Chapter 173. Asylum
Maisie
"It’s like teaching a bunch of children," Regina said. "Bastian and Ryder argue all the time. If you hadn’t told me they were brothers, I would’ve thought they were estranged exes with Kisten topping both of them."
Jenny huffed a laugh. "Well, considering the family history of encouraging incest, who knows if they’re actually gay?"
Regina shook her red head. "Well, I would definitely pay a fortune to see that."
"At this rate, you won’t have any money left in your trust," Juliette mumbled, too focused on the movie to look away from the screen.
I’d told them everything earlier. It felt good to pour my heart out to them again, even if it meant listening to Regina rage for more than an hour about Tessa and the Queen and my... biological mother.
"Will you tell Lana? About Margaret?" Jenny asked. "I’d rather you never spoke to her again, but if Lyon and I had a terrible relationship and he found out something like that... I think I would still want to know."
I knew I had to have the conversation with her. It was that Lana wanted nothing to do with the Adams name, nothing to associate her with the ’terrible Omega life’ we had lived, nothing that would remind the Braxtons that she wasn’t truly their daughter. I wondered if being a Hunt would change that.
Somehow, I doubted it would.
And there was also the little fact of trying to figure out how to tell her that our biological mother didn’t care about her. I didn’t like Lana but I imagined that would hurt even the devil.
"I don’t know," I said, fiddling with my pink coated nails as I felt the first sign of the drugs settling in. "How’s Lyon by the way?"
I hadn’t been back for a long time, but I hadn’t seen him around school since the wedding, either. On the few occasions that I thought I caught glimpses of him, he seemed to be avoiding me.
Jenny tossed me a side glance that told me she knew I was changing the subject, but she didn’t push, and answered around a mouthful of popcorn, "There’s an important merger coming up with the company. It’s taking up most of his time, so he’s taking most of his classes online. He still has to check in twice a week, though."
Her side glance worsened. "I think he might still be a little heartbroken. Look, I love you, May. Just know that’s the only reason I didn’t chuck you off the balcony for kissing my brother and having him get beat up like a thief."
I flushed, feeling again like an utter piece of shit.
"Well, in her and Mercer’s defense, he was trying to steal something. Her virginity," Regina joked and got Jenny’s bowl of popcorn thrown at her head.
Thirty minutes later and into the movie, the effect of the tonic had fully settled.
A fever crept up my chest and throat and heat spread through my lower belly. It wasn’t painful, but it was insistent, a warm, rhythmic pulse that made me want to press my hand... there. My breasts pushed against my top and I fought a shiver at the tantalizing roughness against my skin. Every time I breathed, the material dragged across them, sending sharp little sparks straight between my legs.
I shifted, pressing my thighs together–
"May!" Regina said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Are you listening?"
I blinked at her hopping up and down my bed, her cellphone in hand. No. I was, in fact, not listening. I was having a horrid time ignoring the ache radiating in my core while simultaneously trying to focus on movie night with my friends.
My mind kept drifting to Soren. I could feel him somewhere in the house. The bond was humming, pulling at me like a hook behind my ribs, and I knew I wasn’t the only one suffering the wretched side effects.
"Sorry, could you repeat that?" I said.
"Remember Gruer? The mad scientist from Mrs. Belarus’s class?" she gushed, and when I nodded, she added, "Well, did you get the alert, too?"
"What alert?"
"The Ashbourne red alert. I just got one, too," Jenny said, shoving popcorn into her mouth, her eyes flicking back from the horror movie to her phone screen. Juliette was grasping her hand tightly, her blue eyes wide and terrified, and she let out another horrifying scream when the slasher came out of nowhere and caught the lead actor. "Apparently, he escaped from the Council’s holding cell a few hours ago, and they lost track of him," Jenny added.
I tried to ignore the feeling of my shorts beginning to cling to my inner thighs. It’s just the tonic. It’ll pass, I assured myself and tried to act completely normal. "The Council’s holding cell? I thought that was only for hardened criminals."
"More like people the Council makes disappear for good," Regina snorted. "Apparently, he killed twenty sentries while making his escape. They think he’ll be sniffling around the school and are tripling security around Greymoor." She shuddered. "Gives me the creeps..."
She tracked off.
"You okay?" Her brows furrowed. "You’re breathing weird."
"I’m fine," I said too quickly, fingers tightening on the blanket covering my thighs.
Juliette turned her head from the screen. "You’re flushed. Really flushed. Are you getting sick?"
When her nostrils started to flare, I stood abruptly. The blanket slipped off my lap and I swiftly yanked it back up, praying they hadn’t noticed anything. "I just need some water. I’ll be right back."
"There’s a filled glass of water here, May," Jenny was saying as I escaped into the hallway before they could catch a whiff of my scent.
At nearly midnight, the house was silent, and I was grateful for it as I walked down the staircases silently, headed for the kitchen. Then I froze at the threshold when I heard the heated argument coming from the dining area.
"The fuck we’re accepting it," I heard Mercer’s snarl, and I held myself very still in the corner, listening, even if I knew eavesdropping was a bad thing.
"None of us like it, Mercer," Jericho said. "But the fact remains that it is May’s decision to make–"
My decision? What decision?
"Why the fuck is it even an option?" Mercer shot back.
"I think we all need to take a deep breath and think about this–" Quinlan was saying.
"Think about what? Letting those barbarians into our bond? You may get a hard on for shit like that but some of us actually have limits," Mercer snarled.
"You’re just pissed off because you’re so far up your mother’s ass, the thought of taking her out makes you froth at the mouth. I don’t agree with the alliance, but I do agree that we need to do something about the hellhound you call your mother. No one threatens my fucking mate," Quinlan snapped, abandoning his role as a solicitor.
"There is no need for this alliance." Mercer’s voice was dark and hard.
"You are such a coward," Soren muttered.
"If you’ve got something to say, Soren, say it to my fucking face," Mercer spat.
"I think you’re a coward, Mercer. I think you’re so scared of her, you do not realize she’s making us choose between our mate’s wellbeing and our fear of her. Forcing her demands down our throats, knowing we’ll do right about anything to keep Maisie safe. Don’t you get tired of sniffing around that bitch like a dog waiting for her to decide what day of the week she remembers you’re her son?" Soren said, voice equally heated. He was uncharacteristically enraged. I didn’t need to see his face to know his veins were close to popping from his neck.
"Watch your damned mouth, motherfucker," Mercer said.
And I knew all hell was about to break loose when Soren drawled, "If I fucked your mother, you would definitely be in the know of it."
The next second, I heard the crash of furniture. And then, they were fighting like children.
Jericho turned the corner a heartbeat later, eyes crinkling with amusement when he found me standing there. "Got anymore of that popcorn left?"
"What is going on?" I asked.
"On the surface? Mommy issues," Jericho said, completely unfazed as a table went sailing into the wall. "Deeper? Soren’s picking a fight because he’s too proud to admit he’s going insane from whatever shit he swallowed today. So he’ll have Mercer beat it out of him instead."
I tried to peek over his shoulder, a little worried when I heard Mercer’s pained breath, but Jericho steered me away with both his hands on my shoulder. "It’s nothing to worry about, malyshka. Just another regular day in this asylum of ours."