Runebinder (The Runebinder Chronicles #1)(94)

Tenn wanted to say he wasn’t playing. He wasn’t going to be manipulated by Tomás—not after what he’d just done, not after he’d done the impossible. But he couldn’t get the words out.

Tomás could be very commanding when he wanted to be.

“What...what do you want?” Tenn managed. He shuddered and his chest ached; Tomás was drawing heat from him even now, more than he ever had before.

Tomás chuckled. “You always ask that. My answer is always the same. I want everything, Tenn. And you have just proven that you can help me get it.” He leaned in, and the little strength Tenn had left wanted to pull the Howl closer. “I am actually quite glad you restored your lover. He is going to make the coming days so much more interesting to watch.”

“I don’t—”

But Tomás put his free finger over Tenn’s lips.

“You don’t. But you will. If you follow my lead.”

He let Tenn go. Tenn slumped to the floor.

Heat rushed back through Tenn’s limbs, followed by a terrible tingling that made it impossible to move. He watched Tomás saunter toward Jarrett. Jarrett watched him approach with half-lidded eyes.

“Don’t you dare—”

“I’m not going to hurt him, Tenn. I already told you, I look forward to the fun we will all have soon. Oh, so very soon.” He knelt down in front of Jarrett, studying him but not touching. “But he will die if you keep him here. And you are in no shape to protect him from what is about to come. I won’t be able to, either.”

He looked back to Tenn.

“I will take him from here. Bring him to your friends. We can tell Leanna you pushed your lover out the window or something.”

Tenn wanted to ask a thousand questions, but the only one he could get out was “Why?”

Tomás’s smile read every question.

“Do you truly believe there is a single moment where I am not watching you, Tenn? I observed you and your friends creating your little runic circle. How positively ancient of you, by the way. As for why... I have my reasons. Let’s just say, it’s much more fun to watch you struggle. Opposition breeds resilience, after all.”

Tenn inched forward. He couldn’t trust Tomás. Not when Tomás had kept this from him. He must have known Jarrett was alive this entire time. He couldn’t trust him...

“I haven’t lied to you once, Tenn,” Tomás said as Tenn tried to move, his limbs barely working. “I told you from day one that I would keep you alive. And that I have. But you are right not to trust me. You shouldn’t trust anyone. Not even your lover, who still hasn’t admitted why he was sent to find you. Charming, if not a little convenient. Oh, yes, keeping him alive will make this so much more fun.”

Before Tenn could ask what Tomás meant, the incubus and Jarrett were gone.

Tenn blinked. The room suddenly empty, as if it had all been a dream. He could have almost believed it was a hallucination, too. If not for the shattered stone marking where Jarrett had lain.

Moments later, Tomás reappeared.

One day, Tenn would figure out how he was traveling like that.

Tenn opened his mouth, but Tomás was at his side before he could speak.

“Do not worry, little mouse. Your boyfriend is safe.”

“Why are you doing this?” Tenn asked. “Why are you helping me?”

“I’m not,” Tomás said. He gently caressed Tenn’s face, once more sending chills and heat through Tenn’s skin. Tenn’s mind raced with the images of what other sensations the man could arouse, but his words cut the thoughts short. “You are helping me.”

Tenn reached up and grabbed Tomás’s hand. His mind was fluttering, but he had to stay focused. Had to draw the Howl closer. Had to...

The door opened.

Leanna stormed in, her lackey Justin right behind her. She took one look at the room before her eyes narrowed on Tomás. It was clear, seeing them in the same room, that their relation was only through being Kin. Leanna was pale to Tomás’s tan, willowy to his muscle. Calm, to his crazy.

“Brother,” she said. Her voice was flat.

“Sister,” Tomás said. “How pleasant—”

“What are you doing here? And where is the boy?” she asked, staring at Tomás warily. It wasn’t fear on her face. It was consideration. He was clearly a very unpleasant surprise. Maybe Tomás was telling the truth, and they weren’t working together, after all.

“Your captive is whole once more,” Tomás said. “Our little wonder boy here came through—he didn’t just read the runes, he changed them. And now, Jarrett is back outside your clutches, just waiting for this one’s return. Tenn succeeded. Just as I knew he would. But not in the ways you thought.”

Leanna didn’t even spare Tenn a glance.

“Get him out of here,” she said to Justin. “Lock him in the basement.”

Justin stepped forward, but before he could wrest Tenn from Tomás’s death grip on his arm, Tenn’s thoughts coalesced. He was still open to Earth. And he wasn’t going to lose track of Tomás again. He wasn’t going to be watched from the shadows.

With a whip-quick lance of power, he seared the tracking rune onto Tomás’s heart. Tomás cried out and yanked his hand away. He stared at Tenn with a snarl on his lips and rubbed his chest with a free hand. Was he actually shocked? Or just impressed that Tenn had bitten back?