Page 63 of Vipers and Vendettas
His finger traces the bridge of my nose as if he’s trying to learn my secrets.
‘Is this the real you, I wonder?’ he asks, gripping my chin and making me look at him.
‘Who can say?’ I whisper sadly.
He lets out a long breath.
‘Sleep, darling. I’ve tired you out, and I will again come morning,’ he promises darkly.
He gathers me to him, and I close my eyes as I listen to words that should terrify me, but they don’t.
‘You’re mine, darling, and I’m going to fuck you anytime and anywhere I like as of today.’
On some level, his words do scare me. They excite me, too, but nothing’s really changed. Maddox is still my enemy.
I touch my stomach. ‘He’s a force to be reckoned with, but it’s still just me and you, Jellybean,’ I tell her silently as I start to fall asleep next to my foe. ‘I won’t leave you the way I was left.’
ChapterTen
Iron
I’ve been watching her almost non-stop since Daemon brought her back, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to speak to her.
I want to. Hell, I want to do more than speak to her, but I’m not ready. Thankfully, I was there to watch Jayce and Krase, and there was more than enough energy to go around. But when I am ready, I want it to just be me and her. I want all her looks, her whimpers, and her moans. I want a few pained cries, too, if I’m honest.
The things she said when she left flow through my mind. I was angry when I heard them, but even more furious that she thought she could just leave. I didn’t care about her stealing from us again. It hardly crossed my mind. I was upset that it seemed so easy for her to leave me when my feelings for her were getting so deep. And I wasn’t the only one who was hurt.
Besides trying to find her the legal route, Maddox retreated into work while Jules was gone. I don’t think even he realized how far past his defenses she’d gotten until she wasn’t there. In the few days she’s been back, whenever Maddox lets her out of the fold, his eyes just follow her around, and I don’t think it’s just because she’s slippery as fuck.
Axel took dangerous mission after dangerous mission over the past three months, hoping he would die on one, I think. Jayce only left his room when there were clan obligations. Krase was adamant she’d return, but he spent all his time reading and researching, I don’t know what, as well as drinking as much as he could lay his hands on. Daemon, I hardly saw either. I figured he was back to his old habits, out gambling and getting himself into trouble, but it looks like he was trying to find her, too.
What did I do when she was gone? I’d have crept into a bottle if I could, but it takes even more to fuck me up than it does Krase, so I fought instead. I went to underground clubs and arenas. I stole into Dark Realm places where losing the fight meant losing your life, too. At least, that’s what I did for the first couple of months. And then I thought about what Jules had said, and one morning, I used a link key and went to my mom’s house. I guess I wanted to see if Jules was right, if my family really thought I wasn’t good enough. If it was me, or the magick.
I knocked on the door of the respectable fae neighborhood. When she answered, I thought maybe she wouldn’t recognize me, but she took a quick look around and pulled me inside. She hugged me tight, not saying a word, and we let our tears do the talking for the first few minutes before she pulled away, sat me down on the couch, and told me she was sorry, that she’d listened to her family, and had regretted it every day since. She told me she’d missed me, that my nanna’s mind had gone a little, and Gigi talked about me all the time, not usually recalling that I was gone.
We talk on the phone now, and I visit her once a week. It was weird at first, and I was angry, but I know it wasn’t her fault. The High Fae rule with an iron fist and my mom’s family were mid-level conjurers at best. I haven’t shown her what I can do yet. I’m not sure how she’s going to react.
It’s about three a.m. when I hear a commotion out in the hall. I open the door just in time to see a vamp running down the corridor. He turns when he hears me and launches himself at me, snapping at my neck like he thinks I’m human. I demon-up and laugh in his face as I take him by the throat and throw him across the room.
‘Who the fuck do you think you are?’ I ask.
He doesn’t answer; he just gets to his feet and flies at me with an inhuman scream. I put him down hard and break his neck.
I’m trying to find a stake when I hear a scream, and my blood runs cold.
That’s Jules!
I run from my room, leaving the vamp without much thought. When he wakes up, I’ll take care of him again.
I go straight for Maddox’s room, mostly because I heard them in there earlier. I burst in and find Jules in the corner. Maddox is in demon form and being attacked by three large vamps. I go for the nearest one.
‘No,’ Maddox orders. ‘Take Jules to the fold.’
I let out a sound of anger, but I do as he says. I grab a very naked Jules, who’s looking wide-eyed and frightened, and I pick her up, taking her to Maddox’s closet and going inside with her.
In the fold, it’s completely silent. No sounds can be heard from beyond it.
‘What’s going on?’ she asks.
