Chapter Thirty-One

“Good that he’s not back there,” Roman said as he miniaturized the shield. His hand had deep burns where the liquid from the vial touched. The spell took away the pain but didn’t heal the damage to his skin. “That means your argument did its job even if you did push it too far, Flynn.”

“It helps if we’re in on the plan,” Ky grumbled.

The smell of sizzling flesh from whatever had been in the vial lingered in Vivi’s nose, threatening to nauseate her. Vivi was still trying to process what just happened. A witch who breathed fire. Two brothers fighting over Ky being stupid about a woman. Was she the woman to whom they referred? Then she pulled off a spell Dom taught her to clear whatever burned them.

Deep breaths.

Don’t look his way.

Keep your eyes focused on Nova or Roman.

“Relax,” Nova whispered. “He’s working just as hard to pretend not to notice you.”

“I’m fine. Let’s, uh, follow them.” She snuck a peek to see how much the liquid had burned Ky, at least she told herself that was why.

His head whipped her way.

Shit. She’d gasped out loud.

His face had deep burns in a ripple pattern where the liquid splashed. She wanted to soothe it. She might have a spell. The energy deep within her rumbled to life. Words…rhymes filled her head. No, she already did a spell. Dom warned each would drain her and best not to do two in a row unless it was an emergency. Besides, Ky didn’t want her help.

“Come,” Roman ordered, breaking her fixation.

Up the street, they entered an apartment building and went to the elevator. By the time they entered the elevator, his face was entirely healed. On its own. Wow, that was fast. Old lycans heal fast.

Where’d that information come from? Sounded like maybe a parent or adult instructing her.

Ky looked rumpled but incredible. He’d shaved, but blond stubble was already forming. He wore a heavy, dark brown leather jacket and a high-neck athletic shirt that stretched tight across his chest. She could see every indentation of his abs, outlined by the shirt, right down to the V at his waistline. His roguishly long blond hair became wavy as it dried.

What she wouldn’t give for him to look her way and engage her. She didn’t even care if it was a fight or if she got to see the playful side of him he let peek through yesterday when discussing fairies and other woodsy magic. She wanted to feel his strong arms wrapped around her and taste his lips like she’d dreamed about last night. The dream had been so real that she remembered his taste.

How was that possible?

They must’ve been a lot more than acquaintances before. There’s no other way she’d recall taste.

Her eyes betrayed her as they swept across the elevator to find him. Like the fool she was, she looked away as fast as she found his gaze, but not fast enough. In the one glimpse, their connection burned her. His expression, dark and moody, branded into her head.

Emotions flooded her like an unexpected tidal wave crashing into her heart. Whatever happened between them must’ve been cataclysmic. Possibilities of what could be inundated her. That was, if he’d let it happen, which wasn’t looking promising. This man held her heart in his hands. And she didn’t even know him.

As they exited the elevator, Nova paused to let the others get ahead. She leaned in and whispered, “He’s trying to do the right thing by staying away from you. Let him.”

“Is it the right thing?” she asked. “I feel like I’m dying a slow death on the inside. He looks like he’s experiencing the same.”

“It’s dangerous for you to remember. For either of us. If you and he… It might trigger something that shouldn’t be activated.”

Roman paused before entering the apartment. He said to Nova, “You can’t be visible to Colin or Simon.”

Once they went inside, the first thing she saw was Colin sitting at the kitchen counter with a lycan in handcuffs next to him prone on the floor. “Oh hey, guys.” He waved at his captive. “He’s drugged. Wasn’t a picnic to get him up here, but I did it.”

“Good job.” Roman pointed at the lycan on the floor. “That him, Vivi?”

She chewed on her lip.

The lycan on the floor wasn’t necessarily unattractive but represented someone on the extreme opposite end of the spectrum to Ky. With his soft belly, short-cut white-blond hair and moderate stature, nothing remarkable about Simon stood out. Not one single thing about him evoked a memory, not that it surprised her. These days, nothing evoked memories. Except Ky. She was getting better at expecting less when she would normally remember more.

Nova had been 100 percent sure this was the person who tricked both of them into getting caught by humans. She’d trust her sister.

Everyone stared at her, so she choked out, “Yes.”

Roman knelt next to Simon and shook him. “Wake up.”

“As if I haven’t already tried that on him?” Colin said.

“Whose place is this?” Flynn asked.

“Mine. I own the building and keep this apartment here as a retreat. Anyone else want some tea?” Colin filled a kettle with water.

“Love some. Thank you,” Vivi said.

“From the moment I first saw you, I knew you had class, unlike these boys.” Colin had a kind smile, but also one filled with so much pain. Her read on him was that he’d lived too long and suffered on full-moon nights more than most. He wanted, no needed, to find his mate. The brightness of his face was filled with hope she might be it.

Sorry, Colin. Not going to work.

She hazarded a side glance to Ky, who studiously avoided her by staring out the window.

