41. DEVRIM: TROUBLE

My heart sank as my eyes darted over to Obsidian.
I recognized that look in his eyes all too well. Just when I thought that we were finally on the right track, things went wrong all over again.
“What do you remember?” Obsidian repeated his question.
My eyes dropped to his hand at his side as his fingers twitched and slowly curled into a fist.
“Vanya—”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she interrupted him.
He took a step forward but froze. “Tell me what you remember or I—”
“Will torture it out of me?” she hissed.
“Vanya. . .” I trailed off when she glared at me.
Swallowing, I glanced at Ezra for help but his eyes were closed. How the hell could he be sleeping after what just happened? I knew that he was still healing but he wasn’t that weak or on any pain medicine.
“Why do I always have to answer your questions but you never answer mine?” she whispered. “I asked you if Mom and Darial had an affair and you said that they were only friends.”
“They—”
“Stop lying to me Obsidian!” Vanya yelled. “Tell me the truth. Was my Mom and Darial in a relationship?”
Obsidian had paled. His eyes dropped to the floor for a few seconds before he looked back at Vanya. “Yes.”
Yes.
I blinked at him in surprise. Melanie had always denied any claims of being in a relationship with him. She had said that they were just very good friends. *Why had she lied to me? *

“She got pregnant again,” Ezra said, breaking the silence.
“Shut up!” Obsidian snarled at him.
Ezra’s lips curled into a nasty smile. “Melanie tried to hide her pregnancy but—”
Vanya screamed when Obsidian lunged at Ezra.
I jerked her to my chest and hurried to move her to safety.
Obsidian and Ezra rolled on the bed and then dropped to the floor with Obsidian on top of Ezra. Straddling Ezra, Obsidian gripped his chin and forced his head backwards as he leaned forward to snarl at him.
“Keep your fucking mouth shut or I’ll do it for you.”
Ezra dug his claws into Obsidian’s thigh and bucked his hips to throw him off.
“Fuck you,” he growled at him. “I’m sick and tired of following your orders because you claim to know best. Just because you’re bonded to her doesn’t mean that you know what’s best for her.”
“I know her better than you,” Obsidian sneered.
“Because you’ve stalked her for years,” Ezra hissed. “You followed her around like a lost puppy because of your sick obsession. She’s not a little girl anymore Obsidian! Now that we finally have a chance at being with her, you want to ruin it by keep things from her.”
“W-what things?” Vanya questioned.
My hold on her tightened. The sweet smell of her fear still lingered in the air but neither of them seemed to realize that they were scaring her.
“I’m warning you, Ezra.”
Ezra’s eyes narrowed at they continued to stare at each other.
“Joy was very informative when she tried to negotiate her way out of dying,” Ezra muttered, ignoring Obsidian’s warning. “Are you scared, Obsidian? Are you scared that she’ll hate you when she learns about the secrets you’re keeping?”
Vanya elbowed me and jerked out of my hold when it loosened slightly. She moved towards Ezra and stretched her arms out on either side of her. Head tilted back and eyes narrowed, she stared at Obsidian.
“He’s injured,” she told him.
Obsidian growled. “He started it so he—”
“Started what?” Vanya cried, letting her arms drop to her sides. “He’s answering my questions. You’re the one who’s being a prick because things aren’t going your way.”
“You can’t handle the answers,” Obsidian growled.
I flinched along with Vanya. It was the wrong thing to say. He might as well have slapped her by the look on her face.
“That’s what you think of me?” she croaked. “You still think that I’m some weak fucking human even though you told me weeks ago that you don’t think of me that way anymore.”
“I-I didn’t mean it like that.” He took a step forward but froze when she held up a hand to stop him. “Vanya, I—”
“I’m sick and tired of you treating me like shit. I don’t need you to wrap me in plastic like I’m some fragile little doll. Haven’t I proved that I’m strong enough to handle—”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” he interrupted. “It’s not about you being weak. It’s about you letting your emotions get the best of you and doing something stupid.”
Obsidian’s eyes darted between the three of us. He hesitated a moment before he looked back at Vanya. “You don’t know how to control your anger.”
“Neither do you!”
