Kings of Blood and Money (Underworld Kings)

“I’m not a leper.” She rolls her eyes, folding her arms and stepping toward the bedroom door.

“Says who?” I taunt.

I creep toward her bed, throwing her sheet up and looking under it. A small black blob whizzes toward me. A screech echoes through the room from Freya losing her shit.

A bat darts around the room, looking for an exit. “Oh my god,” Freya yelps, brushing hands through her hair.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I snap, wanting to toss her over the balcony into the water below. She’s fucking crazy.

“They like hair,” she screeches. “Don’t let it get in your hair.”

Ignoring the insane dance she’s doing, I pull back her drapes and open her door. Picking up one of her stupid fluffy pillows, I try to shoo the thing out, but it flies to a bookshelf and takes up residence. “Another reason to keep your door closed,” I huff.

“You’re going to have to pick it up,” she begs, shuddering.

“The fuck I am. They carry diseases. This seems like a you problem.” I offer her a lethal smirk, shoving the cushion against her chest. “Good luck.”

“Noah, don’t leave me in here with that thing!” She sounds horrified and shocked. Did she forget who I am? Who the hell she is? “Noah?”

My name on her lips sounds foreign, I realize that it’s not just me who avoids using them. In all the years she’s lived here, I’ve never heard her say my name before now. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I snap angrily, loathing that my chest ached when she said my name.

Her body heaves. Eyes blinking too many times to be natural. “What do you mean? I live here.”

Pointing my finger in her direction, my lips purse. My heart pumps so hard, it’s making me jittery. “No, you live at that nun school.” I thrash my finger toward all her shit. “You don’t live here.”

Slamming her hands to her hips, she shakes her head. “It’s a catholic school, and I graduated.” Her tone is fierce, fiery, nothing like I remember.

“So, why come back here? You know you’re not wanted here. You know what your presence represents.”

“No, Noah, I don’t. Why don’t you tell me?”

Death. Anger. Pain. Loss. You’re an insult to my family’s memory. The words fire in my brain. Before I can open my mouth, the alarm system beeps, and the front door slams shut. “Who the fuck is that?” I march toward her, shoving her out of my way so I can look down the stairs. “Dad?” I call out.

“Nope.” Remi’s head pokes over the banister, looking up at me. “What’s going on?” He frowns, rounding the stairs and climbing the second floor.

“There’s a bat in my room and Noah’s being an A-hole.”

She got bold in that catholic school. “I think you can say the word, Freya.” Remi snorts an amused grunt. Her name slips from his lips so casually, soft like silk, like he’s said it a million times before.

“Asshole. I was trying to be polite.” Freya offers a mocking grin.

My glare has her retreating a few steps, her eyes darting to the gun I’m still holding. Pulling his own gun from his jacket, Remi grins, “I’ll get the bat.”

For fuck’s sake, him shooting up the house is the last thing I need. “Put your gun away,” I growl. Storming back inside her room, I grab the first loose thing I reach for from her bed and slip it over my hand, grasping the bat in my fist.

“Oh my god! Oh my god!” Freya squeals, tap dancing in place.

Stalking across her room, I toss the bat into the night and lock the door. Turning to her, I hold up the skimpy pair of shorts I have my hand crotch-deep in. “These better be clean.”

Snatching them from my hand, a blush crawls up her neck, tinging her cheeks. They’re not clean. A memory of me smelling her fingers when I found her touching herself while watching Remy sparks, threatening to make my cock hard. “You owe me,” I warn her, leaving her in her room before she sees her body, her fucking pussy, gets a reaction from me.

“Remi,” I call for my brother who lingers behind.

“Night, Freya. Good to have you home,” he calls out to her as he follows me down the stairs.

When we pass my bedroom door, I push him inside, pinning him against the wall. “You’re too friendly with her,” I state.

Pulling my hand from his shirt, he cocks a brow. “I’m not the one who was half naked in her room, brother.”

“Good to have you home, Freya,” I mock in a lame tone. It’s beneath me, but she has the wires in my brain firing in all directions. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Don’t you remember who she is and why she’s here?”