106
106
JARIS
Oh, Maddy. If she wasn’t my sister right now.
“Why don’t you understand me, mother?” She looked at mother with tears glistening in her eyes. “He killed them. And when I kept saying it to his face, he had me locked up!”
“No. You were locked up because you killed people. We only wanted you to get better, Maddy.”
While they argued, I managed to take out the blade myself. The wound was nasty and wasn’t healing. Fuck the little thing that was my sister.
“Listen carefully, Maddy.” My voice was serious enough to get both their attention. “I didn’t want you back, not now. But if you don’t get a grip on yourself during your stay here, I promise you, I’ll have you dragged back to that facility. This time, I’ll make sure they keep you in an isolated room so there are no chances of you escaping ever again.”
I flicked my gaze from her head to heel. “Don’t make me think you’re still mad and need their care.”
“Jaris, please stop.” Mother said with exhaustion.
Maddy’s lips were parted as if she couldn’t believe I’d just said those words. Well, she had it coming.
“Oh, to hell with you, Jaris!” She screamed and was about coming at me when the door opened, revealing Nerion and Kael.
But her eyes settled on Nerion.
She froze instantly and seemed to recoil.
I could never understand the relationship she had with my head of security. She always grew calm around him like he had her on a leash or something.
Nerion was a tall fine man with a straight jaw, well–defined abs and muscles, and deep blue eyes. He had the strength of a dozen men and was always ready to face danger. But unlike. Kael, he was gentle and always the peace–maker.
I wouldn’t be surprised if my sister fell for him–after all she was human and he looked good–but what did Nerion see in her? The girl was a pure lunatic and didn’t deserve him. I’d tried telling him this before.
“Maddy,” he calmly called her name.
That was one thing about Nerion. He was always very calm. But it was when he was provoked or threatened that the real him did come out. He was my head of security for a reason.
However, today was different. My sister’s expression went from cold to shock to hurt, then rage.
“You!” She growled.
Before we knew it, she was pouncing on Nerion.
I shook my head at Mother whose face was filled with so much guilt. I let her see how disappointed I was in her for bringing Maddy home.
*****
It took the intervention of more hands to finally get the mad girl to stop. She was forcefully taken to her room with mother keeping her company.
“We’re going to TCH,” I said to Kael as I walked out of the house.
He easily caught up with me, Nerion following closely behind.
“Why?”
I glared at him and glanced at my wound. “Can’t you see? I need to get treated.”
Now it was his turn to look at me like I was ridiculous. “Um… It is just a stab wound, Alpha. I can just get the pack doctor to
I stopped walking halfway to my car, closing my eyes and lifting my head toward the sky. “Don’t make me feel stupid, Kael. You think I didn’t know about the Pack doctor before I suggested going to TCH?”
I continued walking and he followed.
“Okay. I get that the blade was poisoned and you’re still hurting but Tiana could easily handle this. You don’t need to go to TCH for this.”
Successfully unlocked!
I ignored him. Nerion was already by the car and opened the door veivre i went in. He and Kael took their positions in the front seat.
Kael turned to me with an annoying smirk–one I wanted to wipe off his face. “Don’t tell me you’re going to TCH to meet a certain doctor?”
1/2
106
I expected it from him. The asshole.
“Stop talking and take me to TCH.” I took my attention to my phone.
“Well, Nerion is the one driving, not me,” he chuckled.
********
LYRIC
I spent my thirty minutes break with Jace in TCH’s restaurant. It’s actually something we’ve been doing for some time now since he was kicked out of Darkspire.
I missed having him close. I hated that everything happened the way it did. But I was also glad the kids got to retain their home and position.
“What do you mean you’re having dinner with Kael?” I asked with a confused expression, a slice of buttered bread in my hand. “I mean, since when do you and Kael actually hang out?”
“Kids aren’t meant to know everything, Lyric.” He rolled his eyes at me.
I grabbed my fork. “Call me a kid one more time and I’ll stab you with this.”
“Oh, help! The scaredy Lyric is finally being bad and I’m going to be her first victim.” He faked a distressed voice.
I couldn’t hold back my laughter.
“I was only scared when I was ugly, Jace.” I dropped the fork, holding the bread with both hands. “You should know I don’t take shit from anyone anymore.”
“Yeah, I know. Goes a long way to explain how you’re strong–hearted to be away from Darkspire for three days now.”
I rolled my eyes as I took a huge bite from my bread.
“So…you said you wanted to say something to me?”
“That’s correct.” I dropped my bread.
I knew it was about to get serious.
“I want to make more research about-” I leaned in closer to him as I lowered my voice to a whisper. “–being a Siphon.”
Jace dropped his cutlery. His reaction was just what I expected–horrified.
“And… why would you want to do that?”
“Well, I was wondering–maybe it’d be nice if I could defend myself with it.”
“You’re still saying nothing, Lyric.”
“When I was attacked by those bloodsuckers, I tried to see if I could siphon their oxygen or something. You know, to save myself. But I couldn’t. And that is because I haven’t tried to know how to properly use my powers.”
“Are you out of your mind?” He donned an expression of astonished disbelief. This wasn’t Jace joking. He was full–blown angry. “I thought we talked about this? You shouldn’t even be here in the first place. If you weren’t so passionate about saving that kid–which I perfectly understand, by the way–we’d have been long gone from here. And now you want to practice more of it? What’s your aim? To draw as much attention to yourself as possible?”
“Jace come on,” I took my hands up and down in an exhausted gesture. “I love me. The last thing I want is putting myself in danger. But you know I’m not like the rest of you. I don’t have a wolf to defend myself. I’m as weak as a human.”
I took a deep breath, trying to put a rein on my emotions. “If Alpha Zarek hadn’t come when he did, I promise you, I’d have been dead by now. In a horrific way. I’m not saying I’ll go around showing everyone what I am. I’m only trying to practice, so if the need arises, I can defend myself.”
“No!” He hit the table lightly, it didn’t draw any attention to us. “This isn’t just about you showing people what you are. It’s about you becoming dangerous. Don’t you think it’s best if you don’t even know how to use your powers for the wrong things?”
“How’s it the wrong thing if I’m defending myself?”
“Well, haven’t you seen in movies when people go out of control sometimes? You could hurt someone for real, Lyric. I’m telling you to drop it.”
I was about to say something but stopped when I noticed a colleague coming toward our table. The last thing I wanted was anyone hearing this conversation.
“Doctor Lyric, your attention is needed. Right now.”
I was already on my feet before Evans finished talking. “What happened? Is it an emergency?”
“Kind of. It’s Alpha Jaris.”
