Ared hand tugs on my small fingers and I’m sent flying into a pool of blood.
My vision reddens, then gradually blackens as my limbs soak in the hot crimson liquid.
A low, haunting moan of pain saturates my ears and clashes against my bones.
I’m frozen, bound, helpless, and trapped in the middle of an intricate web.
Her web. The spider.
Soft hands grab hold of my face, but she’s only a blurry shadow due to all the red.
She squeezes my fingers with brute force and I scream, but the only sound that echoes in the air is an unintelligible muffle.
“Shh, Creigh. It’ll all end soon.”
I jerk awake, my heartbeat hammering in my ears.
My hands are still metaphorically bound and I can’t move.
For a moment, I think I’m back in that dark room, dripping with blood, while a giant black spider hovers over me like a looming Grim Reaper.
I snatch my hand away, only to find that it’s in a fist and someone has grabbed it.
My brother.
Eli stands by the side of my bed, looking as regal as usual in his casual black trousers and white button-down. His hair is styled, his demeanor is sharp, and his face is caught in eternal boredom.
Soft light illuminates the room and casts a gloomy edge on his angular features.
He’s five years older than me. At twenty-five, he’s the oldest of all of us. The first child of godlike parents, and the first grandchild of even godlier grandparents.
Grandpa Jonathan—from Dad’s side—is constantly warring with Grandpa Ethan and Grandpa Agnus—from Mum’s side—about whose fortune Eli is going to manage once he finishes his PhD.
Eli slowly releases his grip on my fist that I nearly pummeled him with, casually drops it, and sits beside me. And just like that, his true nature dissipates with a bright smile.
After pulling his phone up to face him, he unmutes it. “Sorry about that, Mum. I think there’s a problem with the Wi-Fi. Remi’s probably downloading his stash of porn.”
From my view of the screen, I can see Mum holding a hand to her chest. “Stop it, Eli. You’re so bad.”
He winks. “The best type of bad you’ll ever meet. Also, look who I have here. A rare sight of your baby boy.”
A feminine gasp reaches me first before Eli tilts the phone so it’s facing us both.
Elsa Steel King is the epitome of an elegant woman. Nude-colored lips, shiny blonde hair gathered in a neat ponytail, and a face that’s both beautiful and wise.
“Creigh!” she cries with her hand still at her chest. “Oh my, have you been asleep?”
“Yes, and your insolent son woke me up.”
Eli elbows me. “I was only looking out for his sleeping schedule, Mum. This punk sleeps more hours than is considered healthy, suffers from serious Sleeping Beauty syndrome, aka narcolepsy, and is prone to skip class because of it.”
“Still have perfect scores.”
“Still sleep in class so often that my professors tell me about it. Don’t go tainting my reputation.”
“And you think you have a good one?”
“At least people actually know me.”
“And that’s positive because…”
“Boys!” Mum chuckles from the other end of the phone. “Have you called me to bicker? And leave your brother alone, Eli. As long as he studies, it’s all fine.”
I raise a brow in his direction.
Hear that, fucker?
“Stop spoiling him rotten, Mum. This is why you only FaceTime him once in a year or if your favorite son, aka me, plans a surprise and wakes him up from hibernation. Where’s my thank-you?”
“Outside.” I grab the phone from his hand and bring it closer so that I’m the only one in the frame. “Mum and I don’t need to speak every day to have a connection.”
“That’s right.” She smiles, her eyes sliding all over my face with veiled desperation. “I just miss you so much, Creigh.”
“Miss you, too, Mum.”
“What’s with all the sappiness? You’re acting like it’s been years since you last met, when the fact is, we visited home a month ago.” Eli snatches his phone back so that he’s front and center of the screen.
“I still miss you boys every day.” She releases a long sigh. “I miss the nights when I used to tuck you in bed and tell you stories.”
“We can recreate that, say on our next visit home. One condition, though.” Eli grins. “Kick Dad out first.”
“I’ll be kicking you outside the solar system, punk.” Dad strolls inside the room, appearing in the frame behind Mum.
The phone shakes in her hold as she slightly turns around to look at him. Her expression radiates and her features brighten with a rosy emotion.
Love.