Colin said, “Roman mentioned you have amnesia and can’t remember all the facts of how you disappeared. That true?”

“Yes. I can’t remember anything other than…” She struggled to remember exactly what Nova informed her she’d told her of this guy on the floor. “Simon turned my parents in to the Council for practicing magic. They were executed. I didn’t know that he was the one who ratted on them until he deceived us into believing he was helping us escape the Council. Then we ended up getting captured by humans. I was imprisoned for a few years. He might’ve sold us to them.”

Colin recoiled. “That’s disgusting. I might kill him myself when he wakes up.”

Simon moaned.

She caught herself staring at Ky again, who’d moved away to lean against a wall, observing. Little about him was relaxed. For an instant, he looked her way. The level of rage in the depths of his blue eyes startled her. He was angry at Simon for her.

“Uncuff him,” Roman said. “He’s not going anywhere.”

“I don’t have the key,” Colin said. “The witch had put them on him.”

“Ky, can you?” Roman asked.

He looked ready to pounce as he approached slowly. Ky waved a hand over the cuffs. The standard police handcuffs unclicked as if by magic. What powers did he have?

Simon sat up rubbing his wrists. The corners of his lips turned up as he stared at Vivi.

She resisted the urge to squirm, although she should probably be angry. Instead, she felt nothing for him. Absolutely nothing other than a detached fascination for what thoughts might be filtering through his head.

“Vivi girl, I’m glad to see you got free. I had full faith you’d get out. I tried, love, I did. But they knocked me out and took you. I couldn’t find you.”

His endearment slithered over her, leaving her feeling dirty. More so in Ky’s presence. “You’ve been searching for me ever since, I assume?” she said sarcastically. “Pining away every moment, I’m sure.”

“I looked for months.” The answer came out smooth with the perfect level of eyebrow wrinkling to convey worry. Yet he avoided eye contact.

“You lie,” Vivi announced and crossed her arms.

“Where’s that sister of yours?” Simon asked.

“Dead.”

He didn’t seem surprised. And he showed no compassion. The jerk had sold them out to the humans. For what? Money? Power? Or something else?

Roman pushed away from the kitchen counter. He yanked Simon to a stand and threw him into a chair. Leaning over him, he said, “I’m going to ask you a few questions, and you’re going to give me truthful answers. This can go the easy way, and you walk out in one piece, or it can go the hard way.”

Simon smiled like he was both drunk and slightly insane, probably a bit of both. “Who exactly are you?”

“Let’s start with something easy. Your real name is Christopher Simons, right?” When he didn’t respond Roman continued, “What did you get out of the exchange for turning the sisters over to the humans that run those facilities?”

“I would never give them to humans.” The emotion of his voice didn’t match the apathy on his face. “We were in love; isn’t that right, Vivi girl?” He smiled at her.

“I feel nothing for you. Did you work a spell on me to make me like you?” Vivi asked.

“Love, you’re amazing in the sack. It was magical.” His perma-smile made her stomach roil.

Ky charged, fist drawn, ready to pounce, but Vivi stepped between them, her arm extended.

Simon snickered.

She put pressure on Ky’s chest to hold him back. She said, “Don’t. He’s provoking all of you on purpose.”

“That’s not an excuse to treat you with this much disrespect,” Ky said.

“Aww, look. He’s got it bad for you, Vivi. That’s sweet.” Simon’s smile finally fell. “She’s mine. Always was. Always will be.”

“Leave him be, Ky. It’s bullshit,” she said low, keeping one hand on his chest. His body vibrated beneath her palm. She waited until he got control to say, “Roman, do it the hard way. Then kill him.” Vivi stepped back and crossed her arms. “It’s far less than you deserve for what they did to me. To me and Nova. I have no interest in watching. These guys can get too brutal for me.”

Simon called out, “Wait. Hold on. Maybe we can come to some sort of deal.”

Vivi left without looking back. If she had, she wouldn’t have spared Simon a moment, but she would’ve worried about Ky. Then she’d be sucked into everything that was him again.

She paced the hall outside. There were no sounds inside. No hitting. No screaming. Nothing to indicate torture.

“What exactly is his hard way?” Vivi asked Nova.

Nova chuckled. “Roman has a truth potion. Few spritzes on the face, and that guy will spew everything. I asked Roman how he handles these situations, and he said lycans and vampires are the easiest to interrogate. They’re susceptible to most witch potions.”

Minutes later, the door opened. Roman announced, “We got it. He’s taken care of.”

“Did you kill him?” Vivi opened and closed her fists, unable to dispel the need to hurt this lycan who’d messed up her life. This anger was new. She didn’t like violence, but when someone hurt everyone in her family, she wanted him to hurt back.

She peeked inside the room, finding herself trapped in Ky’s gaze. He looked a mess.

Colin was in the background hovering over Simon.

