“Ms. Garnell.” Kyaerin moved a foot closer, putting herself between Riley and the woman glowering at her as though she were filth. “I can understand how difficult this must be for you and the situation you must have gone through to get here, but—”
Those green eyes rounded on Kyaerin like a wolf ready to rip the throat out of a gazelle. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Leaving her and that pile of garbage that called himself a man was the best decision I ever made. I only wish I’d left sooner.”
“You don’t mean that.” Kyaerin looked horrified. “You carried her. You felt her grow and move inside you. You pushed her into this world. How can you—”
“Because I never wanted her. From the moment I found out I was expecting, it was like a noose around my neck. Every minute, it kept getting tighter and tighter until I thought I would die.” Her gaze shot back to Riley. “What do you want? An apology?”
It was becoming increasingly harder to breathe, but somehow, she managed to move the words past her trembling lips. “I… I wanted to see you.”
She opened her arms. “Now you’ve seen me.” She took a step back and made as though to close the door. But she stopped. Something on her face changed. It became softer. “I never loved your father. He was a one night mistake that I wound up getting saddled with for five years. He was a bum and I wanted a man. It was never your fault.”
“Then why did you leave me? Why didn’t you take me with you? Why would you leave me with him knowing how he is? Did you even think of me? Even once? Did you wonder how I was, if I was even alive? How could you have a child and then just walk away like that?”
There was genuine sympathy on her face this time. “I wanted to start fresh.” She glanced at Kyaerin. “And I knew eventually they would take you away from him and put you in a nice home.”
“They didn’t,” she whispered. “I never gave anyone a reason to take me away. I stayed and I took care of us both. I had to grow up because you couldn’t be a mother.” Her gaze shot into the back of the house where the boy had disappeared. “He’s about five, isn’t he? It’s only a matter of time before you leave him, huh?”
Beneath her freckles, her cheeks palled. “I would never leave my son.”
Cold, bitter anger had stolen the pain and all she could feel was disgust. “You’re not a mother. You don’t deserve the title. I will never be like you. My father, for everything that he was, never abandoned me. He was a hundred times a better parent than you, and I made a mistake coming here.” She glanced at Kyaerin. “I already have a mother.”
Without waiting for a response, Riley turned and started down the steps. She heard Kyaerin behind her. They walked all the way to the little green bug in silence.
Kyaerin let them in and started the car. Riley stared out the window, seeing nothing as they pulled away from the small cluster of townhomes.
They drove a block before Kyaerin pulled into an empty spot. Riley was turning and throwing herself into her arms even as Kyaerin raised them to her. They came around her, fusing in a way that no one had ever held her. Gentle hands went to her hair, stroking lovingly as her broken heart dampened Kyaerin’s shoulder.
“I’m so sorry, darling,” Kyaerin murmured over and over again. “I’m so sorry.”
“I’m so stupid,” she cried.
“No!” Kyaerin pulled back just enough to take Riley by the shoulders and shake her. “What she did was not your fault. Being a mother is a beautiful thing for some women. For some, it takes longer. It’s never the child’s fault. Would you really be the strong, dedicated woman you are today if she had stayed? Would she have loved you the way you deserve or would she have resented you? It may not seem like it now, but she has already shown you all the love she could give you.”
Rational, logical words, and Riley knew she should believe them, but all she could think was her mother hadn’t wanted her. Truthfully, she hadn’t expected anything else, but to hear it, to stand witness as the truth was vomited back at her with cold hatred was a reality no one should wake to.
“I want to go home,” she whispered, wiping her tears. “I want Octavian.”
Kyaerin took Riley’s face into her hands and kissed her lightly on the brow. “You are loved, Riley. You may not realize it at this moment, but you already have a family that adores you and will do anything for you.”
Riley looked into the other woman’s blue eyes, unwavering. “I know and I know I don’t deserve any of you.”
Kyaerin waved her away. “None of that.” She turned and restarted the car. She pulled into traffic behind a truck. “I have always wanted a daughter.” She glanced at Riley out of the corner of her eye. “Why do you think I have four boys? I would have kept going until we had one, but Liam put his foot down at four. Now, I see that we were waiting for you.”
Touched beyond the expression of words, Riley said nothing. She sat and watched as the city blurred past them and familiar streets rose into view. By the time they turned into their highway and their exit came up, Riley was practically bouncing in her seat. She knew, without having seen the clock, that Octavian would be awake. He would just be climbing out of bed, their bed and shuffling blurry-eyed downstairs in search of her.
“Kyaerin?” she murmured as they pulled into the parking lot of Final Judgment.
The other woman pulled into her spot and cut the engine before turning to her. “Yes?”
Riley hesitated for only a moment before speaking again. “Thank you for today. Thank you for going with me and not letting me make an idiot of myself.”
Kyaerin’s face softened. She reached over and lightly touched Riley’s face. “I wanted to punch her for the way she spoke to you, but you handled yourself beautifully. I am very proud of you.”
