Page 88 of The Brotherhood

Her orgasm rose before him and he splayed his fingers over her ass, pressing her in tight. Her thick flesh gave under his grip as he forced her clit against his body with filthy, sharp drags till her legs trembled around him.

Her shatter came, a scream breaking against his skin, her body convulsing, milking him in uncontrollable waves. At the cry of his name, his head dropped and he plunged his fangs into her, locking their bodies together.

The rush of her blood flooded his mouth—hot, electric, alive. His venom surged, a claiming, a seal, binding her deeper to him, his upgrades writing itself into the marrow of their bones.

Everything seized inside him when he hit a foreign thread laced in her essence.

Kill instincts curled around it and quarantined it with surgical precision as he studied the threat.

It wasn’t hers. It wasn’t his. It wasn’t their son’s.

He silenced the sharp, instinctive snarl pushing in his chest, keeping Beth locked in the aftershocks of their pleasure while he dissected its signature down to the molecular level.

He carefully withdrew his fangs, licking and kissing at the wound as Beth sobbed against him, still trembling from pleasure. He softened instantly, arms locking around her, soothing her as his lips brushed over her damp skin. He traced kisses from her temple to her jaw till her breath evened out, fingers tangling in his hair.

He kissed reverently at the shell of her ear. “Whose blood did you have?”

Her entire body went still.

He pulled up right as a single, shattered breath left her, followed by another. She curled into him, pressing her forehead against his chest.

“I… I didn’t know what was happening,” she choked, voice thick with guilt. “I was just suddenly—needing it. I don’t know why. I hated myself, I felt so dirty—”

He gripped her chin and tilted her face up, kissing her lips. “There is nothing to forgive, Ma petite ange,” he swore.

Her lips trembled. “But I—”

“If you needed it, then you did the right thing.” He caught her tear with his thumb, wiping it away while damn sure there was far more to it than she seemed to know.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, sobbing. “I love you. You know how much I love you.”

He gripped her head tightly to him. “I do know,” he whispered, petting and stroking her everywhere. “I know it with all that I am.”

His mind returned to the blood in quarantine, knowing before verifying. Sinrik.

His own blood twisted around it, stripping it, ready to reforge it into something new. Something Sinrik would never see coming.

CHAPTER 19

The War Begins

The Academy’s Grand Hall was full of Kings. And a few queens, including his sitting next to him. Cherie’s hand in his was the one anchor capable of keeping him grounded lately.

But nearly every person in that room had Seer’s hands itching to touch. Even those absent. Harlow, Kult, Pain. Atlas and Sync. He’d only shaken Kult’s hand. Now they were on a rescue mission to get Augustine. The second Seer heard of his loss, he’d needed to touch him. Not wanted. Which meant there were things about him he was supposed to see. A job to do.

Seer couldn’t begin to imagine suffering such a thing. Didn’t allow himself to, either. Just the thought was hard to survive.

He moved his gaze around the room, stopping at Beth and Bishop, letting the sight of them together further ground his soul. His favorite power-match was reunited. More powerful than before. But something was up with Bishop. And without looking directly, the man sitting a few chairs down from Seer was responsible. The Master of Mayhem. Sinrik, Krovax had called him. Very interesting name. Not his Christian one, he wagered.

Seer eyed the silence the man locked himself in, gaze turned inward on things both in and not in that room. Beth was one of those things, of this he had no doubt. Since Bishop’s bite, her powers were off the charts, impossible to escape. She was definitely meant to meet Sinrik. The question of why, remained.But not for long. His God-gut said he’d have all the answers within the hour.

Seer eased his attention to the newest kings. The Chaos Pillars, he’d heard them called. Men who studied chaos he’d gathered. Each had an apprentice standing a couple feet behind them. Not just students but guardians too, he sensed.

Did their little team work with Sinrik? One of his top questions. He wagered yes. Somehow. From the moment Sinrik’s voice had broadcast at the academy, Seer knew he was more than any of them imagined. Nobody destroyed an entire nation in the way that he did without a unique motive. Likely even divine. The kind of divine that didn’t ask for help but ordered it. With or without you knowing it. And the current trouble etched on all their faces testified to men being divinely moved upon. The trouble? Thinking they’d been in control, maybe even thinking everything had been their own idea. They definitely looked like men who’d just been told—“Think again, human.”

One thing was a fact. Whatever caused their mountain to be devoured into the earth was surely part of what brought them there. And it was linked to whatever sent Beth on her little mission to do whatever needed doing.

“They’re starting,” Cherie leaned and whispered.

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