What am I supposed to do, Daemon? Scream?
That wasn’t the right response but it was the only one I had. Dead bodies didn’t terrify me. My father was the fucking chief of police and my boyfriends killed for a living. Unsettled by Finn’s need for chaos was more like it.
Aeron’s arms loosened around me as he searched my face for answers. My first love was a different man, confused by Finn’s appearance and unsure of mine. I couldn’t blame him. Finn had torn apart something good but it was only a matter of time before the fucker resurfaced again. Keeping him locked down so fucking tight had taken a toll on me.
“Killian, where’s Finn?
Right here, boys!
“Tucked away, I guess?” I threw anextra wobble into my words, playing into the innocence I had created three years ago. “He left when he was done. Let us see all the carnage.” I hiccupped, choking on a breath as I continued.All for the illusion.“I woke up and then… she was against me. I… she was dead. Nyla is dead?” The terror of waking up next to her was real. Nothing else was. As long as Dark and Daemon believed it, I didn’t really care.
This is why you should have put us there instead of Killian. If he breaks…
You still think he’s the original,
don’t you?
I hate all of this.
As did I. Finn and I would need to have a conversation at some point. I had questions that needed answers and no doubt, Finn would add fucking tally marks to his little board every time I pissed him off.
The age-old question of who was the first was always lingering in my thoughts. I was sure that I was but Finn knew things I didn’t and it wasn’t just a matter of shutting me out. I knew things he didn’t too and all those crazy ass choices he kept making—well, they weren’t always allhis.
I had been present for when we were ‘kidnapped’. Finn had been dragging out his spiel, trying to prolong the suffering to truly show our men what they had done. So, I stepped in. Kind of. I needed to show our men that we didn’t belong in a straightjacket.The wholekidnappingthing? That wasmyidea. Fuck Finn for taking all the credit.
And it had worked. For a little while anyway. My men just thought I was traumatized.
The contacts were also my idea. I liked the innocent mask, the idea that I couldn’t be anything other thansafe. Finn liked the dark look that his honey-gold eyes brought to the table. He enjoyed the mischievous glint they gave off when he smiled.
The thing was… both of them was a cover, a part we liked to play to one-up each other.
I didn’t have heterochromia, that much was apparent.
And our eyes weren’t naturally honey-gold.
Just another thing I wasn’t ready to tell my guys.
They’d find out eventually but for now? They didn’t need to know.
I threw in another grimace and then buried my face into Aeron’s chest to round out my innocent personality.
AERON
Something was off.
Even after Samael procured clean clothes for Killian and ushered us back into the club, I knew that something was off. When I stared at our fourth as he walked himself down the stairs and exited the club, I didn’t see the man I fell in love with. I didn’t see the obstacles we had overcome or the trauma that he had suffered through over the past couple of weeks. I didn’t see anything that would speak to the man who just wanted to be a crime journalist.
Killian… wasn’t Killian. He wasn’t Finn either but the darkness surrounding him was heavy, almost palpable. He didn't really lean into us until he was in the backseat of the car, curled into my side like Killian would have, the shivers running down his spine almost manufactured. Was he toying with us? Or was Finn using Killian as a mask to pretend to be the one I fell in love with?
Still, I held him close after sliding him into the backseat, Slash peeling out of the parking lot. None of this made any sense but the wide-eyed look on the man’s face in my arms kept me from commenting on it. I pulled out my phone when Killian’s eyes closed, texting Samael to see if he had noticed the same thing.
What the fuck is going on?
He’s safe?
I guess but he doesn’t feel like Killian
One of the others?
