Page 36 of Broken By The Devil

“After the way you dealt with Bree, you are definitely a Wildcat.” He laughs.

I can live with that. Viper and Wildcat, both completely contradictory to Pet. They’re fierce, lethal, dark, and I am the darkness.

KADE

It’s no surprise I slept the whole way. I’ve not been sleeping well since Emilia told me the truth. I hate that Tom can just enter her apartment whenever he wants. She’s not safe. I don’t think I’ll be able to rest until she is.

“Alright, everybody unload the kit, get your tents up, and settle in. We start sparring tomorrow morning, competitions in the afternoon, rest up!” I shout to my unit.

I risk a glance at Tom’s unit getting out of their bus. They look exhausted, like they’ve been up all night sparring. I see a female officer stumble out of the bus and dart towards a tree to throw up.

I hear a few of my officers laughing and I throw them a warning glare.

Emilia runs over to the officer, pulls her hair back from her face, and rubs her back. For someone who has been through what she has, she is still kind, warm and considerate. Even though there is darkness in her, she still radiates light.

Tom approaches Emilia and the officer. Cyrus catches the exchange as it begins and heads over with his jaw set. I know he doesn’t like Tom for obvious reasons, but something feels off for him to dart ahead of me.

“You’re dismissed, go clean yourself up, you’re disgusting.” Tom orders the officer with utter disgust painted on his face.

“She gets motion sick, leave her be,” Emilia warns. She is starting to push back. Tom doesn’t take kindly to push back or authority. It worries me. He gives her a fleeting glance, waves his hand at her in dismissal and retrieves her backpack from the floor.

“Emilia is going to be staying in my tent, being my fiancé and all. Grab the rest of your stuff and follow me.” He gives the order.

“What part of staying within your unit are you not getting. She’s part of my unit. She stays with us.” I push back. I am not letting this happen. She’s not staying in a tent with him. Out of the fucking question.

Emilia starts coughing, her posture has completely changed, she flinches suddenly, and won’t look at me. Cyrus is staring at her, completely motionless, his face void of all emotion. She shakes her head slightly. At who, I don’t know. Emilia starts to gather her things and goes to follow Tom to his tent.

If she thinks I’m just going to stand here and let this happen, she has no fucking clue who I am. Cyrus grabs my arm, and Cara moves in front of me blocking my path.

“You can’t let him know you care about her, it’ll just make things worse. He already has suspicions about you Kade. He even thinks Cass has been sleeping with her!” Cara says. I look to Cass in question.

“He’s mentioned me to her a few times and how he thinks we’ve been fucking.” He chuckles. “She’s like my sister.” He follows up. Cara laughs too. I suppose I’ll let him keep his balls today.

“Are you seriously saying you’re all comfortable with her staying in his tent?” I can’t believe this. After everything he’s done to her.

“Of course we’re not, but she would have given us a sign if she wanted us to intervene, but she didn’t,” Cara explains.

“Do you have anything to say about this, since you look just as ready to kill somebody.” I turn towards Cyrus, waiting for a response. He just shakes his head.

“If she doesn’t come up with something soon, I’ll make the decision for her.” I seethe. I stalk towards the woods. I need to cool off.

“Kade!” Cyrus shouts.

I can’t. I can’t see reason right now. For everyone’s sake, they better stay away from me for the next few hours.

EMILIA

Ididn’t sleep at all. I’m pretty sure the bags under my eyes are a permanent fixture now. Tom slept soundly beside me all night, didn’t make any attempt to touch me. It’s like he thrives on the fact that I can’t relax when he’s near me. He’s been shocking me with his watch anytime I speak up. My body is in fight or flight mode, constantly.

I exit the tent as soon as the sun comes up and find Kade sitting by the fire. His hair is ruffled, slight shadow of stubble across his jaw, his grey sweatpants cling to his muscled thighs, and his black T-Shirt barely stretches enough to accommodate his build. I want this sight every morning. I sit beside him on the log, and he hands me a cup of coffee, exactly how I like it.

“Are you alright?” He grits out. I know it must have been hard for him last night. I couldn’t push back, the shocks were too intense, I almost couldn’t hide them.

“I’m fine, he didn’t touch me, the bastard slept soundly all night,” I say.

“Come with me, now.” He orders. He’s angry. Really angry.

I follow him into the woods. We must have been walking at least fifteen minutes. We’re far enough in the shrubs that we won’t be heard. He grabs my arm and pins me against a tree trunk with his hand around my throat, not restricting my breathing but enough to know its presence.