The Night House Read online

  A sudden image of him naked on top of her flared to life. Thane grinding and moving his strong body against hers, flexing his hips. She clung onto his muscles arms and threw her head back as he pumped into her.

  Heat flushed her skin.

  No. She couldn’t think like this. The more she tried to stop the X-rated images, though, the more carried away her imagination got.

  Thane leaned closer, gaze wild. “Do you submit?”

  She lifted her chin. “Never.”

  Heavy boots pounded the mats laid over stone. “Will you get off your play thing and answer me?”

  Thane winked at her.

  Winked.

  Rat bastard.

  She unlocked her ankles and released him. He stood up and held out his hand. When she placed hers in his, he hoisted her to her feet as if she weighed less than a sack of potatoes. Sweat poured off her skin.

  Julian studied them with open disgust. “Father wants to see you. Both of you.”

  “Are you Father’s personal messenger now?” Thane jerked his head at the three men standing behind his brother. “Why not send one of your thugs?”

  Julian snarled. He ignored Thane and raked her body with his scalding gaze. “You better clean her first. Why is she so sweaty?”

  Taya grinned and blew him a kiss. Sweat dripped from her nose.

  Julian jerked back as if she slapped him. The men chuckled and Thane’s brother spun to glare at them. He found only passive, schooled expressions.

  “We’ll come right away.” Thane placed a hand at the small of her back and nudged her forward. “Seems urgent.”

  Dread crept along her spine. The infamous father. She had no wish to meet the man who locked his own child in a jail cell with the dead body of his favourite instructor to “teach him his place.” Hard pass, thank you.

  Julian gave a dismissive sneer over his shoulder and led the way out of the training room. His guards trailed behind him as if competing with each other to see who could get closer without stepping on his heels. With Thane at her back, she had little choice but to follow—sweat and all.

  Chapter Eighteen

  You Can’t Choose Your Family

  The door shut behind them with a deafening click. Another mammoth of a man lounged in an armchair by a roaring fire. He continued to stare at the flames instead of turning to greet them. Maybe his morning coffee hadn’t kicked in yet. Taya heard enough stories about Lane, Lord and Leader of House Jericho, and his epic fits of rage, to know she needed to exercise extreme caution in his presence. Hell, Thane’s memories provided enough warning without the men’s gossip.

  Leather and soft musk laced together as a subtle perfume in the room. And the crow-seagull freaks of nature shrieked outside with wild abandon. A slender woman with platinum-blond hair cascading in soft waves down her back stood beside the Lord of Jericho in a beam of sunlight shooting through a large window. She had lush red lips and black arched brows over large doe-like gray eyes. Her gown’s full skirt billowed down to the floor to brush against the stonework and intricate lace decorated the tight bodice. She looked like a real-life version of a doll, the kind that came perfectly dressed and positioned in a display-case styled box. When Taya was a little girl, she used to play with them and use the dolls as target practice for her military figurines. Where was Ken?

  On cue, Julian crossed the room, the plush rug muffling the thud of his boots on the stone flooring.

  “My love.” Julian held out his hands and grasped the woman’s. “Have you heard the news, brother?”

  Thane stiffened beside Taya. “I have not had the pleasure.”

  “Lady Alexis and I are betrothed.”

  “Congratulations,” Thane said, voice hollow.

  “I’ll join you later, Alexis. We have house business to discuss.” He patted the woman’s hands.

  Ugh. So patronizing.

  The woman smiled sweetly, but her gaze flashed with irritation. “Of course.”

  She nodded toward Thane’s unmoving father and sashayed across the room to stop in front of Thane. “I hope you can find happiness for us. I don’t wish for things to become awkward, given our history.”

  Too late for that, lady. A whole lot of awkward just lit up this room. Taya shifted her weight on her feet. Her sweat had cooled and dried, leaving her skin itchy.

  Alexis side-eyed her before batting her long lashes at Thane expectantly.