A feeling Mum has been trying, and failing, to instill in both me and my brother for years.
My father sits on the armrest of Mum’s chair and wraps a possessive arm around her shoulder.
Aiden King is everything his last name exemplifies—a monarch with a ruthless iron grip, the media’s notorious devil, and the love of Mum’s life.
He’s tall, dark, handsome, and absolutely merciless with anyone who crosses him—or us.
Since we were kids, Dad has taught us to prevent others from stepping on us and unintentionally, or intentionally, made us as cutthroat as he is.
Eli inherited more than just his personality. He has his black hair, dark gray eyes, and similar facial features—a fact that Mum secretly loves but is openly jealous of, complaining that her eldest looks nothing like her.
“Hi, Dad.” Eli’s eyes shine with the promise of a challenge. He’s always been in some sort of weird rivalry with our father. “I called Mum so we could have her all to ourselves.”
“Not even if you’re reincarnated ten times in a row.”
Mum laughs, strokes Dad’s hand that’s on her shoulder, and looks at Eli. “Really, now. Stop antagonizing your father. You’re so bad.”
“Hear that, Dad? I’m bad. Probably worse than you, huh?”
“Not even close.” Dad tilts his head to look at me. “Look who we have here.”
“Hi, Dad.”
“Is everything okay with you, son?”
I nod, and Mum tells him that I’ve been getting perfect scores, completely omitting the part about how I sleep in most classes and don’t attend the other half.
That’s what mothers do. They play the role of a bridge, a mediator.
An anchor.
Or at least, Mum does.
That can’t be said about my other mother.
“I’m glad you could pop in, Creigh,” Dad says. “You, too, Eli.”
My brother points a thumb at himself. “Creighton’s rare appearance is all thanks to me. Besides, we both miss Mum.”
“And Dad,” I finish, earning a rare smile from my father.
He completely ignores Eli’s attempts to rile him. After a few more minutes of catching up, he decides we’ve had enough of Mum’s time and ends the call.
As soon as the screen goes black, I kick Eli in the ribs, sending him flying to the other side of the bed.
Once I have enough room, I lie back down with a palm beneath my nape and close my eyes.
A petite brunette with an infuriating mouth barges into my mind.
Or more like the images of the red handprints I left on her arse do. All bright against that pale skin that’s begging to be marked and bruised and owned.
That was two days ago.
And she’s tactfully avoided me for as long. Always making sure we’re in a group, as if she’s scared I’ll pounce on her.
I would.
Thing is, Annika tests my control, edging it to limits I didn’t think were possible.
And the more she tests it, the more my beast screeches with the need to own her.
That’s what started it all.
After she defied me despite my clear warnings, I had to teach her a lesson.
When I shoved her against those shelves, I had every intention to punish the fuck out of her, but what I received was way past my expectations.
Her submission.
I thought I’d glimpsed the secret submissive in her whenever my tone turned authoritative, but I never thought she was a natural.
Annika not only took my lashes of pain, but she reveled in them as well. The moment she came apart all over my fingers, it took every ounce of control I had not to ram my cock into her sweet heat.
I would’ve broken her. No doubt about it.
So I gave her and myself a temporary reprieve. I simply can’t predict what I’m capable of when it comes to that girl.
The mattress dips beside me.
I expected Eli to bugger off, but he kicks me in the side and stretches out next to me. “Seriously, the fuck is wrong with you and sleeping? Pretty sure the doctor Mum took you to said there were no hormonal imbalances. Open your eyes.”
“Sleeping is better than peopling. Sod off.”
He nudges my side again. “Your big brother is bestowing you with a rare bonding moment, peasant. Wake the fuck up.”
“Go to Lan or Bran.”
“I don’t like Lan sometimes and Bran doesn’t like me sometimes.”
“Remi.”
“Shagging two blondes as we speak. Also, the fuck? You’d throw me at them instead of entertaining me?”
“I’m not a bloody clown.”
“No, but you’re my cute little brother.” He wiggles his fingers under my chin like he used to do when we were kids.
I shove his hand away. “If you’re so bored, go to Ava.”
Sweet silence fills the air and I think I’ve managed to finally get rid of the sod, but then his voice echoes in the silence. It’s lower, deadlier, and has lost the nonchalance from earlier.
