Page 85 of Light the Fire

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Zane

Yes, I was a colossal asshole.

And to say that hearing Haina cry—nay,sob—like that hadn’t gutted me would be an understatement. I had a heart—as shriveled and black as it might be.

I knew I’d hit a nerve, and yet, rather than pulling back, I just kept shoving that dagger in deeper until I hit bone.

I thought she’d push back more, and eventually, she had—thank fuck—but not before showing me just how much she was truly falling for my brothers.

And I knew they were falling for her, too.

There was no seductive manipulation in how they were with her. That was all one hundred percent real.

I wanted to trust her; fuck almighty did I want to trust her.

I wanted to do a hell of a lot more than that, too.

I wanted to do everything my brothers were doing to her and more, but one of us had to remain neutral. One of us needed to keep our wits about us. Needed to assume that Haina wasn’t who she claimed to be and that her true motivation was to expose our betrayal to her superiors.

We couldn’t let our guard down, not even around a tempting and sweet piece of ass like Haina, because even though my brothers weren’t playing her, that didn’t mean she wasn’t playing all of us. And fuck if I was going to let my brothers fall victim to a manipulative psychopathic Kappa.

I didn’t hear any more crying from behind the closed bedroom door, but I could tell that she wasn’t asleep again either. There was a gigantic window in the room that looked out onto the water. If I were to guess, she was probably staring into the blank, black nothingness that was the trees and ocean.

That’s what I was doing anyway. Quietly berating myself for having made her cry, for saying the things that I knew would hurt her, all as a form of preservation for not only myself, but for Rix and Jorik, too.

I hoped like fuck that I was wrong, that she wasn’t playing us.

But I had to keep pushing in an attempt to break her.

Every Kappa had a weakness, but they were usually tough as fuck to find.

Haina’s seemed to be damn near impossible.

I felt their heartbeats before I heard the door open. My brothers stomped in, their guns over their shoulders. They’d pushed their night-vision goggles up onto the top of their heads, and concern etched their faces when they realized Haina wasn’t in the living room with me.

“Waiting for you in the bedroom,” I said, the ache in my chest at knowing they were about to go in there and ravish her causing me to turn back out to the water in order to hide my wince of jealousy.

“Is she okay?” Rix asked, ditching the gun and goggles on the kitchen island.

“Did you say something to her to piss her off?” Jorik pried, mimicking Rix’s move with the gun and goggles.

They each gave me looks that were on the border between curiosity and anger.

I met their gazes in the window’s reflection. “She’s fine. Just waiting for you guys to go in and make that sandwich.”

Another stab of pain hit me in the heart, and my cock jerked in my cargo pants.

Just the thought of Haina spread out on the bed and filled to the brim with cock made my blood pump extra fast.

Rix and Jorik exchanged eager looks, then wasted no time heading to the bedroom.

I stood there staring out at the water a little longer, wishing I hadn’t finished that whiskey so quickly.

But I’d need my wits about me if I was to take first watch.

However, as Haina had said, we metabolized things faster—particularly her. I had no doubt that she wasn’t feeling the effects of the alcohol at all when she woke up.

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