“Fuck.” That was becoming the most used word in my vocabulary. Nothing else sufficed in my current situation.
I was stuck in a cave—let’s rephrase that. I was stuck in a small room inside a cave. It was more than the lack of space causing the problems, it was that witch who made it impossible for me to transform. The place was so completely dark my night vision didn’t even work. Because that wasn’t enough, I was naked. Completely naked. I’d taken my shirt off willingly, but I hadn’t signed up to have a crazy witch rip off my pants and boxers while leaving me incapacitated by some spell. Fortunately witches couldn’t influence Pteron minds, but evidently there were some that could stop you from transforming and weaken you. I’d never heard of it before, but I wasn’t a fan. I wasn’t a fan at all. On top of all that she’d chained me to the damned wall.
I had to get out. I had to get word to Levi. If Tiffany was telling the truth, he and Allie weren’t even going to make it home. And Casey? Tiffany had screwed with her mind. Who knew what kind of trouble she could be in?
“Miss me?”
I cringed as soon as I heard Tiffany’s voice. How had I believed she was a sweet girl too innocent for me to even touch? Talk about completely misjudging someone. I never misjudged people. It was my job to know who and what everyone was. Had she really been there under my nose for so long without me noticing? Owen had always warned me that I became blind around a nice rack and blonde hair. Unfortunately it looked like he was right. If I ever got out, I was sticking to brunettes and red heads.
I blinked a few times as my eyes adjusted to the light she carried. “What do you think?”
She laughed in a forced way. “Oh, Jared. I don’t see why you’re playing so hard to get.”
“I’m not playing anything.” I glared at her. “These aren’t exactly wonderful accommodations.”
“They’re not?” She stepped toward me. “What would you prefer? Certainly not a bed. The word on campus is you like it hard, rough, and anything but romantic.” She stopped right in front of me. “Certainly a guy like that wouldn’t mind a cave wall.”
“We’re not talking about how I like to fuck.”
She grinned. “We aren’t?”
“No.”
“But isn’t that all you think about?”
“You know as well as I do that that isn’t true.”
She laughed again. “Of course it is. It’s the only thing you’re good at.”
“Is that so? Then why are you keeping me here? If I’m so worthless what can I possibly do if you let me go?”
“I didn’t say you were worthless.” She grabbed my balls.
I groaned, and not in the good way.
“People listen to you. That’s enough of a reason to keep you here.”
“How’d you become such a bitch? Is there a class for it or something?” That was the wrong thing to say. She tightened her grip.
“Were you saying something?”
I closed my eyes. “Ok. Truce.”
“Truce? There are no truces here.” She let go.
“Are you so power hungry that you’ll destroy innocent people? Kill innocent people?”
“Who’s innocent in any of this?” She stepped back and crossed her arms.
“Allie. What did Allie ever do to you?”
“Nothing. She’s always been nice, but queen. She lost the innocent label the day she took the crown.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“Is it?” She brushed several blond curls off her shoulder.
“Yes.”
“She took her place willingly in the end. Don’t bother denying it. She told me.”
“She told you because you lied to her. She thought she could trust you.”
“Her trust in me has nothing to do with her decision to become queen. She made her own choice, and she will pay the price for that decision.”
“She made the choice because she loves Levi.” I wasn’t one to glorify love, but what Allie and Levi had was real. She didn’t really have a choice.
“Love?” She laughed. “Do you even know what that word means?”
“Maybe.” I knew it when I saw it, like with Allie and Levi, but it wasn’t something I could define, nor something that ever seemed worth worrying about.
“No you don’t.” She shook her head. “Love doesn’t exist.”
“Man, who hurt you?” I needed to keep her talking. Everyone had a weakness, and I had a feeling I’d just found hers.
“Can I show you something, Jared?”
“Do I really have a choice?” I wasn’t really in the position to negotiate.
“For this you do.”
“Why for this?” I tugged against the chains again even though I knew it wouldn’t do anything. Whatever magic she’d used had weakened me. I hadn’t even known what weakness felt like before.
“Because I say so.”
“Lovely.”
“So what will it be? Want to see something?” Her eyes twinkled. She was entirely too excited about this.
“Sure.” I was chained naked to a wall. She might say I had a choice, but we both knew I didn’t have one.
“Keep your eyes open.”
“Okay…”
There was a strange buzzing and haze, like a shifter was shifting. I watched, half expecting her to change into an animal, but instead in Tiffany’s place was a woman at least thirty years older. Instead of curly blonde hair, it was short with a spattering of gray hair.
“Uh. So you can shift your appearance?”
“Yes, it takes effort. Way too much effort.”
“Then why do it?” Somehow this had to all tie back to why she didn’t believe in love.
“Because I can’t let him know it’s me.”
“Who’s he?”
“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” She shifted her weight. “You’re smart, aren’t you?”
“I thought you said I’m not good at anything but fucking?” It was weird talking like that to someone that looked to be the same age as my dad, but it was still her. The bitch who was messing up everything.
