Page 8

Miranda

Rai makes me feel things I’ve never felt before. Exciting and frightening things.

But so does Colt.

And, despite my disgust, even Aubrey.

What the hell?

I’ve been around Alphas and male Omegas my entire life, even on the run. And Betas, not that I ever looked at them for long. None of them have ever attracted me before. I’ve never even scented any of them.

But these three...

Rai with his cherry blossom and vanilla aura, Colt enveloped by fresh-cut grass and cool rain, and Aubrey with his frustratingly mouthwatering mixture of juniper and chili pepper…

Whenever I’m near them, it’s hard to think straight.

I’m sure I sound like an absolute fool whenever I speak to them.

How embarrassing.

“Mira!”

My back goes straight at the sound of Colt’s voice from down the hall before his soothing scent wraps around me. I turn to find him jogging toward me, an enormous grin on his face that elicits happiness a moment before the heaviness of despair weighs on me. The urge to caress his jaw with my bare fingertips is so strong that tears sting my eyes at the impossible thought.

“Hey!” he says, that beautiful smile still playing on his lips. But then it falls into a frown as concern draws his brows together. “Are you okay?”

I swallow hard and nod, not trusting my voice.

He scrutinizes me for a moment, then tilts his head. “Where are you off to?”

I clear my throat. “My dorm.”

“You’re finished with classes?”

I nod in confirmation.

“Come on.” Colt’s white teeth shine behind his enormous smile before, with a hand on my back, he steers me in the direction I’d been going.

We walk along the hall, down to the main floor, and out the back door into the cool midday air.

The sun is low on the horizon, already setting at just before four in the afternoon. I’ve only been in Iceland for a couple of days, but daylight lasting all of four to five hours this time of year is unsettling. Probably because I’ve lived in sunny places all my life.

Colt leads, and I follow without question, although a voice in my head tells me I should be cautious of everyone in this place. But I’m not. I trust him, and I don’t know why.

The entire walk, he is silent, his hand never leaving my back as we traverse the grounds, giant floodlights turning on with an audible clank as darkness sets in. The grounds closest to the academy have a wide open patch of dead grass at its center and various training dummies on the outer rim made of all different materials.

Colt leads me behind an enormous tree about fifty yards from there and slowly, maybe even reluctantly, removes his hand to motion for me to sit on a clean-cut stump.

I do as he wordlessly commands, and he sits on the ground in front of me, his long legs folded in a lotus style. As he bends his elbows and rests that chiseled chin on his fists, he stares up at me with his beautiful mismatched eyes.

The floodlights cast darkening shadows all around us, but Colt’s face isn’t at all obscured. I try not to look in his eyes, but the memory of him demanding I look at him in the cafeteria rings in my mind.

I hadn’t been frightened by it. Instead, the demand had set my mind and body ablaze, desiring his attention as much as he apparently desired mine. But I can’t help myself now and peer into one pool of green and one of blue...like his scent of grass and rain. His dark blond hair has fallen over his forehead, making him appear far younger.

This urge within me takes hold, and all I want to do is comfort him like he’s a lost child, although he doesn’t appear to need it.

His boisterous attitude is subdued now as his lips part to say, “Tell me about yourself.”

My brows hike a fraction. He wants to know about me? I guess it’s natural to want to learn about the newcomer. But what can I say out here?

“Keep the volume low, and we’ll be fine out here,” he says as if reading my mind.

“I’ve...been on the run for about ten years,” I tell him quietly. “My father and me.”

“Your father helped you?” he sounds very surprised by this.

I frown and nod. I suppose there’s no reason to withhold the information now. “He’s also Cursed.”

At this, Colt’s hands drop to his lap with a smack, his lips part, and brows knit together. “Your father…?”

I nod slow. “He was able to hide his curse. But I guess that’s obvious.” My gaze falls to my knees where I’ve rested my tablet. Seeing it makes me think of Rai, and part of me wishes that he was here with Colt and me.

I enjoy talking to Colt, regardless of the solemn topic, but Rai does something to ease my soul. A pure kindness that reaches out and envelops me.

When I look back at Colt, he’s scrutinizing me, but absently, almost as though he’s looking through me. Then his gaze snaps to my eyes. “Will you tell me about your time on the run?”

I find myself nodding. “I was twelve when my curse manifested. My mother…” I let out a deep breath, my head falling, so I’m looking at my lap. “My birth mother died when I was born. My father re-married when I was an infant, a sanctioned pairing. She was a Beta.” I look back up at him. “She and I were fighting, as usual. But for some reason, she was hellbent on me going with her to some store, just the two of us. I didn’t want to go without my father, and I protested until we were screaming at one another.”

I peer skyward. “She was so angry; more than I’d ever seen her before. I saw something in her eyes that, even as a child, I knew wasn’t right. Something...just wasn’t right.” I swallow and look back at Colt with a frown, my voice even quieter. “I shouted that I hated her. That she wasn’t my real mother. She snapped and swung back to slap me across the face.” A pressure in my chest causes me to grasp at it. “The instant her hand touched my face, she turned into solid ice.”

Tears start to drip down to my jaw and tap my chest as they land on my shirt. “It was…” I take a deep breath. “I didn’t know what to do. I just screamed like I’d never screamed before, and my father came rushing through the door. He saw my mom, and the look on his face.” I choke now, shuddering. “I knew then I was a monster,” I breathe. “I love my father more than anything, and I loved my mother too, even if we didn’t get along. She raised me! She was my father’s wife! And I killed her. I killed both of my mothers.”

