Filed to story: The LORDS Series Free PDF by Shantel Tessier
Before I can do anything, Ryat snatches it from my hand and shoves it into his mouth, and then wraps his arms around my waist, while I stand between his parted legs. Letting out a shaky sigh, I wrap my arms around him, holding the side of his head to my chest.
Tyson takes a lighter and runs it along the blade of the knife, heating up the metal that he’s going to use to stop it. I blink, allowing the fresh tears to fall so I can see better.
Placing the handle of the knife between his teeth, he picks up the scotch and pours it over my husband’s back. Ryat tenses, and a muffled sound comes from his gagged mouth.
I whimper, and Tyson’s blue eyes glare up at me as if I’m making it worse.
I gently scratch Ryat’s head, holding him to me, and I know he can feel me shaking. Then Tyson heats the knife up once again before pressing it-blade flat-along the cut on my husband’s back, who tightens his hold on me.
The smell of burning flesh is enough to make me want to vomit. Then to know it’s my husband literally has me gagging. But I manage to keep it down.
Once done, Tyson drops the knife beside him before grabbing something from the briefcase and taping it up.
I look up at the ceiling, trying to stop the tears from falling before I have to look at Ryat in the eyes again. I don’t want him to see me upset.
“That’ll be good enough until we can get him to the hospital. I’ll let the pilot know we’re ready. Make sure he lays on his stomach.” And with that, he leaves us alone.
_______________
I EXIT THE bedroom, leaving the door open so I can hear if he needs me. I walk down the aisle and come up to the front where Tyson sits. Typing away on his cell, I sit across from him, thinking it would be awkward if I chose anywhere else since we’re the only two awake. “He’s asleep,” I inform him, and he nods but doesn’t look up at me.
“I didn’t watch you and Ryat in the basement.” He says out of the blue.
Frowning, I argue. “But you told Matt …”
“I gave Ryat the codes to shut off the security cameras. I knew you two spent some time in the basement that night when he turned them off along with the others inside the club.”
I let out a lone breath at his words. Ryat was right-he was a hundred percent on our side.
Another awkward silence falls over us, not really having anything to say to that. I feel stupid now that I believed him. But in my defense, it was very convincing. “I … thank you.” I hold out his pocketknife for him.
He finally looks up but makes no move to take it from me. “It’s bad luck to close a knife that someone else opened.”
Sighing, I close it and hand it out again. He takes it this time.
He finishes typing on his cell and then puts it away, sitting back in his seat, and grabs a glass of scotch that sits on the table between us. I notice there’s another one. “I made you a drink.”
I just stare at it, making him chuckle and add, “I didn’t drug it.”
“I wish. I could use a good nap right now.” Then my eyes slide over the empty plane. “Where is Matt?”
“Where he belongs-with the luggage.”
Looking back down at the drink, I almost take a sip but then remember the possibility of being pregnant. I doubt he knows that, though. I wonder if he knows I know what happened to him. Or the rumors about his chosen?
“Can I give you some advice?” he asks.
I look up at him through my lashes. “Yeah.” Honestly, I’m fucking drowning. Out in the middle of the ocean with my hands tied behind my back. My husband is passed out in a room behind me after his friend took a heated knife to his skin to stop the bleeding from a gunshot wound my ex gave him trying to kill me. Fuck, yeah. Give me all the advice you got.
“Don’t ever make him choose.”
I frown. “I don’t under …”
“Between you and the Lords.”
Why would he think I’d make Ryat choose? I understand that he took an oath for them. And if they betray that, the penalty is death. “I would never …”
“You will. You may not mean to, but you’ll fight. Every couple does.” He takes a sip of his drink. “And when you get mad, he’ll yell and say some hurtful shit and then he’ll get called away for an assignment. And when he should be working, he’ll be checking his phone to see if you ever responded to his five apology texts.” He looks over at the window, the glass of scotch resting on his knee. “I’m not saying he’ll choose the Lords over you if you put him in that position.” His eyes come back to mine. “I’m telling you that he will pick you. And that’s what will get him killed. I know it’s selfish. To tell you to forget about your feelings and always put his first.”
“Isn’t that what you do when you love someone?” I ask softly.
He lifts his drink to his lips and snorts before throwing some back. “No two people love the same way. And everyone has a different opinion on what love actually is.”
I sigh. Ryat and I do fight. A lot. Will it always be like this? Once everything is out in the open and there are no more secrets, will we still go at each other’s throats? I can’t answer those questions, but I do understand that Tyson isn’t wrong. Ryat would go crazy if he had to leave, and I was mad and ignoring his texts. “How often will they take him from me?”
“There are no set dates. But Ryat is one of the best, and the Lords know that. It could be three times in one year or it could be twenty.” He shrugs carelessly. “He could get called out after breakfast and return before dinner. Or he could miss Christmas, anniversaries, and the birth of every child you guys decide to have.” Lifting the drink, he finishes it off. Setting it down on the table, he runs a hand down over his lips and unshaven face. “A Lord serves whenever he is called. We’re machines bred for war. And someone, somewhere is always trying to wage one.”
His answer doesn’t make me feel any better. But it makes me wonder how he knows this. Is it from experience? I know something happened to his chosen, but he also doesn’t wear a wedding ring. Which makes me curious why he never moved on. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” He surprises me with no hesitation.
“You’re older.”
A sly smile spreads across his face, making his blue eyes shine brighter. “That’s not a question.”
I swallow nervously. “Three years older than Ryat. Why aren’t you married to a Lady?” He just stares at me, that smile now gone, and I feel I need to explain. Shifting in my seat, I tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. “I thought you know, pretty much all Lords are arranged to marry someone before they graduate from Barrington.”
He nods. “They are. The Lords feel a man is better respected with a wife. It makes them look dependable and trustworthy to the outside world.”
“So you never had an arranged marriage in place?” I’m not sure if his chosen was just for fun or if she was the one he planned on marrying, but I’m not going to ask him that.
“There was.” He relaxes back into the leather of his seat. “But circumstances change. And I saw an opportunity. The Lords needed someone to do their dirty work.”
“Blackout?” I make sure I’m following.
He nods. “I was supposed to wear a suit and tie, run a multibillion dollar business-have the gorgeous wife with a dog, two kids.” He waves his hand in the air. “All that shit. Which, at one point, I thought I wanted. But just like anyone else, I changed my mind and presented the Lords with an offer. I choose to take Blackout for one reason.”
“Which is?” I ask slowly, wondering if I’m digging in too much, but he’s willingly giving me information. Ryat would never tell me about Tyson, and I respect that about him. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to know.
“They agreed to let me pick who I marry. When the time comes.” A slow devious smile spread across his face, showing off his perfectly white teeth.
My frown deepens. “You wanted freedom to pick who you marry so much that you gave up your higher title of a Lord?”
That smiles widens into something sinister. “I’m the kind of man who will crawl across the floor and lick the dirt off your shoes like a peasant begging a king for some scraps. Just to make you think I’m weak. So, when they look away from me, I can slit their throats.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
RYAT
I OPEN MY heavy eyes and smell the sterilized room before I even see the white walls and realize I’m in a hospital bed. I go to lift my right arm, and it doesn’t budge. “Not again …” My eyes fall to look at it, half expecting it to be handcuffed to the railing, but instead, there’s a brunette cuddled up to my side, sleeping on it.
Blake! Thank God. Leaning down, I kiss her forehead, letting my lips linger to feel the touch of her skin on my lips.
Her eyes flutter open, and it takes her a second to focus on me. “Ryat?” She gasps. “You’re awake.” She goes to get up, but I hold her in place.
“No, Blake …”