if he carried on making her feel uncomfortable, like he wished to touch her, she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from ripping him apart.
And she’d enjoy it.
♦
The brother came in the next day. He was armed with a gun as well as a sword.
The gun was taken care of in about the quarter of a second. One instant, it was in the stupid guy’s hand, and the next, inside Adler’s mouth; the dog had just jumped and grabbed it, before throwing it asides, and going back to licking his paws clean.
Ben was glancing towards it, obviously planning to retrieve it, but Aiden growled “don’t do it, boy.” He winced at the thought of explaining to Sibelle that he’d unadvisedly killed her dear sibling in self-defense.
Because there was no chance – absolutely none – that the thief might have won. His new surhuman forces aside, Aiden had been trained to fight – and to win. Ben hadn’t; the fact that Lightwoods had overthrown him made that clear.
Aiden thought back to the previous night.
Sibelle had joined him in the library, as was their new, but nonetheless firmly implanted custom.
She had a thing about sitting on anything, save for the furnishing designed for that purpose; she’d been perched on the window, at first, and then, she’d climbed on the bookshelf’s ladder.
Finally, at one in the morning, just around the time when he’d been ready to head to his bed, she’d taken the book she’d borrowed and sat right there, against his sofa, her head resting quite close to his knees.
That had done a number on him. There was something intimate about the position; he could have just moved his palm and stroked her silky mane.
She fell asleep like that; two hours later, he was still looking down, trying to understand the strange woman.
He finally carried her to her room, smiling as he took in the decoration. The dozens of cushions he’d bought for her had been thrown aside in a corner, along with the bedding and curtains. She’d gone for the generic beige stuff they used downstairs instead. The room was bare and it had bothered him, because she obviously didn’t feel at home.
He wanted her to be comfortable here, which meant that he wouldn’t screw things up by harming her brother.
Well, not fatally in any case. He doubted she’d mind the little wound here and there, for the sake of teaching him a lesson or two.
“You will release Sibelle right now.”
Aiden just laughed, gesturing towards the stairs as an open invitation to follow him.
He made a point of stopping to greet each member of his staff, before asking Vera, one of the maids, if Sibelle had awoken.
“She hasn’t been down yet, sir.”
“She’s had a long night,” he confided to the thief, probably pushing his luck, but he couldn’t help it; while killing him wouldn’t have been a great idea, he was just itching for a little fight.
Come on, just a punch or two. The guy had taken five days to come and enquire about his sister. He deserved it.
Besides, it had been a while since he’d sparred with someone new; Clocks and Lightwoods still gave it a go every morning, but they were getting too predictable.
Most of his acquaintances were too smart to take on the Beast; however, Ben Thornton had stolen from him, he couldn’t be that clever.
The thief was pissed, but he refrained himself from anymore foolishness, behaving now he was on his way to see his sister.
He knocked at her door and called out:
“Sibelle, you’re up?”
A sleepy, sultry voice grunted something unintelligible, working to his advantage.
“Love, your brother is here. He would like to take you home.”
After a long pause, she asked: “Has he got what he owes you?”
“I don’t believe so; he had a gun, though. I believe the plan was threatening me.”
Stupid-ass plan.
They heard another grunt, clearer this time, followed by a few steps; she was opening the door, a sheet wrapped around her assumingly naked frame – she had nothing on
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