My breath hitched in my throat as I glanced over my shoulder to find Danny at the nursery door, a smug smirk on his face.
“Missed me? You look much better than the last time I saw you,” he said, tilting his head as he scanned my torso and down my exposed legs. His tongue darted out and licked the corner of his mouth. “Much better.”
A shiver ran down my spine at the tone of his voice. Sexual. Haunting.
He edged closer, his features now visible in the dim light. Dirt and blood freckled across his pale face. An ugly black eye, his bottom lip cut open and large scratches across his face. As if he’d been tortured.
“What do you want?” I asked, my eyes darting back to Wesley who attempted to rock Illya.
But Illya didn’t stop whining, his scared violent blue eyes focused on mine.
“I want the Knights dead,” Danny said, moving around me, his arm skimming my own. I noted the dark pistol in his hand. I jerked away. “All of them. Starting with the infant.”
I swallowed thickly, trying not to panic. I could see the anger, the hunger for vengeance and a lick of fear. That last one was coming from Wesley.
“How did you get in here?” I asked.
He laughed. “It was too easy. Your Beau took me in, right into the heart of Scorpios.” He waved his hand and I noted some of his fingernails were pulled out, still bleeding as if it had happened only hours ago. They had been torturing him, I realized.
“I made a deal with Ares. A deal that if I helped them take down the Knights and Scorpios, they’d make me a commander. That I’d be given control and authority,” Danny snapped, his teeth bared. “The Pit wasn’t enough. The Pit only gave me a taste of power. But your Beau and these fucking Scorpios ruined this for me.”
Beau. Beau was still here, in the other room. I glanced sideways, wishing I could turn around and get him.
I wanted to scream, I wanted to yell for him, but my eyes went back to Wesley. His eyes were wild and red as he stared back at me.
“Wesley,” I said lightly, stepping forward. Wesley would be the one to convince, the easier one who would bend if he truly realized what he was doing was wrong.
“Don’t move,” Wesley hissed, only causing Illya to cry louder.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, frowning at him. “Tensley trusted you. I trusted you,” I lied.
Wesley’s brows lowered and he laughed. “He didn’t trust me and neither did you. None of those Scorpios bastards treated me with an ounce of respect I deserve. Not until I took an interest in you did Tensley suddenly allow someone like me to be close enough to speak to him.”
“Did my dear cousin forget to mention our relation?” Danny asked, smiling down at me.
My eyes dart between them. There was a slight resemblance, but nothing major. Nothing that would have alerted me to stay away from Wesley.
“Our family has spent decades under the thumb of a Knight. Punished, humiliated,” Wesley snapped, his eyes taking on a dark glint that I had never seen before in him.
“Wesley joined Scorpios and tried to get closer to the Knights, but it was useless,” Danny said, strolling over to his cousin. His fingers stroked Illya’s wet cheek. I fisted my hands, trying to not throw myself at him. I wanted to break each of his fingers as he touched Illya. “Until Wesley sold you on the poor sob story and worked his way into your good graces.”
The story that his entire family had been killed in a car accident. My eyes went to him, watching as his jaw squared. It had been a lie, all of it.
“Did you get to taste her, cousin?” Danny asked him, smiling at me. “I heard her taste brings men to their knees.”
I shivered at the way he spoke, so soft, so harmless, but it was the way he looked at me. With anger, with an untamed hunger. His soul was filthy and dark. Unlike Beau’s dark soul, he had nothing redeemable inside of him.
Danny sat in a chair and leaned forward. “Come here.”
I stood still, frozen in fear, clawing at my own throat.
“Here. Now!” Danny’s voice thundered in my eardrums.
Illya cried, wildly wiggling his arms in Wesley’s hold.
With a blurry vision, I stepped forward. Danny gripped my arm and yanked me down, forcing me to kneel in front of him, between his thighs. A cry ached in my throat.
“When sinners like you kneel, little Lex, they do very naughty things.” Danny unzipped his pants and shifted forward. “Now suck, souleater.”
I didn’t waste a second. I gripped his knee and bashed it in with my fist. He cried out, gripping my hair and yanked me up, only to throw me against the crib. At the impact, pain rippled across my side and I cried out, attempting to sit up.
Danny’s shadow hovered over me. “Pitiful souleater. Good for none of the things your kind was created for.”
I glared up at him and then I felt the change in the air.
I felt it before I saw him. The tension, the anger fuming the beast as he stalked to the room.
His heavy footfalls stopped, and I could feel him, standing in the doorway.
“Fuck,” Wesley said, Illya crying loudly.
BEAU
Anger spread through my body at the sight before me. That prick soldier holding a crying Illya. Danny in the room, hovering over Lex, her arm wrapped around her middle. Like she had been injured.
The beast roared.
All I saw was red.
I moved fast, gripping Danny’s shirt.
“I wouldn’t want to hurt your nephew,” Danny spat out.
My eyes darted to Illya, his face red from crying so much. I noticed in the corner of my eye Lex crawling out of the way, closer to the prick holding Illya.
“I’d gladly hurt you,” I said and gripped his elbow, pressing it back so the bones cracked loudly.
“You fucker!” Danny cried out, slouching as he stumbled back.
I turned just as Lex gripped Wesley’s ankle and tugged, jumping to her feet to yank Illya from his arms.
Wesley, wide-eyed, stared up at her, her barefoot on his neck. “Tensley will deal with you, traitor.”
Danny’s fist collided with my jaw, but I didn’t feel the pain, only rage. I grabbed his t-shirt and struck him—over and over, the rage building.
The beast wanted blood.
“Fucker,” Danny managed to slur as I slammed him into the wall, the pictures crashing to the floor, glass breaking.
I threw his body to the ground, climbed on top of him and plowed my fist over and over again into his face, teeth fell out, the blood pooling out of his mouth. Bruised and bloodied and swollen.
“Threaten my family and you’ll meet death,” I hissed between blows.
I didn’t know how long I took to destroy Danny, but I enjoyed every second of it. When Lex’s hand touched my shoulder and I glanced up at her to find a few soldiers had arrived.
I stood, wiping the blood from underneath my nose. “Take them downstairs and send guards to make sure he doesn’t get out again.” Tensley would want to deal with these two men himself.
The soldiers dragged both men out of the nursery and I turned to see Lex cradling Illya in her arms.
When she glanced up at me, her eyes were bloodshot, and droplets clung to her dark lashes.
Her mouth trembled, and my fingers traced the movement and then pulled her into my embrace, touching Illya’s dark curls.
With her in my arms, I sighed deeply and buried my head in her hair. Illya sniffled as Lex rocked him.
With both of them safe, I could finally rest.