A Cursed Bloodline
Page 24

“If that was the case, you wouldn’t have made out with your naughty little girlfriends.” My eyes stung with tears. “I’m not who you really want. If I was, you’d abandon your thirst for multiple women and commit. Really commit.”
“I just did.” His arm waved around the room. “Do you see anyone here but you?”
“It’s not the same thing, Misha.” I adjusted the blanket around me. “No one you’re devoted to should have to ask you to tell your hoochies to leave. It goes to show you don’t love me as much as you think.” I stood and left his room. I was halfway through the open corridor when the aroma of familiar scents slammed into me like a shopping cart. I stopped short, almost falling.
Maria smiled. “Oh, I forgot to tell you, your sisters are here.”
Emme’s lips parted with surprise. Taran crossed her arms. I could scent her disappointment, just as I could Shayna’s anger. Her fists were clenched and she refused to look at me.
I don’t know which reaction hurt me more.
Misha leaned against the railing. The wrought-iron bars weren’t wide enough to hide his naked form. He nodded to my sisters in way of a greeting. “Kitten,” he called casually. “The coordinator will arrive on the premises immediately following lunch. Take this time to be with your family. We have many decisions to make.”
“Coordinator?” I asked like an idiot.
“Why, yes. A wedding of this magnitude requires the flair of an expert.”
Shayna’s head snapped up. “What wedding?”
“Ours, of course. Celia and I are getting married.”
—
It didn’t matter that I screamed at Misha in front of my sisters that we weren’t getting married. Nor did anyone care for my dramatic, breaking-down-the-doors exit. My sisters saw what they wanted. The broken bond, my naked figure wrapped in a blanket, and Misha’s smile when he asked them to be bridesmaids.
Bastard.
My sisters and I sat in the kitchen of the guest house’s second-floor apartment. Chang and Ying-Ying had already moved Bren so the contractors could repair the damage from Koda and Tim’s smackdown. We’d spoken very little during our care of Bren. Not even Taran had commented on Little Bren’s elation when Emme wished his bigger half a good morning.
It was awful. Normally, when we sat drinking chai we talked a lot, whether to discuss our lives, seek advice, or simply laugh between jokes. But no one laughed, joked, or even spoke. My actions had confused them. They wanted answers, but I had none to give.
“So she chose Misha,” Taran finally said. Everyone’s gaze shot toward her. She shrugged and took a sip of her tea. “You’re a big girl, Celia. You know what’s best for you.”
Shayna scowled. “No, she doesn’t. What she did to Aric was low.”
My eyes closed firmly and I took a breath. When I opened them, Shayna continued to frown my way. Emme set down her cup. “Leave her alone, Shayna. Celia is not a hateful person and you know it.”
“You’re wrong.” Shayna scoffed, “I don’t even know who she is anymore.”
A spark of blue and white lit above Taran’s head. “Stop it, Shayna.”
Shayna slammed her palms down and rose, the werewolf essence Koda had given her surging her anger. “Why couldn’t you just tell Aric to his face? Why did you have to be so brutal? You humiliated him—”
The crashing sound when I tipped the table stopped Shayna’s anger from building. Hell, it stopped everything. I couldn’t even hear the birds outside anymore. Deep fury heated my body and my tigress’s eyes replaced my own. All my beast wanted was to lash out. She was ready to fight, to maim, to kill, and so was I.
Emme slipped out of her seat and backed away. “Oh, God…Celia.”
My sisters’ terror incited my beast. She was done being caged by those who sought to hurt us, and rushed forth to protect me.
Even if it meant charging those she had always looked after.
I took a step forward without realizing. The speck of humanity that remained within me forced me to stop and close my eyes again. I thought of my baby, that little peanut whose heart beat because I lived. I had to keep it together. I had to get us through this. My fury slowly abated and I wiped the two tears that escaped without my permission. When I regained enough control, I gathered the garbage pail and broom and began to sweep. At first no one moved, but then they knelt on the floor and helped gather the broken pieces of ceramic.
My grip on the broom handle cracked the wood in two. Shayna clasped my wrist and slid the handle from my hands. Her eyes reddened and she wept. It seemed her fear and sadness were enough to manage the wolf Koda had passed her. “What’s happening to you, Ceel?”
Taran and Emme whimpered as their own grief unfolded. They were frightened for me. God, what was happening to me?
“I have to leave,” I croaked.
Taran wiped her mascara-streaked face. “Where are you going?”
I pushed the hair out of my eyes. “I mean I’m leaving…and not coming back.” A sense of reprieve washed over me. That’s it. That’s the answer. I have to get as far away from here as possible. It will please Anara and keep everyone safe.
Emme knelt over the mess with a cracked mug in her hand. “Celia, honey, you can’t just leave us.”
Taran slammed a chipped saucer into the garbage pail. “Shit, Ceel. I don’t know what the hell is happening, but there’s no way you’re going anywhere!”
I ignored them. The more I thought about my plan, the more it made sense. I had money saved from years of working and from the missions I’d accomplished for the vampires. I could rent something small and work as a nurse until the baby was born.
Shayna dropped the pieces of broken broom and gripped my arm. “Dude, you’re sick. You can’t be alone in your condition.”
I gaped from the skinny arms that held me to her imploring expression. Great, they think I need meds. I was better off when they thought I was a bitch.
I shrugged her off. “I’m not sick. I just don’t belong here anymore.”
They exchanged glances, unsure what to do next. In her desperation, Emme threw down the Catholic guilt. “What about Bren? You promised you’d take care of him.”
Bren slept peacefully on the couch, blissfully unaware of the horrors surrounding us in the conscious world. “You’re right.” They all sighed with apparent relief. “I’ll take him with me.”