Page 33 of Unbroken

“Come here, Micah.” Lyrik holds out his hand to me and I extricate myself from Marcus’s arms and stand. I close the distance between us but instead of reaching for my hand, he takes my face between his hands and kisses me tenderly. Marcus makes a gagging noise that makes Lyrik smile against my lips.

“You, my darling, will not go out tonight. Promise me,” he says as he holds my head in place, his voice brooking no room for argument.

“I need—”

“No,” he cuts me off. “If Esme does return, and I have faith that she will, she will need you here. We don’t know what state she will be in,” he says with concern in his eyes. I know he’s right, but I hate sitting around and waiting. I’m a woman of action.

“Okay. I promise. Although, I don’t like it,” I reply with a huff.

“I didn’t think you would. But don’t worry, I know exactly who you need to distract you tonight.” He smirks and kisses my lips once more before he slips out of my reach and begins to dissipate.

“Wait, Lyrik. Who?” I call out as he goes. One day soon, I won’t have to worry about them tag teaming in and out of my presence.

“A surprise.” He singsongs. Two words is all I get from the handsome Incubus before he’s gone.

Marcus chuckles and I turn to look at him.

“What?” I say in my stern big sister voice, placing my hands on my hips.

“How do you it? This?” He waves his hands around in a circle, doing a bad charade rendition of juggling and I catch on to what he’s asking.

I tilt my head and think before replying, “I’m still learning. It’s definitely not a cohesive group, they are all different. If they had a choice, they wouldn’t share. Well, Ty and Trys, maybe even Rodyn but Lyrik and Rook not so much. Esme has Sam now so she and I will eventually grow to be besties, I hope.” I shrug. “But I can’t choose between them. I don’t think the bonds and Tethers between us would allow me. I love them all equally.” He rolls his eyes and I laugh. “I do!” I flop down beside him on the couch and sigh.

“Now sex though, my lady parts—”

“No!” Marcus shouts. “I never, never ever, want to hear about your lady parts, ever.” He puts his hands over his ears.

“Well, you asked how I do this? You’re my bestie, we’re supposed to share,” I reply, laughing as he starts to make noises to tune me out.

“Well, I take back my question. I don’t want to know. You just juggle away,” he says as he throws up his hands in surrender.

I lift my eyebrows suggestively. “I can juggle a few things at a time, just fine.”

“Mi!” he shouts, then groans in disgust.

I throw my head back and laugh because damn, I really needed that.

ChapterNineteen

TY

It’s too quiet. There are no screams, no thundering of feet on the pavement, no sense of terror in the air. Part of me, the Demonic side, needed that fear, it needed the panicked cries when I participated in the hunt. Not the innocents though, never them. I never lent a hand to help them personally, so maybe that made me complicit, but every student here knew the score.

No, my bloodlust simmered for the big baddies my mother unleashed on the campus at night. But now, there is just silence. The silence is so unfamiliar it’s disorienting. There isn’t anything in the woods to fear. Well, there is a Wolf with a broken heart out there, and hell, I know that feeling all too well. When we thought Micah—

No. I don’t want to think about the time spent in the Underworld before Micah woke. The darkness inside of me was unbearable, but now, I finally feel in control. But tonight, though, is eerily quiet, it has me on high alert. I almost snort, which is definitely out of character for me. I can’t believe I thought something was eerie. I live and breathe for the darkness, I have seen death in all its forms, I am not afraid of anything. Yet tonight, something feels off, and I’m on high alert. Our lives these days seem to hang in the balance on a daily, but now that we are back up top, I’m waiting for that ugly ass shoe to drop right into my kitten’s lap so I can burn that motherfucker.

A twig snaps and my head turns towards the noise. All I can see is Marcus’s shadow in the moonlight as we patrol the woods together. Micah’s brother is quiet, observant, and a damn good fighter, so being out here with him is almost like having Trys or Rodyn watching my six. Almost.

“You good?” I call out to him. If it wasn’t for the snap of the twig, I wouldn’t have heard him moving beside me. The ex-Light Guardian is all stealth, moving like a ninja through the trees, I guess you need those attributes to sneak up on the bad guys. Marcus pauses then walks towards me, stepping onto the path out of the trees. The lamps that run along the path glow softly as we continue down the path side by side.

“Is it me or does something feel off tonight? I mean, this is my first night here, but is it always this quiet? Wait, I know that wasn’t always the case as Lyrik said there isn’t anything bad out here, but it feels—”

“Yeah, it does. I feel it too,” I reply, so it’s not just me then. Now I really begin to look into the shadows, waiting for something, anything, to jump out at us.

“I’m glad. I’m so used to my tattoos warning me before anything bad happens, but without that, it’s going to take some getting used to trusting my gut,” he says as he reaches for the sword strapped to his back, exactly like his sister does. He is a male version of Micah; he may as well be her twin. Twinning. I liked him.

My phone pings as Marcus walks on aimlessly but alert all the same. He stops and turns back to wait. “No need, I’ll catch up,” I say waving him off. No need to stop patrolling for a phone call. I know these woods, I can find him with my eyes closed. I look down at my phone and I smirk.

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