Chapter 6: Bianca - Trapped - Change

Bianca
Trapped

I tucked my hands under my legs and studied my knees as Bryce weaved through the scarce afternoon traffic. “Don’t you think it’s weird how Uncle Gregory doesn’t want me to work with Gloria?”

Bryce stiffened in his seat slightly, then relaxed before answering. “Only a bit. But I can see why he’s concerned.”

“Why?”

“Gloria was a highly decorated detective who worked her way into that position when women were not encouraged to join the police force, but—” Bryce paused, hesitant, before he added, “—it’s been a long time since she’s been in the field, and the work she specialized in was not easy.”

“Like what?”

“She started out in cold cases,” Bryce explained. “When she gained notoriety, she moved on to espionage, serial killers, and other violent crimes. Uncle Gregory and Gloria were on the same team for a long time.”

Yes, that was probably when they were dating.

“What happened?”

“Another one of their team members was killed,” Bryce answered. “His best friend, Michael.”

The words rang heavy in the air, and I remembered Uncle Gregory saying something similar.

Michael Abernathy.

He’d said he was his best friend, that they worked together, that he was one of the members of his quintet.

But nowhere did he mention Gloria.

This added yet another layer to the already-complicated story.

“So why do you think he’s concerned?” If they’d worked together, shouldn’t he know that she was capable?

“Because if you’re with her and she takes on something risky, he won’t be there to help.” Bryce’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. “I can see why he’s worried. He became a consultant and avoided the more violent cases after Michael died. Joe settled into administrative positions. Gloria did not.”

“Joe?” I asked.

“Joseph Kohler, Julian’s grandfather. The four of them made up their own team on the local force.” Bryce clarified.

“But she said she’s not doing anything risky anymore.” My heart was thundering, and, for a second, I worried I might have bitten off more than I could chew. “Is there anything else that would make him worry?”

“I don’t know.” Bryce’s reply was slow—thoughtful—as his attention remained on the road. “All I do know is he has an issue with you being in any situation where she’d have to be forced to protect you.”

I didn’t need an old woman to protect me, besides… “She’s a shifter, I’m sure she could easily bite off someone’s face if she wanted.” Although Miles did mention once that she wasn’t in the top five in terms of shifter strength, but—according to my calculations—there were nine officers—including two sets of proxies—for each of us. So that still meant that Gloria had to be strong.

A surface-level assessment might indicate that Uncle Gregory just really hated Gloria because of their past. But I didn’t think that was true, even though she seemed to loathe him.

What made more sense, to me at least, was my original theory. Uncle Gregory and Gloria were involved in a scandalous love affair in the past, and he still cared about her. It explained his overbearing—but protective—nature.

Explained. But did not justify. She’d been really angry to learn that he was interfering in our arrangement.

“Love makes people do crazy things,” I mused.

“Love?” Bryce scoffed, glancing at me with raised brow. “Who’s in love?”

I frowned at the blind fool—anyone could see it. “Uncle Gregory and Gloria.”

He barked out a laugh and the humor made him seem a little less tired than before. “You’re joking. Uncle Gregory doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body, and Gloria just glares at him during faculty meetings. One time, she was sitting by the copier and he had to go near her to pick up his prints. I thought she was going to skewer him with her knitting needle.”

“There’s a fine line between love and hate,” I pointed out, recalling the events in the coffee shop earlier.

“I thought your theory was that Uncle Caleb was her long-lost beau,” Bryce continued sarcastically. “That’s why you claimed it wasn’t such a big deal you trapped him in her office for two weeks. What happened to that?”

I chose to ignore the reminder of my mistakes. Bryce still wasn’t seeing the bigger picture. If I was correct—and I was almost certain that I was—we had a conspiracy on our hands. Who better to clear up this misunderstanding than us?

We could help them rekindle their flame, and I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about abandoning Uncle Gregory.

