I smirk. “Dear kitten, in nine hundred years you will look exactly the same as you do now. And even if that wasn’t so… yes, I will still be chasing you around like a horny goat.”
Her cheeks flush with color as she looks away, muttering, “We need to get dressed.”
Shaking my head, I say, “No, you will stay here.”
“What? Why? That’s ludicrous, we were friends. Even with all that happened, I couldn’t just…” she trails off when she looks into my eyes.
“No,” I say as gently as possible. “Trust me.”
Chloe may think she wants to be there now that Isaac is out of his frenzy, but I know for certain it’s for her benefit that she isn’t. Not with the emotions I feel racing through him. As empathic as she is, I can only imagine what she would find entering that room before he’s able to control his thoughts and build a wall of protection for himself.
Ambrose greets me outside the room as I open the door, bowing his head slightly. “Father, I wanted to check in on Mother. Do you think she would like to dance with me today?”
Looking back into the room, I see Chloe’s eyes widen. She shakes her head in the negative.
“I believe she would, Ambrose. Give her a few minutes to get dressed for the night, and I’m sure she’d be more than happy,” I say with a wide smile.
“Oh excellent,” Ambrose practically gushes as he sweeps away from the room and into the hall. “I’m so very happy I slept today. This feels like waking up on Christmas morning!”
I direct my smile at a glowering Chloe. “I love you.”
The middle finger she gives me just makes me even hornier.
I do love it when she gets feisty.
Punishment or not, when I walk into the room I feel sympathy for the broken child of mine kneeling on the floor, whispering pleas to a god who no longer finds him in the book of life.
Hands resting at his side, Isaac’s wrists are covered in deep, bloody gashes.
Dirty glass lies on the floor, beneath his slowly healing fingers.
“We tried explaining the futility of slicing himself up like that…” Caden says quietly to me.
Maddox lifts a shoulder then points to the giant Benedictine symbol tattooed across Isaac’s chest.
“We also said that really isn’t going to bring the chicks in,” Caden says. “That could be why he’s all slicey, dicey on himself. Poor dude died a virgin.”
“Get the rest of your brothers up here,” I say. “Except for Ambrose, he’s with Chloe today.”
Maddox moves silently out the door, but Caden just has to get the last word in. “Why does the baby always get out of chores? You never spoiled us!”
Covering my eyes, I say, “Fucking morons.”
“Why?” Isaac’s trembling voice asks me as he slowly stands. “Why did you have to take her and do this to me? I’ll never enter His light because of you.”
He’s a weak newborn. When he lashes out, I allow his punch to connect with my face then wait for the follow up to my stomach. He’s got a good form when he throws his punches, but he’s all raw emotion right now. It’d be a simple thing to block them, but instead I let them land.
Every single one of them.
Stepping around the room with him, I take the punches, the kicks, and move to the side when he tries to knee my balls. No sense in letting those get touched. Not when I have plans to fuck the shit out of Chloe as soon as all this tiresome bullshit is done.
I just need to make sure I remind him of that before I leave the room.
“Ah, fuck!” Raphael grumbles as he walks in. “Really Asher? Grow up.”
A solid left hook connects with my jaw, and I look to Raphael. “Fine.”
Turning back to Isaac, I watch slow realization hit him as I growl deep within my chest. Pushing hard against the connection we share, I let him feel the full weight of my fucking annoyance and every ounce of my frustration.
“Why did I take her?” I snarl at him.
“Yes,” he spits at me with enough venom to kill a small village.
“Because she’s the other half of my soul,” I say calmly then slam my will so hard through the connection we share Isaac collapses to his knees.
“You took her from Heaven’s grace,” he snarls.
“No,” I say, squatting down to look in his eyes. “I gave her the life she was meant to have.”
To give him credit, Isaac tries to stand. He really does go for it, veins popping out in his forehead as he turns beet red.
“Stop it.” I chuckle then force him to collapse back to the floor. “Understand something now. You’re living on my good will and graces from here until Ragnarök.”
“I’d rather die. You’ve turned me into a damned monster.”