  “It’s a little late for that,” Thane said, repeating her own thoughts. “But I’m thankful you found someone deserving of your affections.”

  Oh burn.

  Alexis' cheeks reddened. She smiled, but the action looked more like a wince. She slipped past Thane to leave the room and a wake of floral air trailed behind her.

  “Do you have to be an asshole?” Julian asked after the door shut behind his betrothed. “Or does it come naturally to you?”

  Thane shrugged. “Must be hereditary.”

  Julian scowled. “Listen, you—”

  “Enough.” Lane, the head of House Jericho cast a dismissive look at his eldest son before turning toward her and Thane. His cold blue gaze settled on her.

  All three men shared the chiseled, cut-from-stone features, straight nose and full lips. Where Thane looked strong and intimidating like a Norse god sent to the mortal realm to reap vengeance on mortals, and Julian looked cruel and condescending, their father resembled an ice king. Cold, detached and slightly off. The magic in the room stirred and brushed against her, the energy dark and twisted.

  “Bring the girl here,” Lane snarled.

  She walked ahead of Thane before he had to choose between hauling her to his father or defying him to spare her feelings.

  She stood by the fire and faced Lane. Her movement brought a waft of her own body odour to her nose. Oh, wow.

  Lane’s nose wrinkled and he scowled. His platinum-blond hair had lost all the blond tones, and the firelight reflecting off his hair and pale face did little to add warmth to his appearance.

  His brow creased and continued to study her. “Did you think to keep the girl from me?”

  The girl stood right in front of him and bit her tongue. Now was not the time for her snark to tumble out. She’d already pushed it by blowing Julian a kiss.

  “I thought my team was beneath you, Father.”

  Lane scowled. “What house is she?”

  “Undetermined. She doesn’t know her ancestry. She was practically raised by wolves. We found her in the forest near the gate.”

  Taya swallowed a laugh. Not a “ha, ha” kind of laugh. The nervous kind of giggle that erupted at the most inopportune times. Interesting how well Thane skirted the truth. He didn’t say she was actually raised by wolves and they had found her in a forest near the portal. He just left out which side of the gate.

  Lane continued to scan her, cold and calculating. “What are your plans for her?”

  “Personal bodyguard,” Thane answered.

  Her muscles twitched. She wanted to spin around and look at his face. A bodyguard? That’s not what he told her. Who did he lie to? His father or her?

  Lane’s white brows shot up, exposing a fine line scar running diagonally across his forehead, “Why would you need a sweaty girl to guard you? Have you grown that weak?”

  “I always take at least one guard.”

  “Axel and one of the morons. They are more formidable than this scrawny thing.”

  Taya curled her hands into fists and dug her fingernails into her palms. She’d grown up with a lot of privilege, mainly being treated like a fucking human being. No one had ever spoken over her like this and it grated her nerves like a rough pumice stone.

  “More formidable, yes. I want someone unassuming who can guard me day and night.”

  She took long, deep breaths. Okay. That made sense. She doubted he’d want Axel in the same room as him, sawing logs while he tried to sleep. She’d travelled with Axel. That man could snore. Even in a separate tent, he’d kept her up. If she was Thane,
she’d choose to sleep with her, too.

  Wait. What?

  Don’t look. Don’t look.

  She tensed and straightened, pulling her shoulders back.

  Lane rubbed non-existent stubble on his smooth chin. “Having a female Tarka as a personal bodyguard does hold a certain appeal.”

  Oh no.

  “It will raise your status in society.” Julian didn’t sound so pleased at the idea.

  “I don’t want to raise my stature. I want to avoid getting assassinated like Ayden,” Thane said.

  She needed a play book with a list of all the players. This was like watching a game of tennis with all the volleying between everyone.

  “I wasn’t talking about you,” Julian said.

  Lane nodded at his eldest son.

  Oh, fuck no. Her muscles tensed. If only she could run from the room. Maybe she could dive out the window? And survive the five story fall? Maybe the crow-gulls would swoop in to save her?

