Shot in the Dark

ZAYDA

“Top floor,” a robotic voice said as the elevator went up.

Maddie winked at me through her yellow glasses. They weren’t part of the required costume, but they did add a certain edge.

She would be my main competitor. No questions asked.

Harry held up his laser gun and pointed it at Maddie.

“Pew! Pew! Pew!”

“Eat shit, Harry,” Maddie snapped.

It had been my idea to play laser tag with the whole crew. And I knew the perfect venue—on top of a skyscraper in downtown Requiem City.

I was ready to blow off some steam with a little exercise.

That morning, I had stopped by Xander’s office. I told him I’d do whatever was necessary to bring back my sweet Xythor.

My head knew it was wrong, but my heart didn’t have a choice.

I didn’t want to think about it anymore.

I was ready to lose myself in a game.

The elevator came to a halt. The doors slid open, and we found ourselves breathing the cold night air. Nets secured the rooftop’s wide perimeter, but otherwise it was just us and the open sky. The elevation made adrenaline pump through my veins.

“This is ~sick!~” Thea squealed.

Maddie shot Harry in the sensor on his chest.

“Ach!” he cried.

I smiled, feeling the wind whip through my hair.

The course ahead featured raised platforms decorated with fluorescent patterns.

“I can’t believe you guys are doing this to me,” Darshan pouted as Maddie shot him too.

“We’ll be a team.” Thea kissed his cheek. “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll protect you.”

That meant those two would spend the whole game making out in a corner. Thea didn’t have a competitive bone in her body.

Unlike me.

“First to ten shots is winner!” I shouted.

I dodged Maddie’s laser, jumping onto a block and rolling off the other side.

“Dang, Z!” Harry shouted. “You been working out or something?”

If he only fucking knew.

Back on the lowest level, I tracked Maddie as she hopped above.

When I caught a faint motion in the corner of my eye, I knew it was Harry. As he pivoted, I shot him squarely in the chest.

“Oh!”

~Got ’im.~

Maddie ran toward a distant corner of the roof. She was headed for the lookout point. If she shimmied up the pole to the platform there, she would have the best vantage point on the course.

That was, if she beat ~me~ there…

I sprinted through the maze, careful to stay in the shadows.

My muscles twitched pleasantly as they drove me forward.

I was gaining on Maddie, and she was oblivious…

Crouched and hidden, I watched her grab the metal pole. When I had the shot, I pulled the trigger.

Maddie’s sensor trilled.

“Shit!” she cried, dropping back to the platform. She sunk low on her knees, but I still managed another direct hit.

I stood completely still as she glared out into the darkness.

“Where are you, Zayda?” Maddie demanded in a harsh whisper.

I stood so still that I barely breathed.

I risked another shot, but Maddie dodged it. As she found her footing, she fired right at me. She missed, but my hiding spot was exposed.

I rolled up and over the nearest platform and set off running down a narrow path in the opposite direction.

Green lasers zinged past me as I sprinted.

Maddie was onto me.

She was fast…but not fast enough.

I jumped onto a raised platform and crossed it in two strides before leaping onto the next, higher level.

“Shit!” Maddie screeched below.

When I turned, I saw her contemplating the jump.

We sent a volley of laser blasts at one another, and one of Maddie’s hit my sensor.

~Fuck.~

I turned again, continuing across the platforms to the other corner. Each time I jumped to a new platform, I rose in elevation.

From Maddie’s grunts behind me, I knew she had managed the jump as well.

At last, I was at the lookout point on the highest platform of them all.

I pivoted and let my lasers rain down mercilessly on my opponent.

Maddie dodged many expertly—though a few met their mark.

She was running too quickly to fire back. The advantage was mine.

But she was gaining on my platform. I kept blasting as she crossed the nearest platform and leapt up to meet me.

As she was in the air, my shot hit its mark.

My vest chirped, alerting me that I’d won the match.

“YES!” I cried, pumping my fist.

“Damn.” Maddie moped beside me, but only for a minute. “I gotta give it to you, Z. You’re a force to be reckoned with.”

I laughed. Maddie always knew just the right words to flatter me.

“Same to you,” I replied as we shook hands. “I knew you would be my main competition.”

She shrugged, turning to look out at the skyline of Requiem City. We were right at the edge of the building.

The only thing between us and the long way down was a protective net.

The city lights below us were dazzling.

“How you holding up with Xythor and everything?” Maddie asked.

“Oh…you know…okay…” I replied. I wanted to tell Maddie everything. If anyone would understand my predicament, she would.

But I worried even Maddie wouldn’t understand what I’d agreed to do.

“Is it nice to have Loch back?” I asked. I often thought of them all together in the penthouse of Req Tower. If I let myself admit it, I was jealous.

Maddie nodded sincerely.

“We opened a new orphanage.”

“That’s amazing, Maddie,” I said sincerely. “I’m glad everything’s going so well.”

Something shifted in her smile. I knew she was thinking about what a hard time I was having, but there was something else.

“Thanks, Z. But it’s not all flowers and butterflies.” She paused. “There’s been some weird stuff, too. Do you know Storm?”

“Kind of,” I replied. I remembered the mysterious man from Xythor’s funeral.

“He’s a dragon,” she explained, rolling her eyes. “He keeps telling me…troubling things.”

“Oh,” I replied. My heartbeat quickened. I was suddenly curious.

Just then, a beam of white light shot up from the center of the course.

“Everyone come here!” Darshan’s voice called from a loudspeaker.

“Sounds like we’re being summoned,” Maddie chuckled. I climbed down into the dark space and helped Maddie down.