Those last six words could have been gold ribbons wrapping around her heart, drawing the shattered fragments together until it was whole again. She chuckled sheepishly as a lone tear slipped her lashes and was wiped away by Kyaerin.
“Now, no more tears, understand? Or I really may drive back and punch her. It won’t be my most shining moment, striking a pregnant woman, but it’s not beneath me.”
Riley laughed. “Thank you.”
With a wink that reminded her eerily of Gideon, Kyaerin threw open her car door and gracefully slipped out. Riley was less graceful. Her foot caught the strap of her purse and she nearly face planted into the snow. But she managed to follow Kyaerin all the way to the doors without breaking anything.
True to her prediction, Octavian was up and looking like a fresh breath of air in his black sweats and t-shirt. His feet were bare, his hair tussled as he stared blurry-eyed over his father’s shoulders at the papers Kyaerin had been poring over before Riley had torn her away.
Both men glanced up when they stumbled into the diner, kicking snow off their boots.
“Hello ladies.” Liam beamed at them.
Riley offered him a smile, but her attention was on the man behind him and his was on her. His eyes narrowed as they took in her red nose and puffy eyes.
“What—”
Without waiting for him to finish, she hurried forward, hooked a finger into the waistband of his sweats and dragged him towards the kitchen. She poked her head inside, glanced around. No Gorje. The room was empty. She pushed him through.
“Am I being taken hostage? Because I demand the right to socks if we’re going outside.”
Laughing at his teasing, she led him into the staff room and pushed him into the wall next to the door. She leaned into him and tipped her face up to peer into his eyes.
It was a little ridiculous how gorgeous he was and how irrationally nervous he made her, more so now when she wanted so desperately to tell him, to toss away her original notion of waiting for him. It was the twenty first century after all. Women didn’t wait for men to do anything anymore. Hell, women even purposed nowadays. She just had to find the courage.
“I went to see my mother.” That was so not what she wanted to tell him.
Octavian’s face hardened. “Is that why you’ve been crying? What did she say to you?”
Riley looked down, shaking her head. “Nothing I hadn’t expected, honestly. She has a son. He looks like me when I was his age. She seems happy.”
“What did she say, Riley?” He was trying so hard not to touch her. His hands were bare, clenched tightly at his sides.
She shook her head again as she closed her fingers into the fabric of his shirt front. “It doesn’t matter.” She offered him a smile. “Because I learned something today.”
He seemed wary, but said nothing as he waited for her to continue.
“I learned that I don’t need her and I never did. Do you know why?” Her smile blossomed, growing wider as she searched his dazzling eyes. “Because all I’ve ever wanted was a family, someone who loves me and I can love back and you gave me that. I’m not alone anymore because of you.”
His face softened. His hands moved to grab her around the middle and pull her tighter against him. “We won’t ever let you be alone again, Green-eyes.”
Riley showed teeth in the brightest smile that radiated all her joy. Her fingers tightened in his shirt. “Octavian, I—”
The deafening crash of breaking furniture cut into the moment like a hot knife through butter. Riley and Octavian were pulling apart a second before Kyaerin’s scream filled the air.
“Stay here!” Octavian said, his voice urgent, his eyes wild. “But if I tell you to run, I want you to go to the pond. Stay there until I come get you. Do you understand, Riley? Run and don’t stop.”
She grabbed for him, but her fingers closed around air. He was already stepping away, body already turned towards whatever was happening in the dining area. She watched him run to the doors and through, unarmed. A moment later, Gideon and Reggie ran out of the back. Neither stopped to ask her what happened, but dove through the doors and out of sight. Paralyzed by terror, Riley stared at the doors until they stopped swinging. Her heart worked a hard lather in her throat as she waited for someone to return or to tell her what to do. Every bone in her body wanted to run and see what was happening, but memory of her last heroic attempt kept her frozen to her spot, torn between impulse and necessity. She couldn’t bear it if anyone else got hurt because of her recklessness. Besides, they were the heroes here. They knew what they were doing. They had to.
Roars and screams filled the hollow silence that seemed airtight in the kitchen area with its residual scent of food and fire. The cacophony of splintering furniture and the sound bodies made when struck against something hard pulsed with every moment. It was the clang of war, of death. She had no idea what was happening, but every heartbeat was steeped in terror.
Please let them be all right! She willed, offering any god or deity listening homage for her family’s safe return.
No longer able to stand back blind, Riley made to close the distance between her and the order window cut into the wall. She almost made it, too, when the door burst open with the force of a small tornado. For a moment, she expected the wood panels to fly off and embed into the wall across the room. But her mind didn’t rest on that matter longer than that. Her heart jumped; anticipation, relief, fear and confusion brewing together in a stew of suspense.
“Octavian…”
Her feet unglued from where they had rooted in mid step. She was so sure it was him. So sure that he would return. That he would tell her it was all right now or he would tell her to run. But even as she darted forward, heart rampant, she knew something was wrong when the figure darkened the doorway.