  “I want her.” Lane’s smug smile spread like that fake cheese in a jar, and looked just as gross.

  “No,” Thane said. His mouth tightened.

  Lane waved his hand as if to swat away a non-existent fly. “You can keep fucking her. I don’t want her for that.”

  Taya visualized thrusting her sword through Lane’s throat. Would his eyes bug out? Would he snarl or whimper? She clutched the loose fabric of her sparring pants. If only she had her swords. She might stand a chance if she had them with her.

  Lane finally turned his upper body to fully face his youngest son. “This isn’t a request.”

  “I’m aware. The answer is still no.” He moved his weight onto his toes, subtly. Training with him for the last three weeks, though, taught her some of his tells. This was one of them. He couldn’t move that gargantuan bulk of muscle without her noticing.

  The men scowled.

  Dang. Well, of course they knew his tells, too.

  “You will give her to me.”

  “I bonded her,” Thane said, voice flat.

  Julian hissed.

  Lane recoiled. “You idiot.”

  Thane remained still and let their reactions flow over him without flinching.

  What the hell? What was the big fuss? Thane bonded all his team. And it was reversible…wasn’t it?

  “Leave us.” Lane rubbed the bridge of his nose and flapped his other hand at the door. “Take this street rat with you and bathe her.”

  Street rat? According to Thane’s fabricated story, she hailed from the forest. The insult didn’t even make sense.

  Thane wrapped his giant calloused hand around her arm and tugged her toward the door. She didn’t need any encouragement. They left the room and didn’t speak until they exited the main section of the fortress and entered Thane’s wing. The hallway was empty. Like the barren corridors of a high school at night, the sound of their feet hitting the tiles rebounded down the stark walls ahead of them. They stopped in front of the door to her room.

  “I thought you couldn’t protect me from them,” she said.

  “I didn’t want to reveal the bond.”

  “But you did.”

  He nodded, lips turning down. “I did.”

  To protect her.

  She stared at the Arkavian warrior. Her chest expanded with a weird fuzzy feeling, like someone inflated a fur-lined balloon inside. She should hate him for what his people did to hers, but he’d given her a choice, a home, and protected her. Now he studied her as if he wanted to say or do more, but he clenched his jaw and remained silent instead. He held something back.

  “Who were you lying to?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You told your father you planned to use me as a bodyguard. You told me something different.”

  “Ah.” He straightened. “I didn’t lie to either of you. I don’t wish for my father to know all my plans.” Nor did he wish for her to know everything as well. Noted. She’d figured as much already.

  “Offer the crust so he misses the whole slice of bread?” she guessed.

  “Exactly.”

  “When do my new duties start?” she asked.

  “Right away.”

  “Like, right now?” She scanned the empty hallway. Surely he didn’t mean for her to follow him to his room and guard him tonight.

  “Tomorrow. One of the scouts came back from Earth and reported another sacrifice ring. He met a mysterious end before I could question him, but luckily, he’d already sent the report to me.”

  Cold crept along her skin. “Another circle?”

  He nodded.

  “What do you think is the purpose of the circles?”

  His thunderous expression showed how much he hated this topic. “That’s what I intend to find out.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Country Road

  Taya stepped through the blue haze and took a deep breath of air filled with cedar and fir. The dew covered needles on low hanging branches glistened in the morning light. The remaining mist clung to the rolling landscape as if begging the mossy trunks and ferns to save it from the sun. It must’ve rained sometime during the three weeks she was away. Only small patches of snow littered the ground.

  Home.

  The familiar scents of the Canadian forest surrounded her like an invisible hug. Instead of running off into the damp underbrush, she remained on Sugar trying to soak it all in through her eyeballs and plumes of air escaping her mouth and nose.

  “This way.” Thane nudged his horse past hers and led them down a path. This wasn’t the same narrow trail they’d travelled before.

