Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy #2)(22)

I kept my eyes averted as I passed the living room, their usual make-out place.

“Alena, I want you to meet someone,” Beth called to me.

Surprised, I turned. I saw her first, the short blond hair in a messy do that was both cute and carefree. Her eyes sparkled as she grinned at me. She’d met someone in the few hours I’d been gone? My first thought was Too bad. I’d been hoping to gently push her toward Jensen. My next thought was How had she found someone so fast?

Then I saw the man whose lap she sat on. His long dark-blond ponytail, his blue eyes, the slick suit with silver threaded through it.

“Theseus.”

“No.” Beth laughed. “His name is Tim.”

I raised both eyebrows even as a cold chill worked its way up my spine. “Tim?”

Her smile widened. “Yes, he saved me, Alena. After we cleaned the kitchen, Sandy and I went for a walk—we were talking about the bakery, you know?”

I nodded, keeping my mouth shut, and she went on. “A car was coming, and I didn’t see it. He literally swept me off my feet.” She beamed at him, and the only word I could come up with was “lovestruck.” This couldn’t be real. I had to have fallen and hit my head and I was now hallucinating.

“Beth . . .” I took a step toward her. “You would have demolished the car if it hit you. He didn’t save you. Not really.”

She frowned at me. “Alena, he saved me. And he doesn’t even care that I’m a Stymphalian bird. He’s the right guy, like you said.”

“I’ll bet he doesn’t mind,” I muttered under my breath. “Look, his name is not Tim. This is Theseus, and he’s using you to get to me. He doesn’t care about you; his job is to kill monsters like you and me!”

She sucked in a sharp breath and stood up, her eyes no longer sparkling with good humor. More like sparking with anger. She took a step toward me, and the air around her shimmered. Like she was going to shift into her bird form. What the heck, why wasn’t she listening?

I wasn’t even sure if we could hurt each other, but I didn’t really want to find out either.

“Beth.” I held up my hands. “Don’t do this. We need to talk about just what is going on here.”

The clatter of feet on the stairs almost turned me around. Except I didn’t think that what was behind me was going to be a problem.

“Beth, what’s going on?” Sandy called from the stairs. Maybe I was wrong. A Stymphalian bird in front and behind was not something that made me feel safe. Not when I was no longer sure if they were my friends. My heart clenched. How could things have changed so much in such a short time?

As if reading my mind, Theseus held up a tiny arrow and swirled it across his knuckles. An arrow just like the ones Ernie had to make people fall in love with one another.

“Oh, you little bastard,” I whispered.

Beth ignored Sandy’s question. “Tim is not Theseus. Theseus would want to kill me, not save me. Sandy was there; she saw him save me.” Each word was bitten out, and each one pitched higher than the next.

Sandy took another step, the stair creaking. “He did pull her out of the path of the car.” Her words were careful, like even she wasn’t sure what was going on. I dared a glance back at her, and she shrugged, her eyes worried.

I took a step back, seeing the pickle Theseus had put me in. Behind Beth he smiled at me, the smug satisfaction evident in every line of his face, the tiny arrow tucked away somewhere. His arms were thrown over the back of the chair, and his legs were stretched out as though he were preparing to watch a prizefight.

In that moment I knew there was no way I’d be able to convince her he was anyone but Tim. The best thing I could do was back off and try to find a different route.

I held up my hands to her. “Fine. I retract my statement. He’s not Theseus.”

She slowed her advance, and the shimmering around her eased off. “I think we should go, Tim.”

“Of course, beautiful girl.” He stood, stepped forward, and slid an arm around her waist, though his eyes never left my face. “We can go to my place.”

She beamed up at him. “I’d like that. Sandy, you’re coming too, right? You’re with me? You know he’s not Theseus. Alena is wrong.”

“A threesome, really?” I couldn’t help the words. Beth glared at me and I glared back. We were friends, we’d survive this, I had to believe it. Even if it felt like something was broken that couldn’t be fixed. A crème br?lée spilled on the floor, ready to be tossed in the trash.

“No,” she snapped. “I just don’t want her around you.”

Anger coursed through me, and a low hiss rumbled through my chest. Theseus tightened his hold on Beth’s waist and slowly guided her to the door while I stood there shaking with the growing fury.

“Alena, lovely to meet you.” Theseus winked and they were out the door. Sandy crept down the rest of the stairs and paused at the door. “I’m sorry, Alena. I have to go with her. I don’t want him to hurt her.”

“I get it, just . . . be careful. He is Theseus, and he’s here to kill us all.”

Her eyes were sad and she looked away. “I don’t know. I . . . I just don’t know.”

She closed the door behind her with a soft click, and I counted to ten in an attempt to get control of myself.