house of lies

Laziel Brahm

“I’ve killed him…holy shit I’ve killed him,” 

My harsh pants matched the ragged breathing that pooled in and out of my heaving chest.

Fuck…fuck, fuck! 

This wasn't supposed to happen! I’d lost control again…screwed up.

My eyes watered on the blood seeping out of the cracks in the doorway.

With a scent as strong as his, a troop of guards was bound to come barrelling into my chambers any moment.

“A fucking royal of all things. Damn you, Eddie,” I sighed, stretching to my full height and wiping reflexively at the blood staining the sides of my mouth when I saw my reflection in the mirror.

I scrambled away from him, trying to salvage what little I could of my furniture when the hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood straight.

I was no longer alone.

“What the fuck do you think you're doing?” 

Ronan’s quiet voice sounded like thunder in my ears and my wolf leaped back with a hiss when I turned to see him darkening the doorway.

His sharp hazel eyes narrowed to slits as he glanced between the dead royal’s body and my face.

I imagined what I must look like to him. All wild long brown hair with distended veins that slowly flattened back into my skin as his blood circulated in my system, swallowing up The Darkness’ poison.

“I can explain, its a good thing you’re here—” I panted, brushing down my bloodied hands into the brown waist coat and the wide-legged pants that hung off my hips when I shifted back into my human.

“I think i’ve seen enough. You entered the fortress infected? I should cut you down where you stand.” He said, as if commenting on the weather.

Ronan was a smart man. We both knew he wouldn't challenge me in a fight. Not with the adrenaline The Darkness gave firing up my nerves like crack.

I heaved a sigh of frustration, tearing my fingers through my hair and wishing this was all just another fucking nightmare.

“You should tell Dante,”

“Bloody hell, Ro! I don't need a fucking babysitter! Now you can either help me get rid of Humpty fucking Dumpty over here, or you keep your trash shut and get those legs swinging!” I cursed harshly, watching the expressionless mask fall over his eerily handsome face before he followed me across the room with his eyes.

Sharp, hazel, and unreadable.

Hours seemed to tick by as we attended each other down, but his unflinching gaze drove me further and further into the shadows, even when I knew nothing was hidden from him. Not with his elite wolf vision.

“Fucks sake. What did I expect? That’ll serve you right, you arrogant fuck. Now all this is your cross to carry.” I cursed myself when Ronan turned on his heels and left, his heavy footfalls fading to silence.

My shoulders sank as I plucked up more chunks of slippery flesh from where they had stuck on the cold floor, throwing them onto the carpet instead.

“Hells gates, what am I going to do with you?” I growled after what felt like hours of redecorating his intestines and brains, heaving the body onto the carpet before rolling him up sausage style.

Milburn’s infantry never taught us anything about hiding bodies. But I’d had a life before Infinity Fortress, and I knew plenty.

“You’re going to want to clean up all that blood if you don't want to be next on Dante’s chopping board.” Ronan’s deep voice made me jump.

I whirled around to see his tall, muscular body darkening the doorway before he kicked it shut behind him, throwing down one of the servant’s cleaning kits.

Oh… 

“I thought...I—” I stammered, waving a hand in dismissal when he only stared at me, his almond-shaped eyes unrelenting in their assault.

I could tell just how much control it took for him to keep himself from telling me off. 

Heck, it was one of the reasons I fancied the fucker so much.

He would put his balls on the chopping block before he judged any of us, fucked up as we were.

Plus, he always had the best booze. 

Something besides war to take my mind off the constant bitching and screaming in my head.

“Get to scrubbing, Brahms. We haven't got much time.” His voice when he finally spoke held an air of resignation I was unaccustomed to.

But I did as I was told, spilling the bleach and herbs over the tiles until I was sure I would never get its acrid scent out the back of my throat.

“I’ll get rid of the body.” He murmured, easily hefting the mummified carpet over one shoulder and tipping his head to me before he disappeared out the door.

“Thank you. Ronan. I’m all better, I promise.” I grunted, the thanks heavy on my tongue when I chanced a look up at him in time to see a brief spark of amusement flash across his eyes.

He paused, one foot out the door with the blood from the carpet trickling down the tattooed sleeve of his arm.

“With all that royal blood in you, Brahms, I bet you feel right as day. You missed a spot.”

I waited until I was sure he would be out of earshot before muttering an “Asshole.” and circling my fingers around the brush once more.

#

It was almost morning when the silver wolf’s soft knock roused me from my near-sleep.

I had my claws around the door before his fist had fallen away, silently ushering him in.

“All done? What dis you do with him?” 

Ronan’s broad back faced me as he glanced around the room with a slow nod, disarming me when he turned back with a smile.

“Would you look at that, Brahms, I’d never pegged you as a home-maker! Who knew you were so good with redecorations?” 

There was a sarcastic edge to his voice as he motioned to the straightened paintings and the new sheen I’d polished into the now metal bed frame after throwing the old wood into the fireplace.

