by Chrissy Jaye
“I ran,” I said softly. I was so stupid. So, so, so stupid. I’d been given one directive by my guardian and I hadn’t listened. None of this would have happened if I’d listened. And fuck… those damn cards. That cat knew somehow that this would happen and tried to warn me. I couldn’t take all the blame for it. Evan’s weird obsession with me was most of it, but it didn’t alleviate my guilt. “I…” My gaze swept over the five of them who were crowded around me. I settled my tired gaze on Payton. “Thank you. I…”
Her eyes softened and looked away. “I don’t expect you to trust me ever again. Evan… this wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“What wasn’t supposed to happen?” Lucien finally spoke. His voice was low, barely above a whisper. He didn’t sound angry like the others. Just tired. “If your people had just left her alone, we could have…” He stopped himself abruptly and spun away from us to pace around the kitchen.
“We thought she was alone. My Mom caught wind of her file and we thought we were saving her from other covens. We weren’t the only ones who knew about her,” Payton said pleadingly. She was speaking to Lucien, but her eyes were on me. She wanted to explain it for me.
“Fucking witches,” Flynn bit out. “You made a deal for her, didn’t you?”
“No,” Payton said, shaking her head. “There was no deal. We just made sure she was near our community and, yes, I admit that we wanted to draw her into the coven, but we weren’t going to force her.”
“How do you explain your fucking boy then?” Flynn shouted, flinging his hands around. Ben walked over, placing a hand on Flynn shoulder. “How do you explain the fucking spells we found on her.”
Payton paled, opening her mouth to speak but Flynn cut her off as he brushed Ben’s hand off and stalked toward her. “You can’t. You thought you were protecting her, but you weren’t. You just put her closer to some psycho who wants to use her until she’s fried.”
“No, that isn’t true,” Payton said, anger coloring her tone. “Emma found out about the spells at a doctor’s appointment. Evan never touched her after that first time. We made sure of it. It was his uncle who put those on her during what should have been just a routine exam. And get off your fucking high horse. Everyone knows what your kind does to spares. You think we don’t know how fucking sick your council is? I wanted to keep Livvy from that fate.” She was up in his face by the time she was done shouting.
I sat there shocked, but something nagged at me. “What do you mean spares?”
“The ones without their twin. They use them, study them. Emma was a fucking science project for years before being sent to help you. And only because she should have belonged to your little family. They didn’t love her,” Payton spat.
“That’s not true—” Lucien said as he charged across the room and shook Payton by the arms. “We loved her. Get the fuck out of our house.” He was seething as he shoved her toward the doorway. She stumbled but managed to catch herself on the frame.
“Do you want me to go?” she asked, locking eyes with me, as if someone hadn’t just shoved her. Carefully, I surveyed the others, reading their anger and trying to reconcile myself between the girl who cared about Payton and the woman I was trying to be. Did I want her to leave? No… not really, but it wasn’t up to me. Not after what she said about Emma. I walked around the house every day and saw the shadow of grief on my Circle’s faces. How devastated they were. They pushed it aside when I was around, but it was still there.
I looked down at my legs. There was a tear in my leggings I hadn’t noticed, and the exposed skin was scratched to shit. “I think that…we should talk when everyone’s calmed down, but for now you should go. Text my brother a number I can reach you at.”
Her only response was a single nod. She reached into the pocket of her jeans, pulling out a thin silver chain and tossed it. The piece of jewelry slid across the counter until it hit my thigh. I recognized it instantly. My mother’s bracelet. I looked up, lip trembling as Liam escorted her from the room.
Chapter 22
After a scalding hot shower, a tense meeting with everyone who’d been away, and the attack still on my mind, I’d laid for hours in the oppressive darkness of my room. My only comfort was the sound of breathing, spread out either on the bed or on another mattress. Flynn had taken it from his own bed and deposited on the floor of my room. I’d watched in equal parts fascination and discomfort when he’d pinned me with his eyes and all but dared me to challenge him.