It was too large, too tall to be Octavian. In fact, he looked nothing like any of the Maxwells. This man was as a stranger, a dangerous stranger with eyes the sharp glint of rubies and the face of an angel. He was heartbreakingly beautiful right down to the square jaw covered just lightly with a shadow, giving him a sexy, reckless appearance. Blood, pools of it, rivers of it, ran down from that perfect chin, it soaked the crisp, white shirt he wore beneath the long, suede coat. It covered his hands, dripped from his fingers and stained sharp, pointed fangs.
He raised those fingers and gently nudged back the cowboy hat perched precisely on his riot of dark curls with a single knuckle. The spurs on his black, leather boots jingled as he took a step deeper into the room, letting the doors swing shut on the massacre on the other side. He bore down on her with a look she could only describe as hungry.
“Don’t run.”
Chapter 36
Truthfully, Riley didn’t think she could. Images of the room behind him, the blood raining down the walls like a toddler’s reckless painting project still burned in her mind. The doors were all she could see, her heart a mess of terror in her chest.
Where was Octavian? Where were Liam and Gideon, Reggie and Kyaerin? Why hadn’t they charged in after the guy?
“Who are you?” She dampened her lips. “What do you want?” Her gaze went to the door behind him again. “Where… what have you done?”
His head went to the side, casual, like she was a child asking an adorable question. “Three Casters?” He snorted. “Maybe for a younger, stupider strigoi.”
Everything flickered, becoming splotches smear of colors and sounds as her vision blurred. “No…”
Pools of harsh crimson fixed on her, he raised a hand and licked the blood from his fingers. “Delicious.”
Mindless, reckless rage consumed her, rushed through her in hot shots of adrenaline. There was never any comprehension of when she flew at him, fists raised to strike, to draw blood, to tear, cut, harm, to destroy. It didn’t fully dawn on her until the world exploded in a shower of bursting stars and she found herself sprawled in the kitchen, under the sink. There was a coppery tang in her mouth and the right side of her face was numb, yet oddly throbbing with liquid hot fire. She had no idea how she got there until the hulking figure strolled around the preparation table, licking the blood from the back of his hand.
“Nothing tastes quite as good as human blood,” he mused.
Riley tried to back away, but unless she mysteriously developed the ability to pass through walls, she was cornered. Her heart drummed a wild beat in her chest, amplifying with every menacing crunch of his boots as he drew closer. Her head felt woozy, disjointed from her body, like at any moment, it might float away and abandon her prone body.
“Stay away from me!” she warned, voice thick around the swollen state of her lips. “Octavian will kill you.”
It was difficult to tell with the shadow of his Stetson falling over his eyes, but she could have sworn his eyebrow lifted in mock interest. “Dead men don’t kill.”
Trembling uncontrollably, Riley stared at the hulk of a man looming over her. “You’re lying.”
“Whose blood do you think I’m wearing?” His smirk widened. “It looks good on me, doesn’t it?”
No. No. No. No! Not Octavian. He wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be. She would have felt it. She would know.
A cold, brittle sound filled the air. Nauseous and certain she was about to faint, Riley blinked up at the shadowed face above her and was surprised to find that the sound was him… laughing. The disturbing sight of his teeth, jagged and razor sharp leered back at her, crooked and stained with blood. Octavian’s blood.
Her stomach roiled. The world went fuzzy around the edges, beckoning her into the darkness. But she shoved both desires away as she hoisted herself up onto her feet, using the counter as leverage. If she was going to die, she wasn’t going to do it at the monster’s feet.
He let her rise, saying nothing, but watching her the way a cruel child would a moth he’d snapped the legs off of.
“Why are you doing this?” she demanded, keeping a white knuckled grip on the table.
He jerked a shoulder. “Boredom.”
Anger had her knees trembling. “You murdered my family because you were bored?”
He emanated an annoyed sigh. “When you’ve lived for as long as I have, you learn to take pleasure in the smaller things.�
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“You’re a monster!” she spat at him.
“Now don’t go flattering me. I’m still going to kill you.”
She said nothing, but kept her gaze pinned on him, letting him see every ounce of hatred boiling up inside her.
“Ready to die, little girl?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to bite her, but this was probably one of those times when he might take her literally and scared witless or not, she really did not want to die. Nevertheless, she was not going to beg either. So, she opted to say nothing and let her burning gaze convey the message for her — drop dead. The creature opened his mouth and laughed.
In a move Riley would never have seen coming, his long, frigid fingers closed around her windpipe, locking all paths to her lungs. She was hefted off the ground by one hand and slammed down on the preparation table. The wood gouged into her shoulder blade, sending a riot of pain down her back as she tore at the hand with her nails. She kicked and punched. No way was she going down without a fight. She would hurt him, even if it was a little, even if he healed and never remembered her again. She would fight him. She would show him that, although she was nowhere near as strong as him, she wasn’t weak.
Octavian's Undoing (Sons of Judgment) Page 37