Page 58 of Broken Shadows

He ushers us along. “I haven’t stopped thinking about it, but we need to focus on getting to Hell first. We should be arriving soon.”

I shake my head, scattering my thoughts. “Are you nervous to return to Hell?”

I notice the subtle shift to his breath and the crease forming over his left brow. “No.”

Tenderly, I speak through our bond,It’s okay if you are. I am.

I think about Edward and how he’s probably in Hell along with other people I’ve killed and realize I’m not the only one with metaphorical demons I need to face while there.

Just stay close to me?he asks in a moment of vulnerability.

By the time we arrive at the dense wooded area, my brain feels like a sponge that’s been wrung dry. I glance up as the sky darkens from a deep indigo into an inky black, and silvers dots pinprick the rich night sky.

The group comes into view. Rosa taps her fingers against her hip, shaking her head when she sees us walk up the dirt road between the trees. “Take your time? It’s not like we’re on a schedule or anything.”

Ezra side-eyes Rosa then smirks. “They were probably fucking again. At least this time we didn’t have to listen to it.”

My eyes bulge.They heard us last night.

Good. Now they all know you’re mine,Lorcan responds, and I realize I unwittingly pushed my thoughts into our bond.

They’re your brothers,I admonish.You don’t need to prove anything.

It wasn’t too long ago that Ezra had his hands around your throat in the Shadow Realm,he reminds me and my cheeks flush with heat.

My arousal was not my fault. I despised him at the time, but you know, I like being strangled a little and…

Lorcan’s fingers flex at his side.Don’t make me mark you again, Little Witch.

My neck flushes this time, and a bloom of desire veins through my chest all the way down to between my legs.

Ezra tsks and Aiden sighs from behind them, with Gideon standing a few feet away. “We’re not doing this again,” he says, wagging a finger at us both. “We can’t hear you when you talk through your bond, so all we see is some broody and pouty looks with longing glances between long bouts of silence. It’s crazy awkward.”

“Say that again,” Lorcan threatens.

Rosa hisses a breath between her teeth. “Why don’t we just get going. Beforesomeof us overreact.”

She glances at Lorcan who’s giving Ezra a murderous look and I quickly realize they’re now talking through their demon brother bond. And you know what? Ezra was right, it’s awkward. “Yes,” I agree. “Let’s go.”

“Agreed. Let’s stop playing with each other.” Gideon’s words cut through us like a blade. His words holds more gravitas than all of ours combined.

Ezra huffs and crosses his arm in mock sadness. “But why must we stop, Gid, when you’re so much fun to be around?”

Gideon rolls his eyes and holds up a flashlight for Aiden. Rosa plucks out her phone and uses it to illuminate out surroundings.

Ezra bounces on his heels, his hands shoved in his jean pockets. “Alrighty then, lead the way, Witch.” He nods his head in my direction, and I look around, trying to familiarize myself with the map I’d studied at the house.

“The first gate should be right off the road up here. It’s visible any time of day.”

“What and the others aren’t?” asks Aiden. “Why are there even gates to Hell here of all places?”

The group look at me, although I am certain the demon brothers know the true reason. “The legend says there was an asylum that burned down here with the patients inside who tried to run,” I explain to Aiden and Rosa, after having read through the human’s urban legends on the gateways, versus the history as written by witches. “The locals believed the gates were built to stop those patients from escaping, and another legend tells of a doctor who built them to keep trespassers out, but neither story is true.”

Aiden glances into the darkness between the tree line and shudders. “Great, your version is going to be so much creepier, isn’t it?”

Lorcan grins from ear to ear as Aiden backs away, closer to the edge of the dirt road strewn with vines and leaves. “It’s so much more terrifying. If you knew what was truly in this woods, you wouldn’t be moving so close to the tree line.”

Ezra, cloaked with shadows, appears behind Aiden and yells “Boo,” into his ear, sending Aiden wailing with his hands in the air.

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