Gypsy Freak

My jaw grinds as I turn into her driveway, and I hold my foot on the brake instead of parking. She stares at me for another beat.

“That’s what I thought,” she says before smiling like the smart-mouthed little thing she is.

“I’ll be in touch,” I call out as she pushes out my door, slams it behind her, and runs inside her fucking unlocked house barefoot.

I could have at least carried her in and looked inside. Damn it. Now this is going to piss me off, and I need to know no one is in there.

Huffing out a breath, I back out of her driveway, park a few blocks over, jog back to her house, and sneak inside to make sure no perverts or monsters are lurking in her unlocked home.

I swear this girl has a death wish sometimes.

Chapter 21

VIOLET

Emit says nothing much across from me, as I swallow the lump in my throat. I was the least attached to Fay, but that doesn’t mean it hurts less. I can only imagine how he feels, though. She’s lived here for years, and she was his to protect.

Damien hands me a glass of something fruity, and I drink it down as he sits next to me, his eyes surveying me like he has thousands of questions.

No one has said anything about me not dying today. I’m not sure if it’s because Damien blabbed what I said and they’re silently assessing, or if it’s because he’s kept that to himself like a prized secret he can leverage against me if the time ever comes.

One thing is noticeably different; he’s a lot cooler toward me. Anna might have hated sex if she’d had to stick around for the complications it seems to present to me every time I decide to take her advice and do something I want to—damn the consequences.

Fay dies while I’m having sex, and no one even bothered to tell me when I was worrying over the aloof Damien.

“I spent the night partying, and—”

“No one is supposed to know this yet,” Emit interrupts, not allowing me to attach my own guilt. “You’re only finding out because I’ll have to tell my omegas. As far as the rest of the packs know, that minor pack is taking retreat right now. It’s a common wolf thing.”

“They’ll rush to assume vampires are to blame, and it’ll get bloody in Shadow Hills real quick. We don’t want camera phones out and recording battles that aren’t supposed to really exist,” Damien tells me as he picks a piece of lint off his shoulder in a way that gives him the opportunity to turn his face away from me.

I wipe away a stray tear, as Emit stares at the ground, his fingers locked together in a tight grip, like he’s working hard to remain this calm.

“The rest of my omegas will be returning from Vegas—”

“You sent them there because you worried there’d be issues with your betas. Lemon told me,” I interrupt this time. “Did they do this?”

The lethal glare Emit shoots me doesn’t bode well for my open invitation to his House, but I don’t give a damn. I’m sick of people dying around me.

“No,” Damien answers in his bored, barely-here tone, as though last night broke the spell, and the tension in the air doubles each time he speaks to me. “Other omegas from other packs were also killed.”

“Is Fay’s father a beta?” I ask.

Emit frowns as he looks over at me. “Fay’s father? I think he died as a mortal hundreds of years ago.”

I say nothing, since I don’t know any of the omegas’ back stories. But Fay didn’t talk like she was bringing up an old wound that first night I vomited up my own daddy issues. Out of everyone, she was the most empathetic.

Emit’s head jerks up, and his lips tense as he sniffs the air.

“Stay put,” he tells me as he walks out of the room.

Damien tenses, groans, and glances down at his watch. “Stay here,” he says on a sigh, echoing Emit’s command as he goes too.

I glance out the window, seeing Shera’s car, and I quietly stand, deciding Fay was certainly important enough to spy for.

When I hear Arion’s voice instead of Shera’s, I tense and very quietly peer around the corner, seeing Emit’s back.

“Violet’s here. I can smell her,” Arion chirps. “Finally quit dallying after you saw the dopey fucking look on Damien’s face?”

“I had to inform her about Fay, and she’s waiting for us in the common area. You shouldn’t be here,” Emit grinds out.

“Ah, so Violet is vulnerable, due to yet another tragic loss. I don’t hear any sobbing, so that means she’s just vulnerable enough. Figures you’d wait for the easiest moment. Heaven forbid you put forth any real effort. I’m proud of Damien. At least he’s killing himself to take just a little pleasure,” Arion goes on, causing my fists to form.

Is he really this cruel?

This cold?

“The snow is falling again in heavy clumps. Just how bad is the spirit infestation of this diabolical little town gotten?” Arion asks. “And how long until you two dalliers get yours so I can charm Violet to me, and we can start the new good times?”

I swallow the words I want to scream, as tears waver on my lids.

“Now is not the time for this,” Damien tells him in a tired tone, like this isn’t even an emotional time for him in the least, and he’s been around Fay as much as I have lately.

