Forgotten Curse

by Owens, C. M.

  I do hate myself… for so many reasons.

  “She can’t help it. I love her too fucking much to just leave her here with you. I’m not giving her up because you have a freaky hybrid connection. As long as she wants me when she’s herself, I’m hers. I’m the one she chooses. You’re just the one she falls to when she loses herself,” Brazen snarks.

  “What the fuck is your problem? I haven’t done a damn thing to you. All I’ve done is try to be nice, but you just can’t resist the opportunity to cut me off at the knees. I brought her down. I didn’t take advantage of her if that’s your fucked up deal,” Hale yells in a whisper.

  I hear Brazen sigh as he collapses to a chair, and then I hear Clay grumbling under his breath for the discomfort he’s facing.

  “I don’t get you, Hale. That’s my problem. I don’t know if you still want her, or if you just love being that guy she craves when she loses it. I don’t like not knowing things. You keep leaving her, and she won’t tell me what the fuck you said to send her back to me this last time. I worry daily her feelings for you aren’t gone, and I worry you’re just biding your time until you use your yo-yo trick again.”

  More tears fall free from my eyes, and I sit up very quietly so as not to alert them to my eavesdropping ears.

  “I never meant to yo-yo her at all. My relationship with Araya is so far past fucked up it’s not even funny, but I’m not trying to steal her away from you… at least not yet,” Hale murmurs suspiciously.

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Brazen asks with angered bemusement.

  “It means I’ll let you know when I’m a threat. Until then, you don’t have to worry about me.”

  “Your vague bullshit is just pissing me off. What the fuck did you do to send her back to me, and what do you mean you’re not a threat yet?” he barks.

  “Watch your tone. She’s still asleep,” Hale cautions, and I hear Brazen’s reluctant sigh.

  “I love her,” Brazen almost whimpers out.

  Hale is the one to sigh this time, and I can’t leave Brazen out there feeling the torture of losing me to the man who has admitted to cheating on me. I can’t fall back into Hale’s trap. Brazen’s right - he treats me like a yo-yo he can throw out and then pull back whenever he wants. Brazen is the one who deserves me, even though I don’t deserve him. He deserves for me to show him I choose him right now.

  I stand up and wrap the sheet around me much tighter, and I walk out with heavy footsteps as I see Brazen’s eyes look up helplessly. He doesn’t move at first, and I know he’s scared of what I’ll say or do if he moves too suddenly. I don’t even acknowledge Hale as I walk over to Brazen.

  He stares up into my eyes while staying in his chair, and I feel my tears pouring feverishly down my cheeks as I sob out, “I’m sorry.”

  His eyes show relief and pity as he pulls me into his lap, and I curl up like a scared child as his arms wrap around me.

  “I should have injected you. If I’m going to be there for you, I have to read you better and inject you sooner. You don’t have to be sorry, baby. This wasn’t your fault,” he coos, and I just cry that much harder as I bury my face against the side of his neck.

  I can feel Hale’s grimace rather than see it, and I’m so confused right now.

  “It’s not your place to worry about controlling me. I should have been injecting myself regularly after the heavy bullshit I found out. I can’t see Nicholas for a while. There was very not an ounce of reaction time before my savage came in fully ready to destroy. I’ll change and kill him before I have time to think about it.”

  “I love you, baby. We can stay here for as long as you want to, or we can go somewhere else. I’ll get us a room right now,” he murmurs while keeping his lips close to mine.

  “I want to stay,” I say with a slightly choked tone.

  “Okay, baby. I’ll make it happen. Just give me a few minutes to go check in. I brought you some clothes too,” he murmurs while offering me a sweet kiss on the lips.

  “I’ll come with you,” Clay sighs out. “I’m going to spend the day and night here to keep from dealing with the fall out from your mother.”

  Brazen laughs lightly, and I cover my face as I grumble into my hands.

  “Holy fuck. I forgot about that,” I mumble, and Brazen’s laughter grows.

  “I wish I had been conscious for that,” he snickers out, and my moment of lightness ends.

