“Why are you doing this?” My voice came out small and frightened.
His eyes lost their hardness, as if the question caught him off guard, and he pulled back a little, confusion crinkling his face, guilt marking his eyes. He stepped back, running a hand through his hair, no longer looking at me, as if he, too, was stunned at his behavior. “I… Have a shower. I’ll get your clothes.”
With that, he gave me one more glance and opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again and walked out the door.
Chapter Four
Zane
What the fuck was wrong with me?
And how in hell had she gotten that name?
Fuck.
I stepped out onto the back porch. Clouds rolled in, swallowing up the sun, painting the sky a heavy grey. As if matching the storm of my thoughts, the wind picked up, but I stood there in T-shirt and jeans, no jacket, running my hands through my hair, staring out into the dense thicket of trees.
Was someone playing a sick game? She wouldn’t be a target. She couldn’t be.
But hell, her mother shouldn’t have been one either. Had Heather’s murder been an accident? Wrong place, wrong time? Killing Bryan wouldn’t have caused the war that started four years ago, but killing Heather? Fuck. I’d been so caught up with my own sense of betrayal that when I’d run, I’d left it all behind. I hadn’t allowed myself to think of it. Of the consequences. But now that Aria was here¸ now that she thought she knew the name of the killer?
Fuck.
Bryan’s murder had been planned and calculated, that was a fact, but what I hadn’t known was that it was the start of something bigger. It had to be because, after the murders, Aria had been protected. Hidden. I’d found her, but it hadn’t been easy. And hunting people was what I did. I’d had no intention of going near her though. My presence in Heather and Bryan’s lives was what had gotten them killed. But I’d wanted to see how well she’d been hidden and if she was protected.
Xander would have safeguarded his granddaughter. She was the last of his line. He had no more children or grandchildren. No more Alphas. With Xander aging, Rage, Savage Blood’s fiercest enemy pack, would be up for grabs unless another within their ranks proved powerful enough to take over.
When I’d been sent to find the Hales and insert myself within the family, befriending Bryan, I’d been made to understand that it was with the intention of initiating Bryan into Savage Blood, my pack, blocking any attempt by Rage to initiate him into theirs.
Bryan belonged to both packs. He was the grandson of Rage’s Alpha, Xander, and his father, Derek, was next in line as Alpha of Savage Blood. The union between Heather and Derek had begun the process of healing, of uniting the packs. But decades of war between them meant there was opposition to that union on all sides.
But then Derek had been ambushed and killed, ending any hopes for union, for peace. I’d been a kid then, but my suspicions as to who had ordered his killing made my stomach turn.
Heather had then taken Bryan and Aria and run, severing all ties with her family and with the pack. What I had done, the lies I had told to make her trust me, shamed me now. I was a monster who deserved to rot in hell for what I had caused. I was just as guilty as the two who carried out the killings. The blood of Bryan and Heather Hale would forever stain my hands.
And now Aria had found me. She’d sought me out. If she learned what I’d done, she’d probably take that switchblade and push it into my chest.
And she’d be right to.
Yet, all I could think about when I was near her was sinking my fucking dick inside her. The pull was irresistible.
“Where are my clothes?”
I turned to find Aria standing in the doorway holding up her towel with one hand and clutching her boots with the other, the knuckles of both hands white. She glared at me, still obviously pissed. Wet hair hung around her and she shivered as the cold wind blew. I looked at her, at the parts of her the towel didn’t cover, and it took effort to return my gaze to hers.
“Inside.” I’d been so wrapped up in my thoughts I hadn’t even heard her coming up behind me.
She went in and I followed. It took all I had to focus on the floor and not her ass. Sliding the door closed behind me, I went into the laundry room and grabbed her things from the dryer. But when I turned to hand them to her, she was standing so close I almost ran into her.
Aria Hale wasn’t sixteen anymore, and everything about her appealed to the darker part of me. But she was innocent. Underneath that tough exterior she really wasn’t pulling off, she was innocent and she deserved a life. A normal one. My gaze traveled to her shoulder and arm, to the tattoo of the black rose, of the graveyard there. It didn’t belong on her body. Something so ugly shouldn’t have ever touched her.
But it had.
It wouldn’t have, if it hadn’t been for you.
“I’m…I’m sorry if I scared you earlier.” It took two tries to say it, my throat had gone so dry.
Her eyes widened, searching mine, and I could see the hurt there, the confusion, all the fucking questions she had every right to ask. “I just want to understand why.” Her face crumpled as she said it, her eyes filling with tears. She sniffled, lowering her lashes to hide those tears, wiping what had fallen with the back of her hand. “I need to know, Zane.”
Seeing her now, having her here, it brought up all the things I’d been able to keep buried for six years, and I didn’t like it. I wasn’t ready for it. Probably never would be. When she faced me again and I saw the hardness that had replaced all the soft, it cut me. I was the cause of that. I was the cause of her suffering.
“Get dressed. You’ll catch a cold.” That was all I could say.
