Gypsy Moon (Page 46)

An arrow is jabbed through her leg, and the assault abruptly ends, silence descending immediately. The wolf inside me stirs, a growl forming in me, as I strain to move even one muscle. It takes me too long to realize the attack was never coming from outside. It was coming from inside the bathroom.

The door creaks open, sending light spilling through the crack. Violet remains the only one standing, while the rest of us continue to be frozen to the ground.

“Move, Violet,” someone grinds out.

By some miracle, the same poison mustn’t have been on the arrow in Violet’s leg, because she breaks off the head of it, making a pained sound that only stirs my growls fiercer, while she removes the rest of the arrow like it’s not her first time.

I can’t see the other woman, but I can see Arion’s gaze growing more furious by the frozen second. He never cuts his eyes away from the mystery woman.

Please, for fuck’s sake, don’t let it be Idun with the scent of another’s blood.

“I guess you’re not always Linda-the-receptionist, are you?” Violet asks as she drops the arrow remnants.

“A girl’s got to put food on the table, even when there’s a head to hunt. Only the girls who dare to be too pretty eat for free,” comes the answer, those words sounding familiar enough to churn my stomach.

I’ve heard that before, haven’t I? Was that Idun who said it?

“Move before I—”

Arion bursts free seconds before I can, but I’m right behind him, as my wolf erupts from me. I feel my vision dimming as the wolf tries to take full control, focusing in on her vulnerable throat.

My heart dives in the next instant, because Violet is suddenly blocking my path again, as though she simply appeared, and I crash into her.

CHAPTER 23

VIOLET

Staring at the girl formally known as Linda, who is giving me a very disgusted look, I don’t even have time to process how the hell all this just escalated so quickly, and where the hell the other three guys even came from.

So this is Idun. I’m surprised she’s telling me to move so she can hurt them. From what I’ve learned, this is a little out of character.

I should be the first target—the weak omega.

Idun the—

“A girl’s got to put food on the table, even when there’s a head to hunt. Only the girls who dare to be too pretty eat for free,” she says, shattering the fragmented pieces I thought I had laid out, as bile and air simultaneously wad in my throat. “Move before I—”

Arion is suddenly shoving her hard against the wall, and I scream as I dive for him, only to be knocked out of the way by Emit’s raging wolf.

Pain explodes in my side, and Emit slides next to me, eyes wide like he never expected me to go in that direction. My gaze darts back to Arion, who has turned completely toward me, just as a blade shoves through his torso.

His jaw grinds as he turns, thin sword still sticking out, and I lunge again, ignoring the pain in my ribs as I shout, “Stop, Arion, don’t!”

His claws stop their descent abruptly, as I quickly prop against Emit, feeling the impossibly soft fur against me. He quickly turns to flesh when my legs try to give out, and takes on the burden of holding me up.

“Why the bloody hell would I stop?” Arion asks, glaring. “This bitch just tried to—”

“Do it, Vampyre,” Not-Linda says in interruption, smiling darkly. “Please do it so I can be done with you immediately.”

My heart only pounds harder, as my vision dims just barely, Arion’s claws starting to move again, as panic slices up my throat.

“Stop!” I shout again, just as she ducks his swing that he wasn’t planning to stop at all.

“She’s my mother!” I choke out.

He does stop the second swing, almost fully red eyes meeting mine.

The sound of a sword sheathing sounds from right beside me, as Vance puts his sword away. Emit cradles me against him. Damien moves to the other side of Emit. Vance is quickly looking at my slightly bruised side, because Emit’s a cannon ball when charging, apparently.

“She jumped right in front of me,” he murmurs to Damien so quietly I almost miss it.

“Get your filthy fucking hands off her, you patru picioare urâciune!” Mom snaps, causing Emit to freeze and Vance’s eyes to collide with mine, as though none of them believed me until now.

Vance, like everyone else, slowly stares at Mom differently, even as Arion keeps her pinned in place. Mom struggles ineffectively and winces when his claws dig in.

“Violet, clothe yourself before I vomit everywhere,” she says with tears in her eyes.