 A new red coffee table gleamed from the center of the room before he lowered himself into my leather couch, flicking the desk light of and on until I thought the clicking would drive me insane.

“Why, all that's left is for Dante to give you a broom and a pan and we’ll name you Edna Mcfaffen and put you on kitchen duty —” 

“Alright now you're just toying with me for the fun of it.” I growled, and his smirk died as his lips tightened into a hard line.

I hated it when he got all serious like that. That was Milburn’s thing. 

Ronan was the cool, laid-back drunk who counted bodies like the grim reaper on the battle field.

“I’m sorry, alright? He was going to tell… I didn't have any other choice—” 

I hated the whiny edge in my tone when I sat on the floor opposite him, keeping a safe distance between us incase he got any ideas about having his own claws around my throat.

“You understand that this must never happen again, Laz,” He started but I cut him off with an impatient nod, sick of everyone of the three treating me like I was some barbarian.

I was, but that was beside the point.

A knock sounded at the door before I could say anything else and we both looked at each other with caution in our eyes.

“Didn’t peg you as one for early morning visitors,” Ronan spat accusingly, his claws gripping the arm rest even when the rest of his lithe body seemed relaxed.

“I’m not.” I snapped, throwing open the door with nothing short of a grimace on my face.

“What is it?” 

My tone was not entirely unfriendly, but the blood drained from the uniformed nurses’ face nonetheless as her gaze flickered behind me.

The steady crackling of the fireplace and the buzz of the overhead wine distillery sounded loud in the silence.

“My apologies if this is a bad time, M’Lord, bit Doctor Finch is needed back at the wards to look over his quota of wounded soldiers. We’re short staffed as it is—” She panted, fanning her pudgy face with her hands and glancing between me and the space above my shoulder.

I shifted so my body occupied more of the doorway, folding my hands expertly across my chest.

“Doctor Finch?”

Her brows furrowed for a second before she breathed an awkward life, as though she couldn't understand why I was stalling.

Had he mentioned coming to see me then?

“Yes! Yes, Edward Finch.” 

Boy, were they just trickling into my chambers like sugar ants today.

My heart skipped a beat but I kept my fave devoid of expression.

The sky was lightning to an azure shade, its sepia cast filtering in through the bare windows and easing some of the shadows along the walls of my room.

“No. I haven't seen him at all tonight.” I deadpanned in a voice so emotionless that she twisted to look at me in surprise just before staring back at the dim room behind me.

“That’s right, I’m the only one who would come by here anyway,” Ronan supported from the shadows, sounding just as uninterested as I had.

If there was ever a night that I longed to kiss the silver-haired wolf, it was now.

A long, deep, French tonguing to show my gratitude.

Of the three, the six foot six inches of walking wet dreams was the one who would appreciate me the most.

Milburn wouldn't know a good time if it smacked him in the balls.

“I-I see my apologies then, M’lords—” the maid stuttered, but the way her wide, beady eyes flickering everywhere but at my face made me straighten with alarm.

Had she seen something? 

Caught a whiff of the doctor’s scent perhaps?

I resisted the urge to glance back over my shoulder, knowing I might as well put the bull's eye right on my forehead if I did that.

“T-The Alpha has news for you—” she heaved finally, dabbing carefully at her reddened face as a strained smile pulled around her lips.

I watched her throat bob when Ronan’s hard body pressed tight at my side as he craned his neck to look, startling her with how fast he had zapped across the room.

Was Milburn in trouble? 

A deep-seated unease settled in the base of my spine as I watched her lips move, the memory of my nightmare flickering like a lightbulb in the back of my mind.

“A ball? Since when do we do balls at the fortress? This kind of extravagance is just begging for trouble—” Ronan quipped, smacking his lips and shouldering past me to twist the letter from the maid’s shaky hands.

I turned back to glance at the darkened room where her gaze fitted every so often and the frown on my forehead narrowed.

Nothing.

This was bad. 

How would Ronan react if I killed her now? 

And how long would it take for me to recover my control?

The new shadow in the Infinity Fortress had lasted longer than I thought she would, seeing as Dante hadn't defied everyone to slit her throat and was instead throwing a party to distract himself.

Stranger things were yet to happen.

“We don't. Leila’s was the last one. This has doom written all over it.” 

“Oh its not the Alpha who organized it, Your Grace. The elder council did.” The maid corrected, bowing so low that I was sure her waist would disintegrate.

Her feet kissed the tiles loudly as she strode quickly down the labyrinth of hallways, toward the one gleaming doorway in the distance that opened out into the night.

Ronan’s sharp hazel eyes cut to mine in the tense silence that followed and his hands squeezed tightly around the invite…crumpling it.

Yes. We were thinking the same thing. 

The council never did favors as grand as this. Something big was coming, something we wouldn't like in the least bit.