Page 66 of Marked By Night

Skylar would die to see this place though. He always loved the finer things in life even if we never got to experience them. When we still lived with our dad, we lived in a one-bedroom trailer. It was nothing compared to this, but that ratty trailer was ours. Then he died, and social services dumped us on our only other living relative. Mickey Sinclair.

Curse that man. If he hadn’t dropped off the face of the planet after what happened with Skylar, I would’ve killed him my-fucking-self and he knows it. One of these days he’ll reappear though, and I won’t stop until I murder him with my bare hands.

Ash’s family took me in shortly after the fallout of Skylar dying. Thankfully, or else I don’t know where I’d be now if it weren’t for them. I was broken, and Ash was there to piece me back together again. I spent many nights bawling in her lap until eventually, she helped me get my spunk and confidence back. Then they also died and I’ve been mad at the world ever since.

“Uh, earth to Sadie?” Dante interrupts my thoughts, wrinkling his nose at me in confusion.

I force a smile. “I’m sorry. My mind was elsewhere. What were you saying?”

“Yeah, I could tell. Where’d you go in that beautiful head of yours, Angel? You looked like you were a million miles away.” He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, and I look away from his inquisitive eyes. Talking about my past is too heavy right now.

“It’s been a long couple of days,” I respond instead.

“True, but it hasn’t been all bad. Has it? I mean other than the people trying to kill us, and the car chase, and the boulder fire…” He trails off. “Well, maybe it has been a littlenuts.” He starts poking my side, trying to get a reaction out of me.

I can’t help but laugh, swatting his hand away when he finds my ticklish spot. “So, what were you trying to tell me?”

“Oh, I was telling you a little bit of the history of the house. It was built in the 1940s by the King family and was passed down to us when we came of age at twenty-one, along with the family business. We had it updated recently to bring it to modern times.”

“No doubt,” I say, admiring the glamorous cream colored walls and crown molding. “Hey, speaking of the King family, why do you all have the same last name?” My nose wrinkles. “Are you actually brothers?” None of them look anything alike, but stranger things have happened.

He chuckles. “No. When we were matched at thirteen, we took Elian’s name because he is kind of like our unofficial leader. Some Circles prefer to have one person in charge, but we never liked that idea. We listen to each other and agree upon a decision from there. If all else fails, then we put things to a vote.”

I raise an eyebrow. Interesting concept—and if it works for them, who am I to argue?

“When you were matched?” I inquire.

“Yeah, our magic starts seeking our other members around the age of thirteen. When the call to join comes, we’re powerless to the pull until we find our other members and bond as a Circle,” he tells me. “With that said, Weaver communities are quite small, so we grew up together and already knew one another.”

“Seems intense.”

“It is.”

“What happens if you don’t like your fellow members?” I ask, thinking about the dickish way Elian has treated me thus far.

Dante frowns. “You know, I’m not sure. I don’t think it’s ever happened. According to Weaver lore, the Night Goddess has a hand in each pairing, and she’s never wrong.”

“Hmph. If you say so.” I’ve never been one to blindly put my faith in anything, so getting on board with their customs is going to be a challenge for me.

We walk under another arch that leads to an informal den. My eyes light up with excitement upon spying both sets of the newest gaming systems and the giant couch placed in front of the largest TV I’ve ever seen.

“This is our man cave.”

“I can see that. Hopefully, you guys don’t mind teaching a girl to play.”

He eyes me seductively as he leads me away from the man cave. “Of course not, Angel. In fact, I’d love teaching you to play. But for now, I want to finish our tour.”

“Are you sure that’s what you want to do?” I ask, and my voice comes out breathier than I’d intended. Dante picks up on it straight away. He raises one of those blonde brows at me as his gaze trails down my body sensually.

“Like what you see?” I taunt, trailing my fingers up my side.

“Fuck yes,” he breathes. “Seeing you with your hair looking wild and freshly fucked even though I know you’re not?” He groans. “Getting my hands on you is all I’ve been able to think about.”

He grabs my wrist and spins me to face him as his lips crash against mine. His tongue dances with my own as his other hand comes up to cup my face. I groan, leaning into his touch, loving the way his hands feel on me. His teeth scrape my earlobe and I shiver as his hot breath skims my neck.

“Shadows take me,” he breathes as I flip our positions, shoving him into the wall.

Our kiss doesn’t even slow as he lets me take control of the moment, and I kiss the freaking daylights out of him. My fingers trail down the rigid planes of his pecs and abs, enjoying the groan I elicit when I dig my fingers into his waistband. As I try to yank his shirt over his head, he switches our positions again.

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