Alan and Dimitri, wasn't into sharing, which was fine with me.
Out of all the men, Zane was the one I spoke to the most about my fears. He was just so easy to talk to. Once I opened my mouth around Zane, words poured out faster than I could think. Since the day we’d met, he’d felt as familiar to me as my own skin.
With Zane, I was blunt, and he was blunt with me.
I was surprised he was here. Zane liked to leave on the nights we weren’t together. I didn’t know where he went, but I knew he was feeding. When I’d finally gotten him back from Titania, he’d been skin and bones. Now he was more muscled but still leaner than Dimitri.
And tonight was all about Dimitri, but since Alan and Dimitri were a pair in themselves, I often got both of them unless Dimitri said otherwise.
I visited my guys on a scheduled rotation. The arrangement worked not just because we loved each other but because each and every one of them had become as vital to me as an organ. We fit together.
And one of the reasons we fit so well was because the men not only adored who I was but loved every part of me.
My fury included.
“You have no idea what my life has been like, Dr. Shaw. A year ago, I finally found my mother, and do you know what she tried to do? Kill me! Also, I found out I had a sister, and what do you know? She tried to kill me, as well. As quickly as I knew them, I knew they hated me.”
She opened her mouth, but I kept going. I was on a roll.
“And then, two months ago I found out my mother, who’d I’d assumed was dead, wasn’t. Instead, she’d infused our souls together with the intention of taking over my body, but then she sacrificed herself and now her soul sits in a rock, and I need to decide what the hell I’m going to do with it.”
That was the reason my aura had probably mirrored an inferno last night. While talking to Zane, I’d gotten worked up. My mother was sucked into a Soul Stone and not only her but Wei.
Wei.
I considered him boyfriend number one. He was the first vampire I had fallen in love with.
It had been over a year since I’d seen him, but I still remembered the feel of his weighty, angsty gaze. His eyes had been as dark as onyx and his need for me as great as his hatred for past and failures.
It had taken hard work for us to get to the place where I could say he was mine and he wouldn’t flinch away.
And just when it was starting to get good, Titania took it all away from me.
So now, he too was locked in a Soul Stone, and I didn’t have the first clue as to how to break him out. According to legend, there was no way to reverse the process, but I was going to find one even if it killed me.
“I’ve been shot with arrows, clawed open by werewolves, attacked by a hag, choked out by a psychotic vampire, kidnapped, imprisoned, and betrayed by some of the very men in this room on more than one occasion.”
I felt the energy in the room shift. As a necromancer, the emotions of the dead were hard to ignore. I felt pain and shame, mostly from Zane, Ewan, and Dimitri. Even Alan flared a little, though I didn’t know why. Out of all of them, he’d been the most loyal, though his feelings for Dimitri had made dating him impossible at first. It was only after I learned that I could love more than one person that I discovered, so could he.
I loved them all, but I missed Wei, and my past had left some scars that weren’t evident on my body.
“I am who I am,” I finished, feeling a little exhausted as I did.
“What have you eaten?” Dr. Shaw asked.
The sudden change in the direction of the conversation put me off.
I crossed my arms and shifted on my feet, feeling unnerved. “I just got up.”
Dr. Shaw nodded and turned to Peter, who stood by the door. “Would you please make Lorena a smoothie?”
“I don’t want a smoothie,” I fired the words with hate that was dwindling. I like that Dr. Shaw said please and thank you to Peter. When Vlad had come with his army