by CY Jones
“No,” I bite out.
“Then what is it? Something is obviously bothering you.”
“Will you just let it go? Why don’t you put her to bed, and I’ll take watch,” I tell him, walking off and heading back down the stairs.
When I’m alone in the security room I antagonize over my past. What I can’t understand is, why doesn’t she recognize me? Three years is not a long enough period of time to forget someone’s face, especially someone who knows your true identity when you’ve been kept it a secret all your life. Someone who you’ve seen turn into a giant wolf right before your eyes. How many people has she killed for them all to blur together? How can she not believe in supernaturals? I need time to deal with all this, and figure out what’s more important. Love or revenge.
Remy
My dreams are filled with blood and faces. Conversations with people I don’t remember having and things people have done that should be impossible. I’d always remembered each and every person I’d killed, but sometimes the details behind those kills were blurry. Now it seemed like the fog had finally lifted, and now I could finally see everything. Each kill runs through my mind, but those missing details are no longer glossed over. I see them now and understand them for what they are.
I see myself killing a man who moves inhumanly fast. He flashes a pair of fangs and lunges at me. With no hesitation, I shoot him with a wooden bullet to the heart. Vampire. Afterwards, Maddie gives me a cup of tea with a sad look on his gorgeous face.
“Drink up, little bird,” he whispers as I drink the tea.”The master wants you to forget. Forget who you are. Forget that you kill your own.”
Each scenario, each kill ends the same. Maddie and his tea with a look of remorse on his face. The next scene I see makes me want to cry. Fall upon my knees and beg whatever higher power there is for mercy. I see a younger Hunter looking on in shock while I slit a pretty blonde’s neck. No. I struggle against the dream, but the chains of sleep hold me down.
“He never talks about how the Alpha’s daughter was killed. Just that you were the one to kill her. This is the first time I’ve actually seen it,” Cody says, casually leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed.
“How are you here? Aren't I dreaming?” I ask, embarrassed that he’s here to bear witness to my shame.
“I’m a dreamwalker. Some summer fae are powerful enough to hold the ability. You were screaming in your sleep. I could not wake you, and your power pulled me in.”
“I would say that’s impossible, but I’ve just seen a lot of impossible things, haven’t I?”
“It would seem so. Forget-me-not tea is some nasty stuff. I’m surprised you still have a mind left,” Cody replies.
We both turned back to the scene playing out in front of us to see Hunter jumping from the window. In a blur, we’re all outside, and my dream self isn’t facing Hunter anymore, but a large, reddish-brown wolf with a pair of familiar emerald green eyes glowing in the evening air focused on me with deadly intent. When the wolf lunges at me, I don’t even flinch when he bites my hand. Even in his wolf form I can tell he’s confused that I wasn’t writhing in pain.
I didn’t feel it. I don’t feel anything in my hands after what O’Donnell had his enforcer do to me. O’Donnell was down right gleeful that he accidently made me into an even bigger monster than I already was.
“Hunter’s a wolf,” I say, voicing the obvious.
“Yes,” Cody answers. “O’Donnell had his whole pack assassinated. You killed the Alpha’s daughter while Viper and The Queen of Hearts killed Hunter’s family.”
“Oh no,” I say . “No,” I moan in pain. It’s no wonder why he hated me so much. All the pieces to the puzzle were falling into place. If I were him, I would hate me too.
Cody grabbed my hand. “I know what you’re thinking, vixen, and Hunter doesn’t hate you.”
“Yes he does,” I say, shaking my hand free. I don’t deserve comfort. I’m a monster. “I practically killed his family,” I shout.
“No - you - didn’t, love.” Cody argues. Enunciating each word out.
“Look closely,” he tells me as he turns back to the scene in front of us. I hear my brother give me a choice about killing Hunter, and instead of pulling my Glock that I know is loaded with pure silver bullets, I rip my shirt instead to wrap my hand with it. I watch myself turn my back to them and I smile as I walk away, leaving Hunter alive.