“Gave him the same amnesia injectable as you. It’s called Blackout. Dom procured it for us,” Roman said. “We’ll throw him on the streets, and he can fend for himself.”

“Is the amnesia permanent?” Vivi asked. “You never answered me when I asked before.”

Everyone around her seemed to stop moving, even breathing.

Roman said, “We don’t know. No one knows. It’s designed for humans, but in studies it’s been too powerful for most humans to handle.”

“What’d you find out from Simon?” Nova asked. “Did he know who’s behind the facilities?”

“He was paid several million to get the two of you for the humans. To get to you, he had to get your parents out of the way. Once they were executed by the Council for magic use, he sent Vivi a message saying he wanted to get the two of you safely out of Scotland. His human contact was a German. The human he met in person sounds like Slate. We got the phone number for the German.”

“That’s not very specific.” Nova’s lips thinned.

“It’s one step further.”

“Do you feel love for him like he said?” Ky asked.

Vivi jumped, not having heard him move so close.

Roman groaned. She could’ve sworn she heard him mutter, “Seriously?”

“Why does it matter? He screwed me over.” Vivi swallowed hard against the powerful emotion coming off Ky. It didn’t scare her, but it called to her need to soothe.

Ky took a step forward, his body vibrating with something. Probably jealousy.

“He’s a jerk.” She folded her arms across her chest and cocked her hip. “You have no right to be angry about anything that might or might not have been. I’m the one who gets to be angry that he screwed me over. And that you won’t tell me what the hell this is between us. It’s something. Whatever went on between that man and me was nothing, based on my reaction to him versus my reaction to you.”

“What exactly do you remember?” Ky asked low.

“You two inside the apartment. Everyone else out,” Roman said. “We’ll give you a minute while we get rid of Simon and send Colin on his way.” He hauled Simon’s limp body onto his shoulder and marched to the elevator.

Vivi barely noticed everyone leaving. Ky’s intensity sucked her in. Her chest felt light, and her pulse raced with a sense of being energized. “Why are you even here, Ky? It’s obvious you don’t want to be around me. Then you go all crazy and paint a neon sign over our heads to Simon that there’s something going on that isn’t.”

“I want to make sure you’re safe.”

He was the one who reassured her in her dreams. This was his thing. Her safety was critical to him. “Are you truly worried about me?” she asked. “Because you keep going hot and cold on me. You made it crystal clear that you weren’t interested in clarifying our past or letting me know what happened, even though I feel like whatever it was isn’t over.”

He moved close. She backed up until her back collided with the wall, but he kept moving in until his bulk swallowed her. His forehead fell forward against hers. “I can’t do this. Any of this.”

“Any of what?” she asked, barely able to breathe. Each inhale dragged the smell of him deep inside. It felt familiar. Needles of sensation danced across her skin where his breaths hit her. Her throat closed, and her eyes stung.

“I can’t be near you like this and do what I need to do, which is protect you. It’s too hard. I don’t know if I can keep you safe. What if I kiss you and it opens a part of your mind that should remain blank? What if it’s the part that contains those triggers that the humans can use to pull you back in?” His hand wrapped her waist. “I saw you go robotic when they said a few basic German phrases. Nothing would break you out of it. Not me. Not references to things that should’ve gotten through. I can’t see you like that again. I can’t be the cause of it happening.”

“What about Nova and Roman? They’re doing fine together without concern about triggers.”

“Oh, Roman’s concerned. Big time. Why do you think he works so hard to keep her hidden until we can destroy everything that has to do with those facilities?”

“Why do I feel like this around you? Why am I crushed by you saying this?”

“This energy between us won’t go away. It’s going to get worse, at least for me. I need to stay away from you. Because I’m going to cave.” He leaned in and pressed his nose to her neck. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around him.

He whispered, “What I feel for you is too much for me to fight. I resisted it for a long time the last time. It was the right thing to do.”

“Don’t leave me.” Whatever had been between them felt like something big, probably overwhelming, and important.

He squeezed his eyelids tightly shut. “I can’t be near you, not when I can’t have you. I don’t want to fight with you. We will. We were. It’s because we’re frustrated. It hurts both of us. I don’t want to be possessive and angry. But there’s no way I can act normal around you.” He let out a heavy breath. “I can’t fucking do it.”

“I’m sorry about whatever happened…everything. Just, please, don’t make me beg. Please don’t leave.” A wave of emptiness consumed her. Don’t leave me to figure this out alone.

“Can’t you see, Vivi? This isn’t a choice? It’s a necessity. I have to keep you safe from yourself. The only way is for me to stay away from you. That way, those who have power over me can’t force one of us to kill or hurt you. They don’t allow me to have attachments like you, and I’m not good like Roman at hiding it from them.”

He kissed her neck before he pushed off the wall behind her, putting space between them. “I will always keep you safe.”

He walked out the door leaving her crumbling on the inside from something she didn’t even remember existed.

He’s leaving because of me. For me.