Page 23 of Hell Kissed
But this girl? She’s a fucking anomaly.
Or maybe she just has no common sense for fear.
A more likely possibility.
Still, the small voice in the back of my mind is reminding me that despite the way Rhys has grown up, she’s no mere mortal, or even a regular shifter for that matter. She just doesn’t realize it yet.
Rhys is silent at my side, eyes trained on the dark windows of the cottage. Her light blonde hair is nearly as pale as the moonlight, and the deepening night makes her ocean blue eyes appear more like sapphires. And her face… it’s far too delicate. A blush covers the perfect arches of her cheekbones which frame the pink bow of her lips. Compared to Aric, Torben, and myself, she’s tiny. The top of her head falls at Aric’s shoulder. I’m only slightly shorter than the dragon, and standing this close to Rhys, I have to peer down to take her in.
Nothing about this girl deserves what we’re going to do to her.
The weight of the invisible shackles on my wrists burn with the heat of my sworn allegiance.
Rhys gazes up at me. Her attention is like hellfire across my skin, making me all too aware of her captivating eyes. It’s her strange magic… I think. I quickly turn away while grinding my teeth. My jaw jumps as I nod toward the house.
“I think it’s safe to go inside,” I say, ready to get her cat and get the fuck out of here. Besides the fact that I don’t like the danger we’re putting Rhys in, if we don’t get going soon, we’ll be facing a much greater danger.
The one where I change my mind and report back to my sister that we never found the girl. Because this girl—she’s too innocent for the Realm of Hell.
I can tell she doesn’t belong, and I’ve barely known her for a few hours.
Aric looks over at me with a hard glare that says he knows what I’m thinking. Unlike me, he’s not ready to risk my sister’s wrath. Without hesitation, his hand wraps around Rhys’s bicep and he tugs her roughly forward. She has to stumble to keep up with his long strides, and I smirk to see the little thing seethe.
“You don’t have to manhandle me to go inside. I’m pretty sure I was the one who demanded we come back for my cat.” Without a care for the bruise that will be left on her flesh, she wrenches herself out of his grip with more strength than I gave her petite little frame credit for.
I can’t help the smirk that lifts my lips.
Striding forward with the confidence of a goddess, she bends, giving us a perfect view of her pretty little ass. I’m still staring at the rounded curves when Aric marches forward with the intent of kicking in the door.
“No!” Rhys screeches, straightens, and rushes Aric with another tiny sword in her hand that she procured from a plastic rock sitting on the front stoop.
Humans are weird. Get bigger swords and better hiding places, for the love of the gods.
Sick amusement crosses Aric’s face as he stares down at the brandished ‘key’ Rhys told me about earlier.
Not like any key I remember.
“It’s going to take a lot more than this toothpick to kill me, kitten.” Aric flicks the metal with his index finger.
“For fuck’s sake!” Rhys grumbles and shoves the man out of her way. “I’m not trying to kill you, I’m trying to unlock the fucking door. What is it with you guys and modern-day locking systems?”
Stabbing the tiny sword into the handle of the door, like wounding it will make it open before us, Rhys shoves her shoulder into the door and it does in fact creak open on hinges that could use some oil.
“Kicking it would have been faster,” Aric muses, rubbing at the shadow of scruff on his jaw.
“And more destructive,” Rhys scolds like that makes any fucking difference to us.
“Oftentimes, destruction is better,” my friend murmurs.
She ignores him entirely as she enters. We step inside, and Rhys immediately heads down the hallway for her room.
“This is where you live?” Aric glares around menacingly, and I wonder if he’s having the same thoughts I did.
This shithole is no place for Rhys.
She deserves better. More.
Not that any of us are planning to do any better by her.
