Page 23 of Temptation Unleashed (Talaenian Fae #3)

O ne night. Get through one night.

A poignant emotional concoction of paranoia, exhaustion, worry, and guilt tormented her throughout the night.

Her mind refused to rest, running wild scenarios and previous events constantly, without so much as a fade-out between each reel.

The sickening replay of Rich’s assault. The overwhelming encounter with Thaddeus.

The questions left unanswered by Cael when he’d brought her to her car, a fury-infused and fear-matted mess.

She couldn’t sleep, even though she knew in her heart she was safe.

For one night, at least. The only person who knew she hid in a hotel room half an hour from her apartment was Brandon, and that was because he’d insisted on keeping her company.

After a weak argument, she conceded and agreed to him tagging along.

She’d be lying if she said his presence didn’t provide some comfort and security.

He had tried to keep her mind off things, but in the end, she continued to be plagued by the nightmares of the day.

Wine didn’t help. She couldn’t concentrate on movies.

In the end, she took to one of the two beds and resorted to staring at the walls .

A sliver of misplaced guilt taunted her conscience, woven between the threads of all else. Guilt for getting Brandon and Cassy involved and potentially placing them in danger. Guilt for having Brandon in the hotel room.

Thaddeus in all his golden glory haunted her, but in a far different manner.

He should be here, not Brandon.

She batted that thought from her head more times than she could count. Thaddeus was the last person who had any business being near her. And yet…

“No one will know unless you tell them. There’s nothing to see on your lip, sweet. But if he comes at you again, if you wear any marks from his hands again, he will not walk away unscathed.”

Cael implied he’d been the one to heal her lip.

Despite the adrenaline and twist of emotions at the time he’d interrupted Thaddeus, she’d calmed enough to realize her lip had stopped bleeding by the time they reached her car.

She’d caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror in Cael’s foyer, realized her lip was no longer swollen.

Before Cael healed her.

She’d spent nearly twenty minutes assessing her wounds in the bathroom of the hotel while waiting for Brandon. Or where wounds should have been. Yes, her lip was completely healed.

So were the bruises on her neck.

Those Cael hadn’t mentioned, but Thaddeus had traced.

His touch had been both delicious and tormenting.

Threatening and seductive. The memory had sent her mind spinning and her body flooding with heat.

His lips against her ear and temple. The deep timbre of his voice as he whispered his scathing comment about worthlessness like a twisted melody to lure her to her demise.

His voice had been soothing and beautiful, but his words cut like a hot blade.

She had checked her arm where the skin and muscle remained tender to the touch after Rich’s brutal grip. Dark purple markings had formed in the shape of his fingers. They had not disappeared. Neither Thaddeus nor Cael had known about this injury, and therefore, it wasn’t tended.

Which meant…

Rori twisted in the bed, pressing the heels of her palms to her eyes.

God, if she could only sleep! She didn’t want to weigh the possibility of a monster having healed her.

Not after he went through her room, found those pictures and used them in his scheme to break her.

After all, wasn’t that his plan? Break her?

Do away with her? Mate or not, Thaddeus was soulless and cold.

He held no room for the slightest bit of compassion, and he certainly didn’t heal her.

You’re smarter than this, Rori. Those wounds were gone, or near gone, by the time Cael got home.

Then why would Thaddeus torture her with the horrors of her past?

Why force her to relive that night in a carousel of projected pictures?

“ Hermosa , it’s four in the morning. You’ve been tossing all night.”

Rori dropped her hands from her face and turned her head. Brandon watched her from the other bed, head propped up on his fist, moonlight cutting across his handsome face. Worry creased his forehead, the sharp edge in his dark eyes softening.

“I know you’ve not told me everything. I feel it in the air. You’re carrying a burden far greater than a run-in with Rich.”

Damn it. Brandon had always been able to read her well. His acuity when it came to her emotions caught her off guard this time. “I keep replaying his assault. I can’t get it out of my head.”

His lips pursed, expression strained. After a few heartbeats, he threw back the covers, adjusted his position on the far side of the bed, and opened the blanket. “Come here. Get under the covers. I’ll stay on top.” He smiled. “Let me see if I can help you sleep by holding you.”

