Page 70 of Vicious Luna

“This is my friend Sloane,” Avery says by way of introduction, gesturing beside her.

The girl stops in her tracks the moment her striking green eyes meet mine, freezing just inside the doorway. “You,” she breathes, staring at me as if she’s just seen a ghost.

Avery wrinkles her nose in confusion, brow furrowing as she swings her gaze between us. “Do you two know each other?” she asks tentatively.

I shake my head, even though something about this girldoesseem strangely familiar.

“I’ve been having dreams about him,” Sloane states, her wide eyes still trained on me.

Avery snaps her head around to gape at her friend. “Visions?” she asks eagerly.

Sloane bites her lip, nodding as she turns to face Avery. “Yeah, for a couple weeks now. I guess it finally makes sense why I’ve been seeing him, since he’s your mate…”

“Uh, does someone wanna fill me in?” I interject, thoroughly perplexed by this entire exchange.

Avery turns her gaze back on me, lips tilted in a smirk. “Sloane’s a little bit psychic,” she provides. “It runs in her family.”

“I’m still getting the hang of it, though,” Sloane amends. “My gifts only came in a few months ago, and they only really started working right when I bonded with my mate.”

I nod slowly as I digest this new nugget of information. A few days ago, I might’ve found talk of psychic abilities to be alarming, but at this point, what’s one more weird, supernatural thing to add to the pile?

“Sloane’s one of the IT geniuses I was telling you about,” Avery says, completely blowing past any further explanation in favor of getting straight to the point of her visit. “She offered to help you figure out where you came from, if you’re still interested.”

Shit,amI still interested? I keep going back and forth as to whether I really want to know the truth of my origins, but some part of meneedsto know, if only to put the past to rest.

“Yeah,” I reply, swallowing thickly.

Avery smiles, sweeping her long hair over a shoulder. “Alright, cool, I’ll leave you to it, then,” she says, pivoting toward the door. She ducks past Sloane, spinning around in the doorway and pointing a finger at me before exiting. “Behave,” she warns, pinning me with a stern stare.

I roll my eyes, waving her off. As if I’d do something stupid to jeopardize my situation here. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more willing captive than me right now, and she damn well knows it.

Avery chuckles to herself as she pulls the door closed behind her, Sloane still peering at me curiously from her position in front of it.

I blow out a breath, raking a hand through my hair as I meet her assessing green eyes again. “Wanna sit?” I ask,gesturing to the pair of chairs in the middle of the cell like I’m hosting her in my home or something. I mean technically, I guess I am.Home sweet cell.

“Sure,” she replies, smiling warmly as she steps past me to take a seat. She slides a tote bag off her shoulder, setting it on the ground beside her chair while I move to sink down into the one across from her.

“So how long have you two been friends?” I ask, throwing a thumb toward the door.

“Our whole lives,” she replies with a fond smile. “Me and the twins were inseparable as kids. Aves was like a sister to me long before we officially became family.”

“Officially?”

“Yeah, her brother Madd’s my mate.”

I arch a dubious brow. “I thought her brother didn’t have a mate?”

“Is that what she told you?” she giggles, shaking her head. “She must’ve been trying to protect me.”

“Sounds like her,” I mumble.

Sloane gazes at me thoughtfully, as if she’s trying to discern some hidden meaning in my words. “You care about her, don’t you?” she asks, tilting her head in consideration.

I just stare back at her, unsure how to respond. Because Idocare for Avery, but I don’t know this girl nearly well enough to admit aloud to her what I’ve only recently acknowledged in my own mind.

Thankfully, she seems content to let it go, leaning over to reach into her bag and retrieving a notepad and pen. “Alright, let's start with your mom’s name,” she chirps, balancing the notepad on her thigh and clicking her pen.

“Emily Knox.”

---