Page 24 of Twisted
A few minutes of silence tick by.I carefully run my finger over the soft petals of the flower in my hand.“Do you turn every child born into a vampire?”
Xavier takes a slow breath in.It’s purposeful, as he hasn’t had the need for air in centuries.Then he speeds forward, startling me.“It depends,” he starts, pushing my hair back.
“On what?”
“On whether or not I think they’d add value to our family vampires.”
“And if they don’t?”
“Then we determine if they can produce more heirs.”
“Wait, isn’t that bordering on the line of incest?”I make a face and slowly shake my head.“The in-breeding explains a lot though.”
Not reacting in the slightest to my insult, he extends his hand again and takes a lock of my hair between his fingers.“Back when I was human, it was perfectly acceptable to marry a second cousin.”
“Yeah, well, science has proven it’s not acceptable.You’re going to get deformities and mental disorders—actually, what happens to a person with mental health issues when they’re turned into a vampire?I was wondering about that earlier, actually.That’s not the point,” I rush out, shaking my head again.“The point is that I don’t care how manysecondsyou put between cousins, it’s fucking disgusting.”
“It is.”He brings his face in, inhaling and getting a read on my scent.“That’s why we made the deal with the Order several centuries ago.”
“Right.”I step back and toss the flower into the pond.“You get a book of Order members to look through so you can take your pick.”
“That was the idea,” he chides.“Though you were a surprise.One that is going to work in our favor, if you can be agreeable.”
“You mean shut up and listen since you can’t hold me spellbound.”
“Yes,” he agrees bluntly.“This could be mutually beneficial if you accept your position willingly.”
“I’ve never been good at shutting up or fitting in.”I turn and shake my head.“I don’t want to be here.I don’t want to marry you and I don’t want to be forced to have babies.”
“What do you want?”He silently closes the distance between us and my heart skips a beat in my chest.Right now, I want to find out what it would feel like to have his lips press against mine.The kiss would be cool, wouldn’t it?I want to know how soft—and hard—his seven hundred year old body is.
“I want to go home.”
“Home?”His brows go up.“Home to the people who kept you hidden like a dirty little secret for years?Who exploited you for personal gain and used you?The Order did have a file on you, Florence Russo, aka Jane Doe Number Fifty-seven.”
“What?No.”
“Yes.Here, Wren, you will learn the real definition of family.”
“I…I had a family.”The pain of betrayal stabs away at my heart.It’s almost too much to bear, it hurts so bad.“They saved me when they didn’t have to.”
“Saved you?”His fingers slide under my chin, tiling my head up so I’m looking at him.“No, Wren, they kidnapped you.”
CHAPTER11
“No,” I say as the world spins around me.“They found me after demons attacked and killed my family.My real mom died while trying to protect me.”
“That’s what you believe?”
“That’s what I know to be true,” I press, getting angry.“You’re wrong.”I expect Xavier to get angry too, but his face softens and he looks at me with pity.And that makes everything worse.
“A car just pulled in,” he tells me, shifting his attention from my face to the house.His eyes narrow and he listens for a few seconds.“It’s the jeweler.You can pick out your ring.”
“How generous and romantic,” I retort, but my mind is spinning.I couldn’t have been kidnapped.Because that would mean—no—it just doesn’t make sense.You can’t kidnap a baby whose parents are already dead.Vivian told me the story many times.She was in Italy, hunting monsters.They found me hidden in a secret room.I was the same age as her twins back home and she couldn’t bear the thought of me ending up in the system, especially if the monsters realized one of the witches they attempted to kill lived.
I was safe with them.They provided me with a home and a family and the ability to learn how to fight monsters too so in a way, I could avenge my parents’ death.
“This may not be the most traditional way of doing things,” Xavier starts, “but it is more than transactional, Wren.You will be my wife, and you will be treated as such.”
