Page 79 of Beautiful Prey

Across the floor, Ryven is already easing Onyx up out of his chair, my brother’s arm looped over those broad shoulders, Seren a step behind with the oxygen line coiled neat in one hand. Onyx is laughing at something, sleepy and trusting, letting a stranger take his weight.

It should be me. It’s always been me. My arms come up. I make them go back down.

The doors ahead of us open, pulled wide by guards I haven’t seen before, their eyes down, and we walk through.

I think about how I’d do it. Get Onyx off Ryven. Get us to a lift. Down all those floors, out into a city he owns, on shaking legs, with a brother who can’t run. I think about it the whole way to the doors.

There’s no version of it that ends with us free.

So I follow my brother into the lift, and down, and out to where the holo-SUVs wait with their doors already open.

And I get in.

14

ASH

When the lift doors slide open, Jade’s gaze sweeps the apartment, from the floor-to-ceiling glass to the city burning beneath it, then along the curve of the penthouse. His expression barely changes, only the slight lift of his chin giving him away as he steps out.

Such a proud stormbird.

I watch his gaze find every exit on the way in. The lift. The stairwell door. The glass doors to the balcony.

Behind us, Ryven guides Onyx with one hand at the back of his neck, steadying him more than leading him. “Easy, don’t go falling in love with the view. We’ve only just met.”

Laughing, Onyx stops dead in front of the glass. “Jade.” He reaches back without looking. “Jade, come see.”

But Jade doesn’t answer. His gaze keeps flicking around, searching for a way to get the two of them out, even though there isn’t one.

I don’t think he’s realized that yet. Perhaps he will later. When he runs.

Fuck, would he run?

Onyx finds his hand and tugs. Jade’s fingers close around his automatically. “JaJa. Come on.”

Ryven slips in beside him and, with a little flourish, presses a glass into Onyx’s hand. “Birthday boy gets the grand tour. Balcony first. Best view on Calder. It’s a long way down from up here.” He winks. “I’ll show you all the railings your brother’s new boss isn’t allowed to be thrown over.”

Grinning, Onyx lets Ryven steer him toward the glass doors, one hand guiding him between his shoulder blades.

Jade opens his mouth to protest, but Ryven gets Onyx onto the balcony before Jade can say more than half a word. The doors glide shut behind them.

A sound farther down the corridor pulls my attention to Seren’s suite. His door is still open, and through it I catch sight of the hotel clerk, stripped and tied at the foot of the bed, waiting exactly where Seren told him to, knowing my cousin.

“There’s my good boy.” Seren steps inside, gives me a grin over his shoulder, then the door closes.

And then it’s just the two of us.

“Come on. You never heard the rest of the proposition. Coming here was only the cost of admission.” I turn toward the hallway. “This way.”

Jade glowers at me, staying where he is. “I’m not following you anywhere.” His gaze lingers on his brother outside before he squares his shoulders.

Come on, stormbird.

“You already are, but you know that, don’t you?”

I leave the living room without looking back, unable to suppress the smug grin as his footsteps follow anyway.

There he is, my pet, coming when I call him, hating the sound of his own boots doing it.