Tempest in Disguise (Darkest Faerie Tale Series Book 1) (8 page)

Also, how did whoever just called, know she would be with Gavin? Everything happened in the matter of an hour—Michaela! She must have alerted someone after Gavin defended Mya. Now she recalled the conversation, she remembered Gavin saying something about jealousy. Did Michaela honestly think Mya was jealous of her? The idea is laughable at best. That girl was so full of herself—she truly believed everyone and everything revolved around her.

Mya would now face a trial, courteous of her supposed friend. What had she ever done to Michaela to warrant such hate? It seemed like being in high school all over again, facing off with the mean girl. One who spoke pleasantries with a fake smile, but hid hateful intentions. Michaela wanted to take Mya down—and she could.

Michaela held all the power now.

CHAPTER FIVE

W
hen Mya entered the court nave, the Elders sat at the opposite end upon the royal dais. How coincidental her trial had been set at three, the exact time Nicole’s plane arrived in town. Mya couldn’t pick her up, so Nicole’s parents were sent, therefore leaving Mya utterly and totally without support during the legal proceedings.

Groups of Seelies talked, interacting all about the room, but what caught her eye was Michaela off to the side. Normally, Mya would approach her friend and give her a hug, but Michaela wouldn’t even look at her. Coldness rippled from Michaela like daggers of ice and each of those daggers were directed at Mya.

Mya glanced at the other girls in the circle.

None of them looked at her either. A total cop out—Aos sí always sensed others.

What in the hell happened? Why did they turn against her so swiftly? They’d all been friends for over a year—she and Michaela were the closest, but still, how could they hate her so much in the blink of an eye?

Mya’s pulse picked up pace as she dug through her memories wondering if she did or said anything to illicit such anger from them whether by text or phone call.
Have I done something to upset her?
Gavin mentioned a text while he spoke to Michaela earlier, but Mya never sent her a text to be mean—ever.

Maybe Michaela was never truly her friend. Perhaps, Michaela never really liked Mya from the beginning. If someone really and truly valued a friendship, they approached the person and fixed the situation, not duck tail from their own insecurities, then slander the other one.

Sure, on the surface Michaela looked perfect with her dyed, blonde hair, coiffed to the side without imperfection. Really, it made Mya gag, because occasionally she dyed her hair various colors and she hated to come off as counterfeit like Michaela did. Surely, Mya hadn’t looked as ridiculous, trying to pretend to be something she wasn’t.

Or, maybe it was the fake nails, spray tans and laser hair removal, Michaela religiously scheduled while trying to forge the idea of being so wholesome and pure in front of everyone. Or perhaps the
larger than life
earrings hanging off Michaela’s ears, the heels and the new dress screamed,
“I’m so fake,”
but Mya didn’t like to slap labels on people.

Being a Seelie, she believed everyone should get a fair trial and not be judged on superficial looks or what caste system they’d been placed to in the Seelie court. At the same time, as an Unseelie, she could see people’s more selfish or wicked intentions…and she’d chosen to ignore the narcissistic side of Michaela in hopes for the best.

However, right then, she saw the real Michaela, truths Mya knew all along, but passed off because she thought she had a friend since Nicole left. Michaela didn’t know Mya’s past, being too ignorant and stuck on herself to ask. However, Mya did have people who cared for her. Best friends she had since birth and kept in touch with, even with the distance as everyone moved around. She couldn’t be such a horrible person would be right if some people found value in her, despite the new girl who weaseled her way into her life, splitting everyone apart.

Michaela hadn’t really been known until her and her parents moved here two years ago and her mother became elected on the High Council as an Elder. How silly for Mya to think this horrible new transplant of a miscreant could take her down. What didn’t kill her…only made her stronger.

Mya pursed her lips to the side. Maybe Michaela and she never shared anything in common. Strike that, they had a knife in common. Mya carried a dagger in her back and Michaela held the hilt. Her heart beat harder and louder, trying damn hard to come out of her chest.

