Page 7 of A Lesson in Obedience

The voice I’d heard earlier, that childlike voice that I hadn’t recognized. If all of this meant that Riley had magic, that she was some kind of witch, then Beau—was her familiar.

3

Riley

Iheard a voice in my head. It wasn’t my own thoughts fumbling inside my mind, but it was one that was playful yet possessive. It gave me a kind of comfort that I’d felt before, but it was stronger this time. I quickly surveyed all the people in the room: my mom, River and oddly enough, fucking Asher.

I focused my gaze on my dog, on my perfect Beau. He gave me a ridiculous lopsided grin that included panting in my face when I realized what was happening. “Oh my god.”

“Riley, what’s wrong?” My mom’s voice went up a few octaves, her tone full of concern.

I took Beau’s large face in my hands and smushed his cheeks, forcing him to stare at me. I didn’t actually have to force him since he hadn’t stopped looking at me. “I—I don’t know.”

Don’t worry, they can’t hear me. I am so happyyoufinally can, Mom.I heard in my head. Beau’s mouth never moved, but his tail wagged fiercely. He leaned his face further into my hands, catching me by surprise and lickingmy nose.

I swatted him away, then eyed him skeptically.So, you can hear everything I’m thinking right now?

He circled on the bed and sat down so he could look at me straight on.Sure can. I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t scare me like that again.

“How was I supposed to know Grayson was going to do that?” I realized quickly that I had said that out loud and not in my head. I flinched at the words that had flown out of my mouth.

“Grayson? What does he have to do with any of this? Riley, what the hell is going on?” My mom sounded frustrated but tired. I looked down at the blood that covered my jeans and coated my hands, giving me a less than pleasant reminder of what had transpired.

I was fucking frustrated too. I needed to talk to my mom, but I didn’t want to do it with River here, especially since his brother decided to tag along for who knows what reason. I took in my boyfriend and the solemn look in his eye. The mention of Grayson must have made him curious, but something told me he was already suspicious of him long before I woke up.

“Mom, can you start the shower for me? I promise I’ll tell you everything.” My eyes were pleading for her to just do this one thing for me.

Her eyes moved from me to the guys, then back to me. She ran her hand through her mess of curls, shaking her head. “Riley…this is not the time to…”

“Mom.” I swung my legs over, so I was sitting on the edge of my bed. “I really don’t want to see this blood anymore. I can’t see this blood anymore, okay?Pleasedo this for me.” My voice was on the verge of cracking.

“Honey, you’re scaring me.” My mom placed her hand softly over her mouth, starting to understand my demand.

“Please Mom.” Beau nudged my back, rubbing his face into my spine.

She’s worried about you. I nearly tore the house apart because I was a nervous wreck.I heard Beau say. If I wasn’t on the verge of mentallyimploding, I would have laughed at the thought of my dog destroying the house due to my wellbeing.

My mom sighed, breaking her eye contact with me and gazing down at the floor. This was the first time I noticed how much of a mess my room was. It looked like a tornado had come through and swept up anything that wasn’t screwed down.

“Fine. You have two minutes.” She reached out and stroked my cheek with her knuckles. I really wanted to lean into that motherly touch, but I wanted her to explain things to me before I turned into a heaping mess of tears on her shoulder.

She turned to leave, stepping over debris as she went. Once the door clicked, I sucked in a deep breath. “You know about Grayson, don’t you?”

River rubbed the back of his neck. “We know that he swept you up in his shadows after you…”

“After I found out I had powers?” I finished for him.

“We don’t know much else besides the fact that he had to be the one who obviously brought you here,” Asher continued, adjusting his glasses on his nose.

River took a few tentative steps towards me, his gaze moving over to Beau. The dog blinked, then huffed, nuzzling his face in-between the inside of my arm and my side. River squatted, placing his hand over mine. Before he could speak, Asher chimed in.

“What did Grayson do?” His voice was like venom, like he was genuinely mad at Grayson. It was as if he was frustratingly madforme, rather than for himself.

“You should ask him.”

Asher kicked some of the debris away from his feet. “Oh, we plan to.”

River sighed, tugging at my hand to get me to look at him. “Riley, whose blood is this?”