Page 15 of Their Promise

“Because you made a promise,” Kayden said. “And I know you haven’t forgotten, even if you are pretending you didn’t read our letter.”

I shook my head. “I read your letter and knew you were all just going to laugh at me if I brought it up, knowing you weren’t serious. Knowing that you were just doing something to ruffle my scales like you always used to.”

Trey sat up, his face completely serious as he said, “On the contrary, Princess, we are very serious about following up on our promise. On making you our mate.”

My eyes widened at the sincerity in his voice. Were they serious? No, they couldn’t be. And yet, I hadn’t sensed a lie when he had spoken just now.

Laughing, I shook my head. “You almost got me, Trey. You’ve always had the best poker face.” Taking another drink of the bottle of sparkling wine, I set it down, stood, and turned away from them. “Have a good evening.”

Kayden grabbed my wrist, stopping me. “Lily, what did we do? Why have you been ignoring us all these years?”

“You really want to know?” I asked softly. The fury within me grew, my hair glowing the brightest it ever had. Fury at their games. Fury at the pain I’d felt from the message that caused the rift between us. Fury at still caring about them.

“Yes, that’s why we asked,” Trey said calmly.

“Because I realized that I had been completely wrong about how you felt about me. That you didn’t care about me like you claimed!” I shouted.

Kayden’s eyes widened at my hostility.

I jerked my wrist free of his grasp and continued, “I thought we were best friends. I thought you cared, but you told me, ‘I never considered you my sister!’”

Ezio and Maya had returned and at my statement, Ezio moved closer, eyes wide.

Kayden’s brows rose. “That’swhat caused you to stop talking to us? Because I admitted I never considered you my sister?” He stared at me a second, then threw his head back and laughed.

The asshole actually laughed at me.

Trey and Mason also joined in on the laughter. Trey shook his head as he laughed at me.

“Fuck you, Kayden. Fuck all of you!” My anger was so strong that it was palpable and electricity began to zap around me. Spinning on my heel, I headed towards the exit. “I’m going home.”

“Lily,” Kayden said around his laughs, “wait.”

“Enough,” Ezio growled. “What is wrong with you? Why are you treating her like this?”

“You don’t understand,” Kayden began, but I made my way out of the club so I didn’t have to hear anymore.

Maya walked at my side, glancing at me nervously. “I love you, Lil.”

“I need to kill something,” I hissed, my tongue shifting into my snake’s forked form.

“Okay,” she said with a nod. “Let’s go hunting.”

With Ezio dealing with Kayden, we didn’t have a driver, so we needed a cab. The bouncer at the entrance looked behind me and frowned when he didn’t see Ezio.

“Cab, please,” I said through clenched teeth.

He nodded, raised his arm, and bowed to me as the cab pulled up. “Thank you for visiting our establishment, Princess. I hope to see you again.”

“Thank you,” I said, trying to be as civil as I could when nothing but fury flowed through me. My skin itched, wanting to shift.

He opened the backdoor of the cab and closed it after Maya and I were inside, continuing to bow.

Maya gave the driver the address, since it was becoming more and more difficult to speak. My body ached as I held back from shifting. I knew the driver wouldn’t be too happy with a twenty-foot snake in his car, which meant shifting was out of the question.

“Almost there,” Maya whispered and smiled. “Almost, Lil.”

How could he laugh at me? I finally admitted what they said that had hurt my feelings and they had laughed.

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