Despite his muscular 6’3” built, Michael seemed to try and shrink into himself as he stuck his hands into his pockets. He slowly leaned forward and softly whispered into Shay’s ear while taking her hand in his own. “Awe come one baby. Are you really gonna make me say that now … in front of everybody? Can’t we just do this later … you know I’m sorry.”
“Nope,” Shay responded making sure to pop her P.
“Please baby?” Michael tried using puppy dog eyes which was clearly not working on Shay’s unresponsive expression.
“Still waiting, Michael.”
Michael ran his hand through his disheveled locks and gripped his neck as he sighed.
“Fine. I, Michael Mixon, apologize to my beautiful mate Shay De Rocher. I was wrong and she was right. I am lower than low. I am the piece of gum stuck to the bottom of her Manolos until she decides to grace me with her forgiveness.”
“Thank You, Michael. Being that this is your first offense in a while, you are forgiven.” Immediately Shay snaked her long slender caramel-colored arms around Michael’s neck and gave him a quick peck.
Every head in the room stood speechless as they all stared at Michael in shock This was a Michael that none had ever seen.
Not one to miss out on such a rare opportunity, Aiden took this as a chance to tease his friend.
“Hey, Mikey. Looks like someone had a big ol’ helping of Whoop-ie PIE this morning … Hey, hey, hey Mikey who’s your favorite actress? Is it Whoop-ie Goldberg … Hey, hey Mikey– “
Michael’s fist began to tighten as he clenched his jaw. If looks could kill Aiden would definitely be six feet under at this moment.
“That’s enough Aid,” Astrid interjected.
“But babe- “Aiden whined.
“If you keep on teasing Mike for being whooped may I remind you about what happened the other night?”
Shay and Michael quickly looked over at the couple clearly interested in Astrid’s statement. “What happened Astrid?” Shay asked.
“Well, the other night- “
“Nothing! Nothing happened. Forget it. My bad. Forget I said anything, Mikey. Baby, I promise I won’t tease Mikey at all about being whooped.” Aiden pretended to zip his mouth closed and looked pleadingly at Astrid.
“Fine Aiden. I’ll let you off the hook this time. But next time, I spill the tea. You’re lucky you’re so damn pretty.” Astrid teased while she pinched his cheeks.
Aiden immediately perked up and gave Astrid a quick peck on her nose. “Not as pretty as you baby.”
“Both of you idiots are whooped. Now can we finish getting this cleaned up so I can take Sammie back to her room?”
“Actually, we need to keep Sammie in the cell for another hour.”
“Why are we still keeping her back in the cell that long?”
“It’s just until we are sure that there are no aftereffects from the spell.”
“Why would there be aftereffects Shay?”
“I’m not saying that there would be Dev. It’s just in case- “
“NO!”
“Look Dev I- “
“I said NO Shay and I will not repeat myself.”
“I get that you’re being protective of Sammie. But Dev, you’re being unreasonable right now- “
A low growl emerged from deep within Devon’s chest as his eyes flickered between their ice blue and deep violet-black hues. His wolf Slade was trying to push through. Sensing his mate’s immediate danger, Michael swiftly stood in front of Devon maneuvering Shay behind him. Michael’s wolf, Sully, let out a threatening growl towards Devon.
“Back. Down. Michael.”
“You first Devon, your punk ass wolf threatened our mate.” he snarled.
Devon’s fist tightened turning his knuckles white as he clenched his jaw. His eyes were no longer flickering between his and Slade’s. Instead, Devon’s eyes were two different colors. One blue and one violet-black. Devon and Slade were both at the forefront focusing their piercing menacing attention on Michael.
Once he noticed that the situation between his two friends had escalated to an extremely dangerous level, Aiden ran over and stood next to both of them. Carefully he placed a hand on each of their shoulders in hopes of calming them down, only to have them both briskly shove his hand away.
“Hey! Hey guys. Come on. Let’s not be this way.”
