Kings of Anarchy

by Caroline Peckham

  “Good, because I’m not sure I’d have let you go anyway,” he growled against my mouth. “You’re bound to me like you are to them. There’s no taking that back.”

  "Nash," I said, breathless. He groaned as he kissed the corner of my lips, working up to my ear then biting and chewing like he wanted to eat me up.

  "I've missed you," he said heavily. "I can't stand this. Not being able to touch you, hold you, be with you, it's driving me insane."

  "I know, I know," I gasped as his mouth moved to my throat and I tilted my head to give him better access, locking my legs around his waist. "I'm going mad without you too."

  He stood up straight, pushing me back so my head pressed to the mirror as he admired me beneath him. He growled in frustration, sucking on my lip and biting gently, careful not to break the skin and leave evidence of his touch. "Stay with me tonight. Go back to the old rules."

  "I can't," I sighed, running my hands over the firm plains of his back and shoulders. "Saint needs me."

  "He has the others," he snarled.

  "He won't listen to them," I said, my heart tugging as I was pulled in two directions. But I couldn't abandon Saint. I'd seen what had happened to him without me over Christmas. For whatever reason, I got through to him and it was immeasurably easier on everyone if I continued to care for him and keep him sane.

  "Who cares?" Monroe said coldly and I tilted back, a frown pulling at my brow.

  "I care," I said, hating to have to keep explaining myself on this. "He’s injured because of me."

  "It's not your fault," Monroe said fiercely. "None of what happened is your fault."

  I glanced away, afraid the tears would come for me again as I was forced to face that night again. "I just need to do this, Nash. I'm sorry, but that’s the way it is."

  He released a noise of frustration, but gave in, pressing his forehead to mine. "I'll find more ways for us to see each other then," he said, a promise in those words and relief filled me.

  "Good, because I hate having to pretend you're not mine." I ran my hand down his shirt until I felt his heart beating solidly beneath my palm. "You are mine right, Nash?"

  He gazed at me with the heat of the sun behind his eyes, nodding firmly. "I'm yours, princess. I'll wait to be with you again, but not forever. I'll snatch you away if you're not careful."

  I chuckled and he swallowed the sound with another kiss, groaning against my mouth.

  "How are you?" he asked as he pulled back and I took in a ragged breath as he cut right to the source of my pain just like that.

  "It's hard...pretending it didn't happen, waiting for the news to come out," I said, my throat tight with emotion.

  "I know, princess," he said softly. "You're so strong."

  "Sometimes I don't want to be. I want to fall apart, let go of all my shattered pieces and just…break." My heart crumpled in my chest and he took my hand, holding it to his lips and kissing my fingers sweetly.

  "If you break, I think I'll break with you. I feel your pain like it's a part of me too," he said, his voice gruff. "But you won't break, Tatum Rivers. You will find a way through this. I’ve seen you do it before."

  I thanked him with a lingering kiss and he helped me down off of the counter. I turned and reapplied my lipstick while he watched like a hawk and I knew our time together was already coming to an end.

  "You’d better go," I told him, sad that we had to part so soon.

  He nodded, running his fingers down my spine and making my whole body tingle before he headed away, exiting the bathroom and disappearing out of sight. I stared at myself in the mirror, finding my eyes thick with shadow. They didn't seem so bright blue anymore. They were like a sea overcast by clouds. And I wasn't sure the sun would ever break through them again.

  I headed back into the common house, moving through the crowd and finding everyone parting for me, some even bowing their heads in respect. It was weird as shit and something I was never going to get used to.

  As I made it back to the couch, I saw Danny outside with the Night Keepers. Monroe had joined them and was frowning at Blake as he acted out some sort of move on Saint, grinding his hips against him while Saint tried to push him away one-handed. I snorted a laugh, watching as Danny took it so seriously. I started getting slightly mortified though as Blake showed him tongue movements on his own hand and I gazed on in shock as I recognised all of them. Jesus.

