Page 24 of New Nebraska Home

Callum wrapped his hands back around the kid’s throat and slammed him against the wall, making the flames from his fingers finally die out.

The kid looked exhausted, his entire body covered with sweat, and he was looking even paler than he did when we dragged him in here.

“What the fuck?” Malik growled. The flames died on his skin, and where I expected to see bloody and burned flesh, there was nothing but healthy, beautifully tanned skin. His clothes had burned away. My eyes trailed down his body, taking in his broad shoulders, thick golden chest hair over powerful muscles and mouthwatering abs. He even had the most delicious happy trail from his navel down to his thick cock.

A lady would have averted her eyes, but that term clearly did not apply to me. My gaze stayed on his body, traveling down, taking in every inch of perfectly unmarred flesh until I got to his feet and the pile of ash that had been his clothes. There were even still a few glowing embers, but that was it.

When Malik let out a snarl, my eyes snapped back to his face. He wasn’t looking at me; his focus was squarely on the kid.

“You want to burn someone?” Malik growled.

“You… you… you’ll all burn in hell,” the kid stuttered.

“And what gives you the right to send us to our maker early?” Callum said, angling his body so I couldn’t see the kid, or what they were about to do. “Who the fuck do you think you are?

“He’s just a dumb kid,” I reminded the men. “He ain’t worth the trouble.”

God, I hoped they weren’t about to do something stupid they couldn’t go back from. I told myself it was because I didn’t want the hassle, and I needed the rent money they wouldn’t be paying if they were in prison, or the guilt of that boy’s death on my conscience. But there was something more, a gnawing sensation in the pit of my stomach. It was concern, not for the kid, but for the men. I didn’t want them to be in trouble because they protected me. Though I had to admit, I did like the feeling I got when I knew they cared and wanted to keep me and my brother safe.

“No,” Malik said, without taking his eyes from the elemental youth. “He threw a brick like a coward, tried to run people out of a neighborhood that he’s new to, and then he tried to burn me alive.”

“Okay,” I said, trying again to calm the situation. “He’s a really stupid kid, but he is a kid.”

“How old are you, son?” Callum said.

I still couldn’t see him, but I could hear the fear making his voice shake as the kid answered, “Sixteen, sir.”

From self-righteous indignation to ‘sir’ in a matter of minutes. I couldn’t see what Callum and Malik were doing to scare the kid, but it was effective.

“I would hardly call that a kid,” Malik said. “He actually managed to get up the magic to kill me, had his flames touched you or Leif, instead of me, then he would be on trial for murder as an adult.”

“So then call the cops,” I countered doing my best to keep my eyes from staring at the broad expanse of muscles covering Malik’s back or tracing the lines of his wide shoulders and how they tapered down to his trim waist and surprisingly round ass.

“No. He brought this fight here, and here is where it will finish.”

“Are the police here even equipped to handle elementals?” Brock asked.

That was a really good question. I had no idea. Most of the cops that I knew had left. Many of them felt that they would not be able to handle supernatural criminals, and they should police their own, which made sense, but did we have a police force yet?

I had no idea.

I tried to pull myself out of Brock’s arms again, but his grip just tightened.

“He’s just a kid, a dumb, scared kid.” I said again, trying to be the voice of reason.

“Would you be saying he was just a dumb, scared kid if that brick had hit someone? Would you be saying that if those flames engulfed you or Leif?” Callum said. I couldn’t see his face but I could tell his teeth were clenched.

“I…” he had a point. As much as I hated to admit it, Callum had a valid point. “Okay, no. He is old enough to know better, but so are you. Kids are still learning. They make mistakes. Were you raised by wolves?”

The saying just slipped out of my mouth with no thought to how many people who lived in this neighborhood were, in fact, raised by and are wolves. I was going to have to rethink a lot of the sayings that I was used to.

Callum scoffed, and I could feel Brock’s chest shake a little with laughter. But Malik looked back at me and raised an eyebrow.

“No,” he said, “I was raised by monsters.”

Then he held his hands up to the kid, placing them on his chest. I couldn’t see exactly what was happening from where I was. Brock’s arms just tightened around me, not letting me even stand on my tiptoes to see around Callum. He wasn’t hurting me, he just wasn’t letting me move.

“Calm down, kitten,” he whispered in my ear. “Cal won’t let anyone get hurt. They’re just going to scare the shit out of the kid and make sure he doesn’t do this again.”

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