“If falling doesn’t kill you, I will!” he shouted and I laughed again, my heart beating madly as I dropped down, down, down. But he was already following, crashing through the tree to my left, sounding like a damn animal ripping through the foliage as he tried to make it down before me. He might have had the muscle to follow me up there fast, but I was smaller and quicker. I could make it to the bottom first. I had to.
A smile seared into my cheeks as I did what I loved best and became one with the wild spirit living in me. I knew if Kyan caught me I was screwed, but I didn’t care right now. This was the most fun I’d had in ages.
When I was five feet from the ground, I jumped, my sneakers hitting the soft layer of pine needles below. I looked up into the other tree, finding Kyan fifteen feet above me, his upper lip peeled back like a beast, his arms nicked with cuts from his violent descent.
“You’d better run,” he growled, then leapt from the branch, landing with a thud only ten feet away.
I screamed as I raced back towards The Temple, powering across the path and throwing the door open. Debussy poured over me and I gasped, trying to skid to a halt before I slammed into Saint in his workout gear, but I couldn’t stop. I crashed into him full speed and he stumbled back, gripping my arms hard to brace me. His eyes were wide in alarm and I giggled as I ran around him, gripping his shirt and using him as a shield as Kyan stalked after me. I peered over Saint’s shoulder, figuring hiding behind the devil might not be the best plan. I was probably about to have another enemy in this game, but in that second, it seemed like the right thing to do.
“Stop!” Saint bellowed, holding up a hand to slow Kyan down as he came for me. “What the fuck is going on?”
Kyan peered over Saint’s shoulder with narrowed eyes. “She’s in trouble. Hand her over.”
“Kyan just can’t take a joke,” I shot back, surprised that Saint hadn’t peeled me off of him yet and handed me to the wolf hunting me.
“I can take a joke, baby, just come here and let me play one on you too,” Kyan said through his teeth, his shoulders heaving.
“Who broke the four hundred dollar bottle of Belvedere vodka?” Saint asked icily.
Kyan pointed at me and I pointed at him.
“He knocked it over!” I exclaimed.
“She poured it on me first,” Kyan snarled, stepping forward again with intent but Saint backed up, allowing me to use him as a shield.
“But you did the breaking?” Saint asked him and Kyan looked like he was grinding his teeth to dust.
“Yeah, so what? You practically piss gold, just get a new one,” Kyan said.
“That’s hardly the point.” Saint turned, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “Work out with me today. I have precisely three minutes before I need to be in the gym so we’d better hurry up and get you dressed.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Sure,” I said with a smile, letting him guide me back upstairs to pick out some clothes. I glanced over my shoulder at Kyan and poked my tongue out at him. His eyebrows arched in surprise, his anger lifting from his expression for a moment to be replaced by a hunger so fierce, I was sure I’d be consumed if I looked at him a second longer.
“Saint can’t protect you forever,” he warned, fighting a smirk.
“He won’t have to, I’ll just kick you in the balls again if you come at me.” I grinned and he marched away, rubbing the back of his neck like he was confused as fuck.
One point to me, zero to Kyan treedouche Roscoe.
***
I changed in the locker rooms in the Acacia Sports Hall beside Mila, figuring this class was going to be hella awkward considering the last time I’d seen Monroe was in Saint’s shower…touching him…grinding on him…kissing him. He hadn’t replied to my texts and I was getting the awful feeling this was going to seriously affect our plans to destroy the Night Keepers if we didn’t resolve it soon. Not to mention the fact that losing him would break me. He was my rock. But surely he wouldn’t bail because of a stupid kiss? Albeit a mind-blowing, hurricane of a kiss. That still wouldn’t make him take his eye off the prize. He wanted to get to Saint’s father and he needed my help to do that. So he couldn’t ignore me forever.
“Are you okay? You’re looking a little pale,” Mila asked, bumping her hip against mine. She pulled her long, dark hair up into a ponytail, her head tilted to one side.
“I’m good,” I said, smiling vaguely. “Just you know…the Night Keepers.”
It wasn’t a lie technically, but I was afraid of telling Mila the exact truth about me and Monroe. If there even was a me and Monroe. I guessed I could tell her we were working together, but then that would lead to questions and questions would lead to answers and I wasn’t even sure what those answers were. Were me and a him a thing? I mean, I sure as hell had enjoyed that kiss. It had felt so good, I wanted to do it again a thousand times, half of them while I was on top of him making him groan my name. Sadly, that didn’t seem to be in my future.
I could be a good girl for him if that was what he really wanted. But that kiss said he didn’t. And I certainly didn’t want that. I wanted to be as bad as a sinner in a church with him.
“What’s the