“I originally thought there was a love triangle.” I cupped my hand around my mouth, whispering even though there was no one to overhear us in Bryce’s car. “But now I believe she was involved with both of them. I think they had a polyamorous relationship.” It was only thanks to Damen’s ‘plan’—and Uncle Gregory’s earlier comments—that it occurred to me.

Bryce’s arm jerked so harshly I thought he might swerve the vehicle off the road. Then he looked at me and burst out laughing.

This was the second time. I had no idea the man knew how to laugh. It was strangely pleasant to hear. But still, I was offended. I leaned back in my seat, frowning at him. “Uncle Gregory said that polygamy isn’t uncommon among the fae.”

“It’s not.” Bryce’s laughter died. “But it’s not exactly common either. Besides, you’re forgetting two very important things.”

“What’s that?”

“Gloria isn’t fae. A shifter being involved with more than one person would be a scandal—shifters have only one mate,” Bryce pointed out, shrugging his shoulders as if this declaration made my analysis any less true. “Secondly, even without that pressure, you have to consider location.”

I pressed my fingers into my lap. “Location?”

“Shifters cannot live in our realm—where this is not frowned upon—so they’d have to live here. If you’re right, it means Uncle Gregory and Uncle Caleb would have put Gloria into a position where she’d be harshly judged by her own people. That doesn’t sound like love.”

I bit my lip—it was a good argument, and Bryce surprised me at his sudden insight on love and relationships. He was wiser than I previously thought.

But…

“I still believe it,” I finally replied as Bryce pulled into Damen’s driveway. He hadn’t been there. He hadn’t heard the way Dr. Stephens sighed her name. “There’s more going on than we know.”

“Isn’t there always?” Bryce shrugged, not bothering to argue with me. “But don’t worry about it. Whatever they do isn’t our concern anyway.”

Wasn’t it? Something pulled at the edges of my awareness, and the tips of my fingers grew hot.

I had a feeling that their saga was going to affect us very much.

But we were home now, and I really wasn't up to arguing anymore.

“Okay,” I agreed, opening my door. Bryce moved to do the same. “Never mind.”

“Why do I get the impression you’re not listening to me?” Bryce muttered.

Because he was wrong, and he would need to learn to trust me sometimes. But for now, my skin was starting to itch and I needed to breathe.

The cold air brushed against my face as I stepped out of the car. Why was this bothering me so much? Why couldn’t I let this go?

Why did thinking about it make my head hurt?

A door slammed shut, the sound echoing through my ears as a static fell over my thoughts. The sound of my name reverberated through the air, and lightning flashed across my vision. The world swayed, and I stumbled sideways, falling to the ground onto stone and moss.

This place? Hazy shapes shadowed across my vision as my breathing hitched.

This was the tower where Julian had pulled me from my thoughts.

Why was I here?

“Bianca?” The voice sounded slightly more panicked now, and a hand pulled at my arm, snatching me from the scene. My eyes blinked open, and I was on the gravel driveway, resting against Bryce’s side as he snapped his fingers in my face. “Bianca, are you okay?”

My skin felt clammy and cold, and my stomach cramped and churned. The earlier pain had returned with a vengeance, and a red shadow hovered in the corner of my vision.

“F-fine.” I shuddered. “Just cramps.” It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t my menstrual cycle causing me to feel nauseous.

What just happened?

“Cramps that make you faint?” Bryce asked in disbelief.

“Yeah—” I waved my hand weakly in the air. “—happens all the time. ‘Tis normal,” I muttered, trying to right my thoughts.

This had never happened before, but Finn did mention once that I might be able to see the future. Could this be…

I needed to talk to an expert.

It was difficult to focus and my fingers and arms went numb.

Bryce hooked his arm under my legs and moved to his feet, and I fell against his chest as spots exploded in my vision. “I’m taking you to the hospital.”

“No!” I kicked out and pushed at his arms as nausea choked at me. “Let me go, I want to see Finn!”