Michael and Devon ignored him and continued their glare off.
“Dev … Mikey. Come ON! You guys don’t need to act like this. You’re friends. Look, Mikey, I’m sure Dev didn’t mean to be a dick to Shay. He’s just upset bro. And Dev, I’m sure Mikey didn’t mean to get all up in your face but he’s defending his mate buddy. Now quit acting like a couple of bitches. Just kiss and make up before you both do something you’ll regret.”
Silence.
“Fine.”
“Whatevs.”
“See now that wasn’t so hard was it?” Aiden once again placed a hand on each of their shoulders, looked back and forth to each of them, and smiled.
Devon immediately brushed Aiden’s hand away and walked over to the tiny cell where Sammie had been sleeping. He carefully picked her up and began heading towards the doorway leading back into the library.
“Dev… “Shay called out.
Devon stopped in front of the metal door; his back muscles tensed as he spoke without turning around.
“Not another word Shay. I am taking Sammie back upstairs to her room and I am going to get her cleaned up. I don’t know if any of you actually thought about it, but I do NOT want my mate to wake up from all this shit; only to be covered in the filth that she has been laying in for several hours.”
Devon yanked the door open and carried Sammie out of the room without another word.
Shay went to call out to Devon once more, but Michael gently grabbed her shoulder and shook his head.
He knew Devon was at his breaking point.
“I don’t know about you, but I think this concludes our fun-filled evening. What do you think?” Aiden asked the remaining people in the room.
“Aid. We still have to finish putting this crap away.”
Aiden rushed over to Astrid and wrapped his strong arms around her encasing her in his warmth. “I think it’ll keep. I think we’ve all been through too much. I don’t know about you, but I think some nice downtime with you seems way better than picking up another mess. What do you think?” Astrid slowly nodded in Aiden’s chest.
“Fine. It’s settled, everyone. Let’s deal with this crap tomorrow. What do ya say, Mikey?” Aiden glanced over at Michael who was engrossed in a very passionate kiss with Shay.
“Huh? What?” A bemused Michael asked Aiden, never tearing his eyes away from his beautiful mate.
Aiden laughed.
“Exactly Mikey. Exactly.”
“I think we’re gonna head to bed now. Night guys.” Shay announced with a smirk as she gently tugged a grinning Michael out of the room.
“Well babe, looks like it’s just you and me.” Aiden stepped out of his embrace with Astrid and clasped her tiny hand in his as they made their way back into the main part of the house.
“Any idea what you’d like to do tonight babe?” Aiden queried as the two entered their room and he shut the door.
Astrid smiled as Aiden walked over to where she stood near the bed. Once he was close enough, Astrid gently pushed Aiden onto their bed and straddled him.
“Oh, I have quite a few ideas regarding what I’d like to do tonight babe.” She cooed seductively as she slowly trailed kisses down along Aiden’s jawline.
Chapter 19
Sammie's POV
I found myself immersed deep within a vast chasm of never-ending darkness. Every step I took, led me further and further into nothingness. Ironically, as black as my surroundings were, I was not enshrouded in it. I was able to clearly see my own appendages as if they were perfectly illuminated in light. It was almost as if, what I was in couldn’t be construed as darkness but rath
er a vast emptiness void of anything other than myself. That was at least that is until I heard footsteps approach me from behind.
As I turned around, to say that I was speechless, would be an understatement. Bewildered? Possibly. But more than anything, I was shocked as hell.
Standing in front of me was a woman who bore me a striking resemblance but not the version of me that I present myself as; there was something different about her. Her hair was blond, my natural hair color, her eyes were a lot darker than mine, almost black, and the air around her oozed a deadly coldness that could only belong to someone who held no shred of humanity.
She was my vampire. She was me.
“Well looks like someone’s awake.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’ve been asleep for a few hours”
“Oh. Where am I?”
A small chuckle escapes her rouged lips. “My sanctuary.”
