Sasha was waiting for him in his study, sitting beside a fireplace that burned with black flames. Blood had dripped down his face to speckle his shirt. His silver-blue eyes glowed with no warmth as he smiled.
"Time for our periodic chat, little brother," he said, and motioned to the other chair before the hearth.
Rhyn refused it and threw himself onto the comfy couch farther away from Hell's flames.
"How are all my pets?" Sasha asked.
"You know how they are, fuckhead."
"Another month and you're still defiant."
Normally, it was as far as they got before Sasha flew off the handle, had him tortured, and threw him back into his cell. Rhyn waited for it, determined to put up the same fight he always did.
It didn't come. Sasha was calm.
In fact, Sasha was happy!
Rhyn sat up, eyeing his brother warily. Sasha sipped blood from a goblet, content.
"I've decided to take a mate."
Rhyn laughed, thoughts flying to the spunky human in the zoo. Sasha glared at him.
"You, brother, will take a mate?" Rhyn goaded. "It's the human you threw in the cell across from me, isn't it?"
"She's beautiful and she's an immortal's mate."
"Beautiful? No. Not ugly, yeah. Our family has no luck with immortal mates. Traitorous bitches, all of them."
"Sounds like brotherly concern," Sasha mocked. "You know, if you hadn't joined our family, I wouldn't be here, and Father would still be alive. You think I want to be in Hell at the side of the Dark One?" Sasha flung his arm around.
Rhyn rolled his eyes and got up, grabbing an orange off the fruit basket on Sasha's desk. Sasha's moods were varied and fickle, never lasting too long. Of all the brothers, he'd always been the one to begrudge Andre's role as their leader.
"As long as I keep her out of your reach, so you don't kill this one, too," Sasha added.
"If she's yours, I'll kill her faster."
Even as Rhyn spoke, he was disturbed by the thought of the frazzled but sweet woman across the hall from him falling to his brother. She was a smartass worthy of any of his brothers, and yet, no human deserved this.
Especially not the immortal mate meant for him.
His gaze took in Sasha before sliding to the black flames. He'd forgotten what color real fire was, but he found himself thinking it was orange, like the fruit in the basket on Sasha's desk. Sasha was staring into the fire, pensive.