Twisted Devotion: A Fae Paranormal Romance

by Jessi Elliott

  “You’re telling me you didn’t have a crush on your super-cute foster bro?”

  I chuckle. “Uh, not really. We were more like friends, or, you know, brother and sister.”

  She waves me off. “Please. I don’t buy it.”

  I shrug, taking a sip of my latte.

  Damn. Guy makes a mean matcha.

  “I don’t know what to tell you. The backstory you’re looking for doesn’t exist,” I say.

  She huffs out a sigh. “Well, that’s disappointing.”

  “Yeah, foster care wasn’t exactly rainbows and unicorns.”

  Allison frowns. “Right.” She shakes her head. “Shit, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s fine.” I know she didn’t mean anything by it. Allison has been nothing but kind to me since I became part of the fae world. And with Seth not around, it’s nice to know someone has my back.

  “If you ever want to talk about it. You know . . .”

  I smile softly. “Yeah. Thanks, Allison.”

  Aurora messages our group chat while Allison and I are on our way out of the café, inviting us for lunch and a visit, so we get into my car and head for Aurora and Tristan’s place.

  It takes us a good hour to get to the white colonial-style house in the suburbs, and Adam is napping when we arrive. The three of us sit on the sectional in the living room around the giant fireplace and catch up on one another’s lives while sipping hot mugs of tea as if we’re a group of housewives dishing on the latest gossip. Granted, Aurora is the only married one out of the three of us.

  Aurora is back to work at her bookstore, which is thriving more than ever with both online and in-store sales, and Allison is moving up the ranks of the marketing department of Westbrook Inc., which she’s thrilled about.

  When it’s my turn to give the low-down, I sit there and chuckle a little. “It’s . . . interesting.” There’s that word again—interesting. It’s a cop-out of an answer, and I know it. I stare at the liquid in my mug, enjoying the warmth of the ceramic against my fingertips.

  Aurora smirks. “Oh? Do share.”

  I take a deep breath, and then let it all out. “Jackson is infuriating. He’s wickedly handsome, sure, but he can be so childish.”

  Allison snorts. “You’re like the babysitter he secretly wants to bang.”

  I stare at her. “Not even secretly,” I reveal. “He seems to think us ending up sleeping together is inevitable.”

  “I mean, he is—” Aurora starts, and Allison cackles, cutting her off.

  “Get this,” I tell them. “He challenged me not to sleep with him. Said if I made it through our contract, he’d double my pay.”

  Aurora rolls her eyes. “Dick move. He wants to make it seem like you want him more than he wants you.”

  “That’s bullshit,” I say.

  She grins. “Oh, of course, but he’s a guy and he’s Jackson. He wants to believe he has the upper hand here.”

  “He doesn’t,” I insist, and both ladies nod in agreement.

  “He’s even worse than Nikolai,” Aurora adds.

  “Yeah, no kidding.” I glance around at the baby blue walls and the family photos hanging on them. It’s crazy to think of how far Aurora and Tristan have come and everything they’ve been through together since they met. “When you and Tristan were on the outs, did you and Nikolai ever . . . you know?”

  Aurora laughs. “Not a chance. Surprisingly enough, he respected me enough not to seriously push the topic.”

  I arch a brow. “But he brought it up?”

  She shrugs. “Yeah. It never meant anything, though, not really. Especially when he caught sight of Skylar. Those two were it for each other basically right from the start.”

  I smile at the picture of them. They get at each other’s throats constantly, but each would rip out anyone’s throat who posed a threat to the other.

  Allison glances down at her phone and grumbles under her breath.

  “Al?” Aurora checks. “What’s up?”

  “It’s Monica.” Allison taps away at her phone for a few seconds then drops it onto the couch cushion.

  “What’s going on with you two?” I ask.

  “I told her I didn’t want to see other people and I think it freaked her out a little. She’s got some weird affliction with commitment. She won’t really open up about it, so I can’t even attempt to understand it. I’m finally at a place where I’m ready to be with her—fully—and now it’s like she’s not sure about it.” Allison bites on her fingernail. “It’s starting to freak me out.”

