Ryland
Helping her will just frighten her and cause more damage. Plus, she could get hurt in the process.
Orion, I can tell, isn’t forgiving of what I just did, leaving her at his mercy. She is terrified of him, and she has a good reason. Thaddeus is more a monster than a man. More instinctual and runs purely off of emotions.
Evelyn needs to learn that her fear only entices him and makes him crave her like a drug. She doesn’t realize how much her fear perfumes the room; how strong her scent becomes when she is in this state. Some may think what I’m doing is cruel, but she needs to realize that she needs to control her emotions when being around Thaddeus.
We wouldn’t let him rape her, I would step in if he tried. We can both see he is hurting her, but I want to see if she can rein him in and bring him back from the darkness that holds him.
Orion and I have tried for decades to help him remain in control, both of us already gave up hope of taming him. I want to help him become a better man, but the lifestyle, I must admit, is addictive, taking what you want when you want it.
Orion never agreed, but to me, it is just easier than putting up with his wrath. I know Thaddeus loves us in his way, as much as the Dark Tribrid can.
However, I can feel him fighting himself more with Evelyn, trying more with her. She just sees him as a monster. If she knew him before we saw her, she would be right in thinking that, but he is always holding himself back with her, even if it doesn’t seem like it. Trying to be what she wants so she doesn’t fear him.
Anyone else, he would have just fucked them and ripped them to pieces when he was done, or drained them. Humans are mere toys to him, something to fulfill his needs and a food source, but he struggles not to take what he wants with her.
A struggle it is, but at least he is struggling. If she weren’t our mate, she would be dead already, and the fact she is ours gives me hope that there is still a part of him clinging to the shred of humanity he has left.
When Evelyn cries out that he is hurting her, I watch his back tense. I can feel him trying to bring himself back at the sound of her voice; he sits up as if a switch has been flipped.
As he looks down at her battered and bruised body, his guilt hits me like a ton of bricks. I watch as he stutters over his words, and in the thirty-seven years I have been with him, I have never seen him try to apologize to someone, let alone ever felt guilt or fear through the bond from his actions.
Even when he hurts us, he never apologizes, just becomes angered. Evelyn has brought back emotions I have never felt from him before. Emotions that I know Thaddeus sees as weakness. The merciless monster feels something that neither Orion nor I could extract from him.
Decades we tried and failed; she has been with us for just over twenty-four hours and got more emotion out of him than we ever have. She may think he is a monster, may fear him, but little does she know, she will have him wrapped around her fingers in no time. She has the power to change him, and witnessing this moment gives me hope. He isn’t gone completely, isn’t lost to the darkness; maybe he can be saved. Maybe she can be the one that saves him.
Evelyn
“Why didn’t you help me? You just stood there and watched!” I yell at Orion.
“Stop getting your knickers in a twist, love. You needed to learn,” Ryland tells me, making me glare in his direction.
“Learn what? That doesn’t make any sense!” I scream at him, and turn my back on him before he can answer the damn question. As fast as my body can move, I walk back into the bathroom and grab my clothes off the counter.
I am about to pull off the towel to get dressed when Orion walks in, handing me some clothes. They still have the tags on them, making me question when he had the time to buy them.
“Get dressed. We will be leaving soon; Thaddeus wants to get on the road.”
“I am not going anywhere with any of you,” I tell him, taking the clothes from him.
“You keep thinking we are giving you a choice. It’s not a choice,” Ryland adds, walking into the bathroom. “We need to leave, so we are leaving.”
“Whatever. Just get out so I can get dressed,” I tell him, shutting the door in his face.
The only problem is that now that the door doesn’t have a handle and lock, it remains slightly open. Sorting through the clothes, I find a pair of lace underwear and a bra. Picking up the thin strip of fabric, I groan. Argh, these are going to itch.
I hear Orion from the other side of the door. “What’s wrong?”
“Really? Lace? You couldn’t have got normal underwear?”
“They looked nice. Don’t girls like pretty things?” he asks. His tone sounds amused.
I huff, annoyed as I put them on, trying to pull the lace down that is now riding up my ass. Pulling the bra on, I look in the mirror. They look pretty but so uncomfortable. Now, I brush my fingers over the bite mark to see the damage. His nails are sharp like needle points and have messed up my hip.
Grabbing a cloth, I try to clean the blood off. The cloth makes my skin sting. I am covered in marks; even my lips are bruised. Grabbing the shirt, I tug it over my head before pulling the jeans on. Even when I am dressed, you can still see the bite marks on my breast and collarbone from the V neck top.
Ryland is still in the bedroom. His eyes roam over my body and make me nervous. Suddenly, I hear the familiar ringtone of my phone, ringing loudly, and I walk out of the room, searching for it. I look everywhere but can’t find it. I just hear a faint ringing before it stops.
“What are you looking for?” Ryland asks as I pull couch cushions off the couch.
“My phone,” I tell him, ignoring his presence.
I continue pulling cushions off when I hear it ring again, only louder, making me look at the glass sliding doors. I see Orion pull it from his pocket, but he just presses a button on it and drops it back in his pocket again.
Annoyed, I slide the door open. Both Thaddeus and Orion lean on the railing overlooking the city, or what is left of it. They both look over when they hear the door. Walking out, I move next to Orion and then reach out to pull on his pants. My phone rings again as I reach my hand into his pocket, pulling my phone out.
Thaddeus shakes his head, turning back to look at the city, and I glare at him as I answer it. Lisa is calling.
“Geez, girl, I have called you about twenty times this morning! Where are you?” she asks.
Thaddeus and Orion are listening in, and I am unsure how to answer that. Do I tell her the truth or lie? Both of them watch to see what I say.
“I’m running late; I will be there soon,” I tell her, as my hand reaches into Orion’s other pocket, pulling his smokes out and stealing one.