Fifteen
When I came out of the shower, I was surprised when I heard belligerent screaming coming from the living room. “You listen here, you leech, Iris Westmore is my best friend! If you’ve done something to her, I deserve the right to know! I always knew her working for your bar wouldn’t end up being a good thing for anyone. I know Nina’s missing! I know her mother is dead. I saw everything on the news. Where the FUCK is Iris?”
I knew that voice. It was the voice of my best friend. “Holly?” I called out.
Holly, whose black hair was in a pixie cut, was in pajamas and a t-shirt that had written on it SPICEY BOOK GIRL with little golden dragons on the pajama bottoms. She had her car keys in her hand, her brown eyes were filled with fury, and she was jabbing Calix in the chest repeatedly while a concerned but laughing Desmond watched off in the corner.
My best friend stopped what she was doing to look at me. Relief crossed her face. “Oh, my gods! You’re alive.” She crossed the room to hug me tightly. Then wrinkled her nose as she looked me up and down. “What are you wearing?”
Tight black jeans that barely fit me and a blood red tank top that showed off a little too much skin for my taste.
“I could ask you the same thing.” I gestured to her own outfit.
“Do you ever look at your phone?” she pulled out her own. “You’re all over the internet, Iris. They’re saying that you were responsible for a terrorist attack…and everyone is claiming that HE helped.”
She looked over at Desmond.
“Me?” Desmond frowned. “They’re blaming ME for this?”
Holly nodded. “You came back from the dead then they showed up. It does look a little suspicious. Also, by the way, my pack is kind of hoping that your brother gets to take control.”
Calix shared a look with Desmond. “I told you that she was the last immortal that you should have gotten involved with.”
“What are you two talking about?” I asked.
“Feyre Montclair,” he whispered, “she was…”
I remembered Desmond telling me werewolves were not as traditional as everyone thought they were because of their mates. How he had had his share of…fun. I knew he was older than me. But Feyre Montclair had been the last person I would have expected him to be with. Especially since Feyre Montclair was the daughter of the Alpha from the Montclair wolf pack. As far as I knew, the DuPont’s had always hated them.
“Your fuck buddy?” Holly supplied.
“You are not helping, Holly Hoover,” Desmond replied curtly, glaring at her.
“That’s my best friend!” I snapped at him.
“Sorry.” He scratched his neck. “Yes, we were together. Except it was very, very casual.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “You seem to do casual a lot.”
“He definitely does.” That was spoken by someone who hadn’t been in the room a moment ago. I looked over, surprised to see Lola standing there. Holding, of all things, tampons. “I got you these.”
I stared at her. “Uh…thanks. I’m…good. Why did you bring those?”
“Because, while bleeding is not something vampires do, turned or immortal, I do know men. These two wouldn’t have thought to think of it. I also was uncertain of how long the traitor’s daughter was staying with us.” She tossed me the tampons.
I caught them. “Not loving the nickname, Lola.”
“It’s true, isn’t it?” Lola peered at me, smiling slowly, like she had been waiting a long time to have this fight with me. Most immortals had. “Your father, Kent Westmore, almost ruined all of the work my brother did trying to build secret cities for immortals to live in without punishment. He started that ridiculous little Morningstar group. He caused a lot of trouble for my coven.”
Calix shot Lola a look. “Lola, she’s not her father. She’s proved that. Time and time again. She wouldn’t be working for us if she were like him.”
Lola narrowed her red eyes at me. “Do you even know what he was doing? Why he wanted to get rid of the secret cities?”
I glared back. “I didn’t exactly have long conversations with my mother about what my father did to get banished from our home. We weren’t allowed to bring his name up. She spent her whole life trying to get us back in the good graces of immortals. That was all she cared about. So much so that she sacrificed herself to deliver a message to us telling me that it was my father’s group that attacked.”
“Selling immortals,” Lola hissed, “that’s what caused your father to get banished from Moon City. He sold them for parts.”
“You’re lying!” I shouted.
Lola chuckled. “I’ve dealt with you because you are my brother’s favorite. Don’t test me, human. My patience has worn thin with your kind.”
Holly gasped. Calix hissed. While Desmond…. Desmond did something completely unexpected. He dropped to the floor, on his knees, and his eyes went white. He started talking in a language that I had never heard before.
I looked at Calix. “Cal, what’s happening?”
Calix got down on the floor to hold Desmond up as he jerked around. “I don’t-I don’t know! I’ve never seen this before!”
“The gods bid you to be with him!” Desmond spoke in a voice that did not sound like Desmond at all. He jerked up. He turned his head directly to where I was. “The gods bid you to be with Alpha Desmond, Iris Westmore. Do not defy them.”
Desmond collapsed back down on the floor. Blood started coming from his nose. His eyes went back to their usual shade of yellow, almost gold. “What—what happened? Why am I on the floor?”
“We…we…” I had a hard time finding the words.
Lola managed to find them for me. She laughed. “Calix, whatever little plan you had for your little human, I think it went completely out the window. The gods have issued a decree.”
Desmond wiped the blood from his nose. “What?”
I stood over him. “You—you fainted, Des. Your eyes went white. You spoke in a voice that wasn’t yours—”
Desmond frowned. “No. Shit. Fuck. No.”
“No?” I looked around at the immortals in the room. “Lola, you called it a decree. What’s a decree?”
Lola smirked. “You should tell the girl, Desmond. You are the Alpha that she’s sworn fealty to, anyway.”
“No!” Calix blurted. “No! This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Cal, I’m sorry,” Desmond apologized, “I didn’t plan for this—-”
Calix got up from the ground. “You knew what she was to me.”
“TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!” I shouted, making the whole room stop to stare at me.
Leave a Reply