  I frown at her. “All you can do is be honest with her about what you want and encourage her to do the same. You can’t force her to tell you things she isn’t ready to yet.”

  Allison purses her lips. “You’re right, I know. It’s just so frustrating.”

  Aurora leans back and lets out a soft sigh. “You’ll get there. It may take some time, but you two are meant for each other. It’s going to work out.”

  “Easy for you to say. You’ve got the perfect setup,” Allison responds.

  “Oh, yeah,” Aurora says dryly. “Fell in love with the guy who had me kidnapped. Real smooth of me.”

  “I’m never going to live that one down.” Tristan’s voice fills the room as he walks in with Adam on his hip. The old hardwood floor creaks under his feet as he leans down to set his son in the playpen in the corner of the room. Once Adam is settled, Tristan comes behind the couch and leans down to kiss Aurora.

  “I still take a little credit for this,” Allison says smugly, and Tristan glances at her. “That’s right. You’re welcome.”

  He chuckles, shaking his head at her before turning his attention to me. “How’s everything going? Are you doing all right?”

  I shrug. “Well, he’s still alive.”

  Tristan grins, giving my shoulder a squeeze. “Atta girl. Nikolai’s been keeping tabs on the arrangement?”

  “Yeah,” I say. “There hasn’t been much to report, but he likes to stay in the loop.”

  “Keep up the good work. I’m sure you’re counting down the days until your contract is fulfilled, but we really appreciate you taking this on.”

  I smile faintly. “It hasn’t been that bad.”

  “It might be better if you sleep with him and get it over with,” Aurora points out, and I smack her leg as Tristan sends her a furrow-browed look. “What?” she says to me. “Oh, come on! Think about it. Maybe you just need to get it out of your systems. Clearly, you’re both thinking about it more than you want to. Why else craft this challenge?”

  “Because he has the maturity level of a teenager?” I mutter, and Allison snorts, kicking her feet up on the coffee table.

  “What challenge?” Tristan asks.

  “Don’t tell him,” Aurora rushes to say. “You don’t want his input. It’d be almost as bad as asking Nikolai.”

  Tristan narrows his eyes at the back of his wife’s head, but his lips are curved upward ever so slightly. “I take offense to that.”

  “Good for you,” Aurora says back in a singsong voice, her eyes glimmering with amusement as she glances back at him.

  “Perhaps you’d like to help me make lunch in the kitchen,” he offers, holding her gaze. Their auras are faint swirls of light pink and warmth, clearly affectionate—and slightly horny.

  Oh, dear god.

  I glance over at Allison. “Are they always like this?” I’m happy to shift the topic of conversation away from me and Jackson. I’ve been holding my breath for the moment one of them asks me if I want to sleep with Jackson. I’ve thought about it far too much to even attempt to feign indifference.

  Allison nods. “You’d think, after surviving all that they have together and now living this plain, mundane life, they’d cool it with all the tension, but no.” She drags the last word out.

  After everything they’ve been through, it’s safe to say they enjoy their plain, mundane life; and I can appreciate that—even though I’d never want it for
myself. I was born human, yes, but now that I’m not, now that I have eternity, I can’t imagine my life without it. I want to see and experience too much of the world to do it within a certain number of years.

  Aurora casts a sideways glance at her best friend. “You’re hilarious.” She gets off the couch and lifts Adam out of the playpen, smiling at him. He grins back at her, and the sight melts my heart. She walks out of the room, murmuring to him about getting his lunch ready, and the three of us follow her into the kitchen.

  Chapter 13

  After spending the afternoon with Tristan, Aurora, and Adam, Allison and I head back into the city so I can drop her off at her apartment.

  She waits until I shift the car into park outside her building before she looks over at me and says, “Maybe think about what Aurora said. About Jackson.”

  My cheeks flush, and I shake my head at the reminder. “Yeah, no thanks.”