“Revenge is sweet.”
“Revenge. So whoever broke your heart will be hurt by all this?”
“You’re getting warmer.” She grinned.
“Is this what you really look like? Your real age?”
“Yes.”
“You hate the Laurents.”
“I do.” She nodded.
“Robert. This is all about Robert.”
Her smile grew even bigger. “It is.”
“But why? What did he do to you?” I knew Robert could be an ass, and we already knew he’d messed around at least once. I really hoped this time it happened before he met Helen.
“He let me love him.”
“That’s his only crime?” I pushed. Sometimes that’s the only way you can really get answers from someone.
“You’d understand if you actually had a heart,” she sneered.
“Me? After all the crap you’ve pulled you’re accusing me of not having a heart?”
“I had one, and I suppose it’s still in there somewhere.” Her face fell. I was right. This was her weakness.
“What did he do?”
“Robert? What do you think?”
“He dumped you?”
She laughed dryly. “I’d have taken dumping. What he did was pummel my heart.”
“Pummel? That’s a harsh word.”
“It’s the right one.” She crossed her arms. “He told me I should have known. That of course the future king couldn’t be with someone like me. Like me? Crazy, isn’t it? His grandmother was a witch. How was I different? And we all know witches are more helpful than a useless human!”
“Pterons don’t usually mate with other paranormals. You know that.” I knew that Levi’s great-grandmother was part witch, but it wasn’t something anyone was proud of.
“No, you only sleep with them and use them up just to break them apart.” Her eyes set on mine, making me wonder if she was talking about me or Robert.
“I never meant to hurt her, and I didn’t know what she was.” My guilt over everything with Casey kept me talking.
“You’d use anyone. It doesn’t matter.”
This wasn’t about me. She wasn’t going to distract me by playing with my guilt. “So all of this is revenge because Robert dumped you?”
“Partly.” She let her hands fall to her sides. “I’ve been setting the wheels in motion for years.”
A light bulb went off. “Casey.”
“Exactly. It wasn’t hard to drug Robert.”
“It’s impossible. He’s a Pteron.”
“Just as you are. Yet here you are chained to a wall like a helpless little animal.” The air shimmered, and the young Tiffany was standing in front of me.
“But this was physical.”
“So was his. I didn’t get into his mind. I just blacked him out to get what I needed.”
“But that’s still impossible. All of this is.”
“You’re going to say that now?” She gestured to me. “Do I need to remind you again of the situation you’re in?”
“No.” I shuddered remembering how badly she’d just hurt my balls. “I get it.”
“Then you should understand I’m powerful. I could have been such an asset to Robert. We would have been the strongest ruling couple ever.”
“Did he love you?” I had to ask. So much turned on one small little word.
“Yes.” She looked off. “No. I don’t know anymore.”
“How come he didn’t recognize you?”
“I don’t look like I did.” She paused. “I guess I didn’t explain this well. How do you think I managed to get to know Allie? Did you think it was random? No. I took the identity of a girl who was going to be living next door to her.”
“When?” I struggled to remember the first time I met Tiffany.
“Humans are so easy to sway. Tiffany changed her mind about attending college a few weeks before. I’m pretty sure she’s backpacking somewhere in Europe still. Or maybe she’s in Asia now. Funny how that happened. She’d never thought about traveling before.”
My head hurt. None of this made sense. “But I met your parents. I met Tiffany’s parents.” I thought back to the fire at the frat party Allie and her friends had attended. That felt like ages ago now, but in reality it hadn’t been all that long. “Who were they?”
“Just a couple of actors. They did pretty well, didn’t they?”
My level of disgust was growing by the minute. “Then who are you? Who are you really?”
“Just call me Tiffany. The name is starting to grow on me.”
I struggled against the chains. There had to be a way out.
“Stop hurting yourself. It isn’t going to change anything.”
“I’m not going to sit here and let you destroy everything.” I couldn’t. I refused to give up when so much was on the line.
“You don’t have a choice, Jared. You’ve always been a pawn. I’m just being more forward about it.”
“A pawn?”
“Do you remember your mother?”
“My mom?” No one ever mentioned her. She’d been gone so long I barely remembered her.
“Yes, your mom.”
“I was pretty little when she left.”
“She didn’t willingly leave.”
“Yeah. Sure.” I wasn’t going to let Tiffany mess with me that way. I was supposed to be trying to understand her.
“Because nothing is ever what it seems.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll let you think about that. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” She headed to the entrance of the room. “Have a nice evening, Jared.”
“Evening? It’s night time already?” I’d lost all sense of time.
“Yes, it’s night. You’ve been here for hours.”
“Fuck.” There went that word again.
“No thanks. You’re really not my type.”
I stared after her long after she and her light had disappeared from view. I was back in complete darkness again. What had just happened? My head was so full of questions, and that mixed with hunger and desperation to get out weren’t a good combination. If I didn’t get out of there soon I was going to go crazy. I was pretty sure that was exactly what she wanted.