Page 40 of Forsworn By The Vampire
"He doesn't know," Lizzy told him before turning anxious eyes to me.
Something began to creep along my skin. Not magic. Something else. My instincts giving me a warning. "Whatdon't I know?" I directed the question to Killian, knowing he'd be straight up with me and wouldn't try to spare my feelings. It's the kind of relationship we had. The same one we'd had right from the beginning when I'd stumbled up to him in the dead of night, bloody and starving and on the run from my first master, the slave owner who'd bought me. Killian had just been a kid, as was I, and the first words out of his mouth were,You're probably not going to live long enough to get free. You understand?
Only thanks to him and many others, I did make it, and I did live free, for what it was worth, until Killian found me again and became my new master. He was honest about that, too, as much as I hated it. So he was the one I turned to to tell me what was happening.
"They have Angel," he said, his Irish accent thick with some emotion I couldn't read. "She's the reason the djinn is here. The reason he got to Kenya and Alex. She's the one who helped him escape."
I held up my hand. "What are you fucking talking about?"
Exchanging a glance with Lizzy, he came closer, lowering his voice. "She never said anything to you, then? Never gave any indication she was involved?"
What the fuck was he talking about? I searched his face. "No. I haven't spent that much time with her. And the one night we were together...we weren't exactly talking a lot." I looked around at everyone else, not knowing what to think, but wondering if they'd somehow made a mistake. "I never got the impression she would do something like that." But would I really be surprised? She tricked me into fucking her, into giving her my blood...
The corner of Killian's mouth lifted in a half smile, but only briefly before he became serious again. "Angel confessed all of this to Lizzy today. The djinn got a hold of her in a bad moment, and at first she only agreed to give him some information--"
"About Alice." I remembered what Kenya had told us about his fascination with her as a direct descendent of a woman he'd once known.
"And me," Alex chimed in.
I gave him a look. "Nobody's talking to you."
"Hey!" Kenya stepped up in front of him and stuck her finger in my face. "Don't talk to him like that. You're upset, but don't go taking it out on Alex."
"It's okay, honey."
"No," she told her mate. "It's not okay."
I paced away. I was done with this conversation. "I don't know what the hell you all think you're doing here, anyway. What?" I threw my arms wide. "What the fuck is this? Some kind of fucking intervention? What the hell do you want me to do?" I glared at them all. "Fate gave me a fucking bitch for a mate. I'm sorry. I don't know why you're telling me all this. I haven't even seen her in a week. Hell, I don't even fucking want her, so what the fuck do I care?"
A stinging pain on my cheek, and my head whipped hard to the right. My fangs shot down and I hissed in warning as I turned to see who the hell had the balls to hit me.
Lizzy stood in front of me, her hands clenched into fists at her sides like she was trying to hold herself back from striking me again. "We expect you tofuckinghelp her, you asshole."
I stuck my face in hers, my upper lip lifted in a sneer. "Why the hell would I do that?"
A nanosecond later, a growl of rage ripped through the courtyard, and I was flying through the air, not stopping until my back slammed into the cast iron bars behind me. I landed on my feet, only to be shoved right back against the fence.
Killian bared his fangs at me. "Don't you EVER talk to her like that again." Though his voice was low enough so as not to attract unwanted attention from the humans on the street, the threat was very, very real.
However, I couldn't bring myself to give a shit. "The witches are about to string up my mate?" I hissed. "Great. Let them. Maybe now I can be done with her. Done with all of you."
Killian's dark golden eyes began to glow and he flashed his fangs. "Is that what you truly want, Jamal? You want to die, then? Because that's exactly what will happen if anything happens to Angel. I don't know why she did what she did, and I'm sure as hell not happy about it, but this is your mate. Don't you think you owe it to her to hear what she has to say? Or at the very least just try to keep her alive? Because you might feel fine now. But a time will come, and that time will be soon, that you're going to need to feed, and you're going to need her for that."
I stared straight at him, but didn't say a word. He just didn't get it. None of them did.
Killian stepped back with a sound of disbelief. "This is how you're going to play it, then? Fine. If that's really what you want, ya bastard, I can help you out with that. Right here. Right now. Because I'm sick to death of all your whining." He stepped into me, his power swirling around me and shoving me back into the bars. "I SAVED YOUR FUCKING LIFE! Twice!! And all I've gotten out of it isyearsandyearsof you acting like I've offended you somehow. Like I did you no favors at all. Or myself, for that matter."
He stood before me full of his righteous rage, and I snapped. "I NEVER ASKED YOU TO SAVE ME," I screamed back at him. "I never wanted any of this!"
"As we can tell from the way you refuse to become a part of this family! Living out here in the guest house like a stranger! Barely talking to me. The only time I see you anymore is at The Fang!"
"I never wanted this family," I told him. "Youwanted this family."
"Jesus fucking shite." The disgust in his voice matched the expression on his face. It hurt to see him looking at me this way. More than I thought it would. But I couldn't take it back.
"I should've left you in that fucking ditch." He stared at me for a long time, so many emotions reflecting back at me I couldn't keep track of them, then he turned and walked away. "Die then," he called over his shoulder. "I'm done with this fucking shite. I'm done withyou, Jamal."
We all watched him walk to the back door and go inside. He didn't even slam the door. He left it wide open.