“I’m not getting dressed in front of you.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Aria. Besides, I saw all I needed to see last night when you were passed out drunk and I had to clean you up.” I was being an asshole, words coming out of my mouth I didn’t want to speak.
“Get a good eyeful, Zane?” She reddened as she said it.
“Sure did.” I grinned, making a point of scanning all the soft, pretty flesh the tiny towel didn’t hide, hating myself for being a prick. “In there.” I pointed to the living room and made my way to the kitchen. Pouring a cup of lukewarm coffee I wouldn’t drink, I waited. She came inside a few minutes later and stood on the other side of the counter. “More coffee?”
“I don’t get why you’re so pissed at me. I mean, really, did you think I would just pick up and go on without any thought as to what happened? Did you think I’d be okay not knowing why my mother and brother were killed? They were all I had.”
Guilt ate at me, but I had to push on. I had to be a callous jerk to keep her safe. She needed to drop this and she needed to be as far away from me as possible. People got killed around me, and I could not have her blood on my hands. Not hers.
“Case was closed, Aria. The killers were found.”
“Dead.”
“Isn’t that the best way?”
“No, not for me. You were Bryan’s best friend. I would think you’d want to know why.”
That twisted my heart because I already knew. It had been eating at me for six long years. “I’m not the person you thought I was, Aria. Not the person Bryan thought I was.” I turned away. “You need to go.”
“Why did you run away that night?”
I poured my coffee into the sink before facing her again. “How did you get that name?”
“You don’t answer any of my questions. Why should I answer yours?”
I advanced around the counter, moving into her space. “Consider it your thank you for saving your ass last night.”
“Why do you care anyway? I mean, what was it you said? There’s no power in understanding?”
“I’m not trying to understand anything. I’m asking you for a fact.” I wasn’t afraid of her finding Obsidian. She wouldn’t because he no longer existed.
“I got a letter on my
last day of school.”
“From?” So someone had found her, and a new game was in play.
“I’m not sure. It was a typewritten, anonymous note. No return address. No nothing.”
“Where is it?”
“In my car.”
“Have you told anyone you were coming to find me?”
“Who would I tell?” She made an incredulous face.
“Your grandfather.”
“How do you know about him?”
“Your mom had mentioned him once or twice,” I lied.
“Funny, she never mentioned him to me.”
“Does he know where you are, Aria?”
“No. No one does. I’ve been searching for you ever since I left school.”
“And how did you find me?”
“It wasn’t easy but it also wasn’t impossible.”
Hell, maybe I’d wanted her to find me all along.
“Or maybe it’s like you said. Maybe I’ve become some sort of vigilante.” She tossed my words at me, but all it proved was I’d gotten to her.
“Sit down.” I pointed to a chair.
“I’m good.” She folded her arms across her chest.
“I said sit.”
“I’m not a dog.”
I snorted at her spunk and stepped closer, taking up some of her space. At my six foot five, the physical difference between us was marked, and on top of that, I’d scared her earlier. Yet, here she was, standing up to me.
But she was still going to do as she was told. Picking her up by her arms, I sat her down on the wooden stool and held her there.
“Ow!”
“When I tell you to sit, you fucking sit.”
“Fuck you.”
I leaned in close so our foreheads touched. “Careful.” I squeezed her arms, making my point.
“You’re different. What happened to you, Zane?”
“Life.” I released her, but she stayed put. She wasn’t going to like what I had to say next, but it was the only thing to do. “I’ve been thinking about what to do with you…”
“You don’t have to think about what to do with me. I’m not some runaway kid.”
She had no clue. “No, you’re not, but you also don’t understand what’s going on or the danger you’re possibly in.”
“What do you mean?”
“Someone sent you that note anonymously. Why do you think that is?”
From the look on her face, she hadn’t considered that.
“Did you never ask yourself why?”
“It was the first piece of information I had about what happened. The police wouldn’t tell me anything. I was too young. And my grandfather effectively locked me up at that school to ‘keep me safe’ as he said. Well, his letters said anyway. It’s not like I ever met the man. So, when I got that note, all I could think was that it was my first clue.”
She didn’t know anything, not a thing about where she came from. About what pulsed through her veins. Was it right to keep her in the dark? Wouldn’t she search for the rest of her life if I didn’t help her? Wouldn’t she just keep going? Get herself into trouble eventually? I had a feeling she had a knack for finding it.
“The murderers were killed. It was just a robbery gone wrong.”
“I don’t believe that and I don’t think you do either. Bryan’s notes and books were all that was missing. Like whoever did it was trying to hide something. And the way they did it, like the killers had been…angry.” Her voice broke at that. But I couldn’t address that. I couldn’t give weight to her thoughts.
“You’re wrong on the theft. Bryan burned his own notebooks, his diaries.”
She stared at me, confused, trying to understand, and I felt like shit.
