Page 36 of Wicked Ties
“Right, you lot know it’s not about you, right?” Grayson’s British accent was thicker than ever. “You’ve got your shit sorted.” He patted Maze on the shoulder. “It is total bollocks though, mate.”
“Not helping,” Maze hissed.
“Let’s go.” Astrid opened a shimmering portal just beside me. “We can figure this out ourselves.”
Part of me wanted to go, yet the other part of me wanted to stay. Up until now, he’d been kind to me, cared for me. But how did I reconcile the two halves, the one who cared and the one who lied? Damn him for confusing me. “Don’t forget I can crush his nuts with my pinky.”
Astrid motioned to the portal. “Tilly, you can come home, and we can figure this out.”
Maze shook his head. “You need me.”
I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to decide for myself. I glanced at Astrid. “I’ve got this.”
I stepped in closer to Maze. “You lied.”
“Yes.”
The admission stung. “Of all people, I thought you might’ve been my one person.”
“I am.” He held my gaze. “I swear.”
“I don’t know if I believe that.” I turned away from him and faced Astrid. “We need a plan.”
“Til, wait . . .” Maze took another step toward me, and I glared at him over my shoulder, stopping him.
“You can help if you want.” Did I still want his help? I didn’t know. I thought he wanted to be my friend just to be my friend, but now I didn’t know if he had ulterior motives.
“I’m always here to help you, Tilly.” His voice was deep and laced with sincerity.
Yeah, right . . .
CHAPTER 16
MAZE
I stepped through the portal, following behind them. When Tilly glanced at me over her shoulder once more, I nearly stopped in my tracks. That look of betrayal was enough to bring me to my knees. I didn’t want to put undue pressure on her or bring anything else to the table. She had to understand I was here to help, and that was it.
When we stepped out into the basement room of the school, the others were there waiting for us, still hovering over the map. Tucker’s head popped up. “You look like shit.”
Easy for him to say. The Phoenix shifter was not only soul-mated up to queen Zinnia, he was so happy he was practically on fire just standing next to her. If he wasn’t one of the best fighters I’d ever seen, I might’ve punched him in the face.
I flipped him off. “Feel like shit.”
“I know that look.” He ran his hand through his auburn hair and chuckled.
“Shut up,” I snapped back.
Tilly scoffed and shook her head as she walked over to one of the old wooden tables pressed up against the wall. She turned and hopped up on it, letting her legs dangle. She motioned to me. “You said you have information. Let’s have it.”
I held my finger up. “Just a second. I need to make a call.”
Zinnia shrugged. “Phones don’t work here. Fire message does, though.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not something I can do with a fire text.”
I didn’t want to have to do this, or even approach this situation. But it had to be done. For her. I walked over to Beckett and whispered in his ear for the one thing I never wanted to ask for.
Beckett pressed his lips into a hard line. “You sure about this?”
