Page 32 of Sweet Violence
"I should have been there," he whispered, ducking his head to kiss my shoulder. I hoped he didn't see the new, angry bite on my neck. "I should have been with you, and protected you better. If I had been—"
"Joseph," I cut off, something tight and achy in my chest. "Don't think like that; it'll drive you crazy."
"Er," X input behind us, a soft smile in his voice. "Crazier."
I kicked back until my foot connected with his shin. Me and Joseph were having a completely serious, snark-free moment here.
"I mean it," I told my reaper, squeezing him until he let out a satisfying grunt. "Don't go mad over what ifs, Joseph. If you'd been there, they'd havekilledyou. I'm glad you weren't. I don't know how you sneaky bastards did it, but somehow you made me care if you live or die. I'd have been pissed if you got killed trying to save me. And anyway, it all worked out, didn’t it?"
Joseph muttered something under his breath, a flash of anger in his eyes. I thought it was at me for a moment before he said, "I'm never leaving your side again."
"Good. Better. I like this plan."1
"And when I get my hands on the people who hurt you—because I will—" I shuddered when his voice dropped into that rumbling-thunder tone I'd first heard at the funfair "—I'll cut their souls into shreds but preserve their bodies so they're in true, perfect agony for the rest of their existence."
I went cold—and then flashed red hot.
"Promise?"
"I promise, my sweet," he agreed, his handsfinallyroaming my body, stroking up and down my back, keeping me flush against him. "I didn't mean to upset you. I was angry with myself—I still am—and I … I thought you would be angry, too."
I shook my head on the pillow, giving myself a super fashionable one-sided bird's nest hairstyle.2"Not even a bit. I'm angry at the people who thought it was a good idea to kidnap and torture me. I—"
I sighed, hurt bleeding into the noise, but luckily Joseph's and X's sudden growls covered up my sound of pain.
Yet Joseph caught one look at my expression and his growl cut off. His hands left my body, both hit palms cupping my face. I couldn't deny how incredible it felt to be touched like this. My dark, twisted soul was greedy for it.
"What's wrong, my sweet?"
I shook my head, glancing away.
"Av?" X asked, uncommonly serious as he wound his arms around me, scattering kisses on my shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing'swrong. Not badly anyway. It's just—Eidolon's my dad." I laughed, bitterness bubbling up. "And he had his little cronies grab me and take me to a barn somewhere."
Joseph growled, so deep and rumbling it travelled through my whole body. I'd thought his throaty hiss was pretty chilling, butthissound was next level. "The barn on the ley line. It leads right to the hell portal on our land."
Sure. That.
I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. "That portal thing saved my life. I jumped into it and Dev came and saved me."
"Dev?" X demanded in a snarl, suddenly rigid against my back. "Who the fuck isDev?I'll kill him."
"The devil," I replied dryly, a laugh dispersing some of the blackness and pain sitting on my chest.Some. A tiny molecule. A grain.
"Oh," X murmured, relaxing behind me, his palm splaying across my hip. "I guess … that's fine."
I laughed through my nose. "We'll figure out this whole mate thing."
"Eidolon's your father?" Joseph asked, caressing his thumbs across my cheeks.
I swallowed and nodded. Yay, back to talking about my super traumatic experience. Fun times.
"Yeah. I kinda knew, but I tried to convince myself I was just being an idiot. He was dead—I should know, I killed him."
Joseph went still, and my heart twisted. Great, now I scared him off. I couldn’t blame him. Who’d want a mate who was fucked up enough to commit patricide?
But he breathed, "What did he do to you? To make you do that? What did hedo?"
