Page 81 of Be My Sinner

The floodgates open wide as she falls to the ground before me and sobs against my chest, her tears soaking the front of my shirt. I can hear the other two rustling behind us, but I ignore them. This moment is ours alone, and I won’t allow them to taint it.

My voice trembling, I squeeze her tightly. “It’s alright, Nightstar. You are safe, baby, and I’m not angry anymore. You did nothing wrong. It’s all going to be okay. We will always be together, you and me.”

A grunt leaves my lips with acceptance of our situation. “We just have two more now to our group. I will have to learn to share you, Nightstar. It won’t be easy, but I refuse to give you up, and I cannot live without you. You will always be mine, too. Nothing will change that.”

She pulls away from me, tipping up her head and offering me a sad, vulnerable smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’m sorry, Sammy. I…I betrayed you. You have to believe…me, I love you. I…I need you. Please don’t leave me.”

“No one is leaving anyone! Both of you get off the forest floor. We have shit to do,” Ezekiel grumbles from behind me.

Dinah’s surprised eyes question mine, but I’m as bewildered as she is. I have no idea what he is talking about. I rise from the ground and pull Dinah to her feet, spying the teeth marks on her jaw, the red spot on her cheek that looks like a slap, and the bruising already forming around her neck from Abraham’s fingers.

My fist flies out before I can stop myself, and I slam it into Abe’s mouth, forcing him to take a few staggering steps backward. “That’s for being a fucking animal with her. She’s not one of your whores to abuse, Abraham Mercier. I’ll kill you if you try that shit with her again.”

He stares at me with eyes filled with white-hot rage and adrenaline, his fists clenched at his sides, and the vein in his neck protruding before nodding. Does he understand that wasn’t just an idle threat but a promise? If he hurts her or betrays her, I will kill him.

“In his defense, which really he doesn’t need nor deserve, since he just rutted my wife into the ground, she looks like she gave as good as she got,” Zeke says nonchalantly, and the tension breaks. A chuckle escapes Dinah, and then I find Abe and I are also laughing.

“What shit were you talking about, Zeke? What do you have in mind?” Dinah questions as she starts to move away from all of us, and back in the direction of the house. The minute she passes me, I spot the blood on the back of her cornflower blue dress. Zeke must spot it, too, because he grabs the front of Abraham’s dirty white shirt and hauls him towards him.

“She’s fucking bleeding, Abe. You took it too far. You hurt her!” He shoves him back, spittle flying from his lips as his face goes blotchy with anger. I guess good old Ezekiel’s threshold of acceptance is seeing Dinah bleed; good to know.

Dinah stops in her next step and looks over her shoulder, a grimace across her features. “It was a rock, Zeke. I’m not worried about it, and neither should you be. I’m not some delicate flower that needs a soft touch.” With a shrug, she walks barefoot across the lawn towards the house, ignoring the three hormone-raging assholes behind her.

“Fuck, we are all done for, aren’t we? Look at us fighting over and following her like love-sick puppies.” Abraham rubs his hand across his mouth, wiping the blood from his lips from the hit I landed.

“Would you change it, Abraham?” I question, needing to hear his answer.

He spits blood onto the ground, a grin breaking across his harsh features. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, old man.”

His comment causes amusement and a flare of anger to spark inside of me. Yes, the two of them are closer in age to my Nightstar, and the ten-year difference might seem like a bit much between her and me, but I don’t feel old, and I can still knock his young ass out.

When we almost reach the house, I spy that maid, Elizabeth, watching us from one of the family room windows.She’s going to be a problem for us.

One, she’s fucking Abraham, and not against her will. She seems to think that he will be able to pull her out of the position and class she’s in and make her his permanently. He won’t; that’s not how our world truly works, and even if it was, Dinah would never allow it. She’s territorial, and what she did in the forest with him has claimed him as hers.

Secondly, she’s a threat because she could report what is happening in this house to the Brotherhood out of spite, because she’s been discarded. I have no doubt that Abraham won’t be going near her again. Either way, she’s a threat to my Nightstar, and that just won’t do.Elizabeth has run out of time on this earth; she just doesn’t know it yet.

Ezekiel must also spy her; his face turns towards me in acknowledgment. No words need to be exchanged; he’s allowing me to read his thoughts across his face. He agrees; she has to go, and so she will.

We step back into the study we left in shambles, Dinah trying not to slice her bare, dirty feet on the broken pieces of stone from the bust she threw at Abraham’s head. She plops herself down on the wing chair that Abe vacated when he chased her - a weary queen back from battle.

Ezekiel stares at her, and I can see the hunger in his green eyes. He wants her, not just as a plaything or a tool to get him power, but as a woman, as his. He’s staring at her as if she is the real-life version of all the naughty dreams he’s ever had come to life, and the minx is staring right back at him, daring him to take her.Jesus, she has no sense of self-preservation, tempting a monster like him.

“The ‘Unholy Ghost’ needs to kill again; in fact, he needs to kill again tonight.” He drops the words as if he’s releasing a bomb.

“What the hell are you talking about, Zeke? Dinah is not going back out there. It’s too much of a risk. I won’t allow it; you’ve lost your damn mind.” Abraham roars as he faces off with Ezekiel.

“We will be with her. We can help her and protect her,” Ezekiel counters, his eyes meeting mine. I see a question in their depths. Is he asking me for my opinion, or my acceptance of whatever plan he has in mind?

I won’t agree to anything that will hurt Dinah, and he should have already realized that. She comes before everything.

“This is insane; you’re going to get her captured or killed!” Abraham shouts.

“We need to keep up the premise that the ‘Unholy Ghost’ is still out there hunting high-ranking members of the Brotherhood. You know this. Speculations are already swirling, and they are questioning how we survived. The ‘Ghost’ needs to kill again,” Ezekiel replies with frustration as he paces back and forth. The tension in his body pulling it tight, like a live wire about to explode.

“He’s right. We need to divert attention elsewhere so they don’t start questioning the rush of Ezekiel’s wedding, and why you two are still alive,” I agree, even though it pains me to accept anything from Ezekiel Rothesay’s mouth as truth.

“How do we do this and not get caught? It will be much harder to get out of this house, sight unseen, than where Sammy and I lived,” Dinah quizzes while biting down on her bottom lip. I can almost see the rapid thoughts flying through her head, trying to figure out how she can kill more members of the Brotherhood without getting us all caught.

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