“There’s the pain you love so much,” she says as she steps over me, leaving me curled in a motherfucking fetal position as I groan and try to resist the urge to retch. “Have fun holding onto it,” she adds as she disappears from the room.
The fucking princess just kneed me in the balls and stepped over me on her way out, a major lycan show of disrespect. It’s been ages since anyone disrespected me without fear in their eyes.
I killed plenty of people in the rings for trying, and I had on the heaviest chains.
Snorting out a laugh turns out to be a miserable idea, since she’s left my balls in agony. Letting off another groan, I get up a little slowly, and feel the sensation of my body healing itself.
I dematerialize, landing just outside her house and look through the window as she appears in their living room, slower than me to get here. I pull my journal from my back pocket, then put it back, not ready to read it yet, even though I feel like I should.
Leaning up against a tree, I exhale heavily, feeling the breeze kicking off the lake. She pauses in front of the incubus, who is lounging on the couch. I’m only able to hear her because of the door that is propped open.
“Why do you still look ridiculous?” she asks him as he startles, dropping his cup of tea that shatters on the ground.
“Why do you look like you just hitchhiked your way across the country and ate the truck drivers who tried to cop a feel as payment?” he volleys, eyes incredulous as he scans her. “Hashtag—bloodthirsty feminist serial killer,” he adds.
Dice twirls one of his pigtails as he looks over her, shaking his head.
“Where’s everyone else?” she asks, going to shut the door.
I step into the shadows, not drawing her attention as she does so.
It seals their conversation in with the soundproofing spell I hate. I constantly break through their barrier spells so I can raise a window. She doesn’t even realize how much worse this bond is on me than her.
“I guess immortal vision keeps you from carrying around conspicuous binoculars,” comes a smooth voice from my right.
My eyes close as my jaw grinds, because I can’t believe I just let Kane sneak up on me. Trying not to react too rashly, I simply cut my eyes to find him leaning against another tree, hands in his pockets.
“It occurred to me today that Alyssa and I have spent so much time panicking about our upcoming defenseless child’s birth, that we’ve both completely missed everything Ella’s been struggling through on her own. We sure as hell haven’t made it any easier on her either, and it’s the simple-mindedness we swore we’d never fall prey to.”
“Didn’t know you were expecting,” I lie, not touching all that other shit he just rambled on about.
He gives me a dubious look. “Kya is loyal to you in so many ways, but she’s loyal to Chaz too. And he’s loyal to Alyssa. I know you know.”
“Sounds like everyone is more loyal to someone else.”
“No. We just have a long history of trusting each other, though I imagine Chaz has kept some things from me just as Kya has kept some from you.”
I say nothing, letting my eyes go back to track Ella’s movements through the house. She closes the curtains to her bedroom, sealing herself off from me, probably to block out what little light is left in the day.
“You trust Ella so much you let her fall into the hands of a Type A incubus yesterday, all to distract me while you went after Gavin, and she was just your pawn,” I say as I turn and give him all my attention, a subtle, unbidden growl escaping me.
He looks down and clears his throat.
“If I’d known any such was residing there, I would have eradicated him myself. Dice said you killed him already.”
I’d rather not sit here with idle chitchat. He’ll always defend his actions, just as I’ll always defend mine. Instead, I cut to the valid point I need to make.
“I can knock Hannah out of Gavin’s witch, but it’s one shot and that’s it. If I miss, I won’t have the extra juice to do it again. Tell him that if he hasn’t already escaped again,” I say with a fuck-off smile before turning and starting to dematerialize.
“Ella is more loyal to you than she realizes, and she would have inevitably have either told you we were distracting you, or she’d have tried to make you see it our way. Or maybe she’d have said nothing and dealt with—”
“Ella would have done whatever you asked her too because her loyalties aren’t split,” I tell him. “She’s fighting battles for everyone, while dealing with a darkness that will take her centuries to truly master and control. That’s what you’re not seeing.”
My words turn into a growl on the last sentence, and I have to clear my throat.
He looks confused, so I face him again, taking a threatening step toward him. “Ella can think for herself. She knows exactly where to find Alton right now.”
The surprise on his face lets me know Kya hasn’t betrayed me. They had no clue she was hiding him.