Unraveled

Britt’s eyes widened. “Really? Introduce me. Please! You promised. Remember? Oh, this is so exciting!” She clapped and jumped up and down. “Do it now, do it now or I’ll die.”

“Come on.” Mary A

Only, Brittany wanted nothing to do with him. Her attention was primarily focused on Nathan—who couldn’t have been ruder. For the most part, he ignored her. When he did finally deign to speak to her, he did so with a cold, clipped tone.

“You’re a borderline asshole, you know that?” Maxwell muttered to him.

“Only borderline? I must be off my game,” Nathan replied, unrepentant.

Mary A

Finally, Brittany gave up. “I can see our conversation was completely u

Maxwell punched Nathan in the arm. Nathan flipped him off. The two stomped off in different directions.

Riley drew Mary A

“Your brother,” she said with a shake of her head.

“The curse,” Riley whispered in her ear.

“What?”

“Remember? When one of my brothers is attracted to a girl, she will only see him as ugly. When my brothers are not attracted to a girl, she will see his true self.”

Oh. Poor boys. That meant Maxwell had been attracted to Brittany and Nathan had not.

The only way to break the curse was for the boys to die. Like humans, wolves were not always able to be resuscitated. So killing them just to better their love lives? Not go

“Besides, Nathan doesn’t date humans. Ever,” Riley further explained. “Which is why every female here is eyeing him like he’s candy. They want what they instinctively know they can’t have.”

“A few are eyeing Maxwell that way,” she said, oddly defensive of the gold wolf. “And you, too, of course.”

“The ones looking at Max aren’t his type, and therefore see his true self. And I haven’t noticed anyone looking at me but you.”

She traced her fingers over his arms and wished they were alone so she could tell him how beautiful he was, inside and out, and then kiss him, taste him, making the most of their time together.

“Should we leave?” Mary A

His sigh ruffled her hair. “Yeah. The witches are staying away. They knew we would come.”

She wouldn’t feel guilty about that. Much. “So why not just fight us?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they’re pla

She didn’t mean to, but she stiffened. What if they succeeded? What would happen if her group lost their only bargaining chip? Nothing good, that was for sure.

“Don’t worry,” Riley said. “They won’t find her. They can’t track like wolves can.”

Slowly she relaxed. There’s nothing more you can do here. For once, enjoy yourself. Before it’s too late. She twisted in his arms, rose on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss onto his lips. Soft, sweet…but not enough. “Riley…”

He jerked her as close to him as he could get her. His breathing was suddenly labored, sawing in and out of his mouth. “Let’s go somewhere private,” he said hoarsely.

“Yes,” she said, melting into that puddle of butter as Brittany should have. “Let’s.”

TWENTY

“—SAID YOU WERE GOING TO be out of it because of the medication, but I’m a little worried. Are you okay?”

Dan’s voice dragged Aden out of a long, dark tu

“Aden?” Dan prompted.

“What? Sorry.”

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Sure.” He rubbed his temples, then his eyes. How had he gotten in the truck? Last thing he remembered, he’d walked inside Dr. He

What had they talked about? How much time had passed?

His frown deepened. He didn’t remember that, either.

Medication, Dan had said. Had Dr. He

Present.

Accounted for.

Here.

No medication then. If Dr. He

“Are we just now leaving his office?”

“Yeah. You were pretty out of it, so I waited as long as I could before taking off with you, just in case you needed medical attention.” There was sympathy in Dan’s voice. Clearly, he assumed Aden was regressing. “We’ve got the di

None of this made any sense. He suddenly recalled sitting in his chair, filled with dread but resolved. Then…nothing.

“If you need to take tomorrow off from school,” Dan said, “I’ll understand.”

“No. I’ll be fine.” He hoped. He still had witches to hunt. “Did Dr. He

“Only that he was sorry you had such an adverse reaction to your therapy. Well, that, and you weren’t taking your medication properly. That true?”

Aden hated lying to Dan, and had to do so all too often. He wouldn’t do it now, he decided. “Yes. It’s true.”

“Why? Don’t you want to get better?”

Surprisingly, there’d been no anger to the question. “I’m not crazy. I don’t need to get better.”

Dan scowled at him. He was in his thirties, with sandy hair and hazel eyes, and those eyes most often regarded Aden with kindness and understanding. Just then, the anger Aden had expected dominated them. “You still talk to yourself. Of course you’re not better. You’ll have to do better than that if you want me to help get you off the meds.”

Dan would help? Deep down, where every betrayal and rejection he’d ever received festered, unable to heal, Aden simply couldn’t believe it was possible. They’d find out the truth soon enough, though. “You want to know why? Fine. The pills make me tired, foggy. When I’m on them, I can’t think right, or at all, really. They make me stupid and I have enough to deal with without adding bad decisions and bad names to the mix. And yeah, I’m called names. Retarded being at the top of the list.”

Several seconds passed in silence, seeming to stretch into eternity. “Well, okay, then. We’ll talk to the doctor about putting you on something else.”

Just like that? That was…that was…still unbelievable. He decided to push a little more. “I don’t like Dr. He

Dan tossed him a guarded glance. “Creeps you out, how?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t like the way he looks at me.”

The patent stillness of a predator overcame Dan. “Has he ever touched you, Aden? In an improper way?”

“No,” he said, and Dan relaxed. Then he added, “Kind of,” as he remembered the way He