Page 76 of Martyr

“Make any funny moves and I’ll snap your shin,” Yejun growled, proving Nix’s survival instincts were spot on.

“I won’t,” he raised his voice and promised. Then to Juri, “Hurry.”

“Let him go,” Lake urged Yejun when it seemed like he was about to protest.

“Like hell! He’s her brother! What if he had something to do with this?! What if—”

“Nix didn’t know,” Lake insisted. “We only just discovered it recently.”

Yejun went still.

Juri helped Briant to his feet and started to retreat, making sure to keep the Demons in his line of sight for as long as possible.

Briant tried to reach for Nix, but he was in a bad way and his head lolled a second later. He remained conscious, but barely.

Helplessly, Nix forced himself to remain on the ground, waiting and watching as his cousin was taken away from the threat. Though, for how long he’d be able to stay that way was up for debate.

Nix couldn’t allow anything like this to happen again. Couldn’t allow for anything worse to happen. He thought about Rase and shuddered.

“That’s why you bit him,” Yejun brought Nix’s attention back his way, “isn’t it.”

Lake’s mouth thinned into a line, but he didn’t bother to deny it.

“My cousin’s name is Branwen Cherith,” Nix risked speaking up, though he regretted it when that terrifying gaze landed back on him. “I don’t know why she used an alias when she was here. I had no idea she went by Iris. By the time I discovered it…”

“Gonna feed me some bullshit about liking me too much to hurt my delicate feelings?” Yejun offered.

“No, it’s not…like that.”

“Oh?” He snorted derisively. “So it’s my cock then, right? You liked getting dicked down enough you figured may as well keep the secret so you can keep getting it.”

“That’s enough, June,” Lake said, but his best friend wasn’t listening.

Yejun stormed forward and grabbed Nix’s arm, yanking him onto his feet with little care as to whether or not it hurt in the process.

To his credit, Nix only slightly stumbled, allowing Yejun to drag him the rest of the way to the Roost even though every instinct was screaming at him to break free and run for his life.

He knew what was coming the second he was forced behind closed doors, but at least if Yejun was occupied with him, that meant he wasn’t racing after Briant to finish what he’d started.

Briant was the only cousin Nix had left.

He’d do whatever he had to in order to protect him.

Even let a Demon take his anger out on his body instead.

Chapter 18:

Yejun tossed him onto the coffee table in the living room and for a moment Nix was too scared to move.

His mind raced a mile a minute, assessing the situation in an attempt to find the best way to protect himself going forward. All of those horror stories he’d been told and hadn’t wanted to believe in raced through his mind and he felt the fear grow until he was shaking.

“I should have slit your throat the second I saw you,” Yejun’s words were like daggers through Nix’s heart and he hated that.

He hated that it bothered him when it shouldn’t.

It shouldn’t matter what this asshole thought of him at all. Hadn’t he been forced into this from the get-go? Nix hadn’t wanted his attention—any of their attention. A flash of indignation came over him before he could help it and, of course, Yejun noticed.

Nix let out a yelp as he was flipped onto his back and a strong hand wrapped around his throat. He grabbed onto Yejun’s wrist as the Demon planted a knee to the center of his chest and simultaneously pressed it down as he squeezed. The second his airflow was cut off, panic had him struggling, but he couldn’t get the other man to budge.

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