Page 82 of Sin

“You weren’t here. Either of you,” Grim said, surprising me by coming to my defense. “It was either Malice assist her or let her lapse into a coma.”

“It was that bad?” Sin asked.

I nodded, remembering how poorly she’d been.

Grim shifted in his seat before clearing his throat. “She was starved. It’s my fault. I took away her only source of sustenance.”

“For good fucking reason.”

Grim sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Yes, but if this is the alternative, then we’re going to have to figure out something else. We can hardly let her waste away before we accomplish our goal.”

“I love that he says ‘we’ when he has no intention of participating,” Sin said.

I rolled my eyes, ignoring him as usual. “I’m already working on a better firewall.” It was far more complicated than that, but these three barely knew how to use their cell phones. It wasn’t worth the breath to try and explain the nuanced details of my genius to them.

“And what if she needs to feed again before you have that up and running?” Chaos asked.

“She shouldn’t. Most succubi and incubi only need to feed every week or so.” Sin’s brows were uncharacteristically furrowed.

“She’s not most succubi.” I said what he hadn’t.

“So we don’t know how often she’ll need to feed?” Grim asked. “You’re saying she could need to take from one of us tomorrow? Or twice a day.”

“That won’t work. She drained me until I couldn’t help but pass out.”

Sin’s frown deepened. “That’s unusual. It must have been because she was so depleted.”

“Or because he was,” Chaos pointed out.

The four of us wore matching scowls at the reminder of Hel’s trickery. When we got our hands on her, she was going to have one seriously bad day.

“Maybe a bit of both,” I mused.

Sin nodded, though he still looked troubled.

“Where is she now?” Grim asked, his voice holding more than a hint of concern.

“Safely tucked away in her room. I took her to the gym for some self-defense training. Speaking of.” His gaze shot to mine. “I thought you could help her learn how to shield her mind against thralls and compulsion. If we learned anything from the break-in, it's that she’s severely lacking in those kinds of defenses.”

Alarm shot through me at what he was implying. If I worked with her and taught her how to protect her psyche against these kinds of attacks, it would mean she and I would spend far too much time with our walls down. I’d have to see into her soul just as she’d see into mine.

But I was also the only one capable of teaching her. Shielding of that kind was sort of like building up an immunity, which, as an expert on spreading infection, was sort of my wheelhouse.

“Fine,” I gritted out, already dreading it.

“Good. Malice will repair the firewall so Merri can get online and feed as well as teach her to protect her mind. Chaos will train her to defend herself physically.”

Sin raised his glass. “I’ll work on knocking her up. Grim will keep us lubricated with whiskey.”

Grim rolled his eyes. “I will continue to keep my distance so I don’t kill her.”

“Annnd break,” Sin said like we were a sports team about to return to the playing field.

“Why do we tolerate him?” I asked.

“Because we have to.” Chaos sighed.

“Because you love me,” Sin countered.

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