All my fight had fled me after I had put on the bracelet. I was never letting it off my wrist after almost losing it forever. As for the others, I was too tired to push them all away. Moreover, I didn’t want too. It had taken a long time for my hands to stop trembling. And that was only because Kieran did his magic and healed me. Physical shock had a lot to do with it.
When sleep did come, it was fitful. I woke several times with a scream dying on my lips, covered in sweat, and soft reassurances that I was safe. Finally, Kieran demanded we keep a light on. After that, things were easier on everyone.
I woke in the morning to quiet conversation around me. I drifted with their voices for a few moments before I started to listen.
“I don’t understand why they want her so bad and not Vian,” Lucien questioned.
“You’ve seen the file the council doctors sent back. She’s powerful. Anyone even remotely sensitive would be drawn to her,” Flynn muttered.
“They still haven’t made a counter move,” Ben said. “Eventually, they’re going to want to see her in action. If they even think she’s one of the Vanished, they’ll take her.”
“There’s absolutely no proof in our mother’s records that she was carrying triplets,” Vian replied heatedly. “I still haven’t talked to her about our parents yet. Every time we think we’re going to get a break, something else happens and it never feels like the right time.”
“Shh, you’re going to wake her,” Brooke said as my hair was smoothed from my face. I recognized her touch instantly and tried not to tense up.
A heavy masculine sigh sounded and shifted in the sheets. “What I want to know is why she was alone in the first place. You never answered that, Flynn,” Liam said in a dark tone.
There was silence as the tension in the room ramped up, but I only had to wonder for a second whether Flynn would answer. “I fucking kissed her, okay?” Flynn admitted.
Everyone groaned quietly. I heard rustling before Kieran spoke up, “Where are you going, Luc?”
“Away from him before I deck him,” he replied. I heard the door open and shut.
“If you screw this up, Flynn, so help me, I will kick your ass,” Liam said darkly. “We have a plan.”
“Your plan is complete shit,” Brooke scoffed. The bed dipped and I imagined her crawling to the edge and getting up as well. “The five of you should have been upfront from the start.”
“It’s not your decision,” Ben said quietly. “She’s not ready for that sort of thing. She barely trusts us as it is.”
I decided then to stir, having heard enough. Why they decided my bedroom was the best place to have secret meetings about me—with me in the room, no less—was beyond me. Anything I wanted to know later, I was going to ask Brooke or my brother about.
When I opened my eyes, I saw everyone had either climbed to their feet or was already leaving the room. Well, everyone except Liam and Flynn. Asshole himself sat at the end of the bed, giving me a death glare while Liam leaned against my dresser, not looking at me but staring daggers at Flynn.
“You are in so much trouble, Princess,” Flynn said, his eyes dark with promise.
Kieran turned at the doorway and marched back across the room. “Don’t fucking start with her.”
“You can’t be serious,” Flynn said as his twin glowered down at him. “She should know what she did.”
“I do know,” I said quickly. His words probably should have angered me, but they didn’t. I completely understood it. “I shouldn’t have run. It
was reckless.” I sat up and brushed my curls out of my face, only to notice the bruises on my arms. Kieran had healed the cuts and the shock, but the bruises must not have shown up last night. They were glaring at me against the pallor of my skin. I could ask him to take care of them, but I wanted to keep them. Not only as proof to my own foolishness, but also because it proved I’d fought. I looked at Kieran. Knowing that was important to me. “No matter how upset I was last night, I knew better than to be alone out there.”
Flynn sat back with a smug smile and looked up at his brother who’d crossed his arms to lean against the post of my bed. “I’m glad you’re able to be mature about it. But he doesn’t have shit to be proud of here.” With that said, Kieran grab his brother by the arm and dragged him out of the room.
With a covert glance, I looked to the last man standing. Liam still leaned against the dresser, not looking at me.
“Are you mad too?” I asked quietly as I picked my way out of the sheets and pillows that were scattered around me.
