Gena Showalter - Unraveled

“Meet us in town,” Riley called. “One hour.”

More howls.

Agreement?

“Come on,” Riley said to her now. “Time to leave the forest. Goblins are starting to emerge.”

Together, they raced to the car he had stashed at the edge of the forest and slipped inside. Soon her heart was pounding in tune to the car’s revving engine. From all the exercise, yes, but also from being so close to her now-ex. Don’t cry .

“Do your brothers know about me?” she asked, even though she knew the answer.

“No, and we won’t tell them.”

“Won’t they realize something’s different about me if I lead us straight to a witch? I mean—”

Riley was shaking his head. “Believe me, I’ll be taking credit for finding the witch. If we find one. So no worries. Right now we’re going to the vampire mansion.”

“I should go home, shower and change first,” she said, very conscious of how she must look. Hobo central.

“Why? You’ll just get dirty again.”

“At the mansion?”

“In town. That’s where we’re going after. To hunt, remember. If I don’t hunt with you, you’ll go alone. Believe me, I haven’t forgotten your ultimatum.”

She wouldn’t apologize for that. Her intentions were too pure.

“Anyway,” he said, not quite so grumpy, “you can’t go home.”

True. Her dad was there, and he’d ask questions she wasn’t prepared to answer and think things she didn’t want him to think. What have you been doing? Where have you been? Someone hurt you. Did they force you to do…things? Then he’d get the police involved. No, thanks.

“So why are we going to the mansion?” she asked.

“I want to take you to Victoria and get some of her blood inside you.”

What? “Oh, no. No, no, no. I’m not drinking anyone’s blood.” She shook her head for emphasis.

“It’ll strengthen you, heal your injuries.”

In her seat, she swayed back and forth with the bump, bump of the tires. “It’ll also force me to see the world through her eyes, and I have enough problems facing it through my own.”

“That’ll only last a few hours.”

“Don’t care. I’m not injured badly enough to justify it.”

His knuckles tightened on the wheel. Had she not been watching him so closely, she would have missed the telling reaction. “Yeah, but it just might slow down your new ability.”

Thanks for the reminder . “Are you sure about that? Because maybe it’ll speed the abilities up like the spell did. Not that you’re one hundred percent certain I’m a Drainer, remember?” she added in a rush.

He massaged the back of his neck. “Fine.” He maneuvered the car off the grass and onto a nearby dirt road, then turned around and headed in the opposite direction. “No blood.”

“Thank you.”

“Save your thanks. I know you want to break up with me, and that’s coloring your reaction to my helpful suggestions, but you have to—”

“Wait. Want? No. Not even close.” She wouldn’t have him believing he meant nothing to her. He meant everything . “I just don’t want to hurt you, Riley.”

“And I don’t want to hurt you.” He reached over and clasped her hand, their fingers intertwining. His skin was warm, callused. “So here’s the thing. We have two days. Two days before the death curse takes effect, and I don’t want to spend those days fighting with you.”

Oh, God. She’d never thought of things that way. Two days, yeah, she’d realized—and hated—that, but how she would spend those days? Enjoying them or lost to misery? No. Not even a blip.

“I don’t either,” she admitted.

He brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss into her pulse, hot, soft, his tongue even flicking out for a quick taste. Goose bumps spread. “Good, because I want to be with you while we face this. After that, you can break up with me if that’s what you still want. Just don’t expect me to like it or walk away without a fight.”

Two more days with him, enjoying rather than wallowing over what could have been. She couldn’t resist, even though every new minute she spent with him, as if they were a couple, would deepen her sense of connection to him. Even though breaking up with him the first time had nearly killed her, so doing it again would definitely finish her off. She wasn’t hurting him physically, wasn’t destroying his wolf-side—yet. Two more days with him would be fine.

And that was not an invitation to the Universe to prove her wrong.

“Okay. Yes.” With the words, a weight lifted from her shoulders and she suddenly felt ten pounds lighter. “I want to be with you, too.”

He pushed out a relieved breath. “All right, then. I can kill my brothers for hurting you now.”

She laughed, so happy she could have burst. “No, you can’t. You asked them to train me.”

“And I told them to be careful with you.”

“How am I supposed to learn if they treat me like breakable china?”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” he grumbled.

Sweet boy.

Grinning, Mary Ann turned her attention outside. With the appearance of the moon, there was a radiant golden glow cast over the forest, dust sparkling in the muted light like glitter, and then, as the trees thinned out and buildings came into view, she saw that the glow and the glitter spread to the brick, creating an eerily beautiful, well, aura. Was that what Riley saw around human bodies? Then she spied the litter dotting the streets, and the glow faded.

Riley parked between a gas station and a laundromat, the shadows cast from both hiding their car. The sidewalks were barren and the stores were empty, as if everyone had gone home early. To prepare for the coming party Penny had told her about?

He opened his door, but rather than step out, he remained in place, peering over at her. “If you sense any witches…”

“I’ll tell you immediately. I swear.”

With a grateful nod, he emerged and strode to her side before she had time to open her door. He did it for her and extended a hand to help her up and out. Such manners—his mother would be proud—and such endearing sweetness, all wrapped in that bad-boy package.

How had she broken up with him, even for a second? Stupid girl.

Yeah, but you want him to survive .

Oh, yeah.

The air was colder now, with a bit of a bite, but Riley draped an arm around her shoulders, keeping her tucked against him and his delicious heat while they explored. Good thing, too. She sensed no magic, and with every step, she weakened a bit more, her body trembling. What was wrong with her?

“Still cold?” he asked.

“No.” Her stomach twisted, utterly empty and ready to erupt into complaints. Was she, dare she hope, hungry? Yes. Yes, she was. She ground to a halt and grinned. “Riley. You’re not going to believe this, but I’m starving. I’m actually starving!”

He didn’t share her good humor. One of his brows arched as he asked, “For food?”

“Of course.” Except, she thought of a slice of her favorite cheese pizza, and the twisting in her stomach became cramping. She thought of beef lo mein, the last real meal she remembered having with her dad, and the cramps gave way to sharp aches. Don’t give up . She thought of chicken noodle soup, what her mom had fed her each time she’d been sick, and the twisting started up again.

She thought of magic, filling her up, sweeping through her, consuming her, threads of warmth and power weaving inside her, forming a blanket of serenity and strength, and her stomach calmed. Just. Like. That.

Oh…no…

Hope died, burned to ash forevermore. She’d realized the truth before, but just then she knew, bone deep. She was a Drainer, and there was no use pretending otherwise or clinging to false hope. She fed off of magic. She destroyed.