E
velyn
Thaddeus stands and starts walking to the stairs. His lips never leave my skin until I suddenly feel the mattress under my back and realize we are back in the bedroom. Thaddeus growls and his kisses become fiercer as he devours my skin.
“Not so hard,” I scold him when he bites into my shoulder, breaking the skin. Feeling the bed dip, I look up and see Orion watching us with a worried look on his face. Ryland moves behind Thaddeus, and I can feel his worry coming through the bond.
“Ow, Thaddeus,” I tell him, pushing his face away as his teeth sink into the top of my breast. I feel my blood run down the side of my boob and my eyes water from the sting. Gripping his face, I pull it up, my hands on either side. Thaddeus’ eyes are pitch-black orbs; the demonic look on his face makes my heart skip a beat. Veins run under his eyes, rippling under his skin.
Thaddeus growls and sinks his teeth into my neck, making me scream. I see Ryland grip his shoulder as I feel the fog slip over me, washing away the pain of his bite. I can feel Thaddeus’ tongue lapping at my skin. His hand moves to my hip, and I feel him trying to push my leggings down.
Lifting my hips, he growls softly, pulls his teeth from my neck, and pulls my leggings down, leaving me naked under him as dizziness washes over me. Thaddeus sits up, looking down at me.
“Thaddeus, she is nearly unconscious; leave her be,” Ryland warns, and I hear Thaddeus growl. I am fighting to remain conscious against the blood loss when I feel shock hit me through the bond. My eyes open to see Thaddeus, hovering over me. “What have I done?” I hear him gasp, before my eyes flutter shut.
T
haddeus
Evelyn is unconscious once again because of me. Guilt hits me hard when I realize I have fed on her enough for her to pass out from blood loss.
“She won’t be out long, Thaddeus. You just need to be gentler,” Ryland tells me.
“You say that like I know how,” I snap back at him.
“She is human; you’ll have to learn,” Orion snarls as he scoops her onto his lap. Her body is floppy and limp, but her heartbeat is strong as it pounds in her chest.
“Go get some juice,” Orion tells Ryland, and he rushes downstairs. A moment later, he returns just as she wakes up. She groans, holding her head, and I can feel she has a headache.
“What happened?” she asks, clutching her head in her hands.
“You passed out. Thaddeus fed on you,” Orion tells her, and I can feel his anger through the bond.
Ryland hands her the juice and some Tylenol. She quickly pops the tablets in her mouth and drinks the entire glass. Once it’s empty, she hands it back to Ryland. “Better?” he asks.
“I will be once this headache goes away,” she mutters, clenching her eyes shut from the light. Moving on the bed, I lean over her, and Orion flicks the lamp off on the bedside table. The only light remaining in the room is coming from the bathroom.
“Thanks,” she mutters, as I lay beside her.
“What did Amara mean when she said your father forgave you?” she asks, draping her arm over her face. I can tell she is just trying to distract me from what I have done, though she is also curious.
I wonder if I tell her, will it just make her hate me more, but somehow, I still find myself opening up to her, answering the question. “I hurt my father by accident,” I tell her, but I don’t add anything else.
Evelyn rolls to lay in between Orion’s legs, placing her head on his thigh. Orion brushes her hair from her face, and she leans into his touch. Jealousy runs through me with how effortlessly Orion gets her affections.
“What did you do?” she asks, watching me.
Ryland climbs on the bed beside me, propping his back against the headboard. I place my hand on his leg, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Evelyn. I watch her lips tug up slightly as she stares at my hand on Ryland’s thigh.
“I nearly killed him when I took my magic back from my mother.”
“Weren’t you born with magic, though?” she asks.
“Yes, but my mother and some coven of witches decided when I was a baby that my magic was dangerous and took it from me, trapping it in a talisman. I didn’t know about it until my sixteenth birthday when I had a fight with my father. My magic could feel me, and the talisman broke. My magic escaped, and that’s how I got it back.”
“You didn’t know about having magic till your birthday?”
I nod, looking over at her. “I heard my mother telling the oracle she was my godmother; her name was Astral that her bracelet needed to be reinforced. I was curious; I knew I was different because my sister had magic, and I didn’t understand why I differed from her. So, I asked my father about it, and he told me, which pissed me off. I didn’t know the bracelet reacted to my emotions, so when I snapped, it escaped and came back to me.”
“So, you hurt your father because of that?” she asks, looking at me. I can see her trying to understand what I am saying but can feel that she has more questions to every answer I give.
“No. When it escaped, Astral and my mother tried to take it back from me. I lost control and attacked my mother. My father got in the way, and I didn’t know how to control it. I watched my mother teach my sister how to use her magic but didn’t understand how to control my own or use it. When I released it in a rage, it exploded out of me. I knocked my sister unconscious and accidentally killed my godmother and the few coven witches that came to help. My father thought I did it deliberately because of them hiding it from me; he attacked me when I hurt my sister and mother. I set him on fire. He is alright, though. One of his arms was severely burnt, and his torso. Most of the scars healed because he is Lycan, but some remained.”