“If I go to her, I’ll fucking kill her.” The darkness vanishes as fast as it appeared. “But this is neither the time nor the place. Wake up before I drench you with water.”
He goes back to tapping his fingers beneath my chin and I’m so close to punching him to the next planet.
Eli is detached, Machiavellian, and downright psychopathic, but ever since I accidentally became the sidekick of his destructive energy, he weirdly dotes on me.
He fought my battles, taught me how to fight my own—by knocking me down a few times, and turned psycho on anyone who attempted to bully me.
And by psycho, I don’t mean violent. But conniving. He hid stashes of drugs in their closet, made them doubt their own existence, and even drove them to change schools.
He’s always been discreet but highly effective.
That reputation has given him a lone wolf status. No matter how many people surround him, I know that, deep down, Eli is as lonely as me.
Probably worse.
So I let him play with my chin. Maybe then he’ll leave me alone.
“Jesus. You sleep like the mummies, did you know that?”
I don’t reply, hoping he’ll think I’m already asleep.
“Maybe I should’ve tagged along with Lan. He’s got an up-close location to watch the Heathens fall in their own compound.”
My eyes fly open and clash with Eli’s muted ones. He slowly grins, fingers pausing at my chin. “Finally. I was so close to kicking you in the nuts.”
“The Elites are going against the Heathens?”
“No, I think the Serpents are raiding their mansion. Lan grabbed the popcorn to watch the internal war unfold after he probably instigated it. He made sure Glyn was at the dorm and not with Killian first, though.”
I sit up so abruptly that Eli is forced to release me and back away.
“The fuck is wrong with you now?”
In a flash, I get up, my bare feet sinking into the carpet as I grab my phone.
The moment I click on Ava’s contact, Eli appears behind me emanating Lucifer’s dark energy, his voice lowering to that edge again. “This is why I don’t like Lan sometimes, you know.”
“Shut up.” I shoo him away, but he remains there, waiting, watching, his attention no different than a hawk’s.
Creighton: Is Annika with you?
I could’ve texted Cecily or Glyn, but they’re not as obsessed with their phones as Ava is.
Sure enough, the reply is immediate.
Ava: OMG. Did you just text me? Who are you and why have you kidnapped our Cray Cray?
Creighton: Answer the question, is Annika there?
Ava: Jesus. Slow down, no hi, how are you? Or maybe an attempt to answer my previous dozen texts that you left on Read. I’m wounded, you know. Beg me and I might consider answering.
I feel my brother’s demeanor turning rigid behind me. Worst part is that Ava meant it about the begging. I have no doubt that she’d be cheeky just for the fun of it.
So I go for the jugular.
Creighton: Eli is reading this conversation as we speak. Answer my question.
The dots appear and disappear a few times before her reply comes.
Ava: Anni had to spend the night at her brother’s mansion.
My hand tightens around my phone as my whole body stiffens. I dial Annika’s number and place it to my ear, listening to the long, haunting rings.
No reply.
Fuck.
Yes, she usually goes to bed early for ‘beauty sleep’ or what-the-fuck-ever, but this is too early.
I throw on my hoodie, put on the first shoes I see, and storm out.
“You’re welcome!” Eli shouts behind my back, but I’m already jogging down the stairs.
I call Annika again, but it goes to voicemail.
“Hi, this is Annika. Leave a message and I’ll call you back ASAP.”
The more times I get her voicemail, the more my temperature rises.
I hop into my car and drive out of the property at high speed, then dial my cousin.
He picks up almost immediately. “Weren’t you in your Sleeping Beauty phase?”
“Where are you?”
“Currently watching a live show of a wildfire that’s eating the Heathens like holy water. May all their sins trap them in hell for eternity. Amen.”
“There’s fire?”
“Did you miss the wildfire part?” Pure sadism shines in his voice. “I’ve got to applaud the mastermind for the immaculate planning and execution—”
I press the End button and hit the gas.
A feeling I’ve never felt before spreads through me with suffocating intensity.
And it’s all because of her.
The girl who shouldn’t have been part of my plans yet somehow managed to sneak inside.
The thought of something happening to her turns me into a feral beast.
