Page 17 of Cursed by Death (Ruby Jane #1)

I couldn’t believe I had said I was his mate in front of all of these shifters. Rally had clearly eaten that up and he’d approved.

I absolutely did not want to deal with any more feelings and emotions today. Too bad for me the twins were still here and they didn’t look like they planned on going anywhere until they got to talk to me like they’d come here to do.

I couldn’t just ignore them away.

It didn’t take me that long to get Ginger to calm down and her emotions in check.

When she pulled away from me she apologized and wiped the back of her hand over both of her cheeks in an attempt to remove the evidence of her crying.

“Don’t be sorry, babe. Just tell me you’ll take my car home with you now so that you can get back to your baby and then when you get the chance you can drive it to my place and we can swap vehicles. That way you’ll have a car."

“Umm… Princess…” She looked at me with wide eyes. “I’m going to assume you’re talking about that Bentley out there. I can’t drive a Bentley.”

Again, I found myself frowning at her. “It’s Ruby, babe. And why the hell not? It’s just a car, I promise you that.”

“Um, no.” she snorted. “It is not just a car. And, Ruby, I live in a bad neighborhood not far from the underground. It’s a shitty apartment complex but it’s all I can afford. I can’t bring a car like that there. Who knows what the hell would happen to it parked there.”

Shit.

She didn’t need to be in a place like that with a little baby boy. I hated that.

“What’s your son’s name?” I asked her.

“Tray.”

“Okay, so, hear me out.” I told her about Thomas and how he’d been murdered in my guest house. About having it cleaned and how I plan on getting extra security on it and around my whole property.

And that, if she wanted, she and her son could live there rent free for however long she wanted.

I expected her to freak out over the whole someone had been murdered there part, but she didn’t seem to care about that in the slightest.

It was the rent-free part she had a problem with. Go figure.

It didn’t take her long to get over it and agree to move into my guest house. If she and Tray stayed long term I’d have to add on an entire bedroom but it was perfect for them for now. Or, if they needed more space they could just move into the big house. It was huge and I was the only person who lived in it.

She told me that she would have moved into Rally’s pack house immediately after her husband’s death because she knew she couldn’t go it alone but there were no available rooms. She said Rally had been looking into housing for her and Tray.

I left that alone when I really wanted to jump on it with both feet.

I could absolutely help so much with something like that. And I wanted to.

I filed it away in my brain for later.

I told her to give me two days to have some new furniture brought in there and to set up the moving company for her but she could come and look at it tomorrow and get her Jeep. She tried to argue with me and she lost.

We exchanged numbers and I felt like a teenage girl for the first time in my life. I was absolutely giddy with emotion and I couldn’t remember a time I had ever felt like that.

Hunter from the garage drove her home and when he hugged me, whispering in my ear how he thought I was amazing, I almost cried. He also told me that on his lunch break tomorrow he’d bring her and Tray over to my place.

I had already made two friends amongst the shifter people and I felt great about it.

The only friends I had ever had were the two twins standing apart from the rest of us but watching everything with a very critical eye.

If they badmouthed the shifters to me I might actually stab someone today. I wasn’t going to put up with anything like that.

Most of the shifters left after that. Three of them stayed behind with Rally and one of them was the man he’d spoken to at the underground. I really needed to learn his name because I thought he was high ranking and important to the Prince.

It didn’t bother me in the slightest that Rally didn’t introduce me to them. He was probably scared I might buy them boats and adopt their children or something. I couldn’t exactly say that I blamed him after what I had done here today. I couldn’t seem to help myself though. And I absolutely would not apologize to the man for doing the right thing.

When the majority of the shifters had left the twins finally approached us fully, not stopping until they were directly in front of me. It was very obvious that they didn’t care about anyone else other than me standing here.

“Why are you here and what do you want?” I asked the twins as I crossed my arms over my chest. I meant business and I wasn’t interested in anything else.

“You’ve certainly grown up, Ruby Jane,” Bane said as his eyes scraped over my body from head to foot. “You’re beautiful. Then again, I’m not surprised. You were always a pretty little girl.”

I did not like hearing his words in the slightest. I knew I wasn’t ugly, I wasn’t blind, but I didn’t need him showing up here out of the blue and pointing it out to me.

What sort of game were they attempting to play here? The kind I wanted no part in.

“What do you want, hunter?” I semi repeated through gritted teeth.

“So, you know what we are?” Roan said. “Then you must know why we’re here. We’re looking for the creature that murdered the old man.”

The old man had a fucking name.

I wasn’t surprised to hear his words because I already knew they weren’t here for me. It hurt though. Boy, did it ever. Somehow, I managed to keep a straight face.

“Were you expecting them to show up at the funeral?” I asked in a snide voice, there was no keeping my emotions or my feelings out of that. “How disappointing for you.”

“You grew up cold,” Roan said quietly, thoughtfully. “You’re different.”

I shrugged, having nothing to counteract his words with. I was no longer that little girl he’d once known. I didn’t think I’d grown up to be cold, just alone and realistic. If that made me cold then so be it.

“She’s not cold, she’s hurt,” Bane told his brother. “There’s a difference and it’s not like we can really blame her.”

“We were forbidden from reaching out to you,” Roan said as his eyes pleaded with me to understand. “You were supposed to be left alone so that you could live a normal life. A normal life without supernatural interference. We never stopped watching over you though. You have to believe me on that, little one.”

Trust was a very fragile thing and once it was gone it was next to impossible to earn back.

Trust went hand in hand with loyalty.

Right now, they’d get neither from me.

Detective Rowans started asking them questions about what they knew about the murder. Part of it I knew was him doing his job. But I knew the bigger part was him getting the focus off of me because I didn’t want it there.

I left and no one tried to stop me, which I greatly appreciated.

I was on an emotional overload and I couldn’t deal with anything else for the day.

I went home, didn’t eat anything because nothing sounded appealing, and I got drunk in my very safe and secure basement.

My phone kept vibrating but I didn’t look at it. If it was really important and they needed me they all knew where I lived now. I had a feeling it was just men wanting to ask me about my feelings and emotions. Things I didn’t process like a normal person. I got drunk and pretended they didn’t exist.

Unhealthy coping mechanisms I knew, but I didn’t give that first fuck.

I ordered all brand-new furniture for the guest house. I paid extra for overnight shipping and I hoped Ginger didn’t hate all of it.