Page 31 of Priest and his Anarchist

I let her move me through the swarm of people, dodging sticky bodies and unfamiliar faces. I never needed to attendparties, and my family had them often. Midnight Mayhem are infamous for their iconic parties, but I always found the music too loud and the conversations boring.

My feet stop when I find Priest sitting on a single sofa on the other side of the room. Boys surround him as he chats with one to his left. As if sensing me watching, his mouth stops moving as he slowly turns, his eyes landing on mine.

We don’t like each other. He barely tolerates me on our training days, and I’m pretty sure every time we’re in the dark room, he’d rather it be me bleeding out at his feet and not his latest toy. I know he enjoys watching me run so he can chase me, but his natural impulses always leave him unsatisfied because he can’t do what they drive him to do. Kill.

But he threw this party, made a giant cake, and said happy birthday.

“Thank you.” I mouth at him.

His signature stone expression fractures, and I sway sideways, slowly walking toward him. Fingers dig into my arm, and I’m pulled in the opposite direction by a scream of Shots! from River.

When I get a chance to turn back around, he’s gone.

Chapter Eight

Luna

year four

“No.”

“Why?” I try to keep the annoyance out of my tone.

It’s been a year since my fifteenth birthday, and he’s come down harder. If he isn’t being an asshole, he’s absent.

“What’s the worst that could possibly happen?”

He glares back at me. In the dim lighting of his office, his features seem harder. I should have paid closer attention instead of drawing the damn pictures as quickly as I could to get out of there.

“I can name three off the top of my head. Wanna hear them?” His words hit me in the stomach and my face drops. “Thought so.”

“You threw me a birthday party last year. What’s changed this year?” I challenge, sliding my hands beneath my thighs to stop digging my nails into them.

He holds my stare. “A lot.” His eyes fall to the holster that’s strapped around my thigh.

River blows out a breath, kicking up from the chair beside me. “Are you questioning your training, Dear Dark Prince? It’ll be one weekend, that’s all. She’s different now. She has teeth!”

Priest doesn’t bother to look at his cousin. “I’m not interested in her teeth any more than I am her tongue, Riv.” His head turns when he blows out a cloud of smoke.

“Ah, I tried…” she mumbles before her footsteps disappear behind the door. Sometimes, River and I go weeks without seeing each other. Other times, it’s once a day, but at all times, she's sad.

What kind of leader will he be? Cruel, no doubt. This may be part of his training. The entire setting of the EKC is based on grooming their young.

“You know I can do it.” The silence that stretches between us isn’t uncomfortable. It doesn’t make my nerves tweak or my skin itch. It’s the kind that we always sit in. It’s the kind that has made these three years bearable.

When I push back, the legs on my chair scrape against the wood floor. Windows replace the wall behind his desk, allowing the sun to reveal an antique built-in bookcase on the opposite side.

My arms fold as I trace all the ripples of waves through the ocean. “It’s really beautiful here.”

His shoulder brushes mine when he stands beside me, leaning against the window. The air grows tight, my heart racing in my chest.

Putting distance between us, I lean back against the desk, squeezing the edge and watching the simple movement of his finger tracing the outline of his upper lip. Even dressed in his casual style, he’s a force. What he wears doesn’t matter because how he feels in any room is enough to make any sane person run.

My fascination with him has only grown over this past year, but I’ve found a way to be distracted.

“Don’t stare too hard.” His tone’s flat and disinterested, his eyes hard on mine. “Vaden might get jealous.” He turns his back to me, staring out the window. I need to be suffocated by his presence again.

Making sure I don’t touch him, I stand to his side and follow his line of sight to the field below. “I didn’t know you knew. We’re friends.”

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