Ignoring her words, he focused his attention on Ezra. “There’s a reason why Melanie kept her relationship with Darial secret, and there’s a reason why I have been keeping secrets.”
“She was my Mom! Mine and you have no right to hide it from me whether she wanted to keep it secret or not,” Vanya hissed. “She died because she was involved with—”
Obsidian gently pushed Vanya aside to get closer to Ezra. Gripping his arm, he jerked him to his feet and glared at him.
“You keep your fucking mouth shut,” he warned him softly. “Once you stop acting like a pup, we’ll talk about the things Joy told you. You’ll find out what is true and what not before *you* fucking ruin the relationship we had built with our mate.”
“You—”
“This conversation is over, Vanya,” Obsidian snapped.
“You either tell me what you know or I will search for answers on my own!” With that said, she stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.
Ezra jerked out of Obsidian’s hold and slumped against the wall, breathing heavily.
“I’m trying—”
“It’s doesn’t matter,” Ezra interrupted him. “If you keep this up she’s going to start hating you. She’ll leave us because of you.”
Obsidian stared at Ezra for a few seconds before he turned to stare at the closed door. We could all hear Vanya’s soft cries even though she had opened the taps to try and hide it. What Obsidian said had hurt her more than she had shown when she faced him.
Swallowing loudly, Obsidian pressed a hand to his chest and rubbed at a spot a few inches above his heart.
“She didn’t want her to know,” he rasped. “Melanie didn’t want Vanya to be burdened by the mistakes she made which is why she went out of her way to hide everything.”
“How do you know all this?” I asked him.
His arm dropped to his side as he turned to face me. “Because. . .”
“Obsidian,” I urged softly when he trailed off.
He didn’t answer me. Spinning around, he stormed over to the bags with our clothes and started dressing. Obsidian grabbed a few knives and then walked over to the door.
My lips parted, but the words died down when a sob fell from Vanya’s lips. I wasn’t going to stop him from leaving this time even though I wanted too.
Obsidian hovered by the door but when I remained silent, he finally pulled the door open and walked out of the room. The bang of the door slamming shut echoed around the room.
I stared at it for a few seconds before I turned my attention to Ezra. “Were you ever planning on telling me about the thing Joy said to you before you killed her?”
“Eventually,” he muttered.
I hesitated, trying to find the right words to voice the question burning through my mind. Ezra raised his head to look at me. He scoffed as he straightened and stumbled towards the bed. Sinking down on it, he blew out a breath.
“Joy made it sound like Obsidian was responsible for Melanie’s death,” he said softly. “If that’s true. . .Vanya will never forgive him, Dev. She’ll hate him because he took her mother away from her.”
“If you know that, why do you want to tell her what Joy said?” I asked him. “You want to fix things but telling Vanya that will destroy us.”
He closed his eyes. Ezra’s body twitched. For a few seconds he remained silent but then he opened his eyes to look at me. They were dark with pain but he said nothing about it.
“Joy has always been a liar. There’s some truth in her words but there’s also lies. She hated Melanie for some reason just like she hated Vanya.” He paused. “Despite the shit Obsidian has done and of all the things he’s capable of, I know that he would never do something like that. He knew how much Melanie meant to Vanya so I know that he would have done anything to protect her.”
I frowned at him. “I still don’t understand.”
“Melanie was pregnant, Dev. She gave birth to a half-breed.”
My frown deepened.
Ezra rolled his eyes. “Vanya has a half sister. I don’t know if she’s alive or not. Joy didn’t know either but she claimed to have proof of Melanie’s pregnancy.”
I stared down at the floor. “You want to give her false hope.”
“No!” He slowly sat up. “Vanya thinks that she has no family expect for Reeves. You should have seen how happy she was when she found out about Iris. I want her to be happy but she will never be happy if she doesn’t know the truth.”
*What’s the truth? How do we know who’s telling the truth and who not?*
Despite the confusion and doubt over Joy actually telling the truth, I had a nagging feeling inside me that I already knew that truth. The doubts were slowly starting to fade away with the new news that Melanie had been pregnant before she died.
Things were starting to make sense but I feared that it might actually cause more trouble than make things better.