  I jump up from the chair, and I run over while holding my sheet under my arms. I throw myself at him, and his lips cover mine as his hands tangle lightly in my hair.

  “What’s wrong?” he breathes between my lips.

  “I hurt you,” I say while my tears start falling again.

  “No, baby. No. I’m perfectly fine. You didn’t do anything bad at all,” he coos while pulling back to kiss my forehead.

  I place my hands over his which are cupping my face, and his pale eyes stare into mine without any judgment, anger, or resentment before he kisses me again.

  “I’ll be right back,” he mutters softly, and then he disappears out the door with Clay.

  I turn back around to see Hale reclined back in his seat, and his eyes are penetrating mine as they smolder through me.

  “He has a very understanding nature,” he murmurs gently.

  “He has to be understanding to be with me. Our situation -” I point back and forth between us - “isn’t exactly normal,” I mumble, and I quickly look away to avoid his eye contact.

  “Hybrid counter halves are rarely separated,” he murmurs in agreement.

  “You say that as if it’s my fault we broke up. It’s as if you keep forgetting you’re the one who pushed me away, cheated on me, and continuously begged me to fuck off. So I’m confused as to why you have this accusatory tone every time we speak about this,” I grouse, and I walk to the bathroom to splash some water on my face and straighten my hair.

  “You don’t have to do that. You look beautiful all the time,” he gently offers as he props up against the door frame.

  “Don’t do this to me right now,” I mumble.

  “Don’t do what?” he asks with coy innocence.

  “That,” I growl, and then I puff out of the bathroom, careful not to brush up against him on my way by.

  “What?” he chuckles out. “I’m not supposed to tell you how incredibly sensational you always look?”

  I roll my eyes while plopping down on the couch, and he comes to sit dangerously close to me. His arm drapes across my shoulders, and I narrow my eyes suspiciously at him.

  “Moments ago you assured Brazen you weren’t a threat.”

  His mouth cocks up in a wry smile as he leans over to my face.

  “I didn’t know you were listening. How long were you awake?” he asks daringly, and his perfectly luscious lips call to mine.

  “Long enough.”

  He leans back with his grin turning more mischievous as he says, “Well, then you heard me tell him yet. I’m not a threat yet,” he repeats.

  I squirm uncomfortably as his hand brushes the hair from my shoulder, and his perfect hybrid blue eyes hold mine captive.

  “You cheated on me. This yet you speak of, there’s no chance of it. I’m going to marry Brazen. You threw me away,” I hoarsely release, and a twinge of pain takes the place of his seductive gaze.

  “I’ll have you back when it’s time, Araya. It’s just not time yet,” he arrogantly exhales, and then the door opens back up as Brazen walks in to collect me.

  “You ready?” he chirps with a sweet smile.

  “Very,” I huff out, and I feel the eyes of Hale on my back as Brazen wraps his arm around my bare shoulders.

  I cling to the sheet as he ushers me out, and I refuse to offer one last backward glance before we leave.

  Fucking shit. Why does he always do this?

  Chapter 9

  Colliding Puzzle Pieces

  “What do you want for breakfast?” Brazen’s lips murmur against mine on our second da
y in Circuit.

  “Whatever you want,” I say with a girly grin.

  He smiles back before climbing out of bed, and then he struts so sexily in his low hanging shorts that reveal those mouthwatering hiplines. I smile as I hold the sheet up to my chest, and I laugh as he slides over the bar to the kitchen.

  As the pans begin clanking, I climb out of bed to pull on my own pair of sexy shorts starting very low before slipping into a tight camisole shirt that shows at least three inches of stomach.

  I walk out, and Brazen’s smirk turns menacing as he says, “Unless you feel like going back to bed, I suggest changing.”

  I grin devilishly as the tattered jean shorts draw his attention, and his bottom lip slides between his teeth. His twisted fantasies become seductively clear, and it’s starting to turn me on.

  “We can always eat later,” he sizzles out before swishing to me, and his lips

  consume mine before he jerks me to his body.