  “Can I ask you something?”

  I press my lips together, then sigh. “I guess.”

  “Do you want to sleep with him?”

  There it is. The question I worried would come up.

  “I mean, there has to be something between the two of you,” she says. “The way you get all bothered when you’re talking about him . . . you’ve at least considered it, right?”

  Unfortunately, that is right.

  I groan loudly, and drop my head back against the headrest. “I hate this. How did it get so damn complicated so fast?”

  Allison laughs softly. “I have a feeling you’ll figure it out. That might involve getting naked with Jackson, but these things have ways of working themselves out.”

  I turn my head to look at her. “That’s not at all helpful, but thanks, I guess.”

  She sticks her tongue out at me. “Hey, if you’re not going to sleep with Jackson, at least consider Ky—”

  “Do not,” I grumble at her. “Kyle isn’t . . . no. I can’t even think about going there with him. Besides, I just saw him for the first time in years. That’s beyond weird.”

  She shrugs. “Whatever. Do you think you’ll see him again?”

  I smile. “I definitely hope so. He was the light in a lot of darkness in my life as a human. I would love to reconnect and get to know him as an adult.”

  “There you go. Focus on that, and push sleeping with Jackson to the back of your mind.”

  Finally, some decent advice. “Thanks, Allison,” I tell her, and she blows me a kiss as she gets out of the car and shuts the door.

  I wait for her to step into the lobby before I pull away from the curb and start the drive back to Jackson’s.

  Taking Allison’s advice, I try to focus on how I feel after seeing Kyle this morning. The run-in with my past threw me off. Out of all the people I could have imagined bumping into, Kyle is near the bottom of that list.

  I never found out where he relocated after our foster parents and sister were killed; Seth and Tristan didn’t know if it would be safe at the time, and I refused to put Kyle in potential danger just for my own peace of mind.

  I can’t help but wonder if he’s been this close by the entire time, or if he moved here recently. He mentioned grad school, so maybe that’s what brought him back.

  Halfway to the house, I change my mind about going home. I’m not ready to face Jackson just yet, so I pull over to text Skylar. Tristan had mentioned over lunch that she was back in town for a few days. I decide to shoot her a message, asking if she wants to get together for a workout. After she responds that she’s headed to the training warehouse not too far from the facility, I message her back and let her know I’m on my way.

  We spend the evening on the mats, going through combat drills we perfected during our time training for the fight against The Experiment. After a half-hour warm up on the elliptical, Skylar and I face off, practicing our hand-to-hand skills.

  Dancing around each other on the mats gets my mind off everything from today. I focus on her stance, poised and ready to strike. So, when her fist flies toward my face, I’m able to duck out of the way. I immediately go on the offensive, kicking out hard and sweeping her legs out from under her.

  Skylar lands with a grunt, but I don’t give her a chance to recover before I advance again, grabbing her ankles and tugging hard so her back hits the mat as my knees press into her hips. I secure her wrists above her head before she can use them to try to out-maneuver me.

  Her eyes narrow as she glares up at my grinning face. “Couldn’t even give me a chance, could you?”

  I laugh softly, holding her for a few seconds longer before letting her up. “What can I say, they don’t pay me the big bucks to be just okay in combat.”

  Skylar rolls her eyes. “Toot, toot,” she remarks dryly.

  The next round goes a bit longer. Skylar acts quicker, dodging my advances. Her fist connects with my upper body a few times, and when it grazes my jaw, my head snaps back, making my vision blur for a second before the room comes back into focus.

  We go back and forth for almost an hour before we both sink to the floor, breathing hard and drenched with sweat. My muscles ache so deeply, I’m already longing for a scalding shower and my bed.

  It’s after ten by the time we’ve both showered, and we head out to the parking lot.

  “Are you doing okay?” Skylar asks, tossing her gym bag into the back of her SUV.

  I arch a brow at her. “What do you mean?”

  “You kicked my ass in there, yeah, but no offense, you look like shit.”

