Uninvited dark whispers swarmed in my head. My arms spread, and I let my fingers touch the soft fabric that covered her and feel the little baby even though I shouldn’t have.
I gasped and hiccupped through the tears as I pressed her to my chest. There was something strange about this baby. Something so tempting and deliciously dark. So hard to resist.
My eyes sought my wolves. I needed their help. I needed them to silence my demon. “What Damien did was wrong.” I had to say it out loud. A reminder. An alarmed siren. The growing whispers were scaring me. “So wrong.”
Quickly, Kayden and Alec were around me, wrapping their warm embraces around my shoulders and back. “Yeah, it is. But it’s okay becausehedid it, not you. You’re nothing like him,” one of them said. I was too lost in the moment to recognize which one. “They’re with their family now. Where they belong.”
I nodded emphatically, shaking, urging myself to give Rina back to her mother. But with every second she spent in my embrace, it was getting harder to let go. “Her name is so much similar to mine. My first given one.”
“It’s just a coincidence, Belle,” Kayden said, as if he felt me, as if he heard the vile thoughts in my mind.
“Baby, we shouldn’t keep this awesome gang for long. I’m sure they have a ton shit of stuff to do, so do we. Why don’t we do what we came here to do?” Alec looked around the room. “Is there anywhere we can speak with Legend…alone?”
“Vixen is a little tired. She needs to stay in bed. You can ask whatever the shit you wanna ask here.” Slasher nodded at Mad Dog. “We’ll take the girls and get out, but make it quick.”
Mad Dog stood before me, arms stretched. I stared at him with burning eyes and then back at Rina, my arms begging me to never let go of this beautiful creature.
I could feel everybody’s eyes on me. I could smell their fear and wariness. I could hear the curses in their heads. But the demon’s voice was louder than everything else.
She could have been yours.
She should be yours.
You want her so much. She’s in your arms now. You could still have her.
“Belle? The dude is waiting.”
“Baby, c’mon. We came here to find answers, remember? Answers you couldn’t wait to have, you know, so we can have a beautiful baby of our own just like this one?”
Bullshit. You know that will never happen. That’s your baby right here. The one you should have had. It’s not too late now, though. She can still be yours.
“Yeah. She’s so beautiful, isn’t she? What is she?” I asked, mesmerized.
“What do you mean what she is?” Vixen’s voice took a sharp edge. “She’s a shifter like her dad. Nothing more nothing less. Now give her to him. Now.”
The abrupt change in Vixen’s attitude nudged me back to awareness. There was nothing more hurtful than terrifying a mother, and that was exactly what I was doing.
Clutching at the faint voice of sanity left in me, I yanked my gaze away from the baby. I wanted to do the right thing and just give her back, but my body wouldn’t let me. As if there was an invisible force taking over my body, compelling it to somebody else’s will.
“Kayden…” I said his name as if it was my lifeline, hoping he’d force me back to my normal self, silencing my demon—or whoever possessed me—like he did with my vampire.
Carefully, yet firmly, he released Rina from my evil hold and gave her to his cousin. “Here. We won’t be long.”
The cold emptiness she left felt like physical pain. Why would I get that attached to her? Why did I feel like I was being ripped apart when they were taking her away from me?
This wasn’t normal. Something was wrong. What the fuck was happening to me?
Mad Dog squinted at me warily. “Yeah. It’d be for the best. Inferno, stay with Vixen. Don’t leave her alone.”
Alec and Kayden’s stances changed, and I felt they were going to protest, but I held both their shoulders. “It’s okay. I’d like a word with Inferno, too. I think he has the answers to some of my questions.”
Chapter 12
Kayden
“Your girls aren’t just shifters, Vixen,” Belle said.
Legend looked away at the demon. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
