The Wicked Beasts That Roam

Chapter 15

“Raphael’s better than Leonardo. Just accept it."

Damian cast a look toward the sofa where Jade and Zeke sat together as they watched TV. Jade held a wine glass in her hand as she flipped the channels.

Zeke shook his head. "Raphael’s a loser."

What the hell were they talking about? Who was Raphael? And what was so fucking great about him? Damian didn’t pay attention as he took his shot on the pool table and screwed up his move. Aidyn’s brow rose.

"Who the hell are they talking about?" Damian asked, straightening up.

He watched Aidyn hold back a smile. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

“The fuck is that?"

His brother chuckled. "A cartoon."

Ridiculous. How old were they—five? Damian snorted and leaned against the wall with his pool stick in hand as Aidyn played his turn. He kept his eyes on Zeke and Jade, not liking how close they sat. It’d been five days since he left the basement, and in those five days, Jade hadn’t spoken to him once. Actually, come to think of it, she hadn’t even looked his way. If she had stopped avoiding him, then he might have “thanked” her for not letting him starve.

Might’ve. It wasn’t a definite yes.

The two laughed, throwing cheese balls at each other. Zeke popped her in the nose with one and her smile grew bigger. Damian frowned as a strange pain sank in his chest.

Did she get a good look at how much of freak he was? And then what—decide she didn’t like him? His lip curled at the thought. If that was the case, then the feeling was mutual. Because he didn't like her if she didn't like him.

The way Jade and his brother were babbling on made it seem like she wanted Zeke now. They were flirting with each other. That was exactly what they were doing. Damian's face hardened and his grip on the pool stick tightened as he got the urge to tear Zeke to shreds. The two were smiling and staring at each other with that goddamn sparkle in their eyes.

Did Jade think Damian wasn't good enough for her? Because he was. In fact, he was more than good enough for any woman, especially a mortal.

"Would you like me to tape everything they do and rewind it, so you can watch it later after our game's over?" Aidyn asked, tapping his foot as he waited on Damian to shoot.

Damian threw his pool stick on the table and snarled at Aidyn before storming through the lounge. Casting one last annoyed glance at the lovebirds, Damian soon regretted it. Zeke was grinning at him, while Jade averted her eyes from him as if he were the plague. As he walked out the lounge, his nails bit into the skin of his palm as an overwhelming sick feeling sprouted from his chest and dropped to his stomach. So he dealt with it the only way he knew how . . .  He got angry.

Art was a distraction from reality, and Jade had a knack for getting distracted a lot when it came to reality. But lately she couldn’t focus long enough to become distracted—if that made sense. Something else was taking up all of her thoughts, rendering her brain useless of doing anything else.

She wanted to march across the hall and jump Dom. There. She admitted it.

She had a feeling she knew why she was so . . . horny. It was because of a certain incident in the basement, one that involved his canine sinking into her finger. Safe to say, she had a nice tooth mark on her thumb. It’d been an accident with an Oreo. He hadn’t meant to bite. His sharp tooth just caught the tip of her flesh as he was taking the cookie into his mouth.

But whatever venom he injected her with—it was working. She wanted to ride him like a sexed-crazed teenager. Her hormones were burning wild. She couldn’t even look at him without catching cold sweats.