  “Thanks,” I deadpan, and she huffs out a sigh. “No, I’m okay. I need to feed, but I’m fine.”

  “Things with Jax are okay?”

  If that isn’t a loaded question. She wouldn’t know that, and I can’t even begin to explain it to her. At least not tonight.

  “Frustrating at times, but generally okay,” I say.

  She smirks. “Trust me when I say I understand.”

  “Oh, I know.” I chuckle. “What are you and Nik up to these days? Things still pretty calm with everyone after the battle?”

  She nods. “For the most part. Some fae are still angry we kept a facility, but that was the deal we made with Jackson to get the information we needed. We did what we had to do to protect our people. We’ll always do that.”

  I offer her a smile. “You’re a great leader, Sky. They know that, some of them are just struggling with loss and uncertainty. It’s understandable, and it won’t last forever.”

  She returns the smile. “Thanks. Now get your ass home and feed. Tonight. Don’t make me drag you to a feeding unit. Your job may be to take care of Jackson—to keep him alive—but you need to make sure you’re taking care of yourself, too. Otherwise, you’ll be in no position to do your job.”

  I nod in agreement. “I will. I promise. I’ll call on my way home.”

  “Good.” She opens the driver’s side door and gets in. “I’ll see you soon.”

  There is a middle-aged woman waiting for me in the small sitting room off the main entry when I get back to the house. I did what I promised and called Gloria so there would be a feeder here when I arrived.

  Skipping the pleasantries—which I usually put forth for the benefit of keeping the feeding experience positive for the human—I sit next to the feeder. I smile as I reach for her wrist and close my eyes, focusing my energy on absorbing hers. It’s soft and pliable, like fresh pink bubblegum, and I pull on it, easily taking it from her. She gives it freely, sighing as she relaxes into the chair.

  Energy crackles through my veins as I continue to feed, wanting to make sure I’m good for a while before needing to repeat this process. Feeding has never been something I’ve enjoyed about being fae. It’s simply the nature of this existence. Seth was the one who’d taught me how to do it safely, to ensure I fed enough but not too much.

  My grip tightens on her wrist as I inch closer to the limit I’m always careful to stop before reaching.

  I open my eyes, blinking a few times as my vision improves noti
ceably. I can see the stitching in the fabric of the drapes and the texture in the wood of the floors. Sounds filter through the house from the upper level. Jackson is watching television in his room. The security team is in their office, chatting about their weekend plans while watching the monitors. It’s amazing how much my abilities strengthen so soon after feeding. My head is clear, as if I woke up from a good night’s sleep, and my veins are singing with energy. For me, oftentimes feeding has the same result as drinking a strong cup of coffee in the morning. The level of alertness is at its highest right after a feed, so at this point, I could take on the world. Or, at least, I feel like I could.

  “Did you get enough?” the feeder asks in a tired voice, her eyelids drooping like she’s struggling to keep them open.

  I smile, nodding. “Thank you. I’ll have someone take you home.”

  Once the feeder has left, I climb the stairs and slip into my room, changing into light gray sweatpants and a training bra. I glance at the bed, but I’m too wired to consider trying to sleep right now.

  The house has gone quiet. After pacing my room for a few minutes, I wander back downstairs and find myself in the kitchen. I open the fridge and start pulling out ingredients to make . . . cupcakes. It’s been a while, but I think I remember the recipe. The thought to search it online passes over me, but I want a challenge.

  As if the rest of my life isn’t challenging enough.

  It’ll be a good distraction from, well, everything.

  When we lived together, Kyle and I used to bake treats every weekend. There were a few staples—like vanilla cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies—but we also threw new things into the mix every now and then.

  I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Kyle since Allison and I ran into him this morning. It was great to see him doing so well, but it brought up a lot of things from my past that I’d rather have kept there. The fear, the loneliness, the unknown. It’s taken a lot for me to move past that, and part of me is concerned that having Kyle back in my life will make those feelings rush to the surface. I can’t have that. I need to stay focused on my job—on finishing it and getting out of this place.