Page 58 of Sin

How had I ended up in the middle of this? Why was I the one the demons were after?

“Chaos,” I whispered, but anything I’d been about to say was cut off when he roughly took my face between his hands, and his lips crashed down on mine.

Heat shot through my body, but there was hardly time to register it. Almost as soon as it began, the kiss ended. Chaos backed away as though I was a snake who’d bitten him, that disdain I knew so well banked in his eyes.

I was still buzzing from the electrifying sensation of his mouth on mine, fingers lifted to brush my undeniably bruised lips.

We were going to have to talk about this. There was no way the man could kiss me like that and expect me to forget it everhappened. I stepped away from the door and opened my mouth to do just that, but we were no longer alone.

“Chaos,” Malice called, the sound of multiple sets of footsteps accompanying him. “Merri’s missing!”

The man in question glared down at me, his meaning clear. He didn’t want me to say a word about what had just transpired between us.

I gave a little nod to show I understood.

He held my gaze for a beat longer and then backed away, calling out to the others as he did. “I’ve got her.”

Those words weren’t spoken with the relief of a man who’d rescued his charge. They were filled with an anger I couldn’t understand. Chaos had me, that much was true, but he sure wasn’t happy about it.

Chapter

Sixteen

MALICE

Chaos’s words lifted a weight from my chest as they registered, but I needed to see with my own eyes. If anything happened to her, we’d lose. I never took a loss well. Not once.

Clearly.

It’s the entire reason we were in this fucking mess in the first place.

Grim and Sinclair were hot on my heels as we raced down the stairs and skidded into the kitchen.

I noted the piles of once-demon ash beside a fuming Chaos and how pale Merri’s face was as she stood in shocked silence a little ways behind him. This had been too close of a call. We’d nearly lost her, and Chaos was the only reason she was still with us.

Sin and I’d had one fucking job.

Her.

Despite his ability to sense the emotions of others, Sin barreled forward, completely unaware or uncaring of the volcano about to erupt. Part of me wanted to sit back and watch the carnage about to unfold. Sin was the youngest of us, thecockiest too. He thought he could charm his way into anyone’s good graces. Not this time.

“I wouldn’t—” I started, but Chaos snarled as Sin closed the distance between them on his way to Merri.

The crack of a fist meeting Sin’s nose echoed through the kitchen, accompanied by Sin’s cry of pain.

“You were supposed to watch her,” Chaos roared, rearing back to deliver another punch.

Blood poured from Sin’s crushed nose as he braced for another blow, but Chaos stopped as Merri touched the warrior’s elbow and begged, “Please, stop. Don’t hit him again. It’s not his fault. I slipped away when the angel beckoned. I couldn’t stop myself. I was trapped in its thrall.”

A shudder ran through Chaos before he knocked away her touch. “That was no angel. It was a pride demon.”

“Knight, technically,” Sin corrected, proving he’d learned absolutely nothing about squaring off against an enraged War.

Chaos growled at him. “If you want to keep your nose on your face, I suggest you shut the fuck up. Actually, why don’t you take Merri back to her room and stay fucking put while the grown-ups figure out how the hell any of this happened.”

Sin wiped his bleeding nose with his sleeve and sniffed before locking eyes with Merri. “Come on, kitten. We’re in trouble.”

Surprisingly, Merri didn’t argue. She was still pale and looked shaken. Hopefully she didn’t die of shock before the night was over. That would really be salt in the wound of this attack.

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