“You see that? You let Hunter live. You showed mercy when you could have easily killed him,” Cody pointed out.
“Yes, and he what? Lived to find his whole family dead.”
The dream stills; another scene doesn’t take its place. I know for a fact there were many more kills after this, but it seems like it’s shown me what it wanted for now.
“Tell me,” I demand.
I don’t need to elaborate. He knows exactly what I’m asking. I want, no I need to know.
“Viper killed his parents while they were in bed with a dart full of poison, but his little sister did not get off so lucky. The Queen of Hearts chopped off her head and left it in a pool of her blood on the side of her bed. When Hunter found their bodies he barely escaped to the fae lands through a portal I gifted him, one he kept in a vial around his neck. He was poisoned during his escape and almost died. Luckily, I was able to save him with the help of your blood.”
“Hunter should hate me.” I said, shaking my head. “I hate me.”
“Hunter loves you, as do I,” Cody responds with so much conviction it makes me glance up to look into his soulful eyes and question his sanity.
“Why? Why love a monster?” Cody seems so carefree and happy to be involved with the likes of me.
“You’re not a monster, and even if you were, I would still love you. You’re our soul bound mate, even though you don’t understand what that means just yet. I need you to know that there's nothing you could ever do to make me not love you. You could kill me, carve my heart out, and I would still wait for you in the afterlife. That’s why I know Hunter could never truly hate you. It’s just not possible.”
Pretty words from a pretty man. I want to argue, but the scene changes again, and this time I’m in my room in Scotland, back at O’Donnell’s castle of horrors. Maddie and my brother are both there, and they’re arguing.
“I don’t think it’s smart to give her anymore tea,” Maddie says. “I’ve been lowering the doses, but it’s still harmful to her mind.”
“We have no choice,” Rowen replies. His voice fills with pain and sorrow. “I believe O’Donnell’s caught on to what I’ve been doing. We’re in danger, and I can’t leave her here after the fall-out,” his voice gradually raising, yelling by the end.
“Then tell her the truth. You can’t keep this shit from her any longer. Sure, she’ll be pissed, but she would run right along with you,” Maddie shouts right back.
Through it all, I’m surprised to see I haven’t moved from my seat on the bed. I’m completely still, but if I was a witness to such a conversation, I know I would have said something by now.
As if prompted, Cody answers my unvoiced question. “I assume you were given stiff as a board poison. When drugged with that, you can’t move or speak.”
“What the fuck? Can you read minds too?” I ask, a bit wary.
He gives me an unapologetic smile. “Kinda, but more so in your dreams. Our minds are connected when I dreamwalk.”
“Isn’t that just peachy?” I say sarcastically.
A the sound of shattering glass catches my attention, and I turn back to the scene in front of us. My brother stands over a broken lamp, pulling harshly on his hair. I watch on in shock as Maddie waves his hand, and all the pieces from the lamp fly back together until it sits on my dresser whole again, like nothing happened.
“I can't tell her now,” my brother whispers, walking over and falling to his knees in front of me.
His hands grab my cheeks, and he moves his face mere inches from mine.
“Bea
n, listen to me and listen carefully. O’Donnell isn’t our father. He killed our mother and took us away. I’ve found our biological dads and have been working with them. They aren't human and neither are we. We’re half wolves from our fathers side and our mother was mostly human. I say mostly because she carried some prophet blood. O’Donnell’s had us hunting and killing our own people for his profit. Other supernaturals like ourselves have fallen prey to our hands because of him.
“He wants us to kill our dads, and when that’s done he’ll probably kill us too. I love you Bean, but this has got to stop. I will no longer sit by and let him keep using us. I put a plan in motion that I cannot stop. I did it for us. Tomorrow we will be free. Dead or alive, at least we will be gone from here.” After his little heartfelt speech he kisses me tenderly on the forehead.
With a sad look, he turns and nods at Maddie.
