It’s not the short hair that needs lining up, nor the absence of the tattoos I once wore. It’s the red bleeding from my irises into the whites of my eyes, which isn’t from the mutilation I just inflicted on myself, nor from killing Mrs. Farella yesterday. It’s the gnawing truth that another second has passed, and we’re still no closer to getting her back.
Groaning, I get dressed in simple black jeans and a white shirt. It’s just as I’m finishing brushing my teeth that I hear screaming coming from the hall outside.
“You are so fucking hard-headed!” Niyla’s voice carries through the bathroom door I’m stepping out of.
Just as I’m about to make it into the living room, Sydni is charging toward me. “We are leaving!”
My eyes widen as I see Brice, head back and hands on his hips, growling loud enough that it vibrates my skin.
Fucking Werewolf. I release a frustrated groan just as Syd meets me in the hallway.
“YOU HAVE TO FEED!” Niyla shouts once more, and I look down at my butterfly, who has her head down, speeding right past me. “I’m nottrying to be overbearing, you little brat!”
“HEY!” I raise my voice equally. “Watch your fucking mouth?—”
“Or what?! She willwither! Then, when we get Xeraphine back, what will be left of her but bones!” Throwing her hands up she turns to Alaric, who has his eyes square on me.
“You know she needs to feed,” he says at me.
There’s something off about this guy, and while I want to call him a freak, it’s more than that. I don’t like the feeling I’m getting—that as soon as I get my girl back, he’s going to try something stupid. Like he thinks he stands a chance of fighting me for what’s mine.
“Kairhyse, there are bags of blood?—”
“He doesn’t command me! No one does! I want my Phiny back and we are wasting time!” When I release a heavy breath, I turn my gaze over my shoulder, watching her thrusting on her sneakers. “Fuck all of you.” She looks up to me. “Not you, Rhyse.”
I wet my lips and nod, giving her a silent confirmation that I’m neither hurt, nor offended by her comment.
Brice, with his large frame and hefty footsteps, charges down the hall to me. “Syd, can we talk in private?”
I raise my hand just as he tries to pass me, halting his movement. He jerks his head to the side, his eyes beginning to glow their signature shade of yellow.
When my nostrils flare, his mirror the action and a thunderous growl rolls from his throat. “I am trying to rectify this situation. Move, Vampire.”
“You will not touch her,” I say, just as I hear Sydni shuffling around behind me.
“As that girl in that classic Vampire movie once said, ‘You don’t have some wolfy claim on me’!” I have no idea what she is referring to, but it gets a snort from Niyla. “You all are fucking snakes! I havesomany questions, and so does Kai, and you refuse to answer any of them!”
“Ask,” Brice interjects before she can go further. “Ask the right questions, not the ones that won’t get us further than where we are.”
“Why were you tailing us?! If you knew what Xeraphine was, why didn’t you make yourself known,Alaric!?”
With a heavy sigh, the Werewolf turns his gaze away and back toward hispeople. I lower my hand, step back, then turn and move to Sydni’s side.
She continues her tirade. “If you had good intentions, you would’ve told her who you were at The Golden Macro that night. And again at The Beast! Instead, you tried to put your dick where it doesn’t belong, even when she clearly told you to fuck off!”
“She never told me no?—”
My eyes pierce in his direction, and he throws his hands up.
“You are a bullshit liar, all of you,” Sydni shouts, and when she grabs onto my forearm, I turn back to her. “And you, stop leaving me…” Even though she whispers, it’s not like the entire house can’t hear. Maybe Alaric can’t, but Brice and Niyla definitely can.
“I’m sorry…” I put my hand to her cheek, giving it a gentle pat. “I didn’t want you to see what I was going to do, and it was dangerous.”
Before coming back after killing Mrs. Farella, I went past my place. That was another reason I couldn’t bring Sydni, because I knew what awaited me.
Xeraphine’s blood was everywhere on the floor; the pearls she had worn that night broken and scattered across the floor. I’d barely kept myself from burning the apartment, along with the rest of the building, down.
I also searched for Mister, but he was nowhere to be found. I hadn’t imagined being hurt more, but not even the remnants of him were left behind. Had he gotten out? Had they taken him? That seemed unlikely, but who knows. The worst thought was that I hadn’t looked hard enough, and he was lying there dead because he could have witnessed what happened to his owner.
