Page 29 of Ghouls and Girth
“What just happened?”Gabby whispers.
“Where did they come from?”Trista asks as she stares at my alphas.
“Where did he go?”Bianca demands with a shaky finger pointed at Bryce.
I suck down a noisy breath, but pain threatens to fold me into a pretzel.Masculine arms wrap around me.Deep rumbles soothe my angst.
“The veil may be thin tonight, but it isn’tthatthin.You just opened a portal toThe Knottiverseand delivered a living soul to Sathanas, The Keeper of Halloween,” Khalid explains.
His dark eyes study me as though I’m a puzzle to piece together, but he’s already seen all of me.With his presence in my soul and his seed still leaking from between my legs, he and his brother are closer to me than anyone else has ever been.
“So… that wasn’t Lucifer or the devil or whoever is in charge of hell?”I ask.
“Hell has a different Keeper,” Umar grunts.
The pride and hunger in both his dark brown human eyes and eerie white with tiny black pupil ghoul eyes steal the ground out from under my feet and fills my stomach with butterflies.
“Oh.Um.Does that mean I took my stepbrother to the wrong place?I can go back and—”
“No.You will not steal a soul from Sathanas,” Khalid snarls.
Umar wraps his arms around me from behind, pulls me tight against him, and murmurs in my ear.
“Your stepbrother is in the right place, little graveyard gladiator.He’ll suffer more under Sathanas than he would under any other Keeper in The Knottiverse.”
“So, wait,” Bianca interrupts, reminding me that my friends are still standing a few feet away.“You killed Bryce without even touching him.”
“And these two guys are yours now,” Trista says.
I swallow and nod.
“Okay, you’re right.Too much for you to explain right now.”Gabby throws her arms in the air.“We’ll leave, but if you don’t show up for class, we’re coming to get you.Got it?”she demands.
I blink.
My roommates look at each other before assuming the same pose—arms crossed over their chests and warning glares aimed at my alphas—as they wait for my response.
Joy jitters down my spine and lifts my lips in a trembling smile.
“Thank you,” I manage through the tears clogging my throat.
My friends may not be able to see the ghouls hidden within my alphas’ human forms, but they aren’t stupid.They know something crazy happened to me by the blood and filth caked in my hair and coating my body, but they also recognize that I’ve changed a lot since I disappeared a few minutes ago, and instead of questioning everything, they’re trusting me to know what’s best for me.
I killed my stepfamily and have no idea where my mother is, but none of them matter anymore.
I don’t deserve friends like these, but I’ll cling to them with every bit of strength I have.
Sadness wells up in me.If what my ghouls say is true, then I’ll live much longer than these wonderful ladies will.
It doesn’t matter.I’ll never let these women go.They’ll always be a part of me.
I clear my throat and nod.
Their tremulous smiles overflow my soul with happiness.
The urge to hug them rises in me, but I wave them away as heat builds in my belly.
“Thanks, ladies.See you in a few days,” I say as I wrap my fingers around each of my alpha’s arms.