“Not at you,” he said after a long minute. “You should get ready for the day. We’re going to train.”
“Okay,” I replied, letting out a breath.
“Why didn’t you use what you knew?” he asked.
I stopped short and sat back on the bed. “I…” Why hadn’t I used any powers to help me? “I wasn’t thinking,” I finally said.
He nodded. “Get dressed, Kitten. Today is going to kill. Have Kier take care of those bruises.” With that, he marched out of the room, not even sparing me a parting glance. A heavy feeling settled in my chest as I thought about what Kieran had said the other day about Liam and Lucien’s past.
The day did kill, just as Liam promised. By the end of it, I was physically exhausted. So much so that I managed to blacken a quarter of the yard which irritated Flynn beyond belief. He’d been surly all day, either barking orders at me or getting into heated debates with the others.
It finally came to a head shortly before dinner when I’d had enough. I watched as everyone headed inside, still stretching out my tired and sore limbs as Flynn repaired the damage I’d done to the grass.
The sliding glass door was barely closed before Flynn hoisted me up and set me in his lap with my back against his front before speaking quietly into my ear. “I know you have things you’re working on in that brain of yours. Trust being the major one. But you cannot run from me ever again, no matter how pissed off you are. If you stopped to observe beyond yourself for one minute, you’d realize we’re trying to help you.”
“I…” I never got to finish what I wanted to say. One second, I was sitting on his lap and in the next I was sprawled across it before his hand smacked down on my ass, knocking the breath from my lungs. Then he smoothed his hand over the now stinging area, eliciting tingles that spread throughout my body like wildfire. Heat pooled between my legs. I lay there stunned for a second before I realized what had happened.
A feral scream left my throat as I tore out of his arms and sprawled backward on the lawn. “Don’t you ever fucking hit me again!” I choked out as he smirked at me. Tears burned in my eyes as confusion barreled through me. Slowly, his arrogance dripped away as he realized he’d done something wrong, that he’d hurt me.
“Liv, I—”
“Go inside, Olivia,” Liam barked as he charged toward Flynn. I didn’t need to be told twice as I scrambled up and headed for the door, determined not to cry about this. I knew I deserved to be lectured about what happened the night before but not what he’d done.
I heard the yelling before I made it to the door, but I didn’t turn around. “If you ever put your hands on her again like that without her permission, I will ruin you,” Liam snapped.
“I wasn’t thinking,” Flynn said back.
“You’re damn right—”
The words muted as I slammed the door shut behind me, making the glass rattle in its frame, and charged through the dining room into the kitchen.
“Olive?”
I didn’t pause to explain to any of them. With a hand, I waved toward the back door and raced from the room. By the sounds from behind me, I knew at least one or two of them were following me, but more feet thundered toward the back. I couldn’t get into my room fast enough.
Once there, I slammed the door shut in Lucien and Brooke’s shocked faces. With a glare and a wave of my arm, the stereo flared to life. Music blared from the speakers, drowning out the knocking that started on my door. It was a fitting song, one that spoke of pain and heartbreak. I broke down then, wracked with sobs. I ended up on the far side of my bed with my butt on the floor as I hugged myself. Time drifted, music changed, the knocking stopped. Sunlight slipped away and the room grew dark. I cried on and off. Broke apart and went about picking up the pieces and trying to fit them back together again.
I questioned my reaction to what he’d done. Yes, he’d hit me, and it had hurt, but for a moment, I’d liked it. More than liked it. But afterward, when all that shame came crashing in, I’d wanted to die. I hated myself for liking it. Was I so twisted in the head that any sort of affection would do?
No. I shrugged those thoughts aside. Not even a day ago, I’d been brutally attacked and nothing but terror had filled me. So, what made it different? Was it because it was Flynn and I expected him to be an asshole? Why was it that I was more affected by a guy spanking me than someone trying to force themselves on me? I had to be fucked in the head.
