Page 8 of Secret Origins
“This is not over.” He finally spoke, his deep voice thrumming through my chest.
“It was over a long time ago.” I stabbed a finger at the opened door.
“I’ll be back tomorrow when you can see reason.” Fenrir walked past me, his head held high. “And don’t think you’ll dodge me, Myst. I’ve had enough of this.”
“Whatever.” He wasn’t through the threshold yet when I grabbed the door so I could slam it behind him.
“Enjoy your new neighbor.” The asshole chuckled. “I heard he is a really nice guy.”
I didn’t slam the door.
Numbness crawled from my toes all the way to the crown of my head as I watched him saunter from my front yard across the street, open the door to the house there, and turn around to face me. A cocky grin was plastered on his face as he flicked two fingers off his forehead in a mocking salute, closing the door. The doorframe rattled when I slammed mine before pressing my forehead on it.
“This cannot be fucking happening.” A treacherous tear trickled down my face, my chest tightening painfully and preventing me from taking a full breath.
Fen whined, but it was just a faraway sound muffled by the whooshing in my ears. Not expecting it, I was startled when a tiny hand wrapped around mine. Turning my head slightly to the side, I looked down at the upturned, snot-smudged face of the little girl, who was watching me with an all-knowing look that didn’t belong on a child’s face.
“My mommy says I have to be nice, but I will bite him next time he comes.”
I barked out a half laugh/half sob, squeezing her hand gently.
“I think I’ll bite him too, little brat.”
5
Idesperately needed proper sleep. After the Fenrir fiasco last night, I left the woman and her brats to fend for themselves and crashed hard. The problem with that was I woke up more tired than before I went to bed. All the anxiety about what I would find out when I met with the mage coupled with the nightmares that had been my companions for as long as I could remember left me brain dead on the best of days. Not the mental state one wanted to be in when bumping uglies with all the creatures who roamed the night. If my instincts were not on auto pilot, I’d have been dead many times by now.
Stumbling out of my bedroom with my hair sticking out in all directions and half of it plastered on the side of my face, I followed the hushed voices to the kitchen, stopping dead in my tracks when the smell of food hit my nose. With one eye opened, I watched the blurry figures whisper between themselves as plates were being passed over the kitchen counter. It took a good amount of blinking to bring everything into focus, and when the woman smiled at me over her shoulder from next to the stove, I frowned. Something sizzled in a pan she had clutched in her hand, grease spitting everywhere.
“Good morning.” Chirping happily, she turned back to whatever it was she was making.
“There is nothing good about mornings,” I grumbled groggily, leaning a shoulder on the wall and yanking the hair away from my face. “Unless you are a demon, in which case I might have to kill you.”
Silence fell over us all and I glanced at the wide-eyed brats. Scrubbing a hand over my face, I couldn’t help groaning. Me and my big mouth. In my defense, I wasn’t used to little humans being around me, half-bloods or not. Personally, I disliked younglings no matter the species. Too much noise and too much walking on eggshells around them. Not for the first time, I wondered what had possessed me to drag them to my home. Lapse of judgment would be the end of me one of these days.
“Myst is just like daddy, she needs her coffee before we can see that pretty smile.” The woman chuckled, rushing to save my foot-in-the-mouth moment. I didn’t miss the scowl she sent my way. “Let’s fix her one, shall we?”
The brats scrambled off the chairs and ran around the counter to help her do just that. With a sigh, I trotted to the furthest one from them and plopped down, my eyes watching every move they made. They felt too comfortable in my kitchen. It rubbed me wrong for some reason.
“Since you mentioned it.” I wasn’t in the mood for talking yet, but I needed to clear the air about few things. “Where is their daddy?”
“My name is—”
“I don’t want to know your name.” Her mouth closed in a thin line when I snapped at her, but the last thing I wanted was to get more tangled in her shit. The names I already knew were enough to give me enough sleepless nights for a millennium.
“Very well.” With her back turned and shoulders stiff, she clanked around the kitchen until she brought a steaming cup of coffee to me, plonking the mug under my nose none too gently. Hot liquid sloshed over the rim and splattered the cracked marble. “They took him before coming back for my boy.”
“They? As in the hunters?”
“The ones dressed in white with their faces hidden, yes.” Whatever she remembered made her shiver, which in turn raised the short hairs on my arms.
“And instead of taking the brats and hiding, you stayed there waiting for them?” I spat, lifting the burning mug and hissing from the fire licking my fingertips, which made the brats snicker like hyenas. “Cover your ears.” Snapping at them made both giggle, their eyes glistening from humorous tears.
“You haven’t been around children much I take it?” the woman snatched both brats by their t-shirts—my t-shirts now that I was more awake and could see better—wrestling both wiggling things back into their chairs. “Or people in general judging by your attitude.”
“This attitude saved all your lives last night.” Gingerly sipping the scolding coffee, which she made to punish me I had no doubt, I watched her through the rim of my cup with narrowed eyes. “Which reminds me. You need to find a place to go.”
“I have nowhere else to hide, and they are still searching for us.” My teeth were clenched, while her eyes darted all over the place so that she was not looking at me. “I won’t give you my name or ask any questions, I swear. Just let us stay here until it’s safe to go home.”