  Kyan weighed in with the odd word or two then caught hold of Danny's throat, apparently showing him how hard to squeeze. Someone dropped down beside me and I turned, finding Mila there, watching the guys with interest.

  "What do you think Saint's saying?" she whispered and I glanced back to find he was talking to Danny with no expression on his face while Danny nodded seriously, apparently absorbing what he was saying. Whatever it was, Monroe apparently agreed with it as he weighed in too, nodding his head.

  "I have literally no idea," I said just as Blake dropped down to the wooden boards and started humping them with all kinds of hip movements which made my lips pop open.

  "Fuck me, that boy has talent," Mila commented. We both huddled closer together, trying not to laugh at Danny as Blake made him get down on the floor and start repeating the actions. But it was impossible not to.

  "Do you think this is going to work?" she whispered to me.

  I looked at Danny on the floor, grinding his body into it with enthusiasm and considered that. "Umm..."

  "Hey Tatum!" Blake called. "We need a willing body."

  "I'm not willing," I joked and he leaned through the doorway with a savage expression on his face.

  "Come out here, Cinders, or I'll come and get you."

  Mila jabbed me in the side in encouragement and I gave her a look of mock annoyance before getting up and heading outside. Blake grabbed me immediately, shoving me back against Kyan who locked an arm around my shoulders to immobilise me. I gasped as Blake gripped my chin between his finger and thumb, smirking at me before leaning in and kissing my ear, my neck, my collar bone. I stopped being embarrassed as I lost myself to his touch, moaning as my eyes fluttered half closed.

  "Easy, see?" Blake pulled away and my lips pursed. "Now you try."

  Danny took a step towards me and the light atmosphere changed so fast, it was like a lightning bolt had struck the ground.

  "Not on her, fuckwit, go try it out on your girl," Saint snarled as Kyan tugged me against him protectively and Blake looked like he was about to throw Danny over the railing into the lake. Monroe had taken a purposeful step toward him too and his clenched fist told me Danny was lucky he hadn't come at me any faster.

  "Yeah, sorry dude, I wasn't thinking." Danny rubbed a hand over his face, clearly overwhelmed by this situation before he hurried inside to join Mila.

  Kyan turned me in his arms and walked me back against the railing to pin me in place. "All this talk of fucking is giving me ideas." He was already hard against my thigh and my heart thumped wildly as I looked up at him, my hands resting on his biceps.

  "Why don't we go back to The Temple?" Blake suggested and Saint's eyes sparked at the idea. Monroe's jaw locked and I wished I could just ask him to come with us and forget having to hide this connection between us. Kyan glanced over at him for a second like he was having the exact same thought and an image of the two of them claiming me together sent a needy squeeze through my belly. Yeah…that would be sinful and damn perfect.

  Blake's phone dinged and he took it out, glancing at the screen before falling statue still. "What...no. No!" His head snapped up and he gazed out at the water, hunting for something as panic slid over his features.

  "What is it?" I slipped away from Kyan in alarm, reaching for Blake's hand and he wordlessly passed me his phone. I gazed down at the message on it from someone who'd called themselves The Justice Ninja.

  You'll burn one day too.

  Beneath it was a video of a burning boat filled with Blake's trophies out on the lake. Every last one of them, including the damn toil
et paper he’d won from Saint.

  A splash made me turn and I realised Blake had dived into the lake and was swimming out to a low fire far out in the water.

  "Blake!" Kyan yelled, ripping his shirt off and diving in after him.

  I hesitated for only a second longer before the urge to go with them snared me. I pulled off my clothes down to my underwear, tossing them on the floor and finding Monroe down to his boxers across from me when I was done, a look of solidarity in his eyes.

  We climbed up onto the railing as Saint cursed, unable to follow with his injuries as we jumped into the freezing water. It drew a cry from my lips as the iciness surrounded me, seeming to slice into my skin. Monroe kept to my side as we started moving, swimming hard after Kyan and Blake ahead as panic ran through me. Who would target Blake like that? And why?

