Page 35 of Created in Chaos

“Are you just going to execute your cousin?” Nova questions the moment I turn to face her again.

“He’s doing what has to be done, Nova. We can’t let the challenge go unanswered,” Nox replies, defending me with the truth.

“He didn’t break a window with his baseball. He sneaked onto our protected property with knowledge he only possessed because he used to be one of us.” I slap my fist against my chest as my ability to rein in my temper fails. I should have had those tunnels sealed up years ago, but I foolishly believed my father when he said it wouldn’t be an issue, and that Uncle Albert, and Alden by association, would never return after they disgraced themselves and their family.

“Letting it go would be a sure sign of weakness that others would try to exploit,” Nox reasons, but it wouldn’t matter. I would want him dead either way. He came here and threatened what’s mine. If something would have happened to Nova, it would have been my fault, and I won’t live with that. She’s been through enough because of me.

“What if they forced him?” she pleads.

“Why do you care what happens to him?” I question, hating that she’s fighting for him.

“I don’t think anyone should die for something so stupid as violating your walls, but someone else might actually care about him. I’m sure there’s someone he’s important to who doesn’t want him dead.”

“As if he’s some innocent bystander in this. How do you think they knew he could get in here, lamb? That he would be able to breach our security?” I let her mull over the question for a few moments, allowing her to come to the same realization I have—he must have told them about the underground tunnels and secret entrances. Who knows how long they have known. “He understood the consequences of his actions.”

“Unlike you, he grew up in this world.”

Nova flinches at Nox’s words and the reminder that she’s different, but it wasn’t delivered as an insult.

“He knows the rules,” I remind her.

“So do you, but you never follow them. Nox came with me to the Umbras the day we went to the beach. He hid in the car.” She focuses on my brother, who is having a very hard fucking time meeting my gaze.

“That was his choice. He also knew the consequences.” I let him hear how pissed I am. It was reckless and something I would totally do, but that didn’t used to be his style, not before my parents died.

Nova’s eyes harden, and she plants her hand on her curvy hip. “Are you kidding me? You didn’t tell me you could get in that kind of trouble. I never would have allowed you to come with me.”

Nox has the decency to look down at his feet before finally meeting her incensed stare. “I wasn’t there to infiltrate their compound or lure anyone away. I was just along for the ride,” he defends lamely.

“And Alden was just here to talk to me, yet it will cost him his life.”

“I didn’t get caught.”

Nova’s lips thin, and she shakes her head. “I shouldn’t have told you. It’s my fault he’ll die.”

“Bullshit!” I snap before carefully wrapping my fingers around her upper arm to get her to look at me. “You are not responsible for his choice or what happens to him because of it.” There’s a sheen of tears in her aqua eyes that makes my knees feel soft, like they might not hold me up anymore.

I can’t understand why it bothers her so much. He should mean nothing to her. “Do you care about him?” I search her face, needing answers.

“Not like that.” Her voice is tight and nasally. “I just don’t want to be responsible for his death. I don’t want you responsible either.”

“He’s the only one responsible, Nova,” Nox offers, but I know it falls on deaf ears.

I release her arm and take a step back from her. It’s the first time I haven’t wanted her wrath. “We can’t let this go, lamb. It’s not possible.”

I watch her take a deep breath and tip her chin up. Even with her eyes still glassy, she nods in acceptance, taking the blame but not complaining about it. I want her to yell at me, to push me, blame me, but she doesn’t. She silently accepts she has no voice. My chest constricts, and I open my mouth to say something, to demand she not be mad at us for Alden’s stupidity, but she surprises me yet again by grabbing my brother’s shirt and pulling him with her as she eats up the two steps between us and drops her head onto my chest, looking for comfort.

I’m so stunned, I don’t move for a full second. When I feel her spine straighten like she might back away, I finally pull my head out of my ass and wrap my arms around her neck, leaving room for Nox lined up against her back. Our eyes meet over her head with the same mirrored astonishment.

Even mad and hurting, she still reached for us. I’m in awe of her benevolence, and I will do anything in my power to keep it.

NOVA

The trip into the underground hall is just as frightening and stifling as my first venture. I’m decked out in one of the brothers’ old robes, while Nox and Lucian have me squeezed between them as if they think someone is going to try to abduct me out from under their noses. It’s making me even more nervous on top of already freaking out about what the heck I’m walking into.

The last two days have been difficult, to say the least. Lucian tried everything to distract me from the upcoming event. He even tried to get me to stay home tonight, but I told him if they left me out, his balls would never be safe. I think that excited him, so I also said I would ask Mickey for my job back at Hooker’s—not that I think I would get it—but it did the trick. I’m here with them now, wondering why the heck I thought it was a good idea to come.

I blow the mesh of the hood away from my face, trying to steal a breath of fresh air, but it’s useless. I feel trapped—no, it’s more than that. I feel smothered. Thinking about the tons of stone above my head and what would happen if it collapsed has me sweating bullets, even in the cold air.

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