Warnings blared in her head. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. You have a mate. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.

She hesitated. The guilt curled low in her gut, tightening its unwanted grip.

She shouldn’t. Really, she should keep her distance from Brandon.

They were friends. Close friends. She knew he wanted more, but kept their relationship friendly.

She didn’t want to cross a line they couldn’t come back from, or lead him on only to hurt him.

Thaddeus is your mate.

Damn conscience.

Fuck Thaddeus. It won’t be the first time Brandon has helped me sleep.

With a deep breath, she climbed out of her bed and slipped into Brandon’s, allowing him to tuck the covers around her and pull her into the curve of his body. He rested his chin on top of her head, his even breaths fluttering her hair.

A strange chill rolled through her blood. Her stomach twisted. This…this wasn’t right.

Nothing is right, yet Brandon is safe.

Tension began to melt, and the relentless reels of the day’s events slowed until, at last, they came to a stop, giving her the reprieve she desperately needed.

“We’ll head to the police department to file a report. He broke the restraining order and will go back to jail until his court date. There’s no reason you should be hiding in a hotel room because of him. He’s the one who should be stripped of his freedoms.”

Rori mindlessly stirred her coffee, half listening to Cassy’s scolding while avoiding Brandon’s watchful gaze.

The last few days were catching up with her, focus hard to obtain and strength fleeting.

She hid her relief on walking out of the hospital to find Brandon, Cael, and Cassy all waiting for her.

The anxiety and fear that had built up over the last hour of her clinical vanished at the sight of her friends standing around her car.

She’d even found it in herself to smile.

Now, as they sat inside a small café, the setting sun casting a brilliant fiery glare through the tinted windows, that anxiety she’d tamped down began to build back up with Cassy’s stern suggestion.

Rori touched a gaze to Cael before meeting Cassy’s eyes. “The only evidence I have to prove there was an encounter are the bruises on my arm. He can easily argue that.”

“Security footage from the hospital, Rori. You know that,” Cassy said.

Her cheeks flushed with frustration. Cael rested a hand over Cassy’s fist. Rori watched in awe as Cassy instantly relaxed beneath Cael’s touch.

To have someone who could provide such comfort through a simple connection would be a dream.

As much as Brandon helped her finally find a few hours of sleep before they had to get up and head in for clinicals, the void in her chest pined for something more. “You can’t let this go.”

“I know.”

“Rori, we all know you’re tired, but this is about your safety. If he’s brazen enough to attack you in a hospital parking lot while it’s still day, there’s no telling what he’ll do next. The only way to ensure your safety is for him to be behind bars.”

Despite her better judgment, Cael compelled her to look toward him.

His demeanor, the faint hint of a dangerous grin, the brightness of his eyes.

His expression spoke beyond Cassy’s logic, a darker intent.

It was the first time she’d sensed a similarity between Cael and Thaddeus that surpassed looks.

“Why don’t we finish up here and head down to the station together?

Then we can all go back to your apartment and settle in for the night.

Steve and I will make sure you ladies are safe in your own place.

By tomorrow, Rich should have a warrant out for his arrest and the threat he presents will be gone.

” Brandon shrugged. “Until then, neither one of you should be displaced from your home. He doesn’t deserve to have that much power over you. ”

“He has no power,” Rori corrected.

Brandon’s smile dropped and he arched a brow, his eyes leveling with hers. “You honestly believe that? ’Cause you were in a hotel last night.”

Rori stared at him. It didn’t escape her that he deliberately left out the fact that he was in said hotel with her. He kept that small detail between them, and she was glad he did when she finally straightened in her seat and noticed the curiosity that sharpened Cael’s expression.

“Fine, okay. We’ll go to the station and file a report.

” Despite understanding they would all be safe with Cael along for the ride, an unwanted heaviness tugged at that haunting void.

Sure, Cael would protect them, her, for the sake of this newfound soul mate connection to his brother, but what was the point if Thaddeus wanted to cut her life short anyhow?

“I just hope they arrest him before he tries to do anything else. ”