Page 43 of Origins
“Oh my god!” I gasped in both pain and dismay. I only had one victim left! I would have to stay away from Miles forever. “I’m so,sosorry.”
Julian hissed out a curse and gripped my arms, but didn’t push me off his lap.
Damen chuckled, somehow finding this situation comical despite its seriousness. “I’m beginning to suspect that this is deliberate—or you are clumsy. In either case, I approve of this payback. Good job.”
“It’s not deliberate! I’ve never been accident prone before!” I whined through my fingers. This wastheirfault—they were getting into my personal space all the time. Plus their looks were distracting, so I was always flustered.
“I’m actually super graceful,” I protested. “I used to do ballet. I’m so sorry, Julian.”
“It’s alright.” He grinned, but his pained expression made me feel worse. “I don’t think that my jaw is that fragile. I’ll survive. Meanwhile, Damen had something to say to you.”
Oh, that’s right. I glanced back at him.
He was rooting through a worn leather bag that he had placed on the coffee table. “Do you know anything about your birth parents?”
“No,” I blushed, “is something wrong?”
What if I had an alien aura and I had never noticed. How would one even know something like that? That would be the worst.
“No,” he stood, holding a tiny jar in his hand. But my vision was drawn toward his serious face. “I’m curious about your lineage. And I’m wondering why Finn would throw such a temper, and why you’d have that kind of reaction. We need to figure it out, because if it’s you…”
His voice trailed off, and he glanced back at his hand. I didn’t know him well, but I knew that he was angry.
For a moment, I was dumbstruck. On Finn, anger scared me. But with Damen, it didn’t. Instead of being frightening, Damen appeared imposing and powerful.
And he was upset on my behalf.
“... or maybe it’s not,” he continued in a grave tone. “Maybe Finn’s been dabbling in things he shouldn’t. I need to look into this.”
Damen shook his head, coming out of his contemplative mood. “It’s gone, and nothing permanent was done. If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think it was deliberate. The pattern was too erratic.” He was clearly addressing Julian, because this was so over my head. “In the meantime, a soak will clear up any lingering traces and rebalance her. We could go to the hospital afterwards for the bruis—”
“It’s not an option, we need to go,” Julian interjected. “We can’t let him get away with this. If he won’t help, and you won’t, then I’m going to intervene. Damen, tell me you plan on doing something.”
Damen’s eyebrow twitched, but when he spoke he sounded calm. “Finn isn’t going to get away with anything. But Bianca’s treatment is her choice. Plus, there’s still the haunting here to deal with. We need to research—plan. Then we can deal with Finn. We need to find out what he’s been up to all this time.”
“Do you want to go to the hospital?” Damen lifted his eyes and met my eyes. It was hard to miss the anger—and guilt—in his gaze. “Do you want to press charges?”
It took a moment for their conversation—his question—to register. But when it did, I gasped and clutched the blanket against my chest. “No!”
I couldn’t believe that they thought either options were valid.
“Bianca,” Julian chided. “First of all, you are black and blue. You need to see a doctor and get something for your pain. Secondly, he assaulted you. Hehurtyou. You should press charges against him. You have every right to do so.”
“No.”
I knew that he was speaking from a place of concern—but still. “I can’t go to the hospital. I hate them. You’re enough of a doctor for me, and Tylenol works fine. And it’s not a big deal. Anyway, I couldn’t press charges, even if I wanted to—which I don’t.”
“I’m not even going to get into some of those things you mentioned yet, Bianca. But why can’t you press charges?” Julian sounded sad.
It made my heart ache, because the last thing I wanted to do was disappoint him. But he didn’t understand.
I bit my lip so hard that I tasted blood, and goosebumps broke out all over my skin.
Damen moved behind me, leaning over my shoulder to more fully wrap the blanket around my frame. The action surprised me enough to make me look up, meeting his eyes.
I wasn’t sure what he saw, but his face grew even more serious.
“She’s scared,” he told Julian. Damen already knew—had gotten to the bottom of the fear I had been trying to hide.