Of course, her Unseelie side checked into the situation. Mya pulled her shoulders back and approached the group of so-called ladies. The echo of her heels on the stone floor sounded like nails on a chalkboard. She held herself calmly, so she didn’t beat the little bleached girl down. “Hey, ladies,” Mya said nonchalantly. Their blatant show of out-casting her hadn’t rankled through her hard core. Oh, no. Not at all.

Catrina barely glimpsed at Mya, but the sneer across Catrina’s lips was evident right before it turned into a smile. “Hi,” she said, tilting her head slightly to the right, then turned to Ashley and started talking about something else.

Mya turned to face Michaela. Her Unseelie side wanted to play. “Michaela, you look so fabulous! Are those new bangs?” Michaela loved talking about herself and Mya would use it to her advantage.

Michaela smiled—her bright white teeth blinding. “Oh? I got my bangs yesterday. I guess I thought everyone saw them. I posted the pictures on Facebook.”

“Yeah. That’s so funny.” Pasting her own fake smile, Mya laughed heartily on the inside. “You really look a lot like Ida now.”

“I guess I do.” She giggled. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

Right.
They’d both met Ida at the same time during a friend’s Christmas party. Michaela didn’t even care to speak with Ida, because Michaela didn’t like the plebian caste of Aos sí where Ida originally came from and thought poorly of them—low class citizens and all. Mya was the first one to talk to Ida, actually be nice to her, and asked personal questions to get to know her. When they’d found out Ida owned a clothing boutique, Michaela jumped on the train, commandeering it from Mya.
And, pushed me off board without a second look.
At least Mya now recognized why Ida brushed her off last week—and the week before—and the previous month. Oh yes, people could be the biggest traitors of all in the blink of an eye and without explanation.

Well, Mya was obviously not making any headway with the ‘gang’ and she wouldn’t cower to them like a dog with its tail in between its legs. “Lovely to see you girls.” She wanted to stick her finger down her throat and gag. “You all look beautiful as usual.”
Beautifully wicked.
Her inner Unseelie snickered.

Every single one of them quit talking and watched Mya walk away. Their glares were like knives aimed right at her back in the
“Let’s Boycott Mya Campaign.”
They all knew Mya was on trial and not one of them said one word to her about it, or even acknowledged the fact her house burned down this morning.
So much for sympathy, bitches.

To be honest, Mya didn’t need those little girls or the way they treated her. She was wiser, far beyond their innocent years. The only thing Mya would be guilty of was ever thinking someone like Michaela could be a friend to anybody. To be honest, it’d been Mya’s fault, she looked past the plastic exterior and hoped to find a heart of some kind inside of Michaela—but wickedness comes in all forms, even when it’s coated in an outer beauty and grace. Even a rotten nut could be dressed up on the outside with sugar and cinnamon.
Nobody is completely righteous, not even Seelies.
Not even Seelie Elders. Everyone could be a trickster with false deceptions, or Mya wouldn’t be here on trial.

Hell on fire
. Her knees threatened to buckle. What did she think she would achieve by appearing in court for the summons? They weren’t going to listen to reason. They were going to flay her alive, especially with Michaela’s mother now on the Elder court and a picture of an Unseelie leaving her house. Reality sat in. Fear of losing control hit her. Her stomach twisted in tight knots. Why did she even come?

Mya honed in on her power, determining not to falter, and took large strides back out to the vestibule until she was out of sight. Bile burned up her esophagus. She high tailed it to the bathroom, opened the door then slipped inside. Her jaw clicked as she grated her teeth together.
Breathe.

Though she couldn’t care less about Michaela and her cronies, Mya’s insides trembled with a real fear. Nausea welled in her stomach and she fought back the sickness, finding the pressure point three fingers down from the crease of her wrist and marking the spot with her thumb. Her pulse thrummed in an anxious beat. She dug her fingers between the tendons. Her thumbnail pierced flesh as she rubbed in panicked circles willing the anxiety to subside.