“Finn?” Bryce almost dropped me in his shock, but all too-quickly regained his bearings, and his grip grew firmer. He stared down at me, brows drawn together and expression thick with caution. “What in the world can he do—”

“Just let me go!” I was trying, but failing, to control my short breaths. But now my panic was for a different reason. “I’m not going anywhere. It’s fine.”

He couldn’t take me to the hospital against my will, we’d been over this already!

“No.” Bryce held me against him and nudged the still-open passenger door open wider. “If you’re fainting then there’s a problem. We’re going. Don’t worry, I’ll stay with you.”

“Stop it!” Panic clawed at me and I struck out, my fist connecting to his jaw—and I didn’t even feel the least bit guilty about it. The force of the hit was enough to shock his attention, and he almost dropped me. “You promised you wouldn’t make me go!”

Bryce finally met my eyes and his jaw locked. “I know but—”

“What’s going on?” Finn was wiping his hands on a white dishcloth as he stepped off the patio. The domestic sight, however, didn’t match the sharp tone of his question or the wary way he regarded me and Bryce. Bryce, in response, grew still.

My pulse soared—I’d never been happier to see Finn in my life.

“Finn, help me!” I reached for my savior—my one last hope to save me from this monster.

Finn’s pale expression whitened further, and he dropped the rag on the stairs when he started across the short distance between us. “What’s wrong?”

I pushed against Bryce once more, but he held firm. “He’s going to take me to the hospital.”

“What?” Finn levelled furious eyes at Bryce as he reached for me. “You can’t do that!”

Bryce finally responded, holding out his arm to block the blonde as he grunted out. “Like you’re one to talk.”

“That was a completely different situation.” Finn’s eyes narrowed and his face turned red. His hand brushed my arm, but Bryce’s spazzing was enough to keep Finn from reaching me. “Stop doing that and fight me like a man.”

“I’m not going to fight you,” Bryce replied, squeezing me closer. His awful, scratchy shirt brushed against my cheek, and his heart was beating rapidly under my hand.

“Because you know you’d lose.” Finn grabbed my ankle, halting Bryce’s retreat.

“Will you just stop?” Bryce snapped, finally allowing his frustration to color his voice. “She just fainted. She needs to be seen by a doctor.”

“I didn’t faint!” I poked Bryce’s hard chest, hoping that the pressure hurt him more than it hurt me. Who was Bryce to speak for me? Besides, he had no idea what was going on and, because of that, was making assumptions again. But at least my protests had finally gotten Bryce’s attention. My brother raised his eyebrow at me as he waited for my continued explanation.

“I just…” I looked at Finn. It wasn’t like I could talk to him about this in front of Bryce. He was already overbearing enough, and we were just learning how to deal with each other.

The last thing I needed was him learning about Finn’s theory about me manifesting onmyoji abilities.

“You what?” Bryce finally asked, sighing in exasperation.

“I can’t tell you.” I pressed against his ungiving arms, trying to squirm free. “Please just—”

My statement ended in a sharp inhale and wince, as, at the worst possible moment, a sharp pain radiated through my lower left side, and I wrapped my arms around my stomach.

“See what I mean?” Bryce was saying, smugness—or was that concern—heavy in his voice. “She needs to be checked out.”

“Oh,” was Finn’s understanding reply. “That. That’s her business, you need to butt out.”

Bryce headed for the car again, but at Finn’s statement, he froze and inhaled. “You knew?” he asked, turning back to the onmyoji.

My face grew warm at the realization that, yes, he had to have known. But I couldn’t reply yet. I was still gritting my teeth as the sharp pain finally began to ebb away and the dizziness reseeded.

How could I have forgotten—

“She would search her symptoms,” Finn answered.

My vision blurred as shame filled me. I was so humiliated, and this time it wasn’t only because of the pain.

I hadn’t even told Dr. Kohler.

“What did Trinity say?” Bryce asked, his breath evening out a bit.

