Page 25 of Beta Lies and Cursed Lives
Somehow, Colt asking me about my past made me pour my heart out without hesitation.
I wipe my face with my covered fingers, sniffling like a child, vowingno more. I can’t behave like a spoiled brat. I was always on my own, never around others like me. That’s changed now. I need to change, too.
“What happened to your father?” Colt’s voice is soft, kind, and I sigh.
“Major Tomlin told me that he’d been sent to Tenebrosa.”
Colt goes white at the name of the facility. I’d known next to nothing about it, but he must be familiar with it.
His gaze flicks over my shoulder, and I am surrounded by cherry blossom and vanilla, and a moment later, spicy juniper invades my senses.
I turn just as Rai and Aubrey clear the giant tree. Rai looks straight at me as though he can see through his blindfold and advances, kneeling on the ground beside me and placing a tentative hand on my forearm. He says nothing as his covered face tilts up at me, and I can’t help myself. My fingers reach out and brush his snowy locks from the cloth over his eyes.
There is a kinship here, between Rai and me, our covers forming barriers between us and the world.
I want to know more about him. About all of them.
“You just had to ask,” Colt says, a semblance of his bravado returning.
I hadn’t realized I said the words aloud.
“You didn’t.”
I peer at Colt over Rai’s head, and he gives me a little smirk. “I read minds.”
As I shift with surprise, both Rai and Aubrey’s gazes snap to Colt like whips. I feel like I’m missing something again.
Colt lets out a nervous laugh. “The mind reading isn’t at all fun. I can’t control it. I hear everyone all the time in my head. It drives me insane. Literally. I’ve been institutionalized on and off since I was twelve. Nothing—well, not much works to drown out the thoughts.”
I had wanted to care for him before, comfort him. Now, the urge is even stronger.
“I wouldn’t mind,” he says, that brilliant smile flashing.
“I wish I could.” I breathe it aloud without meaning to, but I suppose it doesn’t matter. He’d have heard my thoughts anyway.
Rai finally sits on his butt and wipes his hands on his thighs in a nervous motion. “I told you a bit about my curse, but whenever my eyes are open, technology short-circuits or even explodes. I don’t even need to look at the device, but the curse it somehow connected to my eyes.”
His head tilts back as though he’s looking at the sky. “When I was a kid, my little sister broke my favorite action figure. I got so mad.” His head shakes, and he turns back to me. “I shouted at her, told her she was selfish and spoiled. I said unforgivable things. That I wished she’d been taken away instead of our brother.” He presses his lips between his teeth before continuing. “As I was screaming, all the electronics within a mile radius exploded.”
Rai leans forward, his tongue swipes his lips. “My parents were devastated. They were losing their second son. There was no hiding what I’d done. Neighbors had witnessed it.” His voice cracks, and he clears his throat. “If I remain calm, the damage is limited to maybe about ten feet all around me. But if I lose my temper or have any heightened emotion, really, that radius increases. So, in my room, where there’s no tech, I can remove the blindfold and study. But I sleep with it on, just in case.” He swallows.
He doesn’t need to finish his thought. I can only imagine the nightmares, especially after being separated from family as a child.
My gaze falls to the bright golden halo around Rai’s neck, and my brows furrow.
“Mira wants to know about the collars,” Colt supplies.
Rai’s smile is sad. “Something about the collars makes them immune to my curse’s effects. I can...feel the technology inside them, but there’s something that blocks me from manipulating them. I don’t know what it is, but when I concentrate too hard on it, I get a migraine.”
That thought is disconcerting. What could possibly block the power of a curse?
Aubrey shifts off to the side a bit of a distance from us, and the sound brings my attention to him. He has a deep frown on his face, his jaw flexes. His eyes flick to Colt before he signs something that looks angry.
“Okay, okay!” Colt throws his hands up in exasperation. “I don’t know why you’re being such an absolute ass.” Then he goes silent.
Obviously, Aubrey has nothing to add to the conversation, and I hate the twinge of sadness that blooms in my chest at that fact.
Yet still, the nearness of these Alphas, warmth builds inside my chest, inside my belly. I’ve never really felt warmth before, not inside me. And I have no idea what it means.