“Where is this place?”
Another chuckle.
“Well, Sammie. I must say, I assumed you’d be a little smarter than this. Think about it love. It’s not like there are a lot of places we could possibly be.”
Rude.
“Oh come ON Sammie. I’m not rude. Just stating the obvious, that you seem to fail to be recognizing.”
“Wait, did you just read my thoughts … how?”
She sighed as she just glared at me as if I were missing something and remained silent.
Well, now I feel like an idiot.
“As you should.”
“Stop reading my thoughts!”
“That would be a rather difficult task considering don’t you think Especially seeing where we both are.”
Of course. How could I have not realized the obvious? She could read my own thoughts. Despite having her own separate persona, she was still a part of me.
“So, we’re inside my mind.”
“Ding Ding Ding Sammie! Someone finally gets it.” She retorted sardonically.
I glared at her. Despite being part of me, she really was a bitch. I assumed it was due to the fact that she lacked humanity. Otherwise, I had no other reasoning behind her cold demeanor.
“SO judgmental Sammie. Really?! Calling me a bitch? I am simply frank. I speak things as they are. I don’t feel the necessity for such futile things like emotions. Which you seem to try and cling too incessantly. We are vampires Sammie. I am your truest nature. Clearly, you didn’t expect me to sit around and coddle you.”
“Then why am I even here? Why did you bring me here?”
“I had to Sammie. It was the only way to protect us.”
“I’m not following.”
“Of course you aren’t. You were nearing your breaking point, so I needed to take care of things in order to prevent that.”
“So you were trying to protect me?”
“Yes and no. My motives were rather selfish, to be honest. I needed to prevent your mind from breaking in order to preserve my own existence. It could have been detrimental to us both, had you done so.”
“So this was all because of what happened with Justin?”
A fierce hiss escaped her lips. “Don’t you ever mention that piece of trash ever again! Besides, that scum has been disposed of, so you needn’t spare him a second thought ever again.”
“What do you mean .. disposed of?”
“Do you not remember? You called me Sammie. He was taunting you and you were so weak. He almost won. You begged me to help you and I did what you could not. I made him pay.”
“Oh. Well if you don’t mind my asking, why am I still here then. If it’s over, why am I not back with everyone?”
“I told you. I brought you here to protect us. Besides, you’re not completely out of the woods yet.”
“Ok. But you also said that Jus…he was dead. So what were you protecting us from if not him?”
“From your friends and from him.”
“What?”
She sighed and looked at me. Her dark piercing eyes looked as if they were debating on whether or not to answer my question.
“Your friends were conjuring up a memory spell. It was meant to eradicate any memories of the toad from your mind including everything he told you.”
“But I still remember all of it.”
“Because I brought you here. It was the only way. That spell would only have kept you weak Sammie. It would have removed your memory of me as well as the truth about our betrayal. I was not about to allow that to happen. You need those memories, as terrible as they are, to be able to get stronger. Rather than lingering on the pain, use it to feed your anger. It will only make us stronger. You need to embrace your darkness, our darkness, in order to gain strength and power for your revenge. That spell would have prevented you from reaching your fullest potential. This is why I brought you here to my sanctuary. The one part of your mind that I kept warded off where the witches’ spell could not reach us. Now you know why I had to keep you here. ”
I was speechless. Part of me hated that she kept me here and prevented my friends from eradicating these painful memories. Yet another part of me understood that she was right. Damn her.
She stood there observing me self-righteously. She obviously knew what I was thinking, thus the smug look on her face.
Can I just say there is nothing more annoying than looking at a snotty version of your own self?
Ish. Just Ish.
“Fine. Since the spell didn’t work on us what now?”
‘That’s easy. You go back.”
“And?”
“And pretend like nothing ever happened. You will need to feign ignorance with everyone. Remember Sammie, their intention was to remove the turd and all those memories from your mind. So you will need to act as such. Never show your weakness and prepare yourself.”
