Bloodshed (Order of the Unseen, #1)(48)

“Your orders were to watch,” he unexpectedly counters, watching me closely. “Not for the three of you to take her back to your apartment and play with her until sunrise.”

Letting out an uneven breath, I smirk at him from across the room.

Well… there’s no point in lying now.

“Suddenly you have a say in who we choose to fuck?” I ask, although it’s clearly rhetorical. He scowls at me, jaw tight. “If you want to get really technical here, then I had no choice but to step in and make myself known,” I assertively tell him. “Some prick put his filthy paws on her at the party. I was protecting her. We all were. All three of us were keeping her safe.”

“You let it go too far,” he warns, stepping closer. “You three took her to where you live. Your apartment. You took your fucking masks off, Damien. What happened to staying Unseen? The masks stay on.”

“You had us followed?” I demand, irritated.

“You know Halloween night used to be the most active time of the year,” he argues.

“That’s before the Hallowed Divine left Salem,” Micah points out. “Although, I did get a feeling that Jensen and I were being watched at the party,” he reveals.

I stare at him, eyes narrowed. “And you’re just mentioning this to me now?” I grit out, losing my patience.

“We assumed it was just a group of college kids,” Jensen adds in, standing beside Micah defensively. “There was no reason to believe they had returned.”

Killian shakes his head and sighs. “Let’s just say that the sighting we had last night was them,” he tests. “What if you were being tailed? You would have led them straight to your apartment. What would you have done then?”

“We would have slit their throats if they stepped anywhere near her,” I retort, malice in my tone. “There’s always been a chance something like this would happen. We know that one day, they could end up finding out about her. They could come after her.”

“You’re right,” Killian agrees.

“Well, there haven’t been any pig heads anywhere in sight,” Apollo mutters.

“Maybe not yet,” Asher points out.

Killian sighs, dismissively. “And what about the fire? Do you have any knowledge on that? A house burnt down to the ground.”

My face immediately hardens.

“Arson,” he states. “That has Jensen’s name written all over it—”

“We had to hide the evidence,” Jensen speaks over him.

“Eight people are dead. There’s a huge investigation,” Killian explains. “They’ll eventually be identified.”

“Our tracks have been covered,” I calmly tell him. “They won’t be able to trace it back to us.”

“The civilians who were burned alive were not a target,” he says. “How did that happen?”

“All we had to see was the scars covering her wrists,” I explain. “Those assholes deserved to burn in Hell for how they treated her. And if given a chance to kill them all over again, I fucking would. Except for this time around, I’d be sure to inflict even more pain.”

Several laughs echo throughout the room.

Killian shakes his head.

“We know what we’re doing,” I continue. “Your father gave us our orders five years ago, Killian. We took an oath in blood. I gave him my word that I would do everything in my power to protect her from harm. You think I would go back on that? Make him regret it from the grave?” I question. He says nothing. “I’m not passing this off to anyone else.”

“But if you choose to, we will understand,” Killian says.

“That’s not happening,” I firmly press. “I’m not leaving her. Peter would expect me to remain by her side till the very end. I will not disappoint him.”

“So, what now?” Killian challenges, taking one, hard look at the three of us. “Are you guys going to keep seeing her?”

“Might raise some red flags in her head if they don’t,” Apollo chimes in.

“Maybe this is a good thing,” Asher speaks up. “Having them this close.”

“They can’t get any closer, that’s for sure,” Apollo jokes.

I smirk.

Killian rolls his eyes at the twins. “Well, regardless, it’s still safer to tell her nothing,” he replies, his voice low. “To leave her in the dark. She can’t know who she is. That was the agreement.”

“We know the rules of The Order,” I grimly state. “Not that I personally agree with any of it.”

All eyes are suddenly fixated on me.

Through the silence, it’s clear to a certain extent, they know I’m right.

“She deserves to know,” I loudly announce. “We can continue to keep this girl in the dark for years to come, but until she knows what she’s up against, she will always be susceptible to an attack. They could come for her at any given moment.”

“Damien—” Micah begins, warning me with his eyes to keep my mouth shut.

He should know by this point that’s not who I am.

“You goddamn know I’m right, Micah,” I press. “Yeah, we took an oath back in the day. When we first joined. When said oath was deemed necessary. But at some point, in the future, near or far, it may be in her best interest for her to know the goddamn truth.”