Oh, gods of the Tuatha Dé…she was going to heave. Heat flushed her skin.

Why did she let Gavin drag her to the court? The Elders were bound to find the truth out about her and Cole…Then with Michaela gunning for her—there was no telling what the court might do to her. She swallowed back the sickness threatening to rise and flattened herself against the wall, her hands gripping the expanse of the cool tile. Inhale. Exhale. She fought to catch her breath.

When she finally got a grip, she pushed off the wall and walked toward the sinks. A splash of cool water might be a good idea. She needed a game plan on how to get out of the situation looming over her.

The lights went out. A hand clamped over her mouth as an arm wrapped around her waist.

His low voice held a dark seduction as he ordered, “You’re coming with me now.”

~~* * * *~

Cole sat in the chair he drug to the middle of the small cabin. He’d bought the log cabin for this very purpose and now he brought to fruition what he’d desperately imagined with Mya.

Still passed out from the sleeping injection he gave her after he took her from the Seelie Court, Mya’s head hung limply on her shoulders. Her hands stretched overhead, pulled tight by the chains secured to the rafters above. He wasn’t so much of a monster that he forced her to stand unconscious, so she sat slumped back in the arm chair he’d placed her in with each ankle secured to the legs of the chair. Having her bound and helpless spurred the darkness inside of him, as if her beauty and scent weren’t intoxicating enough. In truth, he needed her tied up, so she didn’t fight him or try and escape but instead, it affected him on deeper levels.

He cracked his knuckles waiting and watching. Seeing her locked in chains didn’t quell the insatiable need to have her. No, it only fueled his lust further. Because in his mind, he’d pictured her naked and needing like the night he took her in her house, but tonight he left her clothes on. She wasn’t alert enough to be in the throes of desire, though he desperately wanted to give it to her.

Mya’s eyelids twitched a slight moan parted her lips and her arms struggled slightly against her restraints.

He didn’t make a sound, Instead, he indulged in watching her fight with the items keeping her trapped.

While she became more alert, realization dawned on her face and she panicked, yanking on the chains, her red hair shaking about her shoulders. Her frightened green eyes met his gaze. “Cole?”

He knew he shouldn’t, but he reveled in her fear, soaking it in and feeding it to the beast inside of him. If he didn’t have actual business to attend to with her, he’d tighten the chains until she was forced to stand before him, smacking her beautiful fair ass until it turned a deep crimson—right before he buried his cock into her wanting pussy.

The chains rattled when she pulled on them again. “Cole? What in the hell is going on? Why am I tied up?”

Rubbing his stubbled chin, he grazed over his scar, debating on how much to tell her right off the bat. Truth be told, playing with her intrigued him further. If she were his, he could have her this way all the time and it was a potent thought. “Do you like being bound Mya? Helpless against the power I hold over you?”

Her chest quaked as she fought for breaths. Panic and despair wafted from her in waves while she glanced around the cabin.

This only spurred his nefarious cravings further. His cock strained in his pants and rather than readjust his position, he let the pain fuel him on, indulging on the pleasure he knew would shortly follow. “I asked you a question, Mya.” Sure, he should be getting down to business, but the insatiable need to dominate, to control—to possess her, won out.

She licked her lips then nibbled on them nervously. “Seriously, what kind of game are you playing, Cole?”

The dark need inside of him rose and he growled against her response. He craved her submission and her noncompliance made him want it all the more. “What about when I spank you, Mya? Does it make you wet for me?”

Her beautiful eyes looked into him, deep into the mangled place of his soul, further than anyone has ever seen. She saw straight through him. “Is that why I’m here? So, you could beat me into surrender? Is that why you came to me last night?”

The defiance in her sparked an urgency to dominate her. His lips tilted up to the side as he cocked a brow. Despite his original intentions to start training her, he answered, “Yes.”