Red Moon Secrets (Deadly Beauties 3)

"You bastard! You don't fucking love me! All you want is to complete a prophecy that could end everything. Of course you do. Dark user. I'm so fucking stupid!"

His eyes narrow, his own rage now surfacing. "That's bullshit and you know it! How dare you tell me how I feel. I've been trying to find a way to tell you I love you for so long. I fell in love with you before I ever even kissed you. But you don't want to hear that. You're too stuck on the night stalker who does have his own intended mate. You're not going to destroy anything because I won't let you."

The hollow part of my chest becomes an endless abyss of nothingness. How many times can two men destroy me?

"Get out," I mutter in a barely audible whisper.

"Alyssa, don't do this. I realize you're scared, but this isn't all of the prophecy. You'll—"

"I said get out!" I say more forcefully, more tears falling from my eyes as I stare directly into his deceitful blues.

He looks to Drackus, but my silent father has already averted his eyes from the scene. Finally, Gage vaporizes from the room, leaving me in his wake. I stand there, barely understanding all that has just happened. It's like the depth of deceit only grows on a daily basis.

He wanted me to know because he thought it would provoke me to choose him. Instead, it only makes me all the more certain I shouldn't choose him. I ache for something though, and I don't know why. It's as if I've lost control of my mind and feelings.

"I'm going upstairs and sleeping this off," I mumble in a choked whisper.

"I'll come with you, honey," Mom says, rubbing her hand on my shoulder as she pulls me to her.

I just nod and try not to fall apart in her arms. She has an imposter posing as her, and I still don't know what happened. I need to know. Hell, I need a distraction.

"Why did they take you, and how did you get out?"

She sighs out as Drackus trails behind us.

"How about tea before you go to bed? There's a lot to tell."

I just nod, willing to accept anything to soothe me.

As Drackus sets a kettle on to boil, Mom pulls up a barstool and sits down beside me behind the counter.

"They took me from the training camp when I was getting ready for bed. I never heard them, felt them approaching, or even sensed a presence. A couple of words in a chanted spell knocked me on my ass like I've never been taken out before.

"I woke up in a cell; one with crested bars full of incantations engraved along the iron. It was complex and incredibly powerful – powerful enough to keep me imprisoned without fail.

"No one ever spoke to me, touched me, or even bothered to check on me. It's a good thing immortals can't starve to death, because I would have. I assume I'm only alive because they either couldn't kill me or they need something I hid with a spell.

"Drackus came for me two nights ago. He went to speak to me about you, and when the imposter spoke to him like a scorned lover—"

"I knew it wasn't her," he quickly interjects while pulling the whistling kettle from the stove. "No one knows how very much in contact your mother and I have stayed. Obviously, neither did the imposter."

"Apparently you two forgot to tell me, as well," I insert; not feeling too thrilled about that omission.

I've hated my father because I thought I was supposed to, and my mother has been on good terms with him? Why keep that a secret?

Mom ignores it as she continues. "The second I heard the screams and felt the power emanating around the room, I knew Drackus had come. He found a guy who knew how to undo the spells that had been cast to lock me away, and he tossed him in there to free me. I'll spare you some of the details, but he got me home."

"So you've been back for two days and you're just now telling me?"

"Honey, I didn't want you to know at all. Whatever is going on is big. They're looking for something, or they're trying to accomplish something from inside. I just don't know who to trust. I didn't want them catching on that you knew they were posing as me because I was afraid of putting you in danger. I should have known you'd figure it out. Frankie said you've been suspicious for a while."

"You told Frankie but not me?" I harp.

"I didn't tell Frankie; he figured it out. He's the one who helped Drackus locate me. He'd been sneaking in on the poser and listening in on conversations. He pieced together my whereabouts through several cryptic conversations. The second Drackus told him that woman wasn't me, he agreed."

"Wait. How did Drackus walk in without anyone knowing who he was?"

She laughs, smiling at him with dreamy eyes. "Your father knows a few spells to mask his identity for a few hours. He looked as light as anyone, and he was escorted in by Chaz, who he called ahead of time."