Chapter 145: Chapter 144

Braden “| honestly have no idea,” | answered.

| never could've imagined that biting Lanie would break her out of whatever spell she was under.

| studied her face, trying to decipher whether she was happy about having her memories back or not. | didn’t think she even knew herself. She seemed overwhelmed and confused, but so was I.

“It might have something to do with the vampire venom,” | suggested. “Once it hit your veins, it could’ve reawakened your vampire side and destroyed the spell or something. That's all | can think of.”

She nodded slowly and walked around behind me, fiddling with the ropes holding me to the chair. Normally | would’ve busted through them myself no problem, but | was still regaining my strength after the bite.

“What are you doing?” | asked her.

“Getting you out of here,” she mumbled. “But first...”

She walked around the chair to face me again and crossed her arms. She looked so cute when she got all huffy like this.

“Why didn’t you tell me everything you knew the first time we met up in the woods?” she asked irritatedly. “Obviously, you recognized me.”

1 figured there had to be a good reason why you didn’t remember who you were,” | answered honestly. “Until | knew whether you'd made the choice to forget yourself or whether someone had done it to you as punishment, | decided to tread carefully.”

“You decided to trap me with lies, just like everyone else,” she argued.

Her fiery side was coming out again. My favorite.

“As you might recall,” | said, “you were in a lot of danger when we last saw each other. | didn’t want the one to get you in even deeper s hit.”

She raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

“Guess that didn’t work out too well, did it?”

| narrowed my eyes at her. | wasn’t the one who'd gotten her into this mess, not even close.

“You can thank your boyfriend for that one, Lanie,” | bit back. “He’s the one who bit me, remember?” Her lip trembled I'd clearly struck a nerve.

I “Look, | don’t want to fight with you,” | said quickly. | liked to rile her up, but | didn’t want to upset her like this “Before you disappeared, | really did like you”

her hine “Twae in heat. You were thinking with wur diek ‘

“You weren't in heat when | found you again,” | said. “And I'd be lying if | said | didn’t hope we could eventually pick things up where we'd left off.”

Her mouth dropped open slightly, and | wondered if she was thinking about the kiss we’d shared, too.

| still liked her, | knew it as soon as | saw her again. And the truth was, Lanie had tasted better than anyone I’d ever sunk my teeth into, better than I’d imagined when | first scented her. That was why it was even more excruciating to stop once I'd had a taste.

She walked around behind me and a second later, the ropes holding me back dropped to the ground. | stood up and positioned myself in front of her.

“| liked you, too,” she said softly, baking up at me. “But once | learned about my vampire side and then my pregnancy, I-

“| get it,” | said, cutting her off. “The timing wasn’t right for us.”

| pushed her hair back from her face. That glorious, impossibly long, cin namon hair, For a split second, | imagined wrapping it through my fingers, tugging her head back, and giving her one last kiss to remember me by But it was over.

“What's going on in here?”

We both snapped our heads toward the doorway. Gabriela was standing there, a confused look on her face “It was my idea to let Braden bite me,” Lanie said, taking a step back from me. “He shouldn't be tied up.

He's not a threat.”

“It's true,” | agreed. “Let me leave, and I’ll go back to my coven and keep quiet. You won't see me around Constantine territory again.”

Gabriela eyed me suspiciously.

“You know me, Gabriela,” | said. “You know | keep my word.”

Lanie glanced between the two of us, probably trying to figure out how the hell we knew each other. That was a story for another day.

“| care about Lanie,” | said. “I don’t want to put her in any more danger.”

Gabriela’s eyes widened. “You mean you care about Katie,” she said.

“No.” Lanie stepped forward and held Gabriela down with a death glare. “I know everything now. You cursed me. And you're going to pay for it.”