I rested my head against Bryce, no longer caring. If she knew already, then what was the point—

“Why the hell would I tell her?” Finn sounded scandalized, and when I opened my eyes, I saw that he had crossed his arms and was glaring at Bryce. “That’s girl stuff, and Bianca’s personal business. If she wanted to talk to Trinity about it, she would have.”

My mouth popped open.

“You were monitoring her computer use,” Bryce pointed out. “Out of everything you didn’t report, a potentially serious health issue was what you decided to keep secret?”

“God.” Finn stepped back, drawing his brows together in fury. “Will you stop holding that against me? I was trying to keep her safe, not strip her of any semblance of privacy. It wasn’t like I told everyone every little thing she did.”

He… didn’t?

I stared at him; the stirrings of an old emotion I’d never thought I’d feel again beginning in my chest.

He hadn’t completely betrayed me.

It’d been bad, sure, but at least there was this.

“Bianca.” Bryce was looking down at me. “How—”

I squirmed in his arms once more. “Please put me down. I feel better now. I want to stay home.”

Finn stepped forward. “She said to put her down.”

Bryce glanced between the two of us, expression wavering, before he finally set me back on my feet. “Fine,” he was saying as the blood began to rush to my head. “Just so long as—”

And that was the last thing I remembered before my legs gave out.

* * *

Cold air was blowing against my face—at odds with the too-warm blanket that seemed to cover every inch of me. I was jostled against a hard body, and white and red flickered behind my closed eyelids.

A heavy breath brushed against my face, and I peeled my eyes open in time to glimpse a telltale sliding glass doorway. The crimson ‘Emergency Room’ letters flashed across my vision.

No!

Bryce must have felt me wake up, because his grip on me tightened, but he only made a soft shushing noise under his breath.

I was frozen in terror as he strolled to the glass-walled check-in desk and its world-weary attendant. She looked up at us, lowering her lipstick-stained coffee cup back onto coffee-rimmed post-it notes, and turned to the computer. “Mr. Dubois?” She sounded mildly surprised. “How can I help you today?”

There was no way I could speak, and I buried my face into Bryce’s shirt as he continued to take control. I didn’t even care that the hospital people knew his name.

“She fainted,” he said.

The clerk pulled her attention from the computer, looking me over. “Any chest pain?”

She was asking me, but I still couldn’t speak. Only shaking my head once before I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my face against Bryce. I was making a scene, and I knew how pathetic I must look, but I couldn’t help it.

I didn’t want to be here. Didn’t. Didn’t.

“Okay,” she said. “It won’t be a long wait.”

The two discussed check-in information, with Bryce sounding far calmer and more collected than I expected, and so, it took a moment to even realize that he’d gotten my birthday correct.

So…he did know when it was. That jerk.

But that was the least of my concerns.

“Wrist, please,” she said, and I thought I might be sick.

I blindly held my arm out in her direction, not wanting to see. But it didn’t matter, the plastic bracelet felt like a brand against my skin, and my thoughts turned sluggish.

No, no, no.

I should have just gone to Damen; I should have taken the good medicine.

Then none of this would be happening right now.

I was so, so stupid.

Bryce trudged through the waiting room, finding an empty corner and tucking the two of us into it. He wouldn’t look at me as he rewrapped the fuzzy pink blanket around my shoulders, and even though I vaguely wondered where he’d gotten it, I was too upset to really care.

“I want to go home,” I whispered, grabbing his wrist before he could pull away. “Please don’t make me be here.”

I loathed that he was seeing me in such a weakened state, but there was no helping it.

Bryce’s stern expression was set in stone as his hand closed over mine. “You need to be seen.”

I knew that! I knew it! I wasn’t stupid.

But still, I didn’t want to. “Please,” my voice cracked.

I was so ashamed. It was only a doctor’s visit; it wasn’t like it was the end of the world.

“No, you’re going to talk to a doctor.” Bryce remained unmoved, yet there was a sense of nervous energy that seemed to radiate from his tense form.

