Page 57 of Heartless Lord
As if his voice reminded Lexi that we weren’t alone, she tried to push me off. “Just because we have an arrangement doesn’t mean you can touch me any way you want, Killian.”
“Actually, it does. And I think you like it.” I sucked on her earlobe and bit it, earning a gasp. “Be a good girl while I’m gone, and maybe I’ll reward you.”
Lexi gave me a death glare as I drew back, but she couldn’t hide the storm of lust brewing in her eyes.
I left her on the dance floor and flanked Gage’s side as we headed to the back of the house. Lexi should be fine since the worst of us would all be in the catacombs, including Bass. Of course, if I found some asshole touching her when I returned, he’d discover what it felt like to have his face broken by yours truly.
Still, I whipped out my phone and sent a text to Owen, a Sigma Delt who played football with Axel, to keep an eye on Lexi. He responded seconds later with a thumbs up.
“Have they been gathered yet?” I asked, shoving my phone back into my pocket.
“There’s eight of them.” Gage’s dark, unnerving eyes made me squirm. “What’s the deal with you and that girl?”
Of course the asshole picked up on it; he missed nothing. I gave a nonchalant shrug. “Revenge. That’s all.”
“Oh, is that all?” The edges of his lips twitched.
“Shut the fuck up.”
As we emerged into the archaic stone atrium below the house, other Lords filed in. While the elegant party continued upstairs, something older and far more dangerous awakened beneath the house.
Gas lanterns flickered along the stone walls, their flames bending in the draft that crept through the ancient chamber. The massive hearth roared like a beast awakened, throwing long shadows across the floor. Twelve Ascended already sat upon the raised dais, silent and unmoving in their high-backed chairs, ebony cloaks pooling around their feet. White masks obscured their faces.
They looked less like witnesses and more like judges.
The Grand Domnus’s daunting ram skull always sent frost over my flesh, even though I knew it was only my stepfather behind that morbid guise.
A door opened, and the Domnus marched in, his goat-skull mask peering from the hooded black cloak with the red embellishments signalling his status. Eight guys with black sacks over their heads and their hands tied behind their backs stumbled in, a few brothers helping them to their spots on the ground.
The Domnus spread his arms wide. “Congratulations to you eight Neophytes chosen to join this exclusive organization. Should you make it to the end, your life will be prosperous, and the world will be yours for the taking.”
It wasn’t an exaggeration. Senators, judges, CEOs—half the powerful men in this country had once knelt in this very room.
“He really loves this shit, doesn’t he?” Gage murmured beside me.
“Bass gets a hard-on any time he can showcase his position of power.” Of course, Sebastian Davenport assumed the leadership role of the Serpents & Daggers his senior year at Stonewall.
My thoughts flickered to somewhere upstairs, where Lexi Vega was being eye-fucked by hungry frat boys.
And if Bass discovered she was the girl from the masquerade...
She was dead.
If the rest of the brotherhood discovered she stumbled upon a murder, there was no amount of pleading I or anyone could do to save her.
My blood ran cold at the thought, and chills skated down my spine. No matter how much I claimed to hate her, the image of her dead, broken body made my knees threaten to give out.
The Domnus cleared his throat, drawing my attention to the matter at hand.
Gage and I stepped forward and plucked the black hoods from the tapped pledges. Micah kneeled on the far left, his glasses askew as he blinked rapidly from the sudden brightness.
“We’ve brought you here tonight to face the first of many trials to prove yourselves worthy.” Bass extended his hand toward the alumni. “Our esteemed Lords, Ascended, and Grand Domnus are here to witness your evolution.”
Bass bowed and then vanished through a door on the left as the Grand Domnus stood.
“Your first test will prove your desire to be one of the few.” He walked toward the stone altar and grabbed a dagger. “One of you will perform the act, but all of you will be irrevocably linked by it.”
The eight young men, even Micah, eagerly awaited their first trial. They had no idea of the shit show about to unfold. They thought they were joining a brotherhood.
