She’d suspected that was a possibility after Thaddeus mentioned erasing memories, but she wasn’t certain until she’d faced her friend that morning. Cassy was completely clueless to the events that happened after she opened Cael’s condo door. All the while, Rori suffered the truth in silence. Understanding her best friend’s mind had been messed with without her consent by Fae creatures who shouldn’t exist. Knowing what the real Steve looked like. What the real Steve was.
And that he seemed to be deeply involved in a familial conflict that, had Cael not stepped in, may have left both women dead at the hands of his devil brother.
She’d have to somehow convince Cassy to stop seeing Steve…Cael…whatever his name was.
“Rori?”
Her chin slipped off her hand and she blinked a few times, startled by the quiet hiss of her name. She met Brandon’s worried glance, her vision taking a moment to clear. His brows creased in concern as he tossed the professor a side glance. She mustered a small smile, but judging by the gleam in Brandon’s dark eyes, she knew he didn’t buy her farce.
“Didn’t sleep well,” she whispered.
“Are you sure?”
Rori rested a hand over his on their shared classroom table and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Positive.”
His lingering gaze didn’t give her much hope of conviction, but what could she do?
Hey, Brandon. Guess what I saw last night—two Fae with pointy ears and wielding magic. And guess who one of those Fae happened to be—Steve! Sure got more than I bargainedfor agreeing to dinner. You should’ve come along for the fun. I mean, who doesn’t consider being knocked unconscious by a godly Fae madman and threatened with a knife new and exciting?
In-fucking-sane.
However insane, she knew what she’d seen. She knew it was impossible.
But it was there. Real. Fae existed. Magic existed. Apparently, other worlds existed.
And now she was involved in a situation that required more energy to digest than she had to give. If she were to guess, she and Cassy had become expendable for the sake of preserving the secret of Fae existence. The very thought made her stomach twist, leaving a sour taste in her mouth. Cassy might not remember the facts from the night before, butRorisaw something she shouldn’t have seen, things that couldn’t be erased from her mind, making her a threat.
Rori picked up her pen and began jotting down notes from the professor’s lecture and upcoming clinical, all while images from the magical attacks between Thaddeus and Cael haunted her. Magic. Could that be what had made her body ignite and burn and react the way it did to Thaddeus? Could it be as simple as a spell he cast that somehow caused some electrical misfiring? She’d been so shocked that most of what had been discussed between the two brothers melted into a muffled memory of sounds with little clarity. Were these the effects of trauma? She didn’t discount the concept of forgetting immediate details surrounding a traumatic event, now that she’d suffered another one.
One that she couldn’t even discuss without being thrown in a psych ward or putting those she cared most about in danger.
Ice-blue eyes invaded her mind. Her pen scratched overher paper, coming to pause at the end of the shaky line. A potent vision of Thaddeus returned in otherworldly clarity. The devil himself masked beneath perfect beauty and breathtaking presence. She tried to swallow against the sudden desert dryness of her mouth and the swelling lump in her throat. The pen quivered in her fingers, the blue ink fading before her eyes.Stop.She squeezed her eyes closed, held her breath against the phantom recollection of Thaddeus’s sultry scent. God, she could practicallytastethe spice from his skin, feel the concrete muscle against her fingers. She fought the visions, the sensations, but couldn’t shake him.
Every second he remained in the spotlight of her mind, her body heated and arousal stirred, stretching and spreading only to pool low in her gut. Arousal, a sensation she’d not known for so long, had her clenching her teeth, fisting her pen, and every muscle in her body as tense as stone.
Then there was the ache in her chest.
The hollow void that seemed to yawn large and wide since she’d crossed that bastard’s path. Something so deep and desolate that she wanted nothing more than to fill it. Fill it until it crested and overflowed. Fill it with that sultry, spicy scent and the solidity of a certain man’s imposing presence.
How could someone who possessed such a heartless attitude stir such poignant heat within her body? Her soul?
In a matter of minutes, a stranger had stormed into her life and torn it to shreds. Her hands trembled at the memory of how silky his hair had felt against her fingertips. How solid his muscles had felt beneath her palms. The waves of heat that had poured off him despite his frigid demeanor.
Fuck. You.
“Rori, what is it?”
She swallowed the lump in her throat, but warmth spread up her neck and painted her face. Brandon’s hand on herforearm tightened until his touch somehow soothed the tension and cast the spirit of Thaddeus from her mind. She concentrated on taking a deep breath, one that caught at the base of her throat where a residual sensation of fluttering wings remained.
In and out, girl. In and out.
It took a few attempts, but she finally managed to get a full breath, one that beat down the turmoil and torment. Calmed the storm enough to pat the back of Brandon’s hand without answering him and get through the remainder of her class.
“All right, that completes the lesson for today,” the professor said. “Test Friday. Any questions, now’s the time to ask. Otherwise, I’ll see you in a few days.”
Chairs scraped across the tiles as the students gathered their belongings and made a mad dash to the door. Brandon held her purse and bookbag while she climbed out of her seat. Keeping her eyes low, she slung the two items over her shoulder and followed him from the class.
He stopped outside the door, turned and grabbed her gently by the arms. “What’s going on,hermosa? You looked like you were fighting demons in class.”