His movements were stiff as he removed my hand from his wrist and slid into the chair next to me. He’d settled back in his seat, legs crossed, and rested his arm behind the head of my chair. Even though he’d carried me in here, this almost touching was somehow worse—and not because it was Bryce.

The thought of any further contact with anyone right now made my skin crawl. “Why?”

“Because you passed out three times—Brayden told me what happened earlier. There’s also the fact that this seems to be a regular occurrence that you’ve been ignoring for years.” Bryce sounded as if he was reciting a line from a well-rehearsed script. “It’s my responsibility to make sure you take care of yourself.”

“But I don’t want to.” How had it even come to this? “I can’t.” I pushed my fists into the tops of my thighs. “You promised.”

We’d agreed that while he had medical power of attorney over me, he’d never pressure me into doing something I didn’t want.

I would never forgive him for this.

“I said I would let you make your own medical decisions, as you should.” Bryce sounded bored, but his arms were tense. “But not that you can neglect to make them entirely. I refuse to let you suffer because you’re too stubborn to go to a gynecologist.”

I narrowed my eyes at his blasé expression. He wasn’t even looking at me, his focus remained on the check-in station, but he obviously felt some measure of guilt—a muscle in his jaw had begun to twitch.

Who cared if he felt bad? It wouldn’t stop me from strangling him.

It wasn’t that I was being stubborn; I couldn’t go to a gynecologist. Besides, the details of my menstrual cycle were absolutely not a discussion I wanted to have with my older brother.

But if he wanted to go there, bring it on. He had no idea what he was dealing with. I’d had years of practice traumatizing Finn over this very topic. The discussion of bodily functions was his weakness, and sometimes, I just wanted to be left alone.

Bryce was going to have no idea what hit him. I would make his dreams horrendous to behold. The visuals would scar him for life. I refused to let him manipulate me.

I didn’t care if he had my picture on his phone; I hated his stupid face. “Why you—”

“Bianca!” Titus stormed through the waiting room doors, hair wild and voice fanatic. He was pulling at his tie while glancing around the space. He spotted me almost instantly, then Bryce, and the drawn lines of his face sharpened into something terrifying and ferocious.

“You!” Titus growled and he crossed the room before Bryce even had a chance to stand. The dragon grabbed my brother by the collar, dragging him to his feet. “What the hell did you do to her?”

Bryce was a tall man, but not nearly as tall as Titus, and so he stood on tiptoe as he attempted to offset the force of the dragon’s anger. “I’m sure you’ve heard it from Finn: I’ve brought her in for a checkup.”

“Finn said she didn’t want to go.” Titus’s grip tightened on Bryce’s collar.

“She fainted. Why are you all ignoring a potentially serious medical issue?” Bryce waved his hand in my direction. “Someone has to make her, and it obviously wasn’t going to be any of you. So I’m asserting my authority to do something about it. I refuse to just sit by as she suffers needlessly, even because of her own stubbornness.”

“We’re not ignoring it; we’ve never ignored anything. We’re concerned too,” Titus sharply retorted. “But she’s a grown woman who can make her own decisions.”

I groaned, pressing my face into my knees. Luckily, the only other people in the waiting room were desk clerks, who only watched the scene with mild interest. But as they obviously knew who both Bryce and Titus were, I doubted the police would be called.

But the fact remained, we were in public and now the two of them were practically shouting my personal business for the world to hear.

This was so humiliating.

Bryce was dumped back into his seat and a heavy warmth pressed against the front of my legs. I lowered my hands from my face, coming eye to eye with Titus.

The dragon was kneeling on the floor in front of me, trying to be reassuring as his green eyes flickering over my form. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Are you ready to go home? Or, maybe, do you want something to eat?”

Food would be good, I usually always liked food. But—

“No thanks, I’m not hungry.” I hugged my arms around my knees. Besides the pain, I was an emotional mess. First, Damen remained impossible to figure out, then there was my afternoon with Brayden and my confrontation with Uncle Gregory. Plus, I worried about this new thing I’d signed up for with Gloria. Would it be more than I could handle?

