Page 22 of Serpentine

She should believe the lie rather than know the truth.

“Agreed. But you know what happens next, right?” I toss back, and he sighs and sets his helmet on his bike with a curt nod.

I incline my head toward Kylo as he steps forward and grabs the pretty princess. She realizes what’s about to happen as I remove my jacket and crack my neck back and forth, and she thrashes in Kylo’s arms.

“Shit, be fucking still, woman!” he grumbles, and usually, Kylo is the level-headed one in the bunch. It’s nice to see she riles even the most silent of us.

He lets me get the first shot off when I step toward Brax. My knuckles crack across his jaw, and the screams of the princess behind us are consistent. I wonder which one of us she’s worried about.

Brax ducks when I go for him again, grabbing me around the middle and pummeling me to the ground.

“Did you think just because I deserved it, I’d go easy on you, big brother?” he seethes through gritted teeth.

“I fucking hoped not!” I return.

The rest help Kylo drag the princess, kicking and screaming, back to the house. They know we’ll be here awhile. Such is the way when we fight.

An hour later, we’re both bruised and bloody. The princess I now know as Aella is scolding us both, muttering curses under her breath as she patches us with creams and Band-Aids.

Brax hisses. “Fuck, Bambi. Leave it be. I’ll be fine.”

She eyes him narrowly, and he clamps his mouth shut. One look from her has him heeling, and I don’t know if it’s a good idea to get rid of her now. She belongs here if she can tame The Ghost.

“Where’d you two go, anyhow?” I ask him.

Brax smirks. “Lover’s Bluff.”

I shake my head as I roll my eyes.

I should’ve hit him harder in the mouth.

I notice Aella is lingering over his brow with the antiseptic, looking down at him as she licks her lip. She’s lost in the memory of whatever they’d done, and the monster raises his head again.

After we beat the shit out of one another, Brax told me all he had found out about her, and she told us how much she hates both her father and Carter. Somehow, she’s valuable to us, to our cause. We just haven’t sussed it out entirely.

“There,” she says, triumphantly pulling her hands up on her full hips. “It’s no professional job, but I think your wounds are at least clean of gravel and dirt.”

She starts cleaning the mess she’d made. Bloody gauze falls to the floor, and I bend off my chair to help her. Our hands collide, and she stiffens. We both freeze, our eyes finding one another in the moment's breadth.

I don’t know what she has going on with my brother, but I know there’s something I can’t deny between her and me.

Though Brax and I have shared before, I don’t know if this is the time or if she’s the right one.

“Time for bed,” I tell her, picking up the gauze she forgot about and helping her clean the table.

She looks around for Brax, but he’s already left to his lair.

“He’ll have gone to his room. He does that.”

She nods, looking uncomfortable without him, almost like he’s her security blanket. Thinking of the most lethal Cobra I have as such is laughable.

But I keep my mouth shut.

I look her over. She’s covered in dirt and mud from riding, and her dress and jacket are ruined. Her feet are as black as night.

“You need a shower,” I say, smirking.

She nods, looking down at herself. “I don’t suppose Brax packed me an overnight bag, did he?”