“It won’t ever be the time for it. There’ll always be a problem on the horizon, but the fact you’re sensibly discussing a setup is improvement already. Now, go charm her. I’ve told you time and time again how easily charmed she is. Just let the girl know she’s pretty, give her some attention, keep her from being lonely, and you’ll be in there as tightly as Damien is,” Arion says to Emit. “Then I can finally have my turn.”

I turn and walk away, moving as silently and quickly as possible, throat burning and tears leaking as I go.

When will I stop being so gullible?

Chapter 22

VIOLET

Walking into my house, I’m not sure what I expect, but it’s certainly not a lot of bags. Bags that have Diva or Juicy or something similar scrawled across them in rhinestones, glitter, and other bedazzling things.

The chatter I hear coming from upstairs has me quickly drying my eyes, just as the patter of feet start down the stairs.

“It’ll be big enough if we put all our clothes in that other room—like a huge closet,” Lemon is animatedly telling Leiza.

All of them have reddened eyes, so I know they know about Fay.

“But that will be all her guest rooms. Where will her father stay when he drops in unannounced?” Mary asks as she pushes her blonde hair out of her face.

I have no idea what they’re talking about, or how they’re so cold about Fay. I don’t really get to ponder it long, because they all swing their gazes to me at once.

Lemon’s eyes soften when she sees me.

“You poor dear,” she says before hurrying over to hug me.

I’m not used to people hugging me, so I just sort of stand still and soak it in, weirdly comforted by a simple embrace.

“How are all of you?” I ask as I finally hug her back, certain she could use some comfort too, since they were pack—family.

“Our hearts are broken, but we’ve unfortunately felt this so many times. We’re not as young and soft as you,” Leiza says as she comes over and cups my cheek.

“We’re moving in,” Tiara grunts as she starts hauling bags up the stairs.

I blink a few times.

“Say what now?” I ask Leiza.

“We were going to cook you dinner and romance you a bit before that announcement,” she says in an annoyed tone, glaring at Tiara’s back as the she-wolf strains her biceps.

“We’re not safe with just Emit anymore. Someone is too ballsy. Omegas die first in the wars if they don’t find the strongest homes to stay in. Even in this era, obviously,” Mary says, sniffling as she wipes her eyes.

“Yeah, but I can assure you that my home is—”

“Free of all vampire invitation,” Tiara says from upstairs.

“Well, yeah, but I’m—”

“Protected by not one, but three alphas,” Lemon points out.

“It’s four. You’re forgetting Damien,” Mary says as she reads from a list.

“Damien?” Lemon asks, genuinely sounding confused.

“Dorian’s brother,” Leiza says by way of explanation. “You haven’t seen him in a while.”

“I can’t be responsible for your safety,” I cut in, a little panic rising in me. “I’m not—”

“You’re not responsible for our safety. We are. We dissect the most appropriate and welcoming homes, and then we move in and survive longer than any other betas in history. If Fay had listened to Alpha, the way she should have, she’d be alive right now. Every omega knows to trust your true immortal alpha above all others who walk this earth. Otherwise, like I said, omegas die first,” Leiza says like that explains everything.

“And you’re a gypsy with a lot of gusto in your magic, so that could be helpful,” Mary adds as she turns to go to the kitchen. “I even overheard that you killed four vampires all by yourself.”

“That was really a lot of luck,” I assure them, stumbling my way behind them as the smell of something incredibly good sweeps in. “And I’m not protected by four alphas. Right now, I think those four alphas just enjoy playing games with me. Damien may be the only alpha who actually sort of likes being around me, and no one remembers his authority unless he’s glowing at a party. It’s hard to threaten people with his name,” I go on.

“Van Helsing slept with you. He hasn’t had a woman in centuries,” Lemon chides.

“And they all watch you,” Leiza cuts in before I can rebut that statement with any form of an argument. “They’re not even subtle about it. Emit sneaks off to watch you all the time and lies about it later.”

“This conversation is just too weird to have right now,” I say as I sit down at my table. I’m glad they never really think to mention Damien.

I really don’t want to talk about him right now. I’d like to punch him, but I don’t think violence against an immortal capable of pulling steel bars apart through a glass covered stone wall is smart.

I never even registered the small shards of glass raining down on us as those walls tried to crumble, because I only got a few scrapes…and there was a lot of other more distracting things going on at the time.

Like a sequence of mind-numbing orgasms that…quite frankly, I’m angry at him for ruining the after-glow of.

The point is, punching him would be stupid.

“The biggest thing you have is Arion,” Tiara adds as she joins us. “Having Arion makes us the safest we can be, since he and his people are the threat.”

There’s another immortal I’d like to punch in the face. She’s easily charmed. You can fuck her if you really try. Those aren’t the exact words, but it’s definitely the sort of chauvinist bullshit he had leaking from his mouth when he didn’t know I was listening.