“Are you sure?” Maddie asks calmly, sounding a little less insane than his usual self. “When she gets her memories back, she will remember all this. Do you really want the last thing she sees is you ordering her to be poisoned?”
“You’ve been giving us forget-me-not tea for years because that devil ordered you to, now you’re going to do it because I asked you to,” my brother answers, folding his arms. “You owe me, and this is what I want.”
I know that stance. His mind is made up, and he won’t back down.
“Fine,” Maddie huffs, stomping over to me with a cup of tea. Gazing into my eyes, he kisses me passionately before he tips the cup to my lips.
“Drink up, little bird. The world awaits, and you have a game to play,” Maddie sings, sounding more like the Maddie I know and love, and then he vanishes from the room. Like one second he’s there, and the next, poof, gone.
I watch as I break from whatever trance I was in and lie back on my bed like nothing happened.
“I can’t believe we’ve finally found our mother’s killers,” I say excitedly. A huge grin forms on my face, and I looked blissfully happy. I glance over at my brother where he’s perched on the bed next to me.
“Can I sleep here with you tonight?” he asks suddenly.
“Sure,” I say, pulling the covers back and letting him in.
“Is Maddie’s sister still coming in your room at night?” I ask, turning my face towards his, so close our foreheads brush.
“Yeah, I think everytime O’Donnell doesn’t let her in his bed, she comes knocking on my door. The crazy bitch just doesn’t get I wouldn’t fuck her with a ten foot pole,” Row answers, moving closer to me and throwing his arm around my waist.
I chuckle into the crook of his neck, but suddenly stop when a sense of grief takes over. “I miss Maddie,” I cry.
The dream me had no memory of him just being in the room.
Row kisses me on the forehead and closes his eyes. “I know, Bean. I’m sure he misses you too.”
Soon we both drift off to sleep, and Cody and I stare down at the sleeping bodies.
“How did I not know how good of a liar my brother is? He wanted to sleep in my room because he knew that was probably going to be the last night we’d be together without running for our lives.”
“It’s always the ones we love the most who can lie to us the best. We lie to protect others, we lie to protect ourselves, and we lie to ourselves all the time. We’re always trying to take in all the pain we can so that we can keep it as far as we can from our loved ones. We all lie, vixen. It’s inevitable,” Cody answers as his body fades away.
The rest of my night is uneventful, and through the night I ponder the last thing Cody said. We all lie. We all lie. We all lie.
Seventeen
We were meant to be together
Remy
I wake to a warm weight around me, and I snuggle into a hard chest, inhaling the scent of summer and sandalwood. Opening my eyes, a pair of azure blue eyes gaze straight into mine.
“Are you ok?” Cody asks, nuzzling my neck.
It takes awhile to answer, but finally I say, “I’m as well as I can be considering everything.”
“That’s understandable,” Cody mumbles, nibbling down my neck and settling where my neck and shoulder meet. “It’s not everyday you find out you’re some supernatural badass, and you’ve been hunting your own people down to near extinction.”
“My cheeky Fae, you do have a way with words,” I moan a bit breathlessly.
Encouraged, Cody bites down harder, drawing blood. In response my hand reaches for his cock under the covers, holding it in a firm grip. A feeling of warmth burns where he bit me, and I grip tighter on his cock, moving my hand up and down his smooth length.
“What did you just do?” I ask huskily.
“Seal our bond,” Cody answers, moving his lips lower.
My clothes from last night are gone, and I’m left only wearing my bra since I lost my panties on the rooftop last night.
“What?” I mumble, groaning as his lips suck on my nipple.
Letting my nipple free with a loud pop, he says, “I know you, vixen. You think you don’t deserve me and Hunter, so you’re going to try to push us away. I’m not letting you do that, so I’ve sealed the bond, at least on my end.” He waves his hand over his chest, and I get my first look at the ginormous tat covering his upper chest and shoulders. The head of a giant black wolf with turquoise blue eyes howling at the moon.
Startled, I sit up. “What the fuck?”
