Page 47 of Deadfall

“Do not consume anything you don’t get from me, or him,” he ordered with a jerk of his head toward me. “Understand?”

She tried to yank the bar away, but Seven held firm. “I mean it.”

Her stare was intense, but Seven didn’t release the energy bar until she gave a curt nod. Emersyn turned the bar over in her hands and inspected every inch of it. Satisfied that what we said was the truth, she ripped into it and took a bite. The look of surprised pleasure was all too brief and made my chest hurt.

“Good isn’t it?” Seven drawled. The mischievous sparkle was back in his eyes. “It’s my favorite flavor. Tastes like cookie dough.”

Emersyn acknowledged him with a look and quickly finished the bar in a few big bites. A bottle of water was next and after a similar inspection, she downed it with hardly a breath of air in between gulps. I heard footsteps on the path and turned to see Angel and Marcello at the gate.

“Looks like we get to keep each other company again,” Angel said cheerfully.

Marcello stayed silent. He hungrily leered at Emersyn in a way that made my fists clench at my sides. Seven stepped toward the bars, already prepared to run interference based on my mood.

He rubbed his hands together. “Perfect, I can beat you both at cards again.”

Amusement lit up Angel’s eyes. “Fine, but I’m giving you a handicap.”

I reluctantly followed Seven out of Emersyn’s enclosure and we all walked back to the guardhouse.

Angel jerked his head back toward Emersyn. “What happened there? That’s not her usual breakfast.”

I frowned. “She didn’t want the other food.”

Seven barked a laugh. “Actually, she dumped it all over his boots.”

Marcello scowled. “And you didn’t punish her for that?”

A dark wave of violence nearly had me lose control right then and there. Seven gave me an annoyed look and threw an arm around Marcello. He steered him towards the table and handed him a deck of cards.

“Deal us in, mate.”

“Mahoney won’t be happy,” Marcello took the cards with a frown. “He has her on a specific protocol.”

“A what now?” Seven took a seat at the table and rested his arm across the back of the chair.

“It’s in the schedule brief. She’s violent. She’s on sedatives for our safety.”

It took everything not to react, whereas Seven simply smirked at Marcello before he glanced at Angel.

“Tell me you can’t handle a woman without telling me you can’t handle a woman.”

Angel’s lips twitched in amusement, but Marcello took a provocative step towards Seven.

“Watch it,” he growled.

Seven didn’t budge, but the friendly look he swept over Marcello was edged with something much darker.

“What? You basically implied you’d get your ass kicked by a girl if she wasn’t sedated.”

The air in the guardhouse dropped to frigid degrees. I gave Seven a look of warning even though he was fixated on Marcello. He had an acute look on his face like he was locked on to his prey. I knew he wanted a reason—any reason to explode. We both walked a very fine line between our control and giving into the violence within us.

“Alright, alright,” Angel cut in and put a hand on Marcello’s shoulder. “Let’s just play some cards.”

“It’s your funeral,” Marcello grumbled and sank into a chair. “I saw what she did to Lial—”

My head whipped towards him. “What did she do?”

Marcello frowned as he shuffled the cards. “You didn’t hear? Stabbed him in the eye when he went to get her from the beach.”