Page 71 of Broken Shadows

Fucking figures.

Be that as it as it may, hopefully the worst trials are behind us and we got dropped in toward the end,Gideon says. What lies ahead is not safe for any of us, especially the weaker creatures in our care.

Don't underestimate them,I retort.I have a bond with Evie and Aiden. They're stronger than you think.

Ezra shrugs.Don't forget about Rosa.While none of us have a bond with her, I have a feeling she's not to be trifled with. And then there's Gomez, of course. Fierce little bat. Do you remember when he clawed out that Order lady’s eye to save Evie?

This smart mouth asshat.You mean to save her from your imbecilic ass? No, I definitely don’t recall that.

As if he senses our silent conversation, the flapping breaks through my concentration and Gomez flies off Evie’s shoulder, then lands on Ezra’s.

Have you always been jealous of Gomez?Gideon hums, implication heavy in his raspy, deep voice.

Excuse me?

Ezra guffaws.Of course, he’s jealous that little Gomey likes me. We both find those bat treats to be delicious. And don’t pretend like you hate him. Evie and Rosa told me you enjoy feeding him blueberries.

I growl, then snap. “It was one fucking time.” My witch cocks her head in my direction, her eyebrows arching. Ezra and Gideon snicker loudly.

“I’m fine,” I mutter, then stroke my knuckles down her cheek and drape my arm over her shoulders.

You both are incorrect,Gideon retorts.Gomez is likely drawn to Ezra because of his affinity with monster kind. He is a monster, after all, in his own right.

I'm not sure if that was a compliment or a dig,Ezra ponders.

Take it as you wish, Wrath,Gideon states, then his presence vanishes from my mind.

Ezra throws up his hands and nearly dislodges Gomez's perch on his shoulder. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Don't you dare hurt my precious little night puppy, Ezra,” Rosa hisses and snatches the bat from him, tucking him against her shoulder and neck like a godsdamned infant. Evie giggles, then strides forward and scratches a nail under Gomez’s chin.

“I hate that fucking bat,” I grumble.

Evie glances back at me, a smirk pulling at the corner of her lips. “No, you don't. You just wish you did.” As Evie speaks to me, Gomez's beady black eyes swivel from Evie to me, the biggest non-verbal ‘fuck you’ I’ve ever received in his gaze.

Something gnaws on my nerves, begging for attention. My skin feels too tight, as if my demon form presses too closely under the surface. It’s as though I’m craving something intensely, but I have no idea what.

In the distance, the trickling sound grows.

“What trial do you think is next?” Ezra ponders aloud.

I stare at the back of my witch’s head, her shiny, chestnut hair swaying side to side with her steps. It’s been too fucking long since I’ve been inside her. The longer I stare, the filthier my thoughts become. Image after image spill across my mind’s eye like rapidly flipping pages of a debauched book. Evie is on her hands and knees, her pretty pink cunt glistening as my hands dig into her hips. Squirming on my lap, or how I hold her face to the mattress. My claws pricking her skin as I grip her hips and pound into her from behind. Shit. I can practically taste her slick arousal, scenting the air as it drips down my shaft.

I blink twice, my eyes drifting away from the back of Evie’s skull and the temptations it provokes, then adjust myself, tucking my throbbing cock into my waistband. Fuck. Don’t think about her wet, pretty pussy and how good it tastes.I clear my throat, pretending as if I didn’t lose all sense of self in a delicious montage of my witch. “It could be anything. The options are literally limitless.”

“Wrath,” Gideon suggests.

Ezra snorts. “Really?”

“It would be a glaring opposite of the Trial of Loneliness we just completed,” I agree. “Throw us directly from one emotional upheaval to another.”

A wave of sound detonates as the path curves around a thick copes of trees like they were a sound barrier.

“Woah,” Aiden says, his voice full of awe.

Evie’s hand flies to her clavicle. “That’s not at all what I expected.”

My lips curl and the muscle behind my ribs swells as I watch a myriad of emotions flit across her face. Gorgeous. I swallow, thickly my tongue sticking to the roof of my mouth as if the trickling river stokes my thirst—but not for water. For her.

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