Page 163 of Knight’s Retribution

“On it,” Kryos said, cool blue eyes hitting Roc’s. “James will be here in a few.”

Rocco glanced back at his brothers. All of them had questions, and Laz looked shaken. “Yeah, we’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“No shit,” Chaos muttered.

“What is this?” Gunner asked, looking down at the bowl.

“Ky’s blood and Golath’s bone. That’s how we’ll get T and Scarlet home,” Rocco said, not wanting to take his eyes off Kyler.

“The bone’s gone, brother, disintegrated,” Gunner said.

Rocco spun around. It was black and smoking, turning to ash before their eyes.

Fuck.

* * *

Rocco led Kyler to his apartment at the compound.

He hadn’t slept there in a long time. Even when he was training with Gunner, he hadn’t stayed there. It’d been too far away from the portal, from Kyler.

She was quiet, but she seemed to have calmed—well, she wasn’t hyperventilating, anyway. He didn’t know how he was going to do it, but he wouldn’t stop until Diemos was out of commission. After what just went down, Roc had the feeling that the next time that portal opened, Diemos would come through it, no matter what.

Christ, he hadn’t wanted to leave T behind, but both Tobias and Scarlet had insisted. Without T there to hold Diemos and his demons back, things would have gone down a lot differently. They’d agreed on a time in the future to try and get the portal open again, though, to get them out.

Now, with the bone gone, they were screwed. He’d called Willow on the way over, and she was going to see what she could find out. They needed another bone or another way to get them out.

“So you all live here?” Kyler said when he stopped at his door.

“Yeah.”

“Now I understand why you never brought me to your place,” she said dryly.

He made himself grin, though that was the last thing he felt like doing after what just happened. “Yeah, it’s not exactly the most welcoming of places…not on the outside, anyway.”

He unlocked the door and shoved it open, nerves going nuts in his stomach. He wanted her to like it, to love it here…with him.

He watched her now as she took in the apartment. “It’s nice,” she said and moved deeper into the living room, turning around. The other females had obviously been in here—informed by their mates that Rocco and Kyler were on the way—and they’d worked fast because the plastic was off the couch, the new cushions arranged on it, and the rug was spread out on the floor. He’d bet they’d done the same in the bedroom as well.

“This is your home now, Ky. Anything you want, anything you need, you let me know and I’ll make sure you get it. I want you to feel safe here, to see it as a…a haven. Eventually, I think…I hope, you’ll be happy here.” With me.

Her beautiful eyes slid to him. “I can’t go back to my apartment, can I?”

His chest clenched. “Do you want to?”

Her gaze moved over his face, lingering on his lips. “No. No, that’s not what I want.”

Leaning against the wall as relief washed through him, he crossed his arms when all he wanted to do was go to her and hold her tight and secure, to reassure them both that she was alive. And finally, she was here. “What do you want, baby?”

Her gaze dipped, then lifted back to him. “I can’t have what I want, Roc. I’m too goddamn broken.”

Fuck. “My brothers’ mates, they’ve been through a lot, all of them. When you’re up to it, I know they’d love to meet you. I think they could help.”

“I…I’m not ready for that,” she said, hugging herself. “Not yet.”

“No one’s gonna rush you. But they’re fierce and loyal. They’re your sisters, like Scarlet. They want to be there for you, when you’re ready.”

Kyler licked her lips and dipped her gaze again. “But we’re not sisters, not yet. Scarlet told me how a knight and his female become mates, and the way I am…” When her gaze lifted to him again, pain and anger flashed through them. “I can’t even stand to be touched, let alone—” She shoved her fingers through her dark hair and paced away.