And now, I had Bryce bombarding me out of nowhere.

My mind was so filled with self-pitying thoughts that I didn’t even realize my mistake until it was too late.

“See,” Bryce was saying as he waved an accusing hand in my direction. “She’s not even hungry.”

Titus’s lips thinned, and my limbs grew cold at his sudden look of contemplation.

My spine stiffened. “Hold on,” I rushed to explain. “It’s not what—”

“What’s going on?” Julian had arrived—still in his scrubs, so he must have been summoned from elsewhere in the hospital. He inclined his head in Bryce’s direction as he addressed Titus. “You didn’t kill him yet. It must be really bad.”

Again? What did Finn tell everyone?

“She won’t let me take her out to eat,” Titus replied.

Julian’s eyes widened.

Bryce waved his hand in the air. “I told you! And she fainted three times today,” he added, almost as an afterthought.

“Oh, come on!” I grumbled under my breath. I was not that predictable. “I don’t always want to eat.”

“Darling.” Julian slipped into the open seat at my other side. “On a scale of one to ten—” he began, touching my shoulder.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” My face burned and, once more, I hid my face in my knees, mostly to hide another grimace as a stab of pain shot through me. “I’m fine.”

I really should have met up with Damen today.

But I’d forgotten that Julian was in-tune with this sort of thing. In fact, I only remembered this after the cramp had faded, the dizziness had passed, and I caught the tail end of concern through our shared connection.

“Bianca.” This time when he spoke, there was a determination in his voice that wasn’t there before. “You’re in pain. Will you please let someone help you?”

The doubt faded from Titus’s expression at Julian’s sudden change in demeanor, and Bryce became suspiciously silent.

“I don’t want to. They’re going to poke and prod at me, and… well… I can handle that, I don’t care.” I squeezed my legs closer to me, the tightness almost suffocating but just a tiny bit reassuring. “But what if they have to do a physical?” I asked, pressing my mouth against my knees. I wasn’t even sure I was even speaking out loud anymore, I could barely hear myself. “I told you before, I don’t want anyone touching me down there.”

I couldn’t quite make out Julian’s reaction, and the following silence extended long enough for me to believe I was safe. Or that maybe I hadn’t said anything at all.

But then, after gathering my courage, I glanced up. The boys were looking at each other, their expressions of concern and fury explained the necromancer’s barely restrained turmoil.

“Can I go home now?” My mouth was numb, and the almost empty waiting room felt colder.

Titus’s hands tightened around my ankles, and Julian sucked in a sharp breath. They exchanged one last secret message, leaving Bryce out in their exchange, before Julian finally replied.

“Of course,” he said, although it sounded as though he spoke through gritted teeth. He wasn’t happy, but he would listen. “But can I make a suggestion?”

I watched him curiously. This wasn’t exactly the type of situation where one offered up ‘suggestions.’

“What if you only talked to my mother?” he said slowly, almost hopeful. “Just explain to her what’s been going on. She might not even need to do a physical.”

Julian’s features blurred. “But what if she does?” I asked.

“Then refuse.” Julian shrugged. “You don’t have to agree to an exam you’re not comfortable with, but if that’s the only thing holding you back, you should know that you have options.”

“I can say no?” I bit my lip. I’d never thought about that.

“You can always say no,” Titus cut in, shooting Bryce a dark glare.

“But—” I started, attention flickering between Titus and Julian. “If I just want to ask questions… but don’t want anything more… it’s, okay?”

Honestly, it would be a relief just to ask questions. Online medical archives were terrifying, and textbooks really didn’t help either. I hadn’t even known it was okay to do; I’d thought a doctor would always want to do a full physical. If that wasn’t the case, I could finally get some answers. I might not even have to worry anymore.

“Okay.” I pressed my chin to my knees once more. “But only for Dr. Kohler.”