35. Adrianna

35

ADRIANNA

H er gaze caresses over me, assessing every detail as her eyes sparkle in the late morning sun, while I grind my teeth together to make sure my jaw doesn't fall slack and reveal my surprise. Uncertainty zings up my spine, making my fingers flex at my sides as I offer the same eye scan.

I can't get a sense of her feelings or emotions. She's got them locked down and bolted, which only serves to leave me on higher alert. Of all the dangers Raiden could have warned me about, I doubt this would've been one of them.

Even though her presence pisses me off, it grates on me more that Raiden is right. Nowhere is safe. That doesn't mean I don't know how to handle myself, though.

Her hair is pulled back in a slick ponytail. She's wearing jeans, a white t-shirt, and a plaid shirt. In all of my memories as a child, she didn't look like this in any of them, but I guess that's because she wasn't really herself then. Not like she is now.

Clearing my throat, I keep my lips in a flat line as I cock a brow at her. "Why are you here?"

"To see you," she admits, twisting her fingers together as her head dips, but she keeps her gaze on mine, peering at me through her lashes like she's vulnerable.

I can't bite back the scoff that burns from my throat as I shake my head. "You've seen. Anything else?" She presses her lips together and takes a tentative step toward me, but I lift my hand, pausing her next move as I continue to shake my head. "You're good where you are."

She nods, unlinking her fingers as she shakes them out at her sides. She stands taller, taking a deep breath, and my chest tightens as I watch her brush off the vulnerability, hiding her weaknesses just as quickly as she revealed them. It's not the fact that she's putting walls in place that bothers me; it's the fact that I've seen the same reaction in myself. Admitting there's anything similar between us swirls like poison in my gut.

"Sorry, I…I just…" Her words trail off as she tries to find the right level of bullshit to get through to me, but I'm not dealing with any of it.

"You just what?" I push, ready to get the fuck out of here. Why the hell am I not just leaving her here and going to my room?

Fuck.

I can't bring myself to move, and that agitates me even more. Curiosity wins out.

"I wanted to see you." The words are a whisper on her tongue.

I tilt my gaze, trying to assess her from a different angle, but I don't come up with anything different. "I don't believe you."

"I can't imagine you would," she replies with a tight smile. I open my mouth but nothing comes out, and the reality is, it's because I have nothing to say to her.

I manage to take a deep breath, keeping the irritation from my tone as I twist the door handle. "Anything else?"

Her eyebrows pinch, her gaze darting over me. I can sense her brain whirling with the need to keep talking.

"How is Nora?"

I see red. Crimson fucking red. I step toward her, finger aimed in her direction as I snap. "You keep her fucking name out of your mouth." She gapes at me in shock, and I scoff. "Shocked? You shouldn't be. Did you expect this to be some sweet reunion? Newsflash, it isn't." I can feel my chest heating from my rising blood pressure, creeping up my neck and tingling down my arms to the tips of my fingers.

"I just…" Her words trail off once again and my nostrils flare with anger.

"You just can't seem to finish that sentence, and I honestly have no desire to know what's on the tip of your tongue," I bite, pushing the door to the fae building open.

"Adrianna, I'm sorry," she blurts, garnering my attention once again. Her hand is flat against her chest as her lip wobbles.

"For?"

"E-Everything," she stutters, and I shake my head.

"I feel like you have a colossal list of shit you should be sorry for. You're going to need to get a little more specific if you think I'm going to even remotely believe anything that you say." Even then, I know I won't. She doesn't deserve my forgiveness. She doesn't even deserve my time, yet here I am, still giving it to her.

Her hands twist in her white t-shirt, coiling around the material until her knuckles are the same color. Unshed tears line the bottom of her eyes, but it does nothing to produce even an ounce of sympathy.

"I shouldn't have come," she says, trying to swallow back the emotion, and I nod.

"You're right."

Her eyebrows crinkle with pain at my words. "I miss you."

I scoff. "You can't miss me. You don't know me," I retort, making her eyes widen as she holds her hands toward me.

"I did, I?—"

"You left. You left Nora and me without a care for anyone but yourself. Everything that followed changed the both of us. So, no, you don't know me, and you most definitely don't know her, because the day our lives came crumbling down, at your hands no less, those girls went with it."

"N-No," she stumbles again, tears rolling down her cheeks as she blubbers, and I snarl.

"Yes."

The venom on my tongue is real and I don't like it. I don't like the darkness that sweeps through my limbs or the level of anger that courses through me, because I can't control it. I can't control myself in her presence, and it makes me feel more vulnerable than ever before.

Calm and collected. Calm and collected. Calm and collected.

"I left to protect you," she insists, and I huff, refusing to believe any of the bullshit she's saying.

"How's that going for you?"

The pain in her eyes burns into my memory and I nod to myself, happy to keep it there as a reminder. She did this. She did this to us. She did this to herself.

She has no idea of the emotions she's stirring in me, and I worry the longer I stick around, the closer she may get to finding out. "We're done here."

"Please, Adrianna?—"

"You don't want to feel the wrath of the emotions coiling through my body right now," I warn, my jaw drawn tight with tension.

"Emotions?"

"Not the good kind," I repeat, and she nods.

Just put one foot in front of the other, Addi, and get the fuck out of here.

I take a backward step, eyes still fixed on her as she swipes her tongue over her bottom lip.

"Has your wolf…"

Her words trail off once again as my blood runs cold.

"My wolf," I repeat, my voice void of emotion as darkness creeps up my spine.

She clears her throat and nods. "Have you shifted?"

Is this some kind of sick and twisted game for her? "No," I admit, hating myself the moment I let her know the truth, especially when she offers me a sad smile as some kind of condolence. Fuck. "I'm going to assume I have you to thank for that," I add, satisfying the dark urge inside me to destroy her. To my surprise, she nods, her smile growing tighter as she bites back emotions I don't care to identify. "I think I'll withhold my appreciation for that," I snap as she stuffs her hand into the back pocket of her jeans.

"This is for you," she mutters with a sniff, revealing an envelope.

I look down at it with a frown as she waits for me to take it. "I don't want it."

"You might change your mind," she pushes, her grip tightening on it as she pushes it in my direction.

" You never did," I bite, my gaze rushing back to hers. Guilt swarms in her eyes as frustration takes root in my bones. Not at her; at myself. I'm literally fucking annoying myself in her presence, and it needs to stop. Now.

"Please take it, just in case," she encourages, her plea desperate.

"And you'll leave?"

Her face scrunches with pain before she nods. "If you take it, I'll leave."

Right now, I will do just about anything to put some much-needed space between us. Her being here doesn't make sense. None of it does.

Before I can talk myself out of it, I grab the envelope, but she doesn't release her hold. Instead, she tugs it closer, bringing me along with it.

"Be safe, Adrianna," she whispers, the pain in her voice matching the swirl of terror in her eyes. "He's coming, and try as I might, there's nothing I can seem to do about it," she adds, tears tracking down her face.

I rear back with a frown. "Who?" The second I say it, I know, but she confirms it for me anyway.

"Kenner."

"Does he know you're here?" I bite, eyes wide with rage when a thick, dark voice cuts through the air.

"He didn't." My body stills as my mother balks with panic. I blink over her shoulder to find the man in question stepping out of the bushes she appeared from a few moments ago. A sneer spreads across his lips, making him look even more sinister than usual as adrenaline burns through my body. "And I can't say I'm all that pleased now that I do."