Chapter 9: Hiding in Plain Sight

Oriana’s POV

Flesh stuck under my fingernails. Sandwiched between my teeth. What was that? That had never happened to me before. That snapped control. That frenzy. That…rush.

I pushed the feeling of exhilaration back down. I just murdered two people, but I can’t find it in myself to feel guilty. Just scared. Scared that I enjoyed the temporary surge of power.

Back home, everyone waited on me. For blood. Food. Every hunger. Every want. Every dirty piece of clothing. Everything was taken care of. I had never felt truly hungry until tonight. That can’t happen again. I don’t know what else I could do. Who else I could hurt?

Maybe I should just go home.

I couldn’t stay here. But I had to. If I ran back home, the rules would only get stricter. I’d have to deal with that bitch Donna again. I’d be smothered again. There was no way that I’d be going back to my parents. Back to my jailers.

Fuck that.

No matter what happened to me. I’m not going to be running back to my mommy.

I wrapped my arms around myself as I maneuvered through the streets in Manhattan. Every thought I had sounded like “What if they see me? Do they know?”

No one in Times Square even looked at me twice. My curls were saturated in blood. I stunk. But when the sky opened up and big, fat raindrops began to fall from the sky, I felt grateful. Umbrellas went up all around me, but I stopped walking, the refreshing rain cascading down my face, washing the blood off my skin.

I glanced down at myself, the soaking rain made my clothes cling to my body. I needed to clean myself up. There was a grocery store not too far from me. I picked out a few toiletries, a “I heart NYC hoodie.” That shit was everywhere.

Just until my leather jacket air-dried though. I walked to a family bathroom in the back, locked the door, and had myself a bathroom sink shower. It wasn’t perfect, but I didn’t reek of blood anymore. I brushed my teeth and finally felt a semblance of better.

Outside the bathroom door, I heard, “Do you think that Romano heiress was stupid enough to come here?” A voice I didn’t recognize. Male. Rather high pitched for an older man.

“If she is here, then she will pay for the sins of her family,” another male voice answered, deeper. More intimidating.

My hand froze before I touched the handle. But instead, I leaned over, my ear pressing against the steel door. I inhaled deeply, trying to scent the two men outside the door. There was a lot I could tell just from the smell. One was pureblood. The other, human.

“I know the Wolfpack is searching for her. If they believe she’s here, then she probably is. They’re rarely ever wrong.” The squeaky-sounding man reported.

Wolfpack? That must be the lycanthropes Claude warned her about. Wow. Word travels fast. Who were these guys, though?

“If you hear anything else, you report right back to me or the Don. No one else. Don’t spoil this opportunity.” The Don? Who was this guy?

“Of course, sir. What about my reward? The change?” Ah, that high-pitched voice must be the human.

“The Vivace’s are indebted to you. We pay our debts. Be patient. Retribution in time.” There was an agelessness to his voice. Something about it sent shivers down my spine. Hairs stood on end.

Vivace. Vivace. Who were they? I remembered Claude mentioning them. Maybe my parents brought them up once. I don’t know. I never really listened. Footsteps disappeared down the hallway. I couldn’t smell either of them anymore. I gathered my things in one of those reusable bags and peeked my nose out the door.

Sweet. They were gone.

I felt exhausted. Like the events of the night were catching up with me. Rain thundered outside, but I couldn’t stay here. Sleep in one of the aisles? Especially not after hearing that conversation.

The automatic doors opened, and I caught a glimpse of a subway entrance. Perfect. I dashed over to the stairs and descended down into the subway. It wasn’t ideal, but maybe I could get some sleep. A moving train is certainly better than an alleyway.

I bought my MetroCard and hopped on the first and closest train. It didn’t matter where it was going, just that it was empty. The seats were a hard blue plastic but looked clean enough for me. I pulled that hoodie from over my head and fluffed it up like a pillow.

My eyelids fluttered closed, and I heard the subway stop at the next station. Some guys were getting on the car, but I turned over, my back to the strangers. The rain muddled all of the smells, but I instantly recognized the smell of sweet oranges and cloves.