We headed toward the light. I wanted to press her for more information about this Storm guy, but we didn’t have much time.

“Have you still been seeing Xander?” Maddie asked.

“Not really,” I replied. But I saw in Maddie’s eyes genuine concern.

~It would feel good to be honest.~

“Well…yeah. I have. And he gave me some troubling news too.”

She sighed angrily, igniting a fire within me.

“I didn’t exactly go see him of my own volition,” I shot back, shaking my head. I should’ve known Maddie would judge me.

“Why can’t you just cut him off?” she asked seriously.

“It’s a little…complicated,” I managed.

How could I tell Maddie what I’d decided?

She stared at me with concern in her eyes…and fear.

As we reached our friends, the conversation concluded, leaving us both with more questions than answers.

“~There~ you guys are,” Harry cried.

“Okay, finally,” Darshan called. “I wanted to make an announcement in front of my closest and oldest friends.”

“Awww!” Maddie shouted ironically.

Darshan smirked.

“You all know I’m obsessed with Thea,” Darshan began.

Thea flipped her hair, loving the attention.

“And I want to take the next step…”

With that, Darshan got down on one knee and held Thea’s hand.

~O-M-G!~

I covered my mouth. We all gasped.

“Thea, I’ve never seen you, but somehow I know for sure that you’re the most beautiful woman in the world…”

Thea began to cry, and tears pricked my own eyes.

“All I want to do is be with you…forever…” Darshan kissed our friend’s hand. She gazed down at him lovingly, overcome with emotion.

“Thea, will you marry me?”

MADDIE

“Who else wants wine?” I called out from the kitchen. Hael and Loch were in the living room when I stumbled into the penthouse.

To celebrate Thea and Darshan’s engagement, we’d headed for the closest bar and drank accordingly.

Now, I filled my glass to the brim with some priceless vintage from the Dobrzyckas’ wine cabinet. Having billionaire mates certainly had ~some~ advantages.

“None for me,” Loch replied.

“Rat, could you get me some cow blood?” Hael asked.

I strode into the living room and plopped down on the couch between my mates.

~“No.”~

I took a swig.

“In a bad mood, mouse?” Loch asked.

I considered the question.

~Am I?~

My conversation with Zayda left me feeling…weird. And as happy as I was for Thea and Darshan, I had to admit I was feeling something else.

~Jealousy.~

“No,” I pouted. “I’m celebrating. Thea and Darshan got engaged.”

“Isn’t that cute,” Hael teased.

I sat up, sloshing wine onto my leg.

“Yes, it is cute,” I replied, glaring daggers at Hael. “And romantic. And sweet. And normal. But I guess you guys wouldn’t know anything about that.”

My mates met each other’s gazes and raised their eyebrows.

“Watch it, mouse,” Loch warned.

“You want to marry us, rat?” Hael sneered.

I glared at him once more. Hael was pushing my buttons on purpose. Why I ever thought he was the nicer brother was a mystery to me.

“No, I do not,” I spat. “I want a relationship that is even ~slightly~ normal. Where my partners are ‘boyfriends,’ not ‘mates,’ and I don’t have a fucking ~brand~ that ties me to them against my will!”

My rant hung in the air a moment as I took another sloppy sip.

My words were ~mostly~ true. Maybe some part of me ~did~ want to marry them. The brand wasn’t the only thing that tied us together.

I knew in my heart that even without that physical mark, I would still be here. Loch and Hael would still be my mates.

We cared for each other—even if we had a fucked-up way of showing it.

“Against your will?” Loch asked with a smirk.

“You’re pushing it, mouse. Want us to lock you in your cage again?” Hael glared at me.

That was the last straw. My drunkenness overpowered my sentimental thoughts, and I rocketed upward, spilling red wine everywhere.

“No fucking way!” I shouted. “You ~snakes~ will never lock me up ~again!~”

With that, I turned on my heel and charged down the hallway, not caring about the wine trail I left behind.

I wished Loch and Hael would follow me, or at least call after me, but they didn’t.

I passed the master bedroom and continued to the space I’d adopted as a dressing room.

I slammed the door behind me and sat in front of my vanity.

In the mirror, I saw my teeth stained red from the wine.

I let my head fall into my hands.

Hael’s threat made my old fear fresh again. In that moment, I hated the way they made me feel.

I hated how I had felt, locked in that cage back when our relationship had first begun.

I would never let them torture me again. That much I knew for sure.

But as the minutes passed, I got sick of being angry.

I was drunk and lonely. I wanted to see my mates, but I didn’t want to swallow my pride.

I stared at myself in the mirror. My thoughts were all over the place.

With my smudged mascara, I looked like a mess.

I wished that Hael or Loch would come get me, but why would they? I had just blown up at them basically for no reason.

They would never get it. I just wanted to be ~normal.~ Was that too much to ask?

I didn’t want to uncover my family’s history for some evil dragon. I didn’t want to worry that the men I loved would lock me in a cage.

I sighed, dropping my head into my hands.

~Well, it’s not like I’m in a cage now.~

I knew I could walk out of the penthouse for good if I wanted.

But I didn’t want to…

Suddenly, I realized that I couldn’t blame Loch and Hael for all of this. Staying with them was my choice.

I was stuck in the cage of love.

When I confronted my reflection once more, my red hair fell around my face.

I was a mess. And I had no idea where to turn for help.

Maybe because I was lonely, or because my talk with Storm still rang in my ears, but I wondered if I looked like my mother.

What was she like, the woman who had birthed me?

What would she say if she could see me now?