Page 46 of Martyr

Gods dammit.

Nix’s dick twitched traitorously between his legs.

Chapter 11:

The Roost, where the Demons of Foxglove traditionally lived during their four to five years at the university, was built at the base of Munin Mountain. A river flowed beneath the front porch, and a wooden bridge led to it from the sidewalk. The building itself was three stories high with tall glass windows set in metal frames—large enough to house more than the three occupants currently residing within its walls.

The second level had a wraparound balcony, and Nix spotted Lake peering down at them from it when West pulled his car into the small lot to the left. By the time they’d made it to the front door, Lake was already waiting for them there.

“We need to talk,” Lake stopped Nix when he went to pass him, then he turned to West. “Yejun is waiting inside with a guest.”

Nix bristled, but West merely shrugged and then abandoned him without so much as a second glance.

Lake waited until they were alone on the porch, his expression enigmatic. For a brief moment, his gaze lingered on the synthetic skin on Nix’s neck, but he didn’t comment on it.

“I know,” Nix broke the silence first, unwilling to do this quiet showdown. It was still early afternoon, but the air waschilly and it looked like it was about to rain at any moment, no signs of the sunshine that’d been out only an hour ago.

“Know what?”

“You’ve got that look,” he said. “The one that means whatever you’re about to tell me to do, I’m not going to like it. So, just spill already. What obscene form of torture have you come up with now?”

“You’re wrong.”

Nix lifted a brow, not buying that for a second. “Am I?”

Lake glanced away then turned back with renewed determination. “I’ll give you a choice, Songbird.”

“A choice?” he practically sneered the words, but inside, he felt a spark of interest. That was incredibly out of character for the Imperial. “Is this your way of apologizing? Because I can think of a better way.”

“If you finish that statement with some form of my letting you go, I’ll stop you right here. Don’t bother wasting your breath.”

“Weird way of telling me you’re sorry.”

“I am not sorry.” Lake took a threatening step forward but then caught himself in the act and exhaled, as though to calm himself. “I could have gone about it differently. For that…I’ll apologize.”

Nix blinked, a bit shocked he’d actually said the words, and in that moment, Lake must have taken his silence as acceptance, because he moved on almost immediately after.

“Juri is inside,” Lake told him.

“What?!” Nix tried to step around him only for Lake to move into his way.

He recalled how angry the Imperial had seemed when he’d discovered Nix had spoken with the other guy, and worry flooded his system. The last thing he wanted was to be responsible for someone else losing a family member the wayhe’d lost Branwen, and after all of the horror stories told about the Demons, he could already picture a hundred and one ways they could be torturing Juri right now.

“Lake,” it was a struggle not to overreact, but Nix somehow managed to even out his tone, “none of this is his fault. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You’re wrong again,” he replied. “That’s not why I brought him here.”

Nix frowned. “Are you saying you aren’t going to hurt him?”

“I’m saying that depends entirely on you.”

He deflated some. “So, you are going to force me to do something I don’t want to.”

“No.” Lake reached out, about to touch the rise of Nix’s cheek, but something stopped him and he ended up dropping his hand before making contact. “Juri insists that we’re holding you against your will.”

“Oh, does he,” Nix drawled, unable to keep the sarcasm from his voice that time.

His eyes narrowed. “Did you tell him something to make him believe that?”

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