“There was more going on than I can tell you, that’s all I can say. Your grandfather, it’s his place…”
“He has no place in my life,” she snapped, cutting me off. “He abandoned me.” She hopped off the seat. “I tracked you down because I thought you’d help me. I thought you cared about Bryan. About all of us.”
“Aria —”
“I’m done here. It was a mistake and a waste of time thinking you’d help me. Just take me back to my car.”
My cell phone rang then, interrupting. I picked it up off the counter and answered when I saw it was Fly.
“What’s up, Fly?”
“Z, you still got the girl at your place?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Someone broke into her car.”
“Broke in?”
“You’re going to want to come out here and check this out for yourself.”
I glanced at Aria. “What is it? They take something?”
“More what they left behind.”
Chapter Five
Aria
“Stay here, I need to run out.”
“What? Where?” Zane had grabbed his jacket and keys and was heading toward the front door, but before he could get out, I caught his arm. “Where are you going?”
He stopped and half-turned, glancing at my hand wrapped around the leather of his jacket. “To the bar.”
“What’s happening?”
He sighed. “Someone broke into your car last night.”
“They broke in?”
He nodded.
“I’m going with you.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I’ll just come on foot if you don’t take me.”
“I doubt you have a clue where you are.”
“I will not stay here. It’s my car, damn it!” He was hiding something from me. “Stop telling me what I can and cannot do. I’ve had enough of that.”
He sighed, considering. “Fine. Get your jacket.”
I nodded and ran up the stairs to the room I’d spent the night in, found my jacket, and ran back down. Zane opened the door, letting me out. Worry creased his brow, and he didn’t speak as we got into the truck. He lived in an even more remote location than the bar because it took us twenty minutes to even get on a paved road and even then, we only passed one gas station along the way. Once at the bar, I saw two motorcycles parked outside, along with my little Miata, its soft top torn to shreds.
“Oh no. Who would have done this?” I asked.
Zane parked next to the building and climbed out, never taking his eyes off the car. Fly walked out of the bar and nodded a greeting to me.
“Go inside, Aria,” Zane said.
“No. I want to know what’s going on. You can’t expect me to just blindly trust you.”
Fly muttered something as he joined us. Zane turned to me, opened his mouth then closed it again and nodded. “Okay. Fine.” He seemed annoyed, but we walked over together and I realized as soon as we were close enough to see inside why he was trying to keep me from it. What he was hoping to prevent me from seeing. And seeing it made me stop dead in my tracks, memories of that night six years ago rushing back. The glimpse of my mother’s body, lying in a pool of blood. My brother near her, the violence done him making me queasy even now. The detective had yelled for someone to get me out of there, but it was too late. The images were burned into my mind. And that was the reason for the black rose on my arm. Bryan had been covered with them. Dozens of black roses strewn across his body — not my mother’s, just his. And there, in the driver’s seat of my car, lying on shards of broken glass, was a single black rose, thorns intact, the flower terrifying in its perfection.
Zane picked it up, turning to me, the look in his eyes telling me all I needed to know. I took a step back and felt Fly’s gaze on me as I shook my head.
“Have you seen the security footage yet?” Zane asked him.
Fly shook his head. “Camera was vandalized.”
“Of course.”
“What does this mean?” I asked, although the answer to that question churned in my gut.
I stared at the rose in Zane’s hand.
“It means they’re not finished,” he said, snapping the rose in half and throwing it to the ground, smashing
it beneath his foot before returning his gaze to mine. “It never was finished.”
* * *
For the longest time after the night of the murders, all I’d felt was anger, a hot, growing rage inside me. It gave me strength to go on, to stop feeling sorry for myself and think of something else, something much more important: revenge. It was what had kept me going for so many years. Fear had always been there, in the background. If it hadn’t been for Zane, if it hadn’t been for him taking me to that hotel, I’d be dead now, too.
It had been building for months, this crazy attraction between us. He’d been so responsible all along. He was my brother’s best friend. He was eighteen. I was sixteen. But it was undeniable, like this thing with us, it chased us, it never let up no matter how hard he tried to resist it. Me? I’d never even tried to fight it. Not once. And that night, he’d given in. We’d been at a hotel the night my mother and brother were murdered. He’d stopped just short of taking what I so desperately wanted to give him, but the things we’d done — I had never felt like that before or since.
When we’d gotten home, it had been surreal. The street had been alive with police lights, sirens sounding in the distance still on their way to the scene. I remembered now the feeling of disbelief, of utter helplessness as I walked up to the house, every part of me shaking, tears already streaming down my face. I’d walked in through the open front door. So many people around, and no one had stopped me. They were all too busy processing the scene. And I’d walked in to find them lying like that, blood everywhere, more blood than I’d even imagined possible. And the roses…all those roses.
I knew what Zane wasn’t saying, what that black rose meant. It was a warning.
No, a promise.
A promise of death.
My death.
“Aria? You okay?” Zane tilted my face up to his. “Aria?”
We were inside the bar. Fly set a glass of water in front of me then took a seat.
“Did they take anything?”
“I don’t know,” Zane said, glancing at Fly.
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