Oh no.

It was Robin. That familiar gravelly voice was talking to another guy that I recognized as Tanner. I had never been more thankful for a public bathroom sink shower in my life. Please don’t notice me.

“Let’s go further down the train. The next car is empty,” Tanner offered, distaste clear in his voice as he saw me.

“Wait,” Robin started, and I could feel his presence get closer to me. “Olivia?”

It would be rude to ignore him, wouldn’t it? Pretend to be asleep? I was a terrible liar anyway.

“Olivia? From the bar?” Tanner asked and I sensed him getting closer to me. There was a third guy there, but I didn’t know his name.

Against my better judgment, I sat up and put on a false sense of bravado, pretending like I wasn’t just trying to sleep in a subway car. “Hey…Fancy seeing you guys here…”

“Are you okay?” Robin asked and I slowly looked up and met those amber eyes. His black t-shirt was soaked, clinging to the wide planes of his chest. My eyes slid down his torso helplessly. Those dark tattoos on his arms were damp like his tousled hair.

I cleared my throat and looked away. “Just here for kicks.”

He narrowed his eyes, sitting on the bench seat next to me. I was torn between wanting to get up and leave at the next stop and grabbing Robin by his shirt so I could inhale the scent of oranges from his skin. “Really?” he asked.

I could hear his heart hammering in his chest, speeding up as I slowly looked back over at him. I barely knew the man, but I couldn’t help but feel connected to him. Somehow. I sighed. “Okay, truth be told, I’ve had a rough night.”

I watched Robin cross his arms across his chest and noticed blood caked around the cuticles of his fingers. I wonder what he was doing. Did he get into a fight? The thought of Robin, this mountain of a man, having a dark secret did funny things to my insides. Tingles climbed up my legs.

My eyes met his and I said, “And from the looks of it, so have you.”

Robin noticed the blood on his hands and tried to wipe it off on his shirt. The bottom of his shirt raised just a little bit to expose a sprinkling of hair around his navel. A spark of excitement shot up my spine. Was it getting warm in here? Or was it just me? I couldn’t think straight.

“What happened?” Tanner asked from across the walkway, snapping me out of it.

I glanced over at him, gulping to get rid of some of the dryness in my throat. Oh, I leveled my uncle’s house. Murdered two guys on my way out. “Got into it with my uncle. He kicked me out.” Not a total lie.

“Do you want to come back with us?” the third guy asked. He was younger than the other two. Probably around nineteen while Robin had to be in his mid-twenties.

“Liam,” Tanner had a warning in his voice.

The younger guy shrugged bashfully. “It’s just not a safe city. I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing that we left her here.”

Tanner’s expression softened and he glanced back over at me.

“I couldn’t impose like that. I’m fine. Really,” I insisted.

“If you need someplace to stay, I’m sure Wyatt can make an exception for the night,” Tanner replied, looking over at Robin who seemed contemplative.

“Wyatt?” I asked.

“We live in kinda a group house. New York isn’t cheap,” Tanner answered.

My mouth scrunched to the side as I thought about the offer. A warm bed was definitely more appealing than a plastic bench. I noticed Robin’s wedding ring and I had to fight all of those thirsty thoughts that kept occupying my head. “Thanks, it’s okay. Besides, I doubt Robin’s wife would appreciate bringing home strays.”

All eyes snapped over to Robin like they were awaiting a response. Was it something I said?

“Actually, she wouldn’t mind at all,” Robin murmured quietly, his gaze dropping from mine as he twirled the ring around his finger. “But she died.”

The way he said that. The gut-wrenching sadness that filled his eyes at the sentence. It pained me to see. It wasn’t my place to comfort him, but I wanted to. “I’m sorry for your loss,” I replied sincerely.

“Thank you,” Robin whispered quietly.

Tanner jumped up from his seat as the subway came to another stop. Robin and Liam stood up, following Tanner to the opening door. “You’re either with us or not, Olivia. This is our stop.”

I should have kept sitting. Kept my distance. Cut my losses. Robin’s amber eyes met mine again and I followed them out.