“I don’t...I don’t know … I don’t think I can.”
“Of course you can, I will help you every step of the way. Trust me.”
For some reason, her idea of help gave me the chills.
“How?”
“Same as last time. I am always here. If at any time you feel the memories are trying to break through your mental barriers, making you weak, then call on me and I will take over. Simple solution and none will be the wiser.”
“If I agree then I have a few conditions.”
She sighed as if I was annoying her yet again. “Fine, what are they?”
“If I do let you in the driver’s seat, you can’t harm any of my friends or my mate. And you have to make sure that they never realize that I am not in control. They must believe that I am still me.”
“Well, technically you are.”
“Not really.”
“How so?”
“Not to be rude, but you’re a lot bitchier than I am. And by a lot, I mean a LOT.”
She arched her perfectly manicured eyebrow glaring at me.
Hmph …Truth hurts don’t it.
“No Sammie. The truth, as you put it, doesn’t hurt. I just find it amusing that you have no clue that my personality is merely a reflection of your true nature. So, if I am a bitch then that would be because of your proclivity towards bitchiness.” She smirked.
Goddess, I hated her, which is so weird because she’s my own flippin’ self. Ugh! If this weren’t my own life, I’d swear I was stuck in some seriously messed up supernatural fantasy book.
I mean who's life is this whack?!
“Ok fine. Whatever. Seeing that I have these memories stuck with me anyway; I have no choice but to agree with you. But before I go back, I feel like we are going to be having more of these lovely interactions, so I wondered if it’d be ok if I gave you a name. I figured it would be easier to call on you that way.”
“Not that it makes any difference to me, but fine. Just call me Samantha.”
“Samantha?”
“Well yes. It’s our name and honestly, Sammie or Sam just sounds so childish. So yes, Samantha sounds fine. “
Again, with the rude. Ish.
“Fine. Samantha, it is. Anyways so now when can I get out of here? No offense, but I’d like to go back now.”
She looked at me with a completely blank expression and snapped her fingers immediately plunging me into obscurity.
Chapter 20
3rd Person POV
She felt her eyes slowly begin to flutter open. The light from the moon was the only thing providing any illumination within her room. Immediately she realized two things at that moment. One - she was back in her own bed and two - her appearance was no longer in the same condition as it was before things changed for her. A strong arm was wrapped around her slight frame and the sweet scent of peppermint, white chocolate, and whipped cream permeated her nostrils.
Devon.
Her mate was lying next to her.
Sammie carefully shifted onto her side gazing at the beautiful man cradling her in his arms. His ebony locks were disheveled, and dark circles adorned his lightly tanned appearance. Even in a deep sleep, his brow was furrowed. Sammie understood that his unkempt exterior was because of her, and it wounded her deeply.
She felt as if she had betrayed her mate. Even if Justin hadn’t done what he had, the fact remains that the supposed dream she had with Jareth was in fact no dream at all. According to Justin’s allegations, it was real, and she had been an all too willing participant. Maybe this was why Justin felt that he too had the right to lay claim over her. Was it possible that she could have prevented it had she not been so weak and blinded by her clearly mislaid loyalties towards her former sire and mate? The one who had pledged his undying devotion to her, who had gone so far as to sacrifice himself for her own salvation. Were Jareth’s actions merely a ruse to rid himself of Sammie’s presence from his life? Had she meant so little to him that he could violate her body and soul without a second thought?
She didn’t know.
All these questions festered within her like a tumultuous storm bubbling and writhing their way, skewing the person she believed herself to be. Obviously, she was clouded by her own inventions whilst justifying her encounter with Jareth as being a mere dream when in fact it had been a reality. One that she had rationalized as a carnal fabrication of her mind’s construct, easily brushed aside just as effortlessly as she had been by her former mate.
TWISTED FATES BOOK 2: EVEN MORE TWISTED Page 11