Chapter 37
Cat
“I can’t do it,” I repeated for the tenth time that day. “It’s not fair. It’s not my call to make, Ace. I know what it’s like to not have a say in your own life. If you recall, I resented you for it. What kind of hypocrite would I be if I did the same thing to my best friend?”
Ace, Kierston, and Mad Dog were standing quietly beside me, all looking rather serious. We were standing outside the room where Anna was currently recuperating, and I was apparently about to hurt my friend again, after everything she’d been through with Los Lobos.
“Cat, we talked about this. The only thing you’re taking away from your friend is the nightmare of these last few days,” Ace gently reminded me. “That’s a gift, my love, not a curse.”
He was right. But why, then, did my actions feel so wrong?
Maybe because the universe was teaching me a very valuable lesson about irony right now.
I’d judged Ace when he hadn’t told me the truth about my being a ware, for taking the choice of knowing, and being one, away from me.
Now I was doing the same thing to Anna. Well, mostly. Sort of.
I was about to tell Kierston to take Anna’s memories away.
The bad ones. The ones where Kane and his brothers had horribly abused her.
The ones in which the supernatural world existed and could greatly affect her future safety.
I should have felt great about that, but I didn’t.
My heart was too heavy and my stomach uneasy.
I still wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing, even though I realized it might be the only safe choice we had.
“Who’s going to tell Domino?” Mad Dog asked then, looking pointedly at the door. “They’ve gotten pretty close over the last few days. Now you’re just going to wipe the kid’s memory of him and all the time they’ve spent together. I’m not sure he’s going to take it too well, Brother.”
“I’ll deal with Domino,” Ace grimly stated. “He’ll listen to reason. He won’t be selfish. Not about this. He’ll want what’s best for Anna, just like we do. She can’t just go around knowing about the supernatural world without consequences. She’ll be in immense danger if she does.”
“I get that,” Mad Dog said, “but I’m not sure that he will.”
I looked over at Kierston, whose green eyes were round with concern. “How do you feel about this?” I queried. After all, she was the one who was going to have to perform the spell work that would strip my friend of these last few terrible days.
Kierston blew out a pent-up breath. “While I hate the idea of taking someone’s memories away without their consent, I think we have to. For her safety, and for ours,” she answered pragmatically. “I don’t see any other way around it.”
Of course, Kierston was right. I was drawing out the inevitable and we all knew it. “She won’t lose anything else? Just what happened with Los Lobos?” I checked weakly.
“That’s it. We have the rest already worked out. My friend at the hospital will arrange any consults she needs to help care for her after her ‘car accident’,” Kierston elaborated. “She’ll be the happy, carefree girl you knew and loved before this shitty thing ever happened to her.”
Once Anna awoke, she was going to want to know why she was so bruised up. A story about a car accident was going to cover our asses there. Yet another deception I didn’t feel great about.
“Alright,” I spoke a little more firmly then. “I think I’m ready. I don’t want Los Lobos to come after Anna and try to finish what they started. It leaves her too vulnerable. Let’s do this.”
Ace pulled me to his side and gave me a reassuring squeeze. “This isn’t easy, babe, but it is the right choice.”
Nodding, Kierston knocked on the door and opened it when a sweet voice inside called out, “Come in.”
“Hey, Anna,” I spoke, with a heavy heart as I entered the bedroom right behind her. “How are you feeling today?”