Twisted

TWENTY-NINE

BY THE TIME ADEN TEXTED to set the meeting place and time, Riley had already procured another room, was cleaned and bandaged, Victoria was awake, showered and changed, and she was pretty bruised up. Mary Ann was showered, changed and pissed. At herself, as well as everyone around her.

Tucker was dead, killed in the most violent, vile way, and no one seemed to care. She hadn’t thought she would care. He’d caused so much pain and suffering—and would have caused more. But part of her mourned him. Mourned the boy she’d once known. The boy who had treated her with respect and kindness and made her feel pretty. The boy who would never know his kid.

How was she going to break this to Penny? She’d have to call, have to tell her. Just not now. Maybe after her own grief had settled.

Mary Ann didn’t blame Aden for what had happened. If he hadn’t killed the boy, Riley would have. There was simply no middle ground with these creatures. It was either kill or be killed.

What had happened to a good old-fashioned locked-away-for-the-rest-of-eternity punishment?

Adding to her sense of anger was Riley’s treatment of her. Yes, he’d offered his beast, but she never would have taken it had she been coherent.

If Riley wanted to end things with her, he could end things with her. However, he was going to have to tell her straight out. No more giving her the silent treatment, then defending her “honor” with such fury, as if he still cared. No more keeping her at a distance, then looking at her as if she’d make a tasty snack.

If things were over, things were over. She needed to know—and cut all ties.

She loved him, she wanted him in her life, but she deserved to be treated right. That’s why she’d broken up with Tucker, because he hadn’t treated her right. She couldn’t change her mind about that now, just because she craved Riley more than her next breath.

She wouldn’t die without him. She knew that. She would miss him, yes, and would probably cry herself to sleep for weeks. But in the end, she would be okay. Right?

Next time she got Riley alone, they were going to hash this out.

They walked the few blocks to the meeting place, the parking lot of a deserted warehouse. Not much traffic this way, which was always a good thing. The sun was setting, shadows cast in every direction. Another good thing.

“I wonder if Aden is—” Victoria began, then stopped on a gasp.

Aden simply appeared. In a blink, he was hunched over and fighting for breath.

He could teleport. He. Could. Teleport. When the heck had that happened?

“That’s…a little more…difficult than I…imagined,” he panted.

“Aden!” Victoria rushed to him.

He straightened, and by the time she reached him, his arms were open to her. She threw herself at him, and he hugged her tight, burying his face in her neck. She winced a little, obviously hurting from her injuries.

“Are you okay?” he asked her. Having almost lost each other must have trumped whatever he’d been angry about.

“Yes. Just a little bump on the head when Tucker threw me into the wall. Are you?”

“I’m fine. I’m sorry I was so mad at you. I should have—”

“No. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I can’t believe—”

“I was jealous, but if I’d just stopped—”

Lord above, they were talking over each other, making eavesdropping very difficult.

Victoria cupped his cheeks. “You have no reason to be jealous, I promise. It was a onetime thing, and it will never happen again. It wasn’t even very good.”

Mary Ann had no idea what they were blabbering about, but Riley must have because he mumbled something about “not his fault” and “better than good, as always.”

Took a moment, but something clicked inside Mary Ann’s head. Onetime thing. Never happen again. Not very good. Better than good.

Sex.

Glaring, she wheeled around. The wind blew, causing several strands of hair to Swan Lake over his eyes. He had his arms crossed over his chest, the pose casual and unconcerned.

“You told me the two of you had never been involved!” She threw the words at him as if they were weapons.

To his credit, he didn’t pretend not to know what she was asking. “We slept together one time. That’s not exactly an involvement.”

Then what was? “Is there anyone you haven’t slept with?”

There was no change in his blasé expression. He shrugged. “Just an unlucky few, but that just means I haven’t met them yet.”

“Really? You’re using sarcasm now? Really?”

“What do you want me to say, Mary Ann?”

“When did it happen? Tell me that much.”

“Before I met you.”

And that made it okay? “What about before you dated her sister?”

A nod, as if he didn’t hear—or didn’t care—about her disgust. “Yes. Before then. I’ve never cheated on a girlfriend, and I never will, so this argument is pointless.” Pointless.

“Screw you,” she said. Then, “Oh, wait. Fifty percent of the people in this circle already have!” Her math was off, but she didn’t care. No wonder she’d always been so jealous when she watched him with Victoria. No wonder the pair was always at ease with each other. They’d seen each other naked! And once tasted, forbidden fruit was that much easier to taste a second time. And a third.

Mary Ann was proof of that. How many times had she made out with Riley when she shouldn’t have?

“Look, it was awkward, all right?” Now he was the one throwing words like weapons. “Like she said, there’s not going to be a repeat performance.”

