RONAN DRAKOVIC RHODES.

Ain’t nothing like a man itching from addiction.

In all my years of life, I had two addictions. Both of which I’d cross the red line just to get them.

Hockey was one of them.

Nothing like having the ice beneath you, solid and steady, while you moved your weight around the net like a god.

Nothing like being the one who controlled the game because the goalie was always undermined. My job was to man the net but the truth? I protected my team. I predicted which player was slacking on the ice faster than the coach and the fans ever did.

And the most important job? I got to spill blood from the violence that came with the sport.

The other addiction?

I never got to make a choice when it came to it.

My brothers chose it. They chose the easy way—the chick with the blonde hair who smiled a lot and accepted what we were with a dimple to the chin.

They chose Saxen Montero. I tolerated her because she gave me what I needed. Then she died and I lost my mind.

“K-Kill me. I-I’m n-not scared of you so kill me!” The girl curled up in the corner of the room seethes.

‘She’s pretty when she’s making a fuss’, my wolf comments.

I lost my mind last night.

Next thing when I woke up, I was in my room…I mean the cell I like…and she was struggling to get my arm off of her waist.

I try my best to ignore her as I plate the toast and the half-cut peeled oranges on one side.

Once I’m done, I close the distance between us and kneel before her sliding the plate to her.

She looks at the plate then at me.

“You are crazy if you think I’m shoving your cyanide-laced food down my throat. If you wanna kill me, do it right.”

I push the plate to her again. She ignores it.

“M-My father w-will know it was you if I wind up dead.”

White hair, big thunderous eyes and that scent? She smells like…ours.

“My boyfriend, he—he probably has the entire police department searching for me right now.”

Her boyfriend is probably balls deep inside another girl right now.

Ford Kingsley is a wimp. Worse he’s a cheater and the entire NVU campus knows it apart from little miss perfect over here.

Picking the orange from the plate, I place one end of it in my mouth, get close to her enough to smell her fear before I bark, “Suck.”

“You think you’ll get away with everything because of your daddy’s money?” She sniffles, edging back to the wall away from me, “That’s w-where you are wrong. If you don’t kill me now, I’ll ruin your lives. Kill me while you still have the chance.”

I wish I could.

“Suck”, I snarl again.

“No.”

I could force her. I really want to. She’s thinner than the last time I saw her.

Her eyes are slightly swollen like she’s been crying herself to sleep every day.

And her blood? It reeks of malnourishment.

Instead of doing what my mind is telling me to, I eat the damn orange and stand up.

“Bathroom”, I point to the small doorway to her right.

“Kitchen.”

I don’t even look her in the eye when I walk to the steel bars that pose as the door to my room.

“Stay.”

I open the door and lock it for good measure.

Then I walk away to the shitstorm awaiting me upstairs.

Xxx

“She dead yet?” Tate’s the first to ask the minute I get into the kitchen.

My brothers have always operated in a system of some sort. This morning, that system is in shambles as they corner me in the kitchen.

“No”, I clip.

“What do you mean ‘no’? You took her from her father’s house knowing there were cameras all over the place, had us racing against time to erase any evidence you were there and you are saying you didn’t...”

Drex has always operated on a short fuse but not like this and my big brother knows it too because he places a hand on his chest pushing him back.

“Calm down. Getting heated won’t—.”

And just because I’m in a happy mood and have zero fucks to give this morning, I burst the bubble they’ve all been trying to hide in.

“Would any of you kill her? Just take a knife, go downstairs and plunge it deep inside her heart? Would any of you do that?”

Levi’s the first to react, “Ronan.”

My eyes flick to Rook’s wrists and I can’t hold the malicious laugh lodged in my throat, “How many times have you bit your wrists just to stop your wolf from claiming her?”

Rook grins but he doesn’t say squat.

I move to Drex, “What’s the real reason you are angry, Drexon? The fact that Sax is gone or the fact that you are thirsty for her sister?”

“Fuck you”, Drex growls not correcting me either.

I move to our leader, the guy whose calm demeanor is nothing but a deck of cards about to tumble to the floor.

“You said instead of going for what was ours, we’d go for her sister. And let’s be honest here while Sax was great and she did help us, she was never—.”

“Don’t”, Levi tries to stop me.

“She was never ours. Sage is our reincarnated. She is our mate. We need her blood to live.”

The silence that follows feels like a wormhole just sucked the life out of everything but it’s high time we faced the music.

We are what we are.

And just like Adam needed his Eve, we need our Lilith.

The little witch made just for us.

“We kill her boyfriend first. I vote we hang him in town’s square. It’s effective, gets the message across”, Rook gets off the counter.

“Jesus Christ, no.”

“She hates us. She thinks we killed her sister”, Drex reminds.

Levi leans against the wall, thinking. “Then we change her mind about that. I never wanted a mate, Tate. We never did but with Sax and her blood gone, we need Sage. And let’s be honest here, the only reason we went to Sax was because her blood tasted a little like the real thing. If we fail to get her, we shrivel off like weeds. No more blending in, no more hockey and dad will…we’ll be done.”

We drive a hard bargain but the look in Tatum’s eyes as he faces me tells me what I need to know.

He’s not agreeing to this. Not in this lifetime.

“Release her. And Ronan? I expect to see you at practice today.”