Page 21 of Black Onyx
“Erm, Farren?” Loki starts, and I look up at him.
“Yeah?”
“How do you know Killian?” He asks, shooting a worried look at Storm, who is sitting in a chair facing my bedroom door, his emotions completely shut down.
“That’s a long story, and I think it might be better explained when Kill gets back out,” I reply, stalling. I’m not sure how much Kill will want me to share. Especially since they seem to have a shared history that I know nothing about.
Before any of them can protest, Poca appears in the middle of the room, making them all jump, and I smirk. It’s strangely satisfying to watch these dangerous big men jump at the sight of my hellhound.
“Fucking hell has he been here the whole time?” Rival asks.
“Nope, he just materialised in.”
“I have so many fucking questions, and I don’t understand anything that is going on right now.” Mayhem adds in.
I know I owe them an explanation after everything that they’ve seen or heard over the last couple of hours, but I barely know these guys. I know we’re a team, and that should usually come with some level of trust; however, normally, teams are excited to be together, and Storm fucking hates me, Mayhem doesn’t trust me, and I’m not sure of the others yet. I can’t share the darkest parts of my life with them, not until I trust them and they trust me. If Storm gets his way, he will have broken the bond long before that can happen.
I will give them the bare minimum I can get away with, and that’s it. If they don’t like it, then it's fucking tough. I’m not putting myself at risk and exposing my secrets to them without complete trust on both ends.
I’m pulled out of my thoughts as my bedroom door opens, and out walks a shirtless Killian. I sigh; I will never fucking get tired of seeing all of his taut muscles on display. Seeing them reminds me of the last time I got up close and personal with them. My eyes collide with his sparkling ones, and I grin, looks like his mind went to the same place mine did. My eyes dip and land on the scar over his heart, the one that I gave him and he’s stupidly fucking proud of. I know it shouldn’t, but it always makes me smile knowing that he carries around something that will always remind him of me. I carry the same one over my heart, thanks to him. I can feel the other's looks burning into the side of my face as they try to work out what the fuck is going on between us.
Killian strides towards the door, pulling it open before the server on the other side can knock and scaring the shit out of him in the process. He looks over the laden cart and sighs before glancing back over his shoulder at me.
“Little help, Darlin’?” He asks.
I grin and materialise all the plates on the coffee table in the middle of the lounge, my grin widening as Kill slams the door in the shocked server's face. He strides over to me, his tail whipping behind him and then sits as close to me as possible, swinging his arm over my shoulders and trying to pull me in close, much to the obvious shock of the guys who are once again just staring at Killian.
“Oh no you don’t,” I warn him, “eat first, and then you get cuddles. I’m still fucking pissed at you.”
“Erm Farren, I don’t think you should talk to him like that,” Loki points out, looking uneasy and worried.
Killian’s gaze snaps to Loki, a decidedly chilly edge to it now, “She can speak to me however she wants.”
The guy's eyebrows hit their hairlines.
“Alright, clearly there is stuff going on here that I know fuck all about, and we’ll get to that, but right now I need to see you eat something, Kill, I’m fucking mad at you.”
His eyes connect with mine again, “I thought you’d left.”
“Never,” I vow.
I know it hit him hard when I didn’t come back, not that I had a fucking choice, I tried, but I was blocked from using the Void to get to him. I thought he’d blocked me out. I also know that I’m going to have to reassure him of that for a long time before he believes that I’ll never voluntarily leave him. “I don’t know why I couldn’t get to you the last few years, but we will figure it out. After you eat.”
“Okay, Darlin’, I hear you,” he picks up his plate and then smirks, “when we find the person responsible, what’s the plan?”
“Oh, I think I might bring out my favourite weapon for this one.”
“Want to play who makes the most slices in ten minutes, again?” He grins.
I chuckle, “Hell fucking yeah, I’m ready to defend my title.”
“I can’t take it anymore, Kill where the fuck have you been? You were supposed to come here with us, and then you disappeared with no warning. We had a fucking search party.” Storm growls, anger ever-present, but there’s a hint of something almost desperate in his tone.
“We were your best friends. You could have told us anything,” Loki mutters, and I study them closely.
Some of their reactions make more sense now. They were once as close with Kill as they are with each other, not to mention that Storm is his brother.
“I had something more important to do,” he replies between bites. His blunt tone makes the guys all frown. “Besides, there was no guarantee that we’d end up on the same team anyway.”