Again, as if that made everything okay. “Why don’t I sleep with Aden, then, and we’ll see how pointless—”

Riley leaned down, getting in her face, all hint of placating her gone. “You will not sleep with Aden.” There was so much fury in the undercurrents of his rasping voice, she felt the brush of it all the way to the bone.

She could only blink in surprise. Now, here was a reaction she hadn’t expected from him. It meant he still cared about what she did—and who she did it with. “Why? Because I’m still your girlfriend?”

A moment passed. The fury melted, and he straightened, gathered his wits. “I…I don’t know. Neither one of us is the same person we were a few weeks ago.” Honesty. Well, that she had expected, and now she wanted more. “Just say it,” she said, forcing the issue despite their rapt audience. Please don’t. Please don’t say we’re through. That we’re over, done.

A muscle ticked below his eye. A sign of his upset, and something that had happened quite frequently lately. “I’m practically human. I can’t protect you anymore.”

If that was his only argument, he’d never get rid of her. “You did just fine back at the motel.”

“And what about when a pack of wolves decide to make you their lunch?”

“So, if you could still shift, you would stay with me every second of every day?”

“No. Of course not.”

“Lock me up?”

“No.”

“Then how would you have protected me from that before, huh? I could become someone’s breakfast, lunch or dinner, whether you shift or not. Stop making excuses and say what we both know you want to say.” Don’t listen to me.

He was breathing heavily, his nostrils flaring with the force of his inhalations. “We’re…we…”

“Say it!” No. Don’t.

A hard hand settled on her shoulder, and Mary Ann whipped around with a startled yelp. A frowning Aden stood beside her. Riley snarled at him, realized what he’d done to his king and cleared his expression.

“Let’s head to Tonya’s. I’ll get Victoria there. Riley, you get Mary Ann there.”

Warmth flooded Mary Ann’s cheeks. Okay, so now she cared about her audience. “Why do you want to go back to Tonya’s?”

“She has answers about Julian that I can’t find in the papers and photos. So, meet us there in…” He glanced at a wristwatch he didn’t have and had never worn. “Half an hour?”

Enough time to work through their current problem, he was saying.

Riley nodded. “Fine.”

“Good.” Aden and Victoria sauntered off, hand in hand.

Way to rub it in.

“Come on,” Riley grumbled, taking off in the other direction. He rounded the far corner, Mary Ann close to his heels. Rather than picking up where they’d left off, he picked out a car to steal.

She didn’t protest as he popped the door lock, removed a chunk of plastic around the ignition, then cut and twisted the exposed wires. She just acted as lookout and slid into the passenger side when the engine roared to life.

Soon they were winding down the roads a little too swiftly for her peace of mind, winding in and out of traffic. Which still wasn’t heavy, but come on. Only took one vehicle to get in your way, and hello, wreck.

“Slow down.”

“In a minute.”

He’d never driven this erratically before. Not with her. “If I say what you wouldn’t, will you slow down?”

His fingers curled around the wheel, his knuckles quickly losing color. “I don’t need you to say it. I can.”

She wouldn’t react, she wouldn’t react, she wouldn’t freaking react. “Then do it.” Good. There’d been no hint of turmoil in her voice.

“I can’t,” he said, contradicting himself. “I try, part of me wants to, but I can’t.”

There was no comfort to be had in his claim. “Can you ever forgive me for what I did? For what you asked me to do?”

He reached up, adjusted the rearview mirror. “That’s not the issue, Mary Ann. If I hadn’t done what I did, if you hadn’t done what you did, you wouldn’t be alive. And I’d rather you were alive and my animal dead than the other way around.”

That, she could take comfort from—but it cost her. Suddenly she was bathed in shame, her skin tingling with it. “I wish I could give him back to you.” But she’d absorbed him and must have chewed him up bite by tasty bite, because she couldn’t sense him inside her. Not on any level.

“You can’t,” he said, confirming what she’d already known.

“If that’s not the issue, then why are you so angry with me?”

“I told you. I can’t protect you like this.”

“Riley, I never liked you because of how well you protected me. I liked you because of how hot you look in your jeans!”

“Funny.” The word was laced with sarcasm, but his lips were quirking at the corners, delighting her, uplifting her.

“But kind of true.”

All too quickly, he sobered up. “My pack, the vampires, they all hate you, fear you and will be out for your blood.”

“Even though I’m no longer draining?”

“Yes. A drainer has never been rehabilitated before. They won’t believe you’re no longer a danger to them.”

And he didn’t either, apparently. “A few weeks ago you would have said they’d never follow a human king, but look at them now.”

He flicked her a glance, and the car at last slowed down. He was still breaking the sound barrier, but she took heart. “Do you want to be with me? Because I seem to remember you pushing me away again and again.”

Now or never. She may as well lay it all on the line, since she was asking him to do the very same. “Yes. I want to be with you.”

“And if you start draining again, will you run from me again?”

