54. VANYA: TWISTED

*“Tell me, sweets, does that make you sick too?”*
My hold on the cup tightened as his words flashed through my mind for the tenth time in an hour. Was he right? Does liking pain make me sick too?
I frowned.
It was all so fucking confusing.
There was a difference between liking a bit of pain and getting turned on when torturing a guy, and bruising another’s skin.
Nothing between the three of us was normal, and it had nothing to do with their animal DNA. Or did it?
The image of Devrim’s cuts and bruises flashed through my mind. Obsidian had made all those cuts on his skin with the damn knives he loved so much.
It took me a moment to realize that what he had done to that man was much worse than what he had done to Devrim. But it still felt wrong. Maybe there was something wrong with me. Maybe I was wrong and blowing things out of proportion.
*“You told Ezra not to be a hypocrite and that’s exactly what you’re being now.”*
I had told him that and look what I was doing right now. I was judging their relationship without knowing anything. It was like at the ball with those women who caught us in the bathroom.
Obsidian had never intentionally hurt me and he’d never done anything I didn’t want too. Like Devrim had said, everything was always consensual—he never forced anything on me.
Somehow without realizing it, my father’s words had jaded my judgement of them.
They would never hurt a human unless it was necessary. Being around humans made them uncomfortable—especially Obsidian.
Horror washed through me followed by panic. What have I done? I needed to fix things before it was too late.
Pouring out my cold coffee, I rinsed the cup out and then hurried out of the kitchen.
The night before had ended in Obsidian storming off and Devrim locking himself in his office.
Devrim had informed me in the morning that Ezra found a lead on Betsy’s disappearance. He left after telling me that the brothers would be outside keeping an eye on me.
Chief Curry and his team, along with my men and their pride members were all out looking for her. A part of me feared that the killer would dump her body as another message.
How many more of my friends were going to die?
Out in the forest I was protected and in town I was not. This needed to end before I could fix things with Devrim and Obsidian. Maybe my father’s cameras would come in handy after all.
Now I just needed to set a trap.

***

I was seeking inspiration in Devrim’s office that was surprisingly unlocked. I had taken a seat behind his desk and took everything in as I tried to figure out what I could do.
Yet, hours later my mind was still blank. I had no idea—no plans—we could use to trap the man. We had no idea who it was. All we knew was that he wanted me dead because he thought I knew what he looked like.
Or was it more than that?
His face hadn’t been plastered all over the news so surely he must’ve realized by now that I hadn’t seen his face that night.
Letting out a groan, I dropped my forehead onto the desk. I was scared and tired and so fucking confused. I could really do without the damn worries pilling up.
Had they found Betsy yet? Ezra would’ve called if they had.
I wished I’d never allowed Joy to guilt me into attending the gathering that night. If I hadn’t been there Charlene and that other girl wouldn’t be dead.
But then I would never have gotten to know my men.
Blowing out a breath, I straightened and glanced around the room again. I did a double take when I realized that one of the cabinets that were usually locked wasn’t.
The door stood slightly ajar but I was too far away to see what was inside.
I stood and hesitantly made my way over to it. Sinking down on my knees, I reached out and opened the door. The contents were not what I expected. Photo albums were stacked neatly inside.
It was strange considering the fact that they weren’t photogenic at all.
The air was knocked from my lungs when I opened the first one. A woman was staring up at me from a medium-sized photo on the first page. A very familiar woman—a woman whose face I had seen nearly every day for years. A woman who had hugged me and laughed with me. A woman who had sung me to sleep at night when the nightmares woke me up.
Before I could explore any further a loud thud from above me made me jerk in fright.
I slammed the album closed and pushed it into the cabinet as I scrambled to my feet. I kicked the cabinet door closed and hurried out of the room.
My body started to tremble as I climbed the stairs. I hesitated at the top and glanced around the halls.
Had one of them returned and was searching for me upstairs?
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first, but as I looked again, I noticed the dirty shoeprints on the floor.
It led straight into my bedroom.
“E-Ezra?” I called out.
He was the most likely to trudge dirt into the house.
But they don’t wear shoes when they’re out in the forest. . .
Sucking my lip into my mouth, I used the walls for supports as I headed towards my bedroom. I stopped before I entered and leaned around the doorway to look inside the room.
What I saw made me react before thinking things through.
“Obsidian!” I cried as I rushed forward.
He was unconscious but bleeding. My eyes darted over his frame and locked onto the dart sticking out of his thigh. It was blue and red but small. I reached out and pulled it from his skin before throwing it across the room.
The brothers were outside. I needed to get help but I didn’t want to leave him. If I screamed they’d be able to hear, right?
My lips parted but a faint sound reached my ears and stopped me from screaming. As I turned, I caught sight of a man dressed in camouflage clothing and the bud of a gun swinging towards my face.
Pain exploded through my temple and everything went black.