Blood Related
Nightshade
As she spoke, her voice trembling over the details of that Halloween night, something inside me snapped. A violent, searing rage clawed its way through my chest, suffocating, unbearable. I couldn’t stand still.
I turned away before I could do something I wouldn’t come back from, my footsteps heavy against the damp ground as I put space between us.
But her voice followed me. Every word she uttered sliced through my skull, lodging itself deep, poisoning my thoughts.
I didn’t realize how much of myself had been wrapped up in her until that moment.
Or maybe I did.
Maybe I had just been lying to myself.
“Nightshade, why are you looking at me like that?” she softly said.
Avi had become a chant in my head, a silent prayer I said to myself, over and over again. She had that kind of effect on me, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Maybe it was the only thing keeping me grounded, or maybe it was just the insanity of possession.
What I did know was that she belonged to me. From the first second I laid eyes on her all those years ago, there had been this spark—a connection I couldn’t ignore, no matter how much I tried to pretend I could.
I had seen the way she carried herself, that quiet strength in her eyes, the way she moved. She didn’t know it yet, but she was mine. She wasn’t anyone else’s. I didn’t care about the world outside; I didn’t care who she talked to, who touched her, who made her laugh or smile. It didn’t matter. As long as she was with me, under my eye, in my space—she was mine.
“Tell me you kicked him in the dick. Tell me, Little Bird, he didn’t push you any further that night.”
When she told me about Maverick—something inside me snapped. I became animalistic, though, when she told me what Liam had done to her in the barn that evening. An evening only meant to be fun and to create memories. She seemed closed off and shy in the beginning but after a year, she knew she could count on me to always be there — to have her back and be on her side.
I wasn’t sure what exactly I was angry at. Maybe it was the thought of his fingers bruising her skin. Or maybe it was the fact that I hadn’t been there to stop it.
The words kept circling in my head. He touched her. My own brother touched her.
My jaw clenched so hard, I thought I’d break my teeth. The heat of rage boiled in my veins, and I couldn’t understand it. I had never been like this with any girl that had ever crossed my path. I’d never cared this much about anything or anyone. But Avi—she was different. She always had been.
“Little Bird? Tell me he did not push you further that evening.” I repeat hoping to hear the words that would make me ever so slightly more calm, but all I could feel was the overwhelming urge to mark her, to make sure no one ever made the mistake of touching what was mine again.
My anger radiating all around this forest of trees has her closing herself off against the bottom of the tree. I can physically see her putting up a wall. I closed my eyes and took a breath, trying to reign in the fury that surged through me. The world didn’t know her like I did. They didn’t see the way her lips parted when she smiled or how her eyes softened when she was caught in a moment of vulnerability. I was the only one who could see her for what she truly was—the thing that haunted my thoughts for all these years. The one who would break me if I let her and the only one who could truly be in so much control of her world if she would just let me show her how.
I tried so hard, for years, to suppress the feelings. Tried to push them down because it was so taboo. It was not proper, but was impossible to ignore. I wanted to yell at her, tell her that she couldn’t let anyone get close to her anymore. That she belonged to me and me alone.
But that wasn’t fair, was it?
I couldn’t expect her to know. I couldn’t expect her to understand.
Not yet.
But I would make her understand.
I was already moving before I realized it, my feet carrying me toward her, my mind consumed with one singular thought: She’s mine. In one swift move, I had the blindfold over her eyes and she let out a gasp. Holding her breath for what would come, I took off my mask and kissed her without warning, without permission. Without even deciding to do it simply because I couldn’t have done anything else. I needed that breath she was holding. It belonged to me and I wanted it back. What shocked me most is she started to kiss me back.