Twisted

“Well, she’s enjoying it, then,” Victoria added, words sharp as a whip. “If I wasn’t holding her back she’d be grinding on him.”

“Do you want me to deny that?” the wolf muttered. “Because we both know I’d be lying.”

“You’re a terrible friend.”

“Whatever. Just don’t kill her afterward. To borrow her, I had to promise Lauren you’d do her laundry for a week. And I had to promise you’d do it forever if any harm came to her slave.”

“Thanks a lot. You couldn’t have asked Lauren for a male?”

A tremor rocked the human. Of fear? Or was she still too lost to the pleasure to care, either?

“I’m only guessing here, but I don’t think humans—even former humans—are like us. They can’t separate feeding from sex. I figured Aden would appreciate a female.”

“Well, he’s appreciating her too much!”

Riley arched a brow at Victoria. “Are you jealous, princess?”

“No. Yes. He’s mine.” A pause. “Well, he was. Now…he pushed me away. Twice. Did you see him push me away?”

“Yeah, I did, but he loves you, Vic. You know that.”

“Do I?” she asked softly.

Did he? Aden wondered. Even though he didn’t like her at the moment? Because, as he knew, you didn’t have to like someone to love them. A lesson he’d learned as a child, when his parents had him committed, then walked away and never looked back.

He hadn’t liked them, might even have hated them, but even still, he’d loved them. At least at first. But as the days had passed in a medicated haze, as other patients beat him up and called him names, that love had withered, leaving only the hate. Then, the hate, too, had left him, and he simply hadn’t cared. He’d had the souls.

His souls. Where were his souls? They weren’t chattering, and he couldn’t feel them in the back of his mind. Did Victoria have them?

No longer was she watching him. Her gaze had moved just over his shoulder, perhaps even outside the room. Her eyes were as blue as before, no longer mixed with green, brown and gray. No, the souls were not inside her head.

They must be in his, and the medication must have put them to sleep. Another reason to dislike Victoria. The souls were his best friends, and a few times over the years, they’d been his only reason to live. They despised his medication and would not be happy when they woke up. She’d known that, yet she’d forced the pills down his throat anyway.

“Yes,” Victoria finally said. “He loves me. I know it.”

She did? She was a step ahead of him, then. Once, he had loved her; he knew that much. And why wouldn’t he have? She was flawless, a walking fantasy. But what did he really know about her?

Bad—to her, humans were nothing more than food. Bad—she could enslave with a single bite. Good—she cared about her family. Bad—her father wanted to kill him. Good—she knew he was different than other humans and vampires, and she liked him anyway. Bad—she was insensitive to humans and their needs. Good—she was trying to be sensitive to humans and their needs.

During their one and only date, she had danced around him, telling jokes. Lame ones, but she’d been trying. For him. Trying to be what she thought he wanted and needed. So, yes, he had loved her. But now? He couldn’t summon a single spark or hint of softness.

Oh, the attraction was still there. He wanted to push the human away and fall on the vampire. He wanted his teeth in her neck and his body pinning hers. He wanted her hands on him, and her mouth on him, and he wanted her gasping his name.

Even as the thoughts drifted through his head, images formed. Of her, of him, of the two of them together, doing exactly what he wanted. What he wanted so badly he was actually growling, the guttural sound rising in his throat and spilling into the bedroom, echoing menacingly between them.

Victoria must have assumed the growl was for the human. Suddenly she vibrated with anger and concern. He could actually taste the emotions in the air, and they had him sucking at the human with renewed fervor.

The human moaned her approval.

Strength was infusing his cells. His muscles were expanding, his bones humming. And, wow. If this human female affected him so powerfully, how would the vampire affect him?

“Okay, enough.” Riley strode to the bed, grabbed the human, and jerked her away from him. “Leave,” the wolf told the girl.

“I…I…” She swayed. “Yes, of course.” Then footsteps sounded, the slam of a door.

“Victoria.” When the wolf stretched a hand out to the vampire, Aden jumped to his feet and moved between them, preventing contact. An instinctive urge to protect what was his.

“Are you thinking to fight me or her?” Riley asked, seemingly unconcerned by either choice.

“Neither.” Both. He might not like Victoria, but he still wanted her. He didn’t want anyone else to have her. The impulse…the two needs…warring…what the hell was wrong with him? He was like two different people.

“O-kay. Why are your claws out?”

Claws? Aden looked down, and sure enough, his nails had lengthened and sharpened, little daggers tipping his fingers. He should be freaked out but could only lift his hands to the light, studying this newest development. “How is this possible?”

Riley blew out a breath and said, “Either you’re changing into a vampire slowly, one modification at a time, or you’re the first human-vamp hybrid. To my knowledge. Now, are you going to back off or do I have to make you?”

A little bark of amusement escaped him. Little, yes, but amusement all the same. “You could try.”

Clearly not the response the wolf had expected. He blinked, shook his head. “Look, we’ll come back to the male pissing contest in a second. There’s something wrong with you, and I don’t know how deep the problem goes. So we’re gonna have a little chat and find out.”

Behind him, Aden heard Victoria shift from one foot to the other. The fine hairs on the back of his neck lifted, his skin doing that tingling thing. He scowled. He was that aware of her? “There’s nothing wrong with me. There, we talked. Now, gather my people in the great hall.”

The words echoed with threat, surprising Aden as much as they did Riley. Only recently had he accepted his right to rule, but never once had he thought of the vampires as “my people.” But they were, and now he had plenty to say to them. “There is something wrong with you, Aden,” Riley insisted. “You haven’t even asked about Mary Ann. She’s out there somewhere, on her own, perhaps in danger. Do you not care about her anymore?”

A flicker of emotion sparked in his chest, extinguished before he could figure out what it was. Or what it meant. “She’ll be fine,” he said.

“Are you sure about that? Has Elijah told you?”

“Yes, I’m sure. And no, he hasn’t.”

Hope bloomed and died in Riley’s eyes. “Then how are you sure?”

Because he wanted to be, and in that moment Aden was certain he got what he wanted. Always. And if he didn’t, he did whatever was necessary to change the circumstances.

Wait. Was that true? He couldn’t think of a specific example, buuut…he simply knew. He shrugged. That was good enough for him. Maybe there was something wrong with him. Not that he cared about that, either, he realized. He would talk to his people, as planned.

“Perhaps you didn’t hear me,” Aden said. “You’ve got some gathering to do.”

“Gather them yourself, majesty.” Riley huffed and puffed, his shoulders straightening, squaring. Aden’s lips twitched in renewed humor, but he wasn’t sure why that would be funny to him. “I’m going after Mary Ann. Victoria?”

“She stays,” Aden said, the words leaving him before he could stop them. Despite everything, or maybe because of it, he wanted her with him.

“Victoria?” the wolf snapped.