  It was a long swim, but I didn't slow, needing to be there for Blake as he was always there for me these days. We made it to the burning boat, the fire already having carved a hole through the bottom of it and it was going down fast.

  "No!" Blake roared, reaching into the remains and sifting through the ash before the lake consumed it. Anything burnable was already gone and the metal parts of the trophies were half melted, but there seemed to be one he was desperately trying to find as the boat started to get fully submerged. The fire hissed out as the water filled it and Blake grew more frantic.

  "What is it Blake?" I begged as I tread water at his side.

  "There was a metal plaque from my mom, it was the first trophy I ever got," he said in a panic and Kyan held his phone up, switching on the flashlight, the thing apparently waterproof. He stuck it between his teeth then dove under the water as the boat went down. I took in a deep breath and went after him, the freezing, dark world punctured by the single beam of light from Kyan's phone. The boat was sinking away into the black depths of the lake and the remnants of Blake's trophies were scattering through the water.

  A flash of the light against something silver caught my eye and I spotted the engraved metal plaque floating down into the abyss. I swam for it as my lungs began to burn, moving as fast as I could and battling the aching cold as it drove into my bones. I somehow snatched it before it sank too far, turning frantically and kicking my way back to the surface. Kyan came up beside me, moving close as I held up the plaque for Blake. "Is this it?"

  Blake grasped for it and sighed in relief as he looked down at the precious item, his hair plastered to his head. "Thank you," he rasped, wrapping his arm around me and hugging me tight.

  "Who the fuck did this?" Monroe snarled, his anger clear.

  "I don’t know, but I'll find them and murder them for this," Blake growled as we started swimming back to the common house. My blood was chilled by the time we got out of the lake and not because of the cold. But because one of my Night Keepers had been targeted and I wouldn't rest until I found out who was responsible.

  First a Stalker and now this? Why did it feel like the whole world was out to get us sometimes? And why did I feel like this had barely even begun?

  ***

  Mila:

  Girl, what the shit did those guys say to Danny? I mean, fuuuuuuck. I swear I just came fourteen times. Four. Teen. Times. Screw checking my insta feed ever again, I didn't even realise sex could be this good. I have been wasting my life up until this very moment.

  P.S. If you see me being pushed around in a wheelchair today, you know why.

  I laughed as I continued eating breakfast and the guys gave me inquisitive looks from across the table. Monroe had started joining us every morning and I liked that a lot. I found myself looking for him while I was making the food each day, glancing at the front door continuously. And when he appeared, I swear my stomach dipped like I was on a roller coaster. Every damn time.

  "Mila is pleased," I said in explanation.

  "Don't play it down, baby, she's fucking destroyed isn't she?" Kyan smirked and I laughed in answer.

  I looked back at my phone just as a news report showed up at the top of the screen. My gut lurched at the sight of the headline and every muscle in my body tensed.

  Donovan Rivers found dead after committing suicide.

  My pulse thrashed against my eardrums as I clicked on the link, reading the article and feeling sicker and sicker by the second. Rage and pain clawed at the inside of my head as I took in the words that marked the man who’d raised me as irrefutably guilty of leaking the Hades Virus. A man who'd taken his life because he couldn’t cope with the weight of the guilt of what he'd done. No.

  "No!" I shouted, standing so fast that I knocked my chair to the floor.

  "What's wrong?" Blake asked in alarm and I pointed an accusing finger at Kyan, tossing my phone at him so he could see the article.

  It slapped into his broad chest and his eyes flashed over it as it landed on the table before he sighed heavily.

  "What did you expect them to do?" Kyan growled. "They had to cover it somehow."

  "Suicide?" I practically screamed. "The whole world will see this as an admission of his guilt!"

  "Hey, I said you'd get a grave, I didn’t promise anything more than that," he snarled, getting to his feet too.

  I swiped up the knife from beside his plate, pointing it at him. "You could have told them to make it look like an accident."

