Page 91
CORDELIA
The saleswoman hovered in my periphery as I carded through a rack of clothes without really seeing anything besides splashes of color. I didn’t think she was actually waiting to see if I needed help with anything. With the way her eyes lit up when I walked in with two drop-dead gorgeous guys at my beck and call, she was probably hoping for something juicy to gossip about after we left.
Alaric and Rami had insisted on getting me out of the house with the excuse that I needed to restock some things before we moved onto Athene’s campus. You know, because all my other things blew up. I still couldn’t wrap my head around it, and I knew the guys suspected foul play, even though the official finding was a gas leak.
In any case, they weren’t wrong—I needed some stuff. I didn’t even have my own toiletries anymore. But I also knew their agenda was two-fold because I’d been moping for days. Ever since Quinn and Bellamy left for the academy, there’d been a hollow ache in my chest.
I was trying to be tough, but anxiety had me feeling like I was being buried alive. When I tried to make sense of everything that’d happened, my brain would just shut down. So I’d been existing in a state of numb ignorance. Nowhere near blissful, but it beat choking on the panic.
God, I was useless. I couldn’t even put a stupid outfit together.
Big arms wrapped around me as frustrated tears filled my eyes. I turned and pressed my face into Rami’s chest, gasping in his crisp scent like it was Xanax while he rumbled with a low purr.
“You’re alright, kulta,” he murmured, stroking his big hand over my hair and down my back.
“I’m not,” I croaked back and twisted my fingers into his t-shirt. “I’m falling apart.”
Heat pressed against my back as Alaric moved in to sandwich me between them. “So let us keep you together. We’re a family, Pixie. We take care of each other.”
I huffed out a breath and nodded. With no small amount of effort, I shoved everything into the outskirts of my mind. I wasn’t being hunted by demons. I wasn’t starting supernatural college. I wasn’t homeless because of an explosion of questionable origins.
I was just a girl letting two of my boyfriends spoil me with a day of retail therapy.
Rami hummed his approval, sensing my thoughts calm. He reached behind me and plucked something from the rack. “I like this one,” he said, and I twisted to see the top he’d picked. It was a simple style, made of silky-soft modal in a smoky lavender color. I accepted it from him and clutched it like a lifeline.
“Thank you, nallukka.”
I giggled when he purred a little louder and hushed him before the attendant could hear. As we walked out of the store with our bags, they arranged me between them, each claiming a hand. People stared as we passed. I felt their eyes like an uncomfortable chill, and heard their whispered comments.
“Everyone is looking at us,” I muttered, tension creeping back into my shoulders.
Rami’s thumb traced soothing circles on the back of my hand. “This bothers you?”
“I don’t know.” I tried to shrug off my discomfort. “A little, yeah. I’m not used to being seen, I guess.” After another moment of consideration, I realized it wasn’t only that. “And I’m not sure I like how some of them are looking at you guys.”
Alaric chuckled, the sound warming me to the bone, and squeezed my hand. “Feeling territorial, Pixie?”
A feeling just like that prickled under my skin. “Always.”
“None of them matter.” Rami slung his arm around my shoulders. “We know where we belong.” His assertion settled the flare of magic, but I still found myself glaring at anyone whose gaze lingered too long.
Unfortunately, my threatening face went unnoticed by the slim brunette walking toward us with an exaggerated sway in her hips. Her eyes were fixed on Alaric like a missile seeking its target.
Don’t do it. Don’t you do it.
She did it. She stumbled into him, her hands landing on his chest, and my vision went red. If Rami hadn’t pulled me back against his chest, I probably would’ve launched myself at her.
“I’m so sorry!” she simpered with a fake laugh. “I can be so clumsy sometimes.” Her shameless hands stayed where they were, and it didn’t escape my notice that Ric wasn’t stopping her. In fact, his heartstring was practically writhing in fear, his body paralyzed.
My senses heightened, fueled by something I was only just beginning to discover. An awareness brushed against my mind like a briar, an innate understanding of this woman. She felt like she was superior to me in every way. She felt entitled to take what she wanted.
She was wrong.
“Remove your hands from my boyfriend before I remove them from your wrists.”
The brunette’s face dropped into an ugly scowl. “Excuse me?”
I didn’t repeat myself, just continued to focus on her emotional aura, exploring this strange new ability. I imagined a darkening. I imagined her chest growing tight with fear, heart racing. Cold dread creeping up her spine while tendrils of panic wound around her lungs and squeezed.
