Chapter 192

Chapter 192



Joseph didn’t think she was aware of tracing her fingertips over her upper stomach, but he was. He knew, suddenly, that there were scars under there. Murderous rage had everything inside him going quiet and still.  Memories of his mother ordering the pack guards to whip him flitted around in the back of his mind like poisonous shadows just because his mother found him kissing a man. Sometimes, he still felt the sting of the iron-tipped lash flaying his flesh open, still heard the crack as it split the air.

 

Werewolves or demons healed fast—Joseph faster than most—and they didn’t scar easily. Unless the weapon was made of magical silver.

What had they used on Livia to inflict those scars she traced?

 

A demon's allure was powerful. She hadn’t known how to control it, and the humans around her wouldn’t have been able to resist. But that wasn’t going to stop Joseph from gleaning the names of those who’d hurt her and hunting them down.

Rhye watched her intently, as if reading his brother's thoughts. Rhye growled, a deadly one that would make any human think of a nightmare.

Everyone has a monster inside them, something capable of horrible things. It would only ever come out under the protection of others for some. For others, it was a predator, a hungry thing that relished inflicting pain. A demon's allure, unchecked and unguided, brings out that monster in people. The problem was, once it surfaced, it didn’t sink quietly back into the depths.

The ones who’d hurt her would have to die, mostly for hurting her but also to ensure they didn’t hurt others.

 

"I learned to stay away from people, to limit my contact with everyone. It took years before I figured out how to control it even a little bit. Years before, I figured out how to contain the power inside me so it didn’t leak out so badly." She blinked, clearing some of the distant look from her eyes, then met their gazes. "It was actually only a couple weeks before I met you all that I started trying to work with it, instead of just keeping it locked up all the time. Just little tendrils, tiny bits I was pretty sure I could handle." Her lips twisted. "Should’ve left well enough alone. I lost control that night."

 

Rhye nodded, understanding why he’d felt her power so strongly then when he hadn’t before. "I felt it."

 

Livia looked up at him sharply. "What?"

"When your power pulses, I feel it. I’d been feeling hints of it for weeks when you were working with it, but that night I got enough of a taste to see. I knew you’d come to that club if we went." He smiled down at her, the memory of seeing her for the first time, one of his favourites.

Rhye made a low sound, and his eyes narrowed with realisation. "So, you didn’t lose her."

Smirking, Joseph gave his brother a look. "Of course not. You should’ve known better than to believe that."

 

Livia cut in before Rhye could respond to that. "What do you mean ‘see’?"

"I’ve got the sight... vision. Sometimes it comes through as visions, sometimes a feeling." He paused, his lips pulling up at the corners. "Or, more recently, as a draw."

Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her chest. "It was you? You caused this pull I feel? But then, why—" She glanced at Leon and Joseph.

 

Leon frowned.

Joseph shook his head. "No, little witch. I didn’t create it. That’s not one of my abilities." He paused. "That’d be cool as fuck, though. It would make hunting a hell of a lot easier if I could make my prey come to me… " He trailed off, lost in the possibilities.

Livia lightly flicked his arm. "Focus, Joseph."

"Hmm? Right, yes. No, I didn’t create it. I wouldn’t have been able to make Rhye and Leon feel it, either, if I had. I just followed it to you."

Her eyes widened slightly and flicked to Rhye at Joseph’s intentional revelation that his brother felt the draw, as well, but she kept her thoughts on that to herself, asking instead, "Then, what’s causing it?"

Rhye sighed happily. "Mate bond."

"Or fate." Joseph added.

Livia blinked up at him, a slow smile blooming. "You’re a romantic."

"For you, little sis, always," he purred, leaning forward to nuzzle his nose to hers.

"Don't touch her, Joseph, she is mine." Rhye grumbled.

Leon clenched his fist. Inside, he was smoking with anger.

 

Rhye went to her side, leaning forward and nuzzling his nose in her hair.

Joseph chuckled and said. "Of course she is yours; everyone knows that, lover boy."

 

Rhye wanted to kiss her badly, but he had plans for their next kiss, so he settled for flicking his tongue against her upper lip. Just a little taste to tide him over.