My head dips, and I fight the sobs battling to escape my body.

“My father rushed to my side, and I was so scared I’d hurt him, too. I screamed at him to get away from me and ran. He called to me, and when I wouldn’t stop, he showed me. Showed me that he was Cursed, too. He made the ground quake as he shouted for me to stop running. And I did.” I lift my head again. “I remember looking at him with wide eyes, feeling relief and betrayal. Not only had he kept his curse from me, but he was responsible for mine. His blood runs through my veins, and it’s his blood that made me this.” I raise my gloved hand into the air, that old anger returning, though not as strong as it had once been. “His genes are what doomed me to this life of living on the run, living here in this place, living a life of never being close to someone.”

My jaw sets, and in the light cast across Colt’s face, I can see his eyes are glistening, his expression full of...understanding.

And suddenly, I feel like a complete fool. A selfish fool. I’m not the only one who has been through trauma or anger. I’m surrounded by Cursed who have been through similar, or worse.

Somehow, Colt asking me about my past made me pour my heart out without hesitation.

I wipe my face with my covered fingers, sniffling like a child, vowing no more . I can’t behave like a spoiled brat. I was always on my own, never around others like me. That’s changed now. I need to change, too.

“What happened to your father?” Colt’s voice is soft, kind, and I sigh.

“Major Tomlin told me that he’d been sent to Tenebrosa.”

Colt goes white at the name of the facility. I’d known next to nothing about it, but he must be familiar with it.

His gaze flicks over my shoulder, and I am surrounded by cherry blossom and vanilla, and a moment later, spicy juniper invades my senses.

I turn just as Rai and Aubrey clear the giant tree. Rai looks straight at me as though he can see through his blindfold and advances, kneeling on the ground beside me and placing a tentative hand on my forearm. He says nothing as his covered face tilts up at me, and I can’t help myself. My fingers reach out and brush his snowy locks from the cloth over his eyes.

There is a kinship here, between Rai and me, our covers forming barriers between us and the world.

I want to know more about him. About all of them.

“You just had to ask,” Colt says, a semblance of his bravado returning.

I hadn’t realized I said the words aloud.

“You didn’t.”

I peer at Colt over Rai’s head, and he gives me a little smirk. “I read minds.”

As I shift with surprise, both Rai and Aubrey’s gazes snap to Colt like whips. I feel like I’m missing something again.

Colt lets out a nervous laugh. “The mind reading isn’t at all fun. I can’t control it. I hear everyone all the time in my head. It drives me insane. Literally. I’ve been institutionalized on and off since I was twelve. Nothing—well, not much works to drown out the thoughts.”

I had wanted to care for him before, comfort him. Now, the urge is even stronger.

“I wouldn’t mind,” he says, that brilliant smile flashing.

“I wish I could.” I breathe it aloud without meaning to, but I suppose it doesn’t matter. He’d have heard my thoughts anyway.

Rai finally sits on his butt and wipes his hands on his thighs in a nervous motion. “I told you a bit about my curse, but whenever my eyes are open, technology short-circuits or even explodes. I don’t even need to look at the device, but the curse it somehow connected to my eyes.”

His head tilts back as though he’s looking at the sky. “When I was a kid, my little sister broke my favorite action figure. I got so mad.” His head shakes, and he turns back to me. “I shouted at her, told her she was selfish and spoiled. I said unforgivable things. That I wished she’d been taken away instead of our brother.” He presses his lips between his teeth before continuing. “As I was screaming, all the electronics within a mile radius exploded.”

Rai leans forward, his tongue swipes his lips. “My parents were devastated. They were losing their second son. There was no hiding what I’d done. Neighbors had witnessed it.” His voice cracks, and he clears his throat. “If I remain calm, the damage is limited to maybe about ten feet all around me. But if I lose my temper or have any heightened emotion, really, that radius increases. So, in my room, where there’s no tech, I can remove the blindfold and study. But I sleep with it on, just in case.” He swallows.

He doesn’t need to finish his thought. I can only imagine the nightmares, especially after being separated from family as a child.

My gaze falls to the bright golden halo around Rai’s neck, and my brows furrow.

“Mira wants to know about the collars,” Colt supplies.

Rai’s smile is sad. “Something about the collars makes them immune to my curse’s effects. I can...feel the technology inside them, but there’s something that blocks me from manipulating them. I don’t know what it is, but when I concentrate too hard on it, I get a migraine.”

That thought is disconcerting. What could possibly block the power of a curse?

Aubrey shifts off to the side a bit of a distance from us, and the sound brings my attention to him. He has a deep frown on his face, his jaw flexes. His eyes flick to Colt before he signs something that looks angry.

“Okay, okay!” Colt throws his hands up in exasperation. “I don’t know why you’re being such an absolute ass.” Then he goes silent.

Obviously, Aubrey has nothing to add to the conversation, and I hate the twinge of sadness that blooms in my chest at that fact.

Yet still, the nearness of these Alphas, warmth builds inside my chest, inside my belly. I’ve never really felt warmth before, not inside me. And I have no idea what it means.

But I do know it’s dangerous.

Cursed aren’t allowed to mate or to procreate. It’s forbidden.

But how is that any different from the rest of the world? The Beta Council has to approve marriages and mating worldwide.

But none of this matters. It’s forbidden by threat of death. I can’t touch anyone, and I’ve never even—

A gasp escapes my lips, and I turn wide eyes to Colt, who gives me a fierce look before rising to his feet.

Oh. Shit.