  "And who would believe that?" he snarled. "He was shot in the head."

  I cringed at his words as that image flashed through my mind again. "I don't know, I don't care. But this, this is the worst way they ever could have covered it." I lifted the knife higher, my rage spewing into every inch of my flesh.

  "If you're gonna stab me for it then get it fucking over with, baby," Kyan growled, planting his hands down on the table and baring his throat to me. "I won't apologise for protecting you. This is the only way they could cover up his death that made any sense at all. It's better than his body being destroyed in acid, don’t you agree?"

  I winced away from his words, the knife clattering to the table as I dropped it, turning my back on him as tears stung my eyes. I tried to blink them back, but they wouldn't stop and they soon washed down my cheeks and made my whole body shudder with them. I leaned down, resting my hands on my knees as I dragged in air, trying to shut off this pain. But it was like a switch had been flipped and I could no longer hold it together. It hurt too much. It bit into my skin and cut so deep it was impossible to think of anything but my dad lying dead on the ground beneath me. No no no.

  Strong arms wrapped around me and I fought against them as Kyan's scent of gasoline and leather surrounded me. He didn't pull back, forcing me into his chest and holding me there until I couldn't fight any more and just came apart, sobbing into his shirt, staining it with mascara and tears.

  "I'm sorry," he said in his deep tone that rumbled right through to the centre of my being. "I'm sorry, baby."

  I clung to him, letting my anger slide away. It wasn't his fault; he hadn't done this. But it still stung sharply.

  "The documents he left behind should prove his innocence," Saint offered and his words helped ease the tension from my body. "I am capable of exposing it all, I just need more time."

  "Hurry up," Monroe bit at him.

  "A job is not worth doing if it is not done properly," Saint said simply.

  Blake suddenly pressed against me from behind and I practically sagged between my two men, their strong bodies holding me up. I didn't want to go to class anymore, I just wanted to stay here surrounded by their warm flesh and drowning in their kisses. But I couldn't hide away from the world.

  The worst thing was that everyone in the school would hear this news. My grief would be exposed. And where I'd longed for that before so I didn't have to hide it, now I realised that hiding it had helped me stay together. With everyone looking for my weakness now, how was I going to stop myself falling apart?

  “We’ll all take the day off from classes so Tatum can have some time to process this news,” Saint announced suddenly and I broke free
of Blake and Kyan, looking to him in surprise. Of all the people to suggest such a thing, I never would have thought it would come from him.

  “Thank you,” I breathed, then looked to Monroe. “What about you? Can you stay?”

  He nodded firmly, no question about it in his eyes. “I have the morning free for paperwork anyway. And even if I didn’t, I’m not leaving you, princess.” He moved forward and hugged me, my heart beating steadier at having them all so close.

  “What will your family ask in payment for giving her father a grave?” Saint asked Kyan in a tone that made my skin prickle.

  “I don’t know. And it doesn’t matter,” Kyan said firmly. “Whatever the price is, I’ll pay it.”

  I reached for him and he stepped forward, winding his fingers between mine. I’d met his family, I knew the sacrifice he’d made for me. And I could never repay him for it.

  “I can pay the price,” I breathed. “Whatever they want, it shouldn’t be on you.”

  “Naw, baby,” he said, knocking his knuckles against my cheek. “It’s on me. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  The other guys all nodded to Kyan in acknowledgement of what he was offering me and my heart squeezed. I wasn’t sure how I’d ended up at the centre of a circle of monsters who’d do anything to protect me, but somehow, it felt like I was right where I was supposed to be.

  I stood in the old prayer room at the entrance to the catacombs with my right eye twitching as I took count for the fifth time. There was no denying it. We were short twenty three rolls of toilet paper. Someone had either found their way down here and was stealing from us, or there was a culprit living right beneath my roof. And as I knew for a fact that Blake and Kyan didn't give a single shit about the masses being unable to wipe their asses, I had a pretty clear idea of who would be to blame.