Page 26 of Castor
My time in the underworld helped make that even clearer. When I’d thought I was about to die, I had pictured my brothers and the home we shared. I thought of the cliff beside our mansion and how Galen and I sometimes sat on the edge of it, overlooking the sea below.
And now, as I stood at the harbor, staring at the dark water gently move beneath the moonlight, I thought of Kyo.
He was the son of a dragon king. A rebellious prince who wanted to break the mold, to live freely. His touch set me on fire, and his fingertips left a trail of flames in their wake. Consuming me.
I wanted to taste him again. Craved the feeling of his strong body wrapped around mine, our mouths meeting as I pushed inside the tight heat of his ass.
“What the hell is wrong with me?” I turned from the water’s edge and strolled along the pier.
One night with Kyo and I was hooked. Borderline obsessed. Two days had passed since our tryst at the club, and I couldn’t get him out of my head.
The heavy flapping of wings behind me signaled that I was no longer alone. Galen dropped to the ground, his wide shoulders and muscled chest on display. Large black wings protruded from his back. Red glimmered in some of the feathers. The color of Wrath.
“Your mind is so loud,” he said, stepping toward me.
“Then stop listening.”
Telepathy allowed us to speak to each other through a mind link, but if one of us was thinking hard about something—or obsessing in my case—we could read each other’s thoughts if we were nearby, making it impossible to hide anything. Our bond also allowed us to feel strong emotions. Like when Alastair’s lover died a few months back, we had all felt his heartache as if it were our own.
“Shouldn’t you be with your mate?” I asked.
“He’s with Gray and Raiden.” Galen kept a slow pace beside me as I started walking again. “They’re having a movie night.”
The mansion had a movie theater, furnished with recliners and an amazing surround sound system. Galen wasn’t much of a movie person. They bored him.
“Gray’s pretty attached to Simon, isn’t he?”
Galen nodded. “The feeling is mutual. Simon’s attached to him too.”
“Who wouldn’t be? Gray has no right being as cute as he is.”
“Did the shades give you much trouble?” he asked, not one for small talk. “Alastair said you had it handled, but…”
I smirked at him. “But you were worried about me?”
His brow furrowed, and a snarl touched his lips. “Of course not.” Typical Galen. He cared deeply for all of us, yet he was too stubborn to admit it. His hard expression smoothed a bit as his light gray eyes shifted to me. “But it’s foolish for any of us to go out on our own right now.”
He didn’t need to say more. I knew he had come to make sure I was safe. To protect me if need be. Ever since my capture, he’d kept a close eye on me. It was both sweet and annoying.
“If I couldn’t kill a few shades on my own, what kind of warrior would I be?”
“You’re one of the best I’ve ever known.” Galen averted his gaze to the wooden floorboards beneath his feet as we stopped on the dock. “When Lazarus took me to that training arena all those years ago, you were the first one I saw, your hair candy apple red and your eyes already hardened to the world. I was Wrath personified, yet you were the one filled with rage.”
“Iwasangry. I was taken from my home and tossed into a strange place. Forced to fight. It got better once you and the others arrived though. Our connection was strong even back then.” I turned to him. “What’s with the heart-to-heart tonight? You’re never this nice.”
Galen blew out a short laugh and leaned against the railing of the pier. “I have my moments. Are you excited for Greece?”
Alastair had traced Baxter and his group of Nephilim to an island in the Aegean Sea, not far from theport of Piraeus. We were leaving in two days’ time, and if luck was on our side, Baxter would agree to ally with us. If he didn’t? Well, we hadn’t really discussed what would happen then.
“Excited isn’t quite the word I’d use,” I answered. “It’ll be weird going back.”
I had been born outside of Athens, Greece. Ever since the day Lazarus took me away, I had only been back a handful of times, never staying long. Each time left me feeling a little numb. As Alastair had said before, the past was painful. And I was going to be thrown right back into mine.
“I wish I was going with you.” Galen focused on the lighthouse in the distance. “I don’t do well staying behind.”
“Someone has to protect our home while we’re gone. There’s no one better than you for the job. Plus, it’s too dangerous for Simon to go, and you’d never go without him.”
I worried about Galen. He had performed a binding ritual when he mated with Simon that joined their life forces. Now, Simon would never grow old. He couldn’t get sick either. The downside of that? If he ever died, Galen would die too. Galen was vulnerable now and not just to celestial blades—the only weapon that could kill us.
