Our Fatal Failings (Twisted book two)

Chapter Thirty

Jonah's POV

I'm not nervous, I'm irritated. I hate her parents. Hate her parents. Maybe the most I've ever hated anybody. Imani looks at herself in the mirror, smoothing down a sundress that clings to her curves. "Isn't this a pretty pattern?"

"Beautiful." Her eyes find mine in the mirror.

"I mean the pattern."

"It really emphasizes the ass-" She whirls around and hits my arm. "The assets," I say, rubbing my shoulder. "Your face, your doe eyes. Your soft, plump lips..."

She sighs. "You're so easily distracted."

"I can't help it," I say, wrapping my arms around her from behind. It's strange to be this closer to her without an argument or a fight. It had me on my toes, fearing that it might end at any moment. I place my head between her neck. "You smell like heat."

Her face falls. I know how much she hates them. They leave her bedridden for a couple of weeks. It makes me think how fearful she must've been when her body, out of seemingly nowhere, started changing. And it's another reason to hate her mother.

"You stay out here with Andreas. Let me talk to them alone for a bit. I have to diffuse the situation first."

"Because they hate me."

"And you hate them."

I don't deny it, because it's not a secret I hide. Imani suggested that I bring them back--something I could accept--to live with us--something I couldn't. They'd probably try to stab me as I slept in the name of liberation.

I waited outside the sitting room, watching Andreas play with his stuffed forest creatures. "Don't bite to that," I say and he looks at me with wide, confused eyes. I walk over and take it from his mouth. "One day, we'll go on a real hunt. But this is not a real animal." I can't wait until he's older. My father took me out on a hunt when I was eight. I close my eyes. I'm going to be just like him--my father. He was the best man I ever knew. It's a shame he couldn't meet my son.

There's a knock on the door and I scoop Andreas up. "It's Mom. I guess we're needed."

I push open the door and freeze, my hairs rising on my arms and neck, my goosebumps growing. The air is rife with anguish. And mixed with the smell of her oncoming heat it makes me antsy and territorial. "Is something wrong here?" My voice comes out harsher than I'd mean to. Imani sits on the other side of her parents and her eyes are puffy. She quickly wipes her hands and shakes her head.

"It's fine. Everything is fine."

Her mother shoots me a pointed glare. "We were just talking about the apparent brainwashing-"

"Shut up!" Imani shouts and Andreas begins to cry. It only raises my hackles higher. My mate is crying and so is my son. I know no one is in immediate danger, but I can't fight biology. My fangs slip from my gums. "You were bad too! You were...you were worse! You knew all these years and you could've helped me!" She points a finger at her mother. "I went through everything alone, because of you. The least you owe me is an apology."

"The second he apologies," her father bit back.

"He did," Imani says. She sighs. "I wanted you to meet my son. I thought...I thought you'd be happy for me."

Her mother gasps. "There's a baby?"

I sit down, feeling stiff and tense, and with the strong desire to rip her father's neck off. Imani slips a cool hand under my shirt, pressing her fingers into the small of my back. I let my shoulders relax a little.