  “Damn it, Hale. I gave him the right blood. I’m not a fool,” Clay yells from just outside the door.

  Clay’s back? Did he ever leave? I thought he did.

  “Obviously someone fucked up. I know for a fact the blood bust I made was that of pure, undiluted blood. I could fucking smell it. There’s no way this is accurate.”

  Brazen disengages from our heated passion to join the heated argument just outside.

  “Would you care to clue me in, or is this a private discussion meant for the whole hotel to hear?” Brazen mocks.

  Hale barges by him to enter our room, and his eyes lock on mine as his jaw tenses. My skimpy attire is apparently not what he was expecting. It’s not like he hasn’t seen my entire body over and over.

  “The blood bust Hale made finally had some lab results come back. Campbell’s paperwork and log was almost undecipherable. It took forever, but the other doctors finally sorted through everything. The blood from the bust has already been burned because of the threat of undiluted blood getting out, but the results from the earlier samples came back clean,” Clay exhales in exasperation.

  “It wasn’t diluted at all. It was straight from the fucking vein. Campbell made a fucking mistake. Retest the samples,” Hale growls.

  “We can’t. The samples were burned as well,” Clay grumbles in frustration.

  “Is it possible you were wrong?” Brazen chirps.

  “No it’s not. I know I’m not wrong about this.”

  Hale grips his head, and Brazen plops down in a chair while his hands steeple in front of his face. That’s his thinking position. When Hale steeples his hands in front of his face, he’s seriously turned on and thinking of ways to fuck me. Why the fuck did that just come to my mind?

  “Maybe you were wrong. Maybe it really was just lesser diluted blood similar to what the Metropolis citizens get legally. In a few years, blood runners will be obsolete all together once full bloods realize there’s no penalty for consuming the blood there,” Brazen offers insightfully.

  “If Hale says it wasn’t diluted, then it wasn’t. It’s his specialty,” I murmur somewhat defensively.

  Brazen’s eyes cut toward me with a stinging hue while Hale’s offer adoration. I look away from both of them and take the file from Clay to keep from interjecting myself into the conversation again. I study the notes, even though biology and science were by far my worst subjects.

  “Let’s say you were right, why are the tests showing negative?” Brazen mutters through a strained tone.

  “I don’t know,” Hale huffs.

  My eyes widen as I stare down at the obvious answer everyone else has missed. The documented photos of the blood tell the tale the dead doctor can’t. I can’t make sense of the pathogen report, the cell analysis, or the hemoglobin levels, but I can see the color difference in the packs Hale obtained and the ones documented for testing.

  “The blood was swapped,” I gasp.

  “What?” Hale sounds off while rushing to me.

  His front presses against my back as he looks over my shoulder, and I’m forced to swallow hard enough for him to hear it. I just pray he’s distracted enough not to notice my chills.

  “The blood you intercepted was three shades darker than this blood. The blood you found was full blood, not human.”

  “How do you know?” Clay asserts.

  “Because I’ve become rather acquainted with a full blood’s drip. I know the color well,” I sizzle out, and Brazen’s smile returns as his eyes burn daringly into mine.

  Hale’s breaths shift to pained, and I resume my explanation. “The blood the doctor tested was human, diluted blood.”

  “Who the fuck swapped it?” Hale growls.

  “I don’t know, but it was done after it was tagged and vaulted. This picture shows the full blood packs in the vault,” I mumble.

  “Who had access to the lab once the blood was vaulted?” Brazen asks.

  “Only Campbell. He’s the only one with a vault access code besides myself and Nicholas. I can pull up the logs from here, but I can assure you neither of our access codes were used,” Clay utters in disgust while pulling out a screen from his briefcase.

  His fingers swipe rapidly across the surface before he punches in a code, and then he presses a button on our room remote that drops a screen from the ceiling to project his findings on a larger surface.

  “From then until now, Campbell’s code was the only one used,” he sighs out, and we see his name on the log more than once.