Eventually, my legs grew stiff and my hunger started to gnaw at me. A gentle stillness had surrounded me, but my body protested to being in one position too long. Slowly, I climbed to my feet to check the clock. With a scream, I fell back when I saw the shadowed figure of someone sitting on the other side of my bed.
The light clicked on to reveal Lucien. “Sorry, Doll. Didn’t mean to scare you,” he said quietly.
I clutched at my chest, waiting for my heart to start beating normally again. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
He offered me a sad smile. “It was some time during the Halsey portion of your playlist. I’m sorry for the intrusion. I know you wanted to be alone but no one… The Clone’s mother suggested you shouldn’t be totally on your own right now.”
My eyes widened. “Who?” A small amount of mortification filtered through me.
“Mrs. Chadwick, my adopted mom, Kieran and…” he eyed me as he trailed off. I got the impression he didn’t want to mention Flynn. “They live down the road. There was a pretty big altercation earlier and we needed a mediator.”
“By altercation, you mean?”
“Liam and Flynn got into a fist fight. Kieran broke them up, but he was pretty close to finishing the job once we heard why they were fighting. Ameris—Mrs. Chadwick—works as a counselor, both here and off the island. Anyway, that’s not important. She just has experience with abused—fuck!” He dropped his head into his hands. “I’m not saying any of this right.”
“She was worried I’d try to hurt myself,” I finished for him, unsurprised. “No, I wouldn’t ever consider that. I may be a bit fucked in the head, but I couldn’t do that to my brother.” When he looked up, his eyes shone with unshed tears that nearly broke me. The pain he felt was so evident that I climbed over the bed and wrapped my arms around him. “I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I’m so sorry I scared you. I just needed time to process.”
He held onto me for a few minutes while I ran a hand through his hair. When he pulled away, his eyes were clear, if a bit red. “Nothing to apologize for. Just… we were scared. Brooke had to drag Vian out of the house because he was so angry. They’re staying at her parents for the night, maybe longer. This is the worst fight we’ve ever had,” he said with a forced chuckle.
My heart clenched with guilt. I’d promised not to cause them more problems. My lip trembled. Already, I was separating them. The words were on the tip of my tongue, to tell Luc I should leave, but I knew he’d fight me on it. If I had to do it, it would be without telling any of them. “I should call
him. Let him know I’m okay,” I said softly.
“Are you though?” He worried his bottom lip, waiting for my answer.
The question brought me up short. People asked all the time, but it always sounded like they were asking out of habit more than genuine care or concern. With Luc, I could see how much my answer meant to him. It was because of that look in his eyes that I took my time to consider it, to search for a real answer other than fine.
“No, not really,” I admitted, pursing my lips. “But… I think I will be.” I reached forward, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze. “Just give me time to figure it out.”
He pulled on my arm as a small smile spread across his lips. I let him drag me into his lap where he buried his face in my hair. “Time’s all I’m asking for,” he breathed softly. So softly, I almost didn’t hear it.
Chapter 23
“As much fun as it is to have you to myself,” Lucien said, “we should probably go talk out our problems like adults. Plus, you haven’t eaten since lunch and it’s getting late.”
I groaned, already rolling off the side of the bed. “I’m really not that hungry,” I lied out of habit as we walked out of my room.
“That’s because you killed half the yard. But stealing energy from the ground isn’t a replacement for food,” he lectured. “I have a theory. If you ate properly, you probably would have more control over that. You get tired because your body doesn’t have enough calories to keep you going.”
“You sound like Ben,” I retorted, sticking out my tongue.
He pulled me to a halt at the top of the stairs and slowly pressed me up against the wall, crowding into my space. He regarded me for a moment, watching my reaction. My stomach flipped as his head bent toward me until his mouth was right next to my ear. “A small tip. Don’t offer your tongue to a bunch of horny men.” He pressed a chaste kiss to the skin just under my ear before he backed off and gave me a meaningful look that had my retort dying in my throat.