I press my fingers to my cheek, vaguely aware my thigh is burning from hot coffee as I stumble through bodies, scanning the room.
No one is freaking out. They just sit there deathly fucking still.
I’m literally the only one not stuck on stupid.
Creed’s laughter rings out and I freeze, looking to him.
He shakes his head. “Immune to my control, Little London,” he says.
I blink when he appears directly in front of me.
My heart leaps into my throat as his eyes begin to change, growing cloudy like his brother’s had, until there is nothing left but a marbly white, the pupils nowhere to be seen.
He cocks his head. “What are you hiding?”
I inch backward and he keeps coming up the stairs, the entire room oblivious to the two of us, still spun in their seats, staring at one another.
“What am I hiding?” A humorless, panicky laugh leaves me. “What the fuck are you people hiding?” I run a few feet, almost at the door, but I whip around when I feel the heat of his body, my legs locking once again when suddenly he’s right fucking there. “What the hell are you?!”
A shiver runs down my spine a mere second before heated lips press to my ear.
My entire body shivers, my muscles growing lax without permission as I fall against the man at my back.
“I told you what I am, my plaything.”
“Knight,” I breathe, frowning when my words create a fog before me, like speaking into the winter’s night when your every breath leaves you as if releasing smoke into the air. “What the fuck is happening to me?” I ask out loud.
A steady arm wraps around me, and I cling to it without meaning to.
The chest against me rumbles the second I accept his support, and my eyes travel down. His large hand presses to my stomach, fingers spreading wide, and then blood seeps from the beds of his fingernails, and panic wraps around my every organ, squeezing.
A bloodcurdling scream tears from me, and suddenly, voices fill the air, people look around, and the brothers curse.
I shove away, running down the hall, tripping over people and squeezing my way through. I don’t stop.
I fucking run until I can’t breathe and am safely in my dorm. I take the stairs all the way up, tearing into my room and slamming the door closed.
“Please be home, please be home…” Dashing for Ben’s room, I throw the door open.
I jerk when I find the back of a girl’s head, her naked body riding my best friend, her blonde hair flowing down her back.
She looks over her shoulder, smiling at me, eyes glowing before she blinks.
“Hey.” She smiles. “Wanna join?”
My heart beats erratically, my body shaking as I plaster it to the wall, slowly sliding into the room until I can get a view of Ben’s face.
My brows snap together and I dart for the bed. “Oh my god!” I scream, looking at her. “What did you do?!” I shout, shaking Ben’s pale form, his eyes glued to the ceiling and wide open.
Tears prick my eyes as I shake him and Alex sighs.
“Why are humans so dramatic?” she mutters to herself.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” I scream, staring as she unscrews her necklace, the only thing she has on, her tits on full display, not that she cares.
“This will be but a memory in a moment, sweet London, and who knows, maybe you’ll want to play with us once you’re nice and dosed.”
“I’m right fucking here.” I jerk forward, shoving at her, but she bends like the fucking exorcist and blows glitter in my face.
I choke as it lands in my mouth and then Ben starts gurgling.
I spin but then I freeze. He’s not gurgling, he’s…moaning and thrusting up into her, her own sounds of pleasure following.
“What in the actual fuck?”
Ben blinks, his head jerking toward me and his eyes widen. “Shit, Lon, what are you doing?”
“I…” My mind races. “I…” I shake my head.
A spark flickers in the air and I stare, wide-eyed, as that same fucking vortex appears, and in he steps.
Ben jolts upright in the bed. “What the fu—”
The blue-eyed bastard flings a hand out, and suddenly Ben is a statue, Alex still on his dick.
All four brothers file into Ben’s room and I start to shake.
Alex laughs and I snap.
“Get the fuck off him!” I scream so loud I feel a blood vessel pop in my neck.
“Get the fuck away from him,” Knight growls.
I jerk closer, gripping Ben’s arm as if to protect him, and Knight nearly flies over the bed, his brothers holding him back as his limbs shake.
Fear swallows me whole and I feel around, coming up with the award Ben got for his top-notch performance on the ice last year.
They all shift closer and I slam it against the dresser, my hand bleeding as it shatters into pieces.
A growl rips from Knight’s throat and he tears free, leaping over the bed as I fall to my knees, scrambling back to pick up the largest piece.
He’s in my face as I push to my feet, cornering me.
His lip curls and he presses closer; they all do. Alex suddenly nowhere to be seen.
“Please,” I whisper, tears falling from my eyes.
Without thought, I swipe at my cheeks, my blood-smeared hand streaking across my face, small shards of glass cutting my skin. I wince and Knight’s eyes flash white as sharp points appear below his upper lip, stabbing straight into his bottom lip.
I scream and he jerks toward me. Throwing my hand out, I shove the sharp glass straight into his neck, pressing it deeper with all my might. I feel the bones in his neck crunch as I plunge deeper and deeper.
Blood spills from his wound, pouring over my fingers, and he makes a gurgling sound, choking on his own blood as it seeps from his mouth.
He falls to his knees, his eyes wide on mine as his hands try desperately to close the cut. Oh my god. What have I done?
His brothers panic as they take his side. “No!” one screams.
“Knight!” another shouts.
“Someone help!” the last yells. “She fucking killed him!”
I begin to shake, bellowing cries escaping me as I stare down at the man.
They scream and shout and lift his limp body in their arms, barking orders at one another, all while Ben is frozen in place.
“I… I’m so—”
I cut off when not one, but all of the brothers begin to laugh, the sounds sending chills down my spine.
Confused and sick with a feeling I can’t describe, I search their expression, but mine freezes on my face when Knight’s dead body is no longer dead.
Slowly, he pushes to stand, facing me as he tips his head, pulling the long, sharp glass from his artery. He tosses it at my feet, and I jolt, my palms planting on the wall because there is nowhere else to go. No escape to be made.
“Nice try,” he speaks in a tone so deep I swear even my organs shrivel at the sound. He steps closer, blood all over him as he gets in my face. He grips my chin, tilting my head all the way up so I’m forced to face him. “You can’t kill me, but be very fucking careful, mate, because I can…kill you.”
I gasp in fear, and then everything goes black.
Twenty-Two
London
Cold. The incisive bites of ice snap over my skin as my eyes fly open and I’m staring up at a sky so dark the stars almost blind me. I push myself up from the ground, facing the familiar bridge. Sharp metal waves up to the sky like serrated talons before joining to braided wire that propagates over the road. I lift my foot to take another step when a loud squawk pierces from behind me.