Page 131 of Knight’s Retribution

He stopped and didn’t hesitate, his fist connecting with the smooth wood, loud in the silent hall before he changed his mind. There was a bang, a few muttered words, then the heavy thud of his brother moving inside.

The door jerked open and Gunner stood there, amber eyes heavy, hair sticking up, beard in need of a trim, wearing only a frown and a pair of boxer briefs…backwards. He also had fresh fang marks at his throat.

Gunner’s brows shot up. “Brother,” he said, voice gritty as hell from sleep as he tugged at the front of his boxers. “You’re here. What’s going on?”

“You wanna fix that first…” Roc said, motioning to the guy’s junk. “Looks painful.”

Gunner cursed. “Come in.”

Rocco followed him into the apartment he shared with Luna, his mate, and waited while Gunner disappeared into their bedroom. Roc glanced around. The place looked different as well, smelled different, too. Luna had put her stamp on the place. Yeah, it was warmer, and a hell of a lot more inviting. There were a bunch of throw pillows similar to the ones he’d bought on the couch, but they were fluffy, all soft fabrics, and a blanket to match draped across the back. There were a couple of plants as well, and pictures.

One of Gunner and Luna—she had her back to his front, and he had his arms wrapped around her. She had her head turned to the side and tipped back, smiling up at him, and Gun was looking down at her with the same expression. The other picture was of all the females together—Luna, Grace, Eve, Mia, and Meredith. They had their arms around each other, huge smiles on their faces and laughter in their eyes.

Rocco swallowed as a lump grew in this throat, fucking near choking him. Ky should be in that photo smiling with them. She belonged there.

What the fuck was he doing here? This was a mistake. He couldn’t be around this. Hiding the darkness, hiding how bad it had gotten for him from his brothers was a constant battle. What one of them felt, they all felt through their connection, and keeping just how deep he’d sunk from them, while being bombarded by their happiness daily, was wearing him the fuck down.

He needed to find another way to prepare for what was to come, because this wasn’t it.

But before he could escape, Gunner walked out in shorts, chest still bare. “Ready when you are,” he said, his gaze intense.

“What are you talking about?” Roc hadn’t told him he was coming here today. He hadn’t even seen Gun in several days.

His brother strode up to him and crossed his arms, then looked pointedly at Rocco’s arm. “You’re leaking, brother.”

Rocco glanced down, and sure enough, blood had seeped through the still open wound on his forearm. He looked back up, ready to lie through his teeth because no one would stop him from going after Kyler. No one.

“Save it,” Gunner said. “I know what this means, and I won’t stop you, but you’re out of condition and you haven’t trained for months.”

“If you tell Chaos…”

“I won’t tell our brothers. I wish you would, but I get why you’re not all fired up to share. Chaos and Zenon would try to stop you… Chaos for the greater good, Zen, because he knows what you’re walking into and wants to spare you that. Kryos and Laz think we should have let you go when you first tried, that it’s only a matter of time before we lose you completely if you don’t go after her, and I think you should do whatever the fuck you want. Honestly, I’d do the same in your position.” He glanced back toward his bedroom. “I wish I could go with you, but I won’t leave Luna…”

“I’d never ask any of you to leave your mates, but I can’t leave Kyler there, I can’t…”

“We don’t need to talk about this, Roc,” Gunner said, knowing more than anyone how hard it was for him to talk about her. “You don’t have to convince me. But I don’t want to lose you, and if you go in like this, you don’t stand a chance. We have fuck all time to get you ready before the portal opens. So first things first, you need to eat. We’ll hit the kitchen, then head to the training room.”

Roc’s mouth went dry because there were no words to express the gratitude he felt in that moment. Sheer determination would only get him so far. Right now he was underweight and out of condition. He needed this. He needed his brother’s help—

“Rocco?”

He turned at the sound of Luna’s voice. She walked out of the bedroom, a gentle smile on her lips, revealing the tips of her fangs, and her deep violet eyes bright. Her black hair was down and the colored stripe she always wore at the side was currently red.

Gunner’s mate moved toward him, and his heart fucking clenched in his chest. Seeing her so healthy and happy was the only thing that could warm him these days. She’d been so weak, as close to death as a being could be when they found her. If anyone knew how Rocco felt, it was Gunner.

His brother thought he’d lost Luna forever, but she’d been there the whole time, suffering at the hands of their enemy.

“Hey, Luna,” he said, doing his best to relax the tension enough to curl his damn lips in some semblance of a smile. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her or make her worry.

She was dressed all in black as usual and planted her hands on her hips. “Don’t you hey, Luna me.”

He froze. “Sorry?”

“Yeah, you will be if you don’t sit your ass down and let me redress your arm before you train.”

No, Gunner’s female wasn’t weak, not anymore—physically or otherwise. “I’m fine…”

“Seriously, Rocco, if you don’t sit down, I’ll be forced to use my power on you and knock you on your ass.” She grumbled under her breath.