I’ve seen Cody’s delectable chest before, so I know for a fact that tat wasn’t there before. In fact, the only tattoos he has on his whole body are a sleeves covering both arms.
“It’s a marking. We get them everytime we come into our powers, or when we find our mates and seal the bond. The marking represents the person we’re bound to.” Suddenly I start remembering bits and pieces from last night, and I drag my hand to my neck.
“Yeah, you have a marking there from the mage you fucked,” Cody says.
Embarrassed, I ignore his comment and instead focus on the matter at hand. “Why would you do that? Seal the bond, I mean.” In any paranormal book I’ve read, the common theme was when a supernatural mates, it was for life. No take backs or do overs, so why the fuck would Cody chain himself to me?
“Because, vixen. I love you. We’re meant to be together, and I will prove to you everyday of my sorry Fae life how much I love you,” he says, hovering his body over mine.
His eyes hold my gaze, asking me a silent question. After only a second of consideration I nod, and he slowly pushes himself inside me. Unlike Silas, he takes his time entering me, giving my body time to adjust to his size. With an almost torturously slow pace he starts to move. His movements are relaxed and show with no intention to hurry as he draws out every moan with his languid movements and gifted hands. When I can’t take it anymore, I buck my hips against him, urging him to fuck me faster, but he gives me a wicked smile.
“Naughty, vixen,” he teases, nipping my earlobe. “Do I need to teach you a lesson in patience?”
Taking both my wrists, he moves them above my head and holds them there with one hand. Before I can anticipate what he will do next, he slams into my body, making me cry out in pleasure and pain. Pulling all the way out, he does it a second time, even harder, before he starts an assault on my pussy, hitting my g-spot over and over again. I scream and moan out his name not caring who hears. The only thing that matters is the overwhelming pleasure Cody gives my body. I come hard, screaming his name and biting him on his left pec right over his marking.
Pulling out, he flips me and positions me on my hands and knees. Tilting my hips, he slams his huge cock back into me while fisting my long hair in a firm grip. He takes me deeper this way, pulling my hair as he drives into me, and I scream out his name.
“You feel so damn good,” he groans. “This pussy is mine,” he growls, twisting his hips and thrusting so fucking deep, I swear I can feel him in my stomach. I come again, coating his dick, and he quickly follows after.
“Shite, that was
intense,” he mumbles when we’re both lying on the bed in a sweaty heap.
Peering down at my arm, there's a new marking of thick green vines with thorns wrapped around it from my wrist to my shoulder. Spread out along the vines are colorful roses, and a beautiful golden crown shaped like the sun rays sits prominent in the center. I know nothing about Fae politics, but this crown seems important.
“Cody, are you an important fae back home?” I ask him casually as I study the crown’s intricate detail.
“Not that important. Just the crowned prince,” he says like it’s no fucking big deal.
Jumping up, I look at him like he’s crazy, because he is.
“Shhh,” he says, and planting his finger on my lips silencing off my protests. “I regret nothing.”
“But you’re a prince,” I argue.
“And now you’re a princess, let's move on.”
To drive his point home, he throws me on my stomach and starts round two, effectively cutting off all my arguments.
By the time we make it downstairs, it’s way later than I expected, and Hunter is staring daggers at both of us.
“Glad you two could make it,” he snarks. “It’s just our lives are in danger right now. Nothing special.”
“I see arsehole Hunter is back,” I reply, rolling my eyes as I walk to the fridge.
With everything that happened between last night and now, I was starving. I make myself a sandwich and start to chow down on it. I notice Hunter keeps glancing at my arm and shooting daggers in Cody’s direction, so before he can say something, I beat him to it.
“I remember you from before.”
The room grows quiet. So silent you could probably hear a pin drop.
“Come again,” Hunter finally grinds out.
”I remember you. That pill I took last night somehow unlocked all my memories. O’Donnell’s given me forget-me-not tea for years, so I kinda didn’t remember everything, especially anything dealing with supernaturals. I didn’t even know I was a supernatural until now.”