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Brody was too much a threat in their eyes.
Now that he had an unobstructed view, he gazed at me, soaking in the sight with so much wistfulness, it started to make me uncomfortable. Especially when Sage snarled and Jari grunted. Rand studied him with a passive eye, but I could tell he didn’t like this any more than the other two.
“Okay, you have us all alone. We’re humoring you. Why are you here?” I tried to insert confidence into my tone, but this was a situation that wasn’t made for building confidence up in a girl. It was more like the embarrassment of running into a dirty one night stand with your partners.
“I needed to see you—”
“Bad way to start.” Sage pulled a knife out of his belt and ran his finger across the blade. It glowed as his hand passed over it. Holy shit. He was heating it up. I didn’t know he could do that.
Brody ignored him. “I never wanted to leave you. But I needed you to bond with others first. I wanted to tell you what you were, but it was obvious you had no idea—”
“I really don’t like this conversation.” Jari stepped forward.
“I’m not such a fan either,” Rand added.
Okay, that was all fair. If the roles were reversed, I would cut a bitch. And came close the last time. At least Sage had pushed the one Cherry out the door. We didn’t really have that option with Brody. He was too much of a key player.
“I have my mates. So going down memory lane is pointless.” Hurt flashed in his eyes, and I felt a momentary twinge of guilt. But I had to be mean to be kind. Nothing good would come of him sharing these regretful confessions. It was a good thing Egan and Nato weren’t here. They would egg Sage on and that might cause a fight.
He didn’t say anything, so I tried to prompt him.
“Why are you really here?”
After a long, drawn inhale, he scrubbed a hand over his face. “I grew up in Fiasla. My family are large supporters of the Shadow society.”
I paused. The boy from the vision flashed through my mind, but he couldn’t be part of the Shadow Society. It was too old of an organization for him to have any meaningful part in it. Right? I mean, unless Brody was older than I thought he was. Damn it. That actually could be the case.
“It was foreseen that I would be matched with a Mazza. I had hoped it was you, but I waited too long. When I came back through, you were gone, and I knew, without the sight, you were already bonded. I felt it.” He thumped his chest with his fist.
I thought the guys would have interjected, but they only glared.
When I didn’t comment, he cleared his throat and continued. “When I went back to Fiasla, my parents were waiting with Jewel. She already had her core and needed a Manno.” Sadness crept through his words. “As much as I like some of her bonds, I can’t standher. To put it frankly, she’s a fucking evil bitch.” His nose crinkled and spit flew from his mouth.
“We could tell,” Jari raised a brow. He didn’t want to agree with him, but he couldn’t deny his first impression apparently.
“Why did you leave? Or should I say how?”
“She’s trying to position herself as the next queen—”
“Fennina doesn’t have queens,” Sage interjected.
“If Fiasla has their way, the three realms will be united under one ruler. The head of Fiasla believes it will be him. Jewel has other feelings about it.”
So there was dissension in the ranks. That could work in our favor.
“You thought you could escape her evil clutches and come back to Issy?” Rand asked, crossing his arms. As the gentlest of the three, he spoke the softest.
“No—I—” He didn’t get out another word as a portal lit up between two boulders coming out of the floor.
A hand reached through and caught Brody’s shoulder, then a knife tip appeared through the side of his chest.
I screamed, jolting forward as Sage threw out an arm to block my path. “Brody!”
He grunted, as he was pulled back, a few droplets of blood on the floor was the only sign I hadn’t made up that entire exchange in my head.
Well, that and the fact that Jewel and one of her other mates stepped through the blue mist. “You really have to start safeguarding your secrets better,” she sneered as she brushed her hand down her high ponytail.
I didn’t have feelings for Brody, but I didn’t want him to be stuck to this bitch for the rest of his life. Was this really how his future was going to play out? Forever a slave to this bitch, who would track him down if he tried to escape her.