So not the response she’d craved. “I—” Crap. She had no answer for him. Would she? Wouldn’t she? She didn’t know, and then it didn’t matter. Blue and red lights flashed behind them. A siren blared. “I think we’re being pulled over.”

Riley slowed the rest of the way, easing over to the side of the road.

Panic beat through her. “Does he know it’s stolen? Is that why he stopped us?”

“No, or he’d have his gun out and aimed. Just stay calm, and say nothing.”

A few horribly agonizing minutes later, the cop was standing beside their car, his elbow resting against the open window, and Mary Ann was battling a panic attack.

“Do you know how fast you were going, son?”

“Nope.” And Riley didn’t sound as if he cared.

“Thirty-five miles over the speed limit.”

“You mean the sign wasn’t just a suggestion?”

She wanted to curse. Why was he being so antagonistic?

Gaze narrowing, the cop focused on her, his lips turning down in a scowl. “License and registration. Now.”

“Can’t,” Riley said easily. “This isn’t my car.”

She really wanted to curse. What was he doing? Did he want to be arrested?

“What are you saying, son?”

“That I don’t know who it belongs to.” Riley flashed a wicked grin. “I—” he air quoted the next word “—borrowed it.”

Aaannd…that’s when the cop pulled his gun.

WHERE WERE THEY? Victoria wondered for the thousandth time. The allotted half hour had come and gone, yet Riley and Mary Ann never made an appearance, never texted, and never answered her texts or calls.

“Maybe we should go look for them,” she suggested to Aden. “Then, you can teleport us where we need to go.”

She’d had to work for years to move even a yard, and even then, she’d always winded herself. Yet he had jetted them miles across the city, without having to stop and rest or check his surroundings to ensure he’d hit the right spot. She was baffled, impressed and, yes, jealous.

The jealousy made her feel guilty. He’d given up a lot to be with her. She could deal with the loss of her vampire abilities.

“They’re probably arguing and lost track of time,” Aden replied. “Come on. We don’t need them for this.”

“You’re probably right.” Riley had never had to work for a girl, so a resisting Mary Ann was good for him. Seeing them together, seeing the need Riley tossed her way when he thought no one was watching, Victoria had stopped blaming Mary Ann for what had happened to her friend. Clearly, they needed each other.

Aden gave her a quick kiss and dragged her up the porch steps. Hard and sharp, he knocked on the front door.

Several seconds ticked by. Victoria didn’t see or hear anything, but Aden must have because he said, “You will open the door, Tonya, and welcome us inside.” The polished cherrywood swung open, Tonya’s eyes already glazed as she stepped aside.

Aden led Victoria into the living room. The furnishings were clean, yet clearly aged, the floral fabric on the couch faded in spots, the coffee table scuffed. In fact… Victoria studied the few magazines resting on top of that table. They were yellowed, a little brittle and dated seventeen years ago.

Grimacing as he made himself comfortable on the couch, Aden muttered, “Julian is going crazy. He recognizes the furnishings. He clearly spent more time inside than out.”

“Well, there’s a possibility the inside looks the exact same as it did before he died.” She motioned to the magazines.

“Huh. Interesting.”

Tonya sat across from them. “What do you want?” The words lashed, as if she were fighting the forced desire to welcome them. And those shadows…they were in her eyes and undulating madly.

“First, I want you to know that I will not hurt you,” Aden said. “Do you understand?”

A frown. “Yes, but I don’t believe you.”

“That’s all right. I’ll prove it.”

“What do you want?” she asked again, and wonder of wonders, she was less hostile.

“Answers. The truth about your husband and his brother. Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll leave you alone.”

“I don’t like to talk about my darling Daniel and that rat Robert.” Adoration mixed with revulsion. Her frown returned, and the shadows picked up speed. “I always call them by those names. And I feel that way, I do. I loved my husband and hated his brother, but…”

“But?” Victoria prompted.

“But I didn’t always feel that way. I mean, I never loved Robert, but I liked him. And I remember wanting to divorce Daniel.” Her brow furrowed with confusion. “Or maybe I only dreamed that, because I love him so much. I will always love him.”

Aden massaged his temple. Was Julian shouting? “Tell me about them.”

“They…were…twins.” Tonya acted as if she were having to push each word through a too-thin pipe. “Daniel worked at the hospital morgue…Robert was a good-for-nothing con artist. Yes. That’s right.” Flowing more easily now. “My Daniel was not jealous of his brother.”

And yet, the words seemed so rehearsed, as if she were repeating something she’d been told over and over. Maybe she was. Those spell books…the shadows in her eyes…the faded black aura Riley had mentioned.

Perhaps Tonya’s emotions and her unwavering loyalty were magic-driven.

Yes. That was it, Victoria realized with shock.

In unison, she and Aden sat up straighter. “I think I know what happened,” they said.