Page 16 of Twisted Ties

She shakes her head. “Fate wouldn’t chooseyouforhim. This is some kind of clever trick, some kind of deception, and when I find out what you did–” she grabs my wrist, squeezing it hard, “I’m going to tell him everything and then I’ll watch as he tosses you like the piece of trash you are to the sidewalk.”

“Investigate all you like,” I hiss, “there’s nothing to find. Hell, until a day ago I knew nothing about fated mates. I didn’t even know he was mine.”

She leans in closer, her eyes narrowing. “Everybody knows about fated mates. You need a better story. That one doesn’t work.”

“I don’t care if it works. It’s the truth. And it’s none of your business anyway.”

“He’s a goodfriend. A very oldfriend.” This time she leans on the word friend, taunting me with it. Why does she even care about this? The only reason I can fathom isjealousy. Were they sleeping with each other? Are they still sleeping with each other?

“What do you mean by that?” I ask sharply, realizing too late that she wants me to ask her exactly that. She wants to tell me.

“Azlan’s taste in women is sophisticated. He likes grown ups with intelligence, elegance and who know what they’re doing in the bedroom. Someone who suits his status.”

“The man in black?” I laugh. “Are you kidding me?” She’s obviously never seen him in his worn boots, out riding his bike.

“No, I’m not. Seems like you really don’t know anything about him.”

“Maybe I do. Maybe it’s you who doesn’t. But either way, it doesn’t matter. He’s mated to me.”

“For now,” she says, digging her nails into my wrist. “But as soon as I–”

I send a shot of energy through my arm and the doctor yelps, releasing my wrist and shaking out her fingers.

Azlan storms through the doors, his face like thunder.

“What the hell is going on?” he demands.

“She zapped me,” the doctor says with a pout and a flutter of eyelashes, holding her hand limply against her body like I snapped every one of her fingers.

I wait for the reprimand. I wait for him to berate me. Instead, he grabs the doctor by the upper arm and drags her away from the bed.

“And what did you do to her?” He examines her shocked face. “What did you say to her?”

“Azlan! Absolutely nothing. How could you insinuate such a thing? This girl is–”

He turns to me. “Rhi?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I tell him.

The doctor laughs hollowly. “Oh, of course you don’t want him to know.”

“What?” he growls.

“She’s playing you for a fool, Azlan. She’s no more your fated mate than her smelly little pig is.”

“You think I wouldn’t recognize my own fated mate, Lucinda?”

“I think she’s deceiving us all with some kind of complicated magic.”

Now it’s his turn to chuckle as he walks her towards the door. “We all know there’s no such thing. And here I was thinking you were intelligent. Maybe you’re the one who has been fooling us all.”

The doctor scowls at him. “She’s a scrawny little girl, Azlan. Ignorant, ill-mannered and ill-bred. You deserve someone better.”

“Someone like you?” I can’t help jibing from my bed.

“I was his first love, sweetheart,” she calls back. “I’ll always be special.”

“It was never love, Lucinda. And it was a long, long time ago.”