“You’ve been in here since dropping off that scotch?” I hiss in oh-fuck-my-life-this-cannot-be-happening horror.

“I had a plan,” she grinds out, glaring at me. “I had no idea you would be this involved with my plan.”

She pauses as she gags a little, and a little more horror washes over me just to make sure I’m thoroughly drenched in the shit.

Arion fucking grins, but wipes it away quickly when he sees my face.

“I’m so sorry. I thought you were Linda the flirty receptionist. Why were you flirting with him?” I ask on a shrill pitch.

“Don’t apologize to her, love. Just being around us got an arrow through your leg.”

“She stopped when she hit me, because she didn’t mean to hit me,” I quickly argue, slapping at Emit to put me down, as I scramble to wrap a sheet around me.

Of course, that still leaves the naked werewolf and naked vampire in the room that no one seems to be discussing. Okay, then. Time to tip the crazy scale just a little more in my head.

It sucks so hard to be me some days.

My mother finally comes back to see me fucking her life-long enemies.

“She doesn’t smell like a Portocale,” Emit snarls, glaring at Mom like she’s a lying troll.

“That’s because it takes up to a year for my scent to be restored when I gypsy hop so suddenly,” Mom answers carelessly. Then she cuts her gaze up at Arion. “Make a move or unhand me, Vampyre.”

“Promise you won’t attack if he lets you go?” I ask, and…then get four lethal glares swung my way…that I decide to ignore.

Emit is still guiltily darting a gaze at my covered side every two seconds because of an accidental collision that I caused. It’s not like I feel threatened by them. They can glare all they want right now; that’s my mother. I’ll risk it.

“Promise,” I say again, drawing a glare from her now.

“After what I’ve sat through and endured, only to have that miserable shite tranquilizer burn through too fast?” she asks, not completely sounding like her normal self, but almost like the memories of the times an unusual accent would slip in.

“Violet, you have no idea how tricky Idun’s gypsy freak skin walkers can be, and right now, our presence here ensures them we’re now aware Idun is up. They’ll be flocking in, which is why I never went to collect our things,” Arion tells me like he’s growing impatient. “This one has some sort of paralytic that I want to know more about.”

“It’s my tranquilizer that I’ve been developing for me for when my heart drops. I’m turbo charged right now, due to the lightning I was forced to absorb, so it’s presently a lot more ineffective than in the past when tested,” I absently explain, only feeling the slightest numbing tingles in my fingertips, and weirdly my elbows, through it all.

Arion’s brow furrows, and his claws retract ever so slightly.

“A girl’s got to put food on the table, even when there’s a head to hunt. Only the girls who dare to be too pretty eat for free,” I say, looking back over to Mom’s eyes, feeling too much hope tugging at my heart, as it slowly sinks in that this is really happening.

She clears her throat, darts a glance around, rolls her eyes, and huffs out a breath, as she follows it up with the next two lines. “Pay with heart or pay with cunt. Both come with the highest chance of trickery,” she mutters like she can’t believe she picked that burner riddle.

“What exactly does this prove?” Vance asks me very seriously, as Mom turns her narrowed eyes toward him, watching his hand cup my cheek, while his gaze flicks over my face.

I’m paying more attention to her than him right now, because I’m worried she’s going to kill them all the second Arion finally releases her.

If she’s been in here all this time, she’s heard my conversation with Arion and Anna and knows soooooo much.

“It’s a burner poem. Recite it once if ever you question whether or not you’re being tricked. It wasn’t because gypsies can put on their old-lady makeup, though, was it?” I ask her, taking in the new information versus the subtle hints to things from growing up. “It’s because some dangerous monsters can look like whomever they want to look like.”

Her look softens, as though the bigger elephant in the room is just now getting noticed. It’s a bad day when the naked vampire holding you at bay, after having to endure hearing him have his way with your daughter for…a while…is just the distraction from the more pressing matters.

Today, Mom’s life may actually suck worse than mine. I want to hug her and apologize, but that’s a whole other conversation to have…later.