  “It probably took multiple trips to smuggle that much blood out. I’m sure that’s why it smelled so pure. There would be no reason to dilute it,” I exasperate.

  Then he pulls up video footage from the surveillance cameras, and we all shake our heads in disbelief as the doctor proves his treachery.

  “Why bring in the blood from a full blood’s vein?” Hale grumbles.

  “We’re so fucking stupid,” Brazen spews as he runs to the bedroom to pull on a shirt.

  “Why?” I prompt.

  “Because of the damn Rising attack. Full bloods go mad trying to find their humans when they ingest undiluted blood, but it takes days to reach that point. If a human ingests our blood, their antibodies fight the virus. If we inject it directly into their veins, then they become infected,” he rambles.

  “I don’t need a science lesson, I need to know why we’re stupid,” I grouse.

  “Because, if a human ingests our blood, it’s a calling. It’s as if they’re begging us to find them and strike their veins. In the past, this method has been used by humans in order to force one of us to change them before their time. It has been a buried secret for centuries due to several infectious outbreaks. Someone else knows though.

  “Those humans at Selma ingested the Rising’s blood. It drove them to seek their human callers, and they were damn near insane. I should have known when the feeling faded for the sobering fool you interrogated before he killed himself. He reached the suicidal phase that would have passed within minutes if he had just held on. The humans aren’t like us. The acids in their stomach eventually destroy the blood. Our stomachs - hybrid and full blood alike - are acid free because we burn all the food, drink, or blood we take in and use it for energy only… not waste. The acid disruption kills the craving for a blood fuck, and most times, the human never even feels the effects. My question is, what group of humans ingested it and why?”

  “They didn’t do it on purpose,” I murmur as my eyes widen while staring at the footage still on the screen.

  The doctor is ripping open the bags and pouring the blood into the human’s food grinders.

  “They fucking wanted that blood to get inside the compound. I did exactly what they fucking wanted,” Hale growls. “Why couldn’t I tell it was from a full blood’s vein?”

  “Because it smells differently when it’s outside a vein. They knew that. It’s no different from a human’s blood the moment it’s extracted. This isn’t your fault,” I soothe. “We have to call Hershian, and pray that food hasn�
��t been consumed yet. Otherwise, we’re going to have to get ready to fight.”

  “Fuck,” Hale screeches while rushing out of the room, and Clay immediately jumps on his phone while following him.

  “Good work, baby,” Brazen murmurs while grabbing his keys.

  “I think we made a pretty good team,” I smolder out, and he stops momentarily while staring into my eyes.

  “Tell me it’s me you want and not him,” he strains out, and I feel a stab of pain shoot through me.

  Hale cheated. Hale cheated. He doesn’t love me. He doesn’t love me.

  “Brazen, I love you. I know our relationship is pretty fucked up, but I love you. I don’t blame you though if this is too much to handle. I don’t have the right to ask you to be understanding of something my own breed doesn’t even understand.”

  “I just need to know he’s not going to get you back. He said he wasn’t a threat yet, but-”

  “But nothing. What he did made it impossible for him to ever be a threat again,” I sigh out, and it’s hard to hold my tears back.

  “Just tell me, baby. Why don’t you want to tell me?” he pleads.

  “I’ll tell you, but not right now. Right now there’s a lot of full bloods who will be gunned down if we don’t intercept the infected food source.”

  He sighs out very hard, and then his lips stroke mine gently before he pulls back.

  “Are you sure you can go back right now? We could just let them handle this,” he murmurs softly.

  “I’m not ready to go back, but if the food has already been distributed, they’re going to need me and my gift. I don’t want to kill innocent full bloods. That’s what he meant when he said they couldn’t help it, wasn’t it?”

  “I should have known. I’m glad they were the scum of my breed instead of innocents,” Brazen mutters guiltily.

  “Don’t do that. It’s not like it’s everyday someone spikes the human food source. Let’s go help them in case the full bloods are innocent this time,” I gently urge, and this time my lips are the instigators of the sweet, comforting kiss I offer.