkles, but she nods toward the stairs.

“Hey,” Karrion interrupts, “I don’t have to threaten you, right? That’s my favorite pussy.”

Nyx steps into him, running her fingers across the stitches in his chest from when she stabbed him. “I can take care of myself, remember?” She kisses his chest, then walks up the stairs.

I follow her into a room and she closes the door behind me. Looking around, there are posters of metal bands all over the walls, with some knife images cut out from catalogs. Clearly, this is her bedroom.

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