  Sugar ambled forward, her smooth gait gently swaying Taya in the saddle. Taya’s thighs still hadn’t fully recovered from their last ride, but the ache wasn’t as deep and her muscles not as tender.

  Taya’s lightning blades pressed against her back and offered comfort with tiny zaps of energy through their sheaths. Out of the entire team, she was the only one not wearing heavy metal armour. She was also not the size of a fully grown grizzly bear, or trained from birth to wield battle axes and broadswords. Her leather riding pants allowed a more comfortable ride and protected her from the damp cold currently biting at her face and trying to sink into her bones.

  Taya leaned forward and patted Sugar’s neck. The horse rumbled with approval. Despite the soreness of her legs, Taya rode Sugar every day. She’d learned her horse was called a blue roan, not a gray, and the black marks lining her body were caused from rubbing or injury.

  Taya also learned Arkavians, despite all their flashy armour and extraordinary magical capabilities, were suborn mules. From her limited experience, mares and geldings seemed easier to handle and just as hard working, but the warriors from the House of Jericho rode stallions…because stallions. They equated the virility of their mounts to the potency of their manhood.

  Well, she had no manhood to prove. Hopefully, Thane would let her keep riding this mare. She patted Sugar’s neck again.

  Thane sat rigidly on Hades, back straight and expression closed. He’d hardly spoken to any of them this morning. She let him get ahead before following.

  “Don’t take it personally,” Soka whispered.

  “Huh?”

  Lokni leaned in from the other side. “He’s been in a foul mood all morning.”

  “Because of the sacrifice?” she asked.

  Lokni grumbled and looked away. Their horses picked their way over dead branches and exposed gnarled roots.

  Soka waved his brother away. “Because he learned the woman who spurned him and cancelled their engagement is now planning to marry his brother.”

  Oh. That. No wonder the meeting last night was tense.

  “Now he’ll never be rid of her,” Soka said.

  “Did she call it off because she wants to marry the heir instead of a second son?”

  Soka glanced at Thane who’d placed more distance between them. “No.”

  “Then what.”

  Soka appeared to visually calcu
late the distance separating them from Thane again.

  Oh, for fuck’s sake. What was the big deal? “Come on. You all know except me.” A thought hit her. “Or does the bond with Thane prevent you from sharing?”

  Soka straightened in his saddle. “He laid a geas over the team.”

  Oh. Bond. Geas. They were probably the same thing.

  “A geas isn’t the same thing as a bond.”

  Fuck.

  “Did he bond you?” Soka leaned in.

  Uh-oh. Thane didn’t tell his team about the bond and he hadn’t wanted to disclose the little fact with his family either. She probably shouldn’t be talking about it. Whatever “it” was.

  “That would explain why he brought her.” Lokni spoke to his brother over his head. The brothers exchanged a knowing look. “She’s not exactly up to standard.”

  “Hey!”

  He shrugged. “It’s true. You’re more of a liability right now.”

  Her brain was too rattled to make any further protest. What the hell did Lokni mean with his first comment? Did Thane have to keep her close because of the bond?

  The men waited.

  “Fuck if I know what he did,” she said. School your face. School your face. You’re a rock. Why did these twins have to be so perceptive? “Your Arkavian magic voodoo crap is all the same to me. Now are you going to tell me the story or not?”

  “Alexis heard the rumours,” Soka said, eyes still narrowed in her direction.

  She hadn’t fooled him at all. Her deflection failed.

  Wait, what did he say? Taya sat up in her saddle. “What rumours?”

  “That’s enough Sokanon,” Thane bellowed over his shoulder.

  Did he have super hearing? And…Sokanon?

  Soka clamped his mouth shut. Red tinged his cheeks. He flashed an apologetic smile before dropping back to the rear of their procession.

  She turned to Lokni. The twin shook his head and joined his brother.

  Taya blew some errant strands of platinum hair out of her face and clucked at Sugar. The roan picked up her pace, her dark coat rippling under the weak sun.