ENZOTHEY BOTH SAW me the moment the door opened.Eli froze like he’d been caught mid-sin, the smell of his heat fogging up every inch of that room. Sweat stuck to his curls, pupils wide and blown. He was straddling Tate like he couldn’t breathe without him, like instinct had eaten every rational thought in his head.And Tate—fuck. Pinned beneath him, wrists red, shirt half-torn, still fighting like something cornered. His eyes snapped to mine. Wild. Furious.That smell hit me.Familiar. Sweet. Wrong.Heat.“Just once,” Eli whispered, not even seeing me. “Just once and it’ll stop.”His fingers trembled against Tate’s skin. Breathing ragged. Mind gone. I stepped in quietly.Tate noticed.Eli didn’t.Not until I said, “Touch him again and I’ll break your fucking hands.”Eli jerked back like he’d been shot. “Enzo—” His voice cracked, full of heat and panic. “I didn’t—I wasn’t gonna—”Tate didn’t move. Just lay there, breathing hard, his mouth a firm line, like if he said anything, it’d c
TATE“YOU’RE BACK,” I muttered, not bothering to look up.The door clicked shut behind him, same way it had the last time, but this time… the air felt tighter. Off.“Stay the fuck away from me,” I added, dragging my sleeve across my mouth and shifting back on the bed. “Unless you’re here to get me out, don’t bother pretending you give a shit.”Eli didn’t answer.His footsteps padded across the floor, slower than usual, less cocky, more… deliberate. I looked up.He stood a few feet away, lips parted, sweat shining at his temple. His pupils were blown, too wide for the light and he kept licking his bottom lip like it was dry, like he couldn’t stop tasting something only he could feel.“What the hell is wrong with you?”He smiled, but it wasn’t the usual grin. It was lazy. Glazed. Feral, in a way that sent a cold slither down my spine.“I missed you,” Eli said. His voice was too soft. Too smooth. “You didn’t miss me?”“No.” My answer came sharp, cutting through the air. “I didn’t.”I sto
ENZOHIS VOICE SHOULDN’T have cut that deep.“You jealous your brother got the first taste?”I stared at him. Glasses slightly askew. Shirt wrinkled, lips shiny, and that smug little curve on his mouth like he hadn’t just walked into a fucking wolf’s den. Like he hadn’t been kissed—touched by someone I gave very specific orders to stay away from.He looked cocky. But he wasn’t cocky. No, he was trying to survive.And that pissed me off even more.I walked forward slowly. Not like I was in a rush to beat him. Not like I was angry. No. That would’ve given him power.Instead, I stepped close enough to watch his throat move when he swallowed. He didn’t back up. Not this one. He held his ground even with his glasses crooked and sweat glistening on his temple.“You think I care about a kiss?” I said, voice flat.He opened his mouth but I didn’t let him speak.I reached up and fixed his glasses with a single finger. Deliberate. Controlled. I watched his pupils twitch. I wanted him to know I
TATETHE LOCK CLICKED, and my entire body tensed before my brain caught up. I’d gotten used to the silence now—too used to it. The kind of quiet that made you forget what breathing was supposed to feel like.I thought it was him. Enzo. Coming back to finish what he started or maybe to tear a piece off. My heart clawed up my throat.But it wasn’t.It was the other one.Eli.He walked in like it was nothing, holding a paper bag and wearing the same smug look he had the last time. His curls were a mess, green streaks standing out like he wanted people to notice him. He didn’t look like someone who should’ve had access to a place like this, much less me.He dropped the bag near the bed, crouching without saying a word. His eyes ran over me like he was checking inventory, like I was a thing.I stayed still. My body ached, especially my leg from where I’d tried to break the cuffs. I’d stopped trying to shift around it two days ago.“I’m sure you haven’t had real food in a while,” he said. H
TATEI DIDN’T KNOW what day it was anymore. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if days still mattered when every hour bled into the next, swallowed by this fucking gray nightmare. The light behind the curtains didn’t change. Just a dull, lifeless nothing that made time feel like a slow death.My throat was so dry it burned, but I couldn’t even scream. My hands were raw, red and busted from yanking on the goddamn chains until I thought my skin would split open.These cuffs? They weren’t just clamped on like some cheap bullshit. Nah. They were welded to the bed frame. Thick, cold, strong steel fused into the metal legs like they’d been built to hold a beast.I sat on the edge of that shitty bed, eyes locked on my busted fists. My knuckles were cracked, skin torn where I’d slammed them against the walls. I tried every damn thing—pounding, twisting, cussing, praying—for a way out. But nothing.Still here.Still fucked.Still trapped.The door clicked open before I even noticed.Movement caught the
TATEI WOKE UP and everything was black. Not the kind of dark you can push through or guess where you are. It was the kind that swallows you whole, thick and endless. No rough ropes biting into my skin, no blood clogging my throat—just silence and cold that creeped under my skin.The sheets were soft and warm around my legs, wrong in every way. My body felt like it had been through hell, every nerve screaming. My head throbbed like a war drum, my lip cracked and sore, wrists rubbed raw from whatever bullshit they did to me before. I wasn’t tied up anymore, but I ached like I’d been beaten half to death.For a second, I wanted to believe I was dead. That this was some kind of dream or coma where I didn’t have to fight anymore. That would’ve been the easy way out.Then I heard it. The sharp click and flick of a lighter.The glow of a cigarette flared to life and I jerked back before I could even think, pain bursting through my ribs and spine. I choked on a gasp I couldn’t get out, bitin