Page 93 of Cursed to Be Mine
“No.”
“So only Xander saw you enter and knew the witness checked out soon after you arrived?”
My jaw locks as I nod sharply. Xander has been loyal to this Family since he joined it seven years ago. He keeps his head down, doesn’t make waves. He isn’t interested in climbing the ranks. He just wants our protection, and for that, he does his job well, collecting and cataloging DNA evidence for us to plant at crime scenes. I can’t see him as a traitor.
Then again, I didn’t notice our uncle was planning to kill Varius until the day he struck.
“I’ll deal with him,” I say, heading for the door.
He steps out of the way. “Do it now. Antonio will grow in power rapidly if he’s consuming hybrids, and we don’t know how many women he has pregnant.”
My fingers tighten on the doorknob, not wanting to be away from Scarlett.
But an order is an order.
Opening the door, I nod.
Twenty-Seven
HIM
Scarlett’s still asleep in my bed when I’m preparing to leave. I finished with my shower, and Leno made me a tea to heal my wounds, having pulled the regenerative power from his plants, thus allowing me to use my magic again without sacrificing my organs. Mother stood beside him, wanting to heal me herself but under orders not to from Varius.
The bite mark on my neck is completely gone, as is the knife wound Derek gave me. My broken ribs are healed too. Only my kidney is still half missing.
When magic demands a price, only a fool tries to find a way not to pay.
My eyes linger on my girl’s sleeping form. I want to crawl into bed with her and hold her until she wakes. I need to explain what’s happened to her so she doesn’t panic in a new place. My brothers can be a handful, as can Mother, and I don’t want to leave her in their care.But as much as they might annoy her, she will be safe with them and they will not scare her. I’ve marked her as mine; the blood ritual completed or not, we’ve bonded and she’s part of the family. They will treat her as one of us.
Placing a kiss on her forehead, I then open the drawer on the bedside table. On a black cushion indented to cup it is a black mask with two sets of gold horns curving out of its forehead, two going out, two going up. Nestled above them is a painted rune, gold in color and meaning:Death claims all.The face is expressionless.
Picking it up, I turn from the room. “I’ll be back soon,” I promise as I slip the reaper mask onto my face and melt into my shadow.
Twenty-Eight
HER
Awareness comes to me slowly, having to fight through a thick layer of grogginess to pierce my brain.
But then my eyes snap open as memories assault me.
Khalid killed Derek.
I attacked him in the bathroom.
And then –
My mind blanks, but with it comes a heavy dose of anger.
Why can’t I remember?
What did he do to me?
Where am I?
The walls in Derek’s room were eggshell. This one’s a dusky gray, and the bed isn’t a bag of springs digging into my back.
Turning away from the wall I’m facing, I tense, half-expecting to see Khalid watching me. But the room is empty – of both him and seemingly anything else.Is this a luxury prison?
