Read Something Wanton (Mystics & Mayhem) for Free Online Page A

ten…nine…eight..
    Of all the things Tyler had explained to me, he had left out a few important things.  The questions had to be asked, but the words lodged in my throat.  I didn’t really know if that was because I didn’t know how I was going to voice them or because I was afraid of the answers.
    “Ty?  Can I ask you something else?”
    “Anything, beautiful.”
    “How’s Jack?” I finally managed to choke out.  “I mean, is he okay?”
    “I don’t know, Em,” he sighed, not quite meeting my eyes.  “ It was a shock for him, coming around and realizing he’d missed a couple of months of his life.  Rumor has it that the first time he got a glimpse of himself in the mirror he kind of lost it.  Last I heard, his parents had sent him to a hospital for psychological treatment.”
    So I had done it for nothing.  I had died for nothing.  I hadn’t saved him.  Sure, I might have kept his soul from being consumed by those ghouls on the lost plane, but he was still gone.  He would never be the same guy I knew, the charming guy who’d driven me crazy and made me laugh.  He would only be a shell of that guy.
    “I’m sorry, Em,” Tyler murmured, taking my hand, when I dropped my eyes to my lap. 
    I was sorry, too.  Sorrier than he would ever know.
    “Ty?” I said again after a few minutes.
    “Yeah, beautiful?”
    I had to literally force my next question out, but I finally managed to whisper, “Why are you here?  Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you are, but why you and not Grams…or Nathan?”
    “I was afraid you were going to ask me that,” he sighed.  “I know how confusing this all must be, but you have to know they would be here if they could.  This separation will be as painful for them as it will be for you, but after the first time you woke up—”
    “The first time I woke up?” I asked, cutting him off.  “What do you mean, the first time ?”
    “I think it might be better if you see for yourself.  Give me a second.”
    He stood and left the room quickly, and I wandered blindly toward the window.  I watched as the wind blew the leaves across the yard, wishing I could go out there and chase them the way I had as a kid.  It was going to snow soon.  I closed my eyes and imagined it, big soft flakes that would brush against my cheeks like kisses as they fell around me.
    The thought of kisses brought thoughts of Nathan.  And thoughts of Nathan put a hairline crack in my walls, allowing just a little bit of my pain and anger to slip out and flow through my veins like poison.
    I had trusted him.  I had believed him when he told me he would always be there.  I had loved him.  And what had I gotten in return?  Betrayal, that’s what.  He had left me. 
    Hell, he’d probably been happy to do it.  Being with me had been one disaster after another.  Four lifetimes of it.  If I was honest—and I wasn’t about to be, not right that second—it was kind of hard to blame him.
    I caught sight of myself in the window and flinched when I saw the look on my face.  It was inhuman, my expression, and my eyes were glowing again, this time much brighter than they had been in the bathroom mirror.  I moved closer, curious to see if my reflection would take on a life of its own again, but there was just me staring back.  A very angry, very cold-looking version of me, true, but still just me.
    “What?”  I asked.  “No snide remarks?  No ‘I wanna share your toys’ speeches to give?”
    Apparently not. 
    I turned away from the window with a sniff of disdain and started pacing the room.  I wanted someone to fight with.  I wanted someone to take my anger and hurt out on.  I wanted to scream and throw things and cuss like a sailor.  But there was no one there to accommodate me.
    Not even my alter ego in the mirror.
    I was still pacing when Tyler walked back into the room.  As much as I wanted to fight, I really didn’t think Tyler deserved my wrath.  I stopped my angry