 

That was the idea, anyway, but then Livia’s breath hitched and, from this close, he saw her pupils dilate with arousal.

Need was an electric rush through his veins, so intense he felt his scales trying to surface through the layers of glamour he had over them, felt his own pupils tighten briefly into slits.

He groaned and snapped his teeth at her. "You keep lookin’ at me like that and I’m going to forget my plans."

"Unbelievable... you two get a room." Joseph stood and left.

Leon cleared his throat, stealing her attention away before she could respond. Rhye glared at him, not appreciating having his moment with Livia broken, but his alpha ignored the look entirely. The faint pink blush warming her cheeks shot right to his heart. And his shaft. By the Gods, but he was lost for her. Leon growled. He needed to leave them or risk taking his alpha’s woman. He stood and followed Joseph, who took a bottle of water from the fridge.

 

"Do you have the sight, Livia?" Joseph asked, handing them both a chilled water bottle.

"I don’t know. I don’t think so? I get feelings about things, but I’ve always just assumed it was intuition."

"Did your intuition tell you to go to the club that night?" Leon asked, drinking his own water.

"No."

"So, why did you? As you said, you’d learned to stay away from people, yet you went to a place with at least a hundred of them."

Joseph scowled.

Rhye didn’t sound particularly accusatory, but he didn’t like that Leon was still questioning her.

Without looking away from Rhye, Livia set a calming hand on his knee. His focus immediately returned to her, the tension melting out of him like she’d used magic to drain it away. She hadn’t. He knew that. It was just her. Gods, but her touch soothed him. He wanted to wallow in it, wanted to hold her against him, wanted to tote her around so they were in constant contact.

For a moment, his mind wandered off, contemplating if he could convince her to let him carry her, then working out the logistics of it, in case she said ‘yes’ again. She was small. He could probably fit her in his hoodie with him. That would help hold her against him so she wouldn’t get tired. He might have to cut the neck hole so both of their heads would fit, but that was fine. If they were chest to chest, and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

Blinking out of his distraction when she began speaking, Rhye set the hoodie idea aside for now to focus on what she was saying.

 

"When my power pulsed that night, it, uh, drew my neighbour to me," she cringed, her eyes shadowed with sadness and guilt. "The magnetism… " She trailed off for a moment. "He was lost in it. I tried to stay quiet, hoping he’d go away, but he didn’t. So I left. I hoped distance would help the effects fade quicker." She went quiet for a moment, then lifted her head, returning Leon’s gaze steadily. "I was just driving, killing time. Then, I felt something, like there was a string in my chest, drawing me somewhere. I’d never experienced anything like it before, but it felt… " The blush on her cheeks returned. "It felt good. Warm. Like home. I decided to follow it. And I found you all in the pub. That was the first time I’d ever been around people who felt like me."

"And your neighbour. What happened to him?"

There was that guilt again.

"He died," she rasped. "He stuck around for a few days, trying to break in, then luring me out when that failed. I think he was sick. He looked gaunt, like life was being sucked out of him." Her gaze went distant and her brows drew together. "His eyes were bright and feverish. I remember thinking they almost seemed to glow."

 

Leon cocked his head at that. Something in what she’d said had a thought fluttering around in the back of his mind, but he couldn’t quite catch it.

 

Livia shook her head. "I guess his body couldn’t take the strain. I don’t know if you saw it on the news, but the man they found dead in the woods outside town?" At their nods, she sighed, "That was him."

"And everything that followed?" Leon pressed. "The various Fae and demons we’ve all sensed hunting you?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Livia said with a shrug. "I don’t know if it was that pulse or meeting you three, but it seems like ever since that night, your kind, or my kind, I guess, have been coming out of the woodwork. And they don’t seem to like me much," she drawled wryly.

Joseph stared at Rhye when Leon leaned back in his seat. He knew that look. Rhye had figured something out. The question was, what now? He didn’t have to wait long to find out, thankfully. He wasn’t known for his patience.

 

"Livia," Rhye started. When he had her attention, he sat forward, resting his elbows on the table. "Have you ever heard the term "changeling"?"

 "No," she replied.