Chapter 5 - Tagan

The woman twitched in my hold. Her arms and legs stiffened and relaxed in rapid succession. Shit. Just our luck we'd be saddled with one of Thane's new strays and she had epilepsy.

I got her to the floor, turned her to the side. Snagging a clean towel from the load of fresh laundry sitting on the counter, I jammed it under her head. I checked my wrist for the time. Watching her carefully, I took in all the little details I'd missed on my first inspection.

She had a streak of bright white hair just over her left ear. It was mostly masked under the dark purple color. Her nails were jagged and torn. Her borrowed clothes were too baggy and bloody. Her bare feet were dirty and lacerated.

With a low moan, her body finally relaxed. I watched her. Wanted to see what she would do when she thought no one was looking.

I knew when she felt my gaze. Her body tensed. The muscles of her long legs flexed and bunched as if getting ready to lunge to her feet.

"I'll catch you, so I wouldn't bother trying to run," I said. My low raspy voice had her jerking back. I was a little surprised she'd been able to understand my words. I'd spoken so softly, had I not been the one speaking, I probably wouldn't have caught them.

She pushed herself across the floor until she rammed into the base of the wet bar.

I winced. That had to hurt. Although, from her reaction, it soothed her. Her body trembled for a moment before seeming to sink into the floor. "I'm still here." She patted the floor in ever-widening circles. "Thank the stars. I'm still here."

With a single sweep of her arm, her hair was pushed back, and I could see her face for the first time. Something inside me clicked. Like one of the million tripwires from the war right before it exploded in my face.

Her pale purple gaze swept over the room in quick glances. "Wh-wh-where are we?" She looked up at me. Studied me for a moment. "You're not Thane. Even though you look like him. Where is he? Did you hurt him? I'll kill you if you've hurt him." She bounced up into a crouch, her head cracking against the underside of the bar counter. She grimaced but didn't take her eyes off me or move to rub the ache.

"How do you know I'm not Thane?" I asked her. Most people couldn't tell us apart. Hell, even our parents had had a hard time with that.

She shook her head. "Where is he?"

I crossed my arms. "I'm not telling you until you answer my question."

She snarled at me, the sound low and feral.

I lowered my brow, let her see the darkness I carried with me. She didn't have anything I hadn't witnessed before.

The addled idiot smiled at me as if I'd just offered her a candy bar. "You're not Thane, but you're not a bad person either." She smiled at me.

I snorted. "You know nothing about me. Answer my question."

She shook her head again.

I felt my temper rising. People didn't tell me no. Not for very long, anyway. Not if they wanted to stay in my good graces. And that's where most people wanted to be.

She leaned to the side, still on her haunches. Her lavender eyes brightened at whatever she saw. Quick as a snake strike, she was on her feet and gliding over the floor to my brother.

I grabbed her wrist before she could touch him.

She jerked. Turned. Looked down at my hand. "Let me go." There was no terror in her voice. There was nothing in her voice. Just a simple phrase uttered without inflection.

Who was this woman? I tightened my grip. "You're not touching him until you tell me who you are, where you come from, how you met Thane, and anything else I want to ask."

She laughed in my face. "No. Let go." She tugged.

I pulled her toward me, slowly but surely. Like raising an anchor from the sea floor, I drew her closer to me.

A sly smile pulled at her mouth as she stared at me with hard eyes.

I felt my body clench at the look in her eye. I'd seen that look every time I looked in the mirror after a hard night.

She raised one dark brow. "Elektra."

Like sticking my wet dick in a live outlet, electricity attacked my body where our skin contacted. I yanked my hand away. "What the fuck was that?"

"Don't touch me." She turned away, but not before I saw a slow trickle of blood slide from her nose. She swiped it away as she crouched down in front of my brother. "Thane?" she called out. Tapped her hand against his shoe. "Thane." She said it a bit louder this time.

Toven groaned as he flopped around on the floor. "What the fuck was that? A wrecking ball?"

I snorted. "Not nearly, Miley Cyrus. Come on. Up and at ‘em." I reached down a hand. He grabbed my wrist, and I helped pull him to his feet.

He wobbled and weaved a bit before he opened his eyes. His dark brown irises were now a startling blue green that reminded me of the waters of the Caribbean.

I hissed out a breath. Glared at the woman. "Did you do this?"

Toven jerked back from my hard tone. "I didn't do anything but get knocked on my ass. Why are you yelling at me?"

I shook my head. "Not you. Her." Tipped in her direction with my head.

He turned his head, wobbled again. "So it wasn't a dream," he said softly.

Hollyn, if that was really her name, was still trying to rouse Thane.

Tove tipped to the side. I caught him with a curse. Helped him to the couch. "Sit here. You awake enough for some water?"

He nodded. Rubbed a hand over his face. "I feel like I'm getting off a Tilt-A-Whirl. Everything is moving and spinning in my head."

That wasn't the only thing going on with him ,I thought as I moved to the wet bar and ran him a tumbler of water.

"Why do you say that?" he asked as he grabbed the glass from my hand.

I looked at him. "Say what? I didn't say anything." I cast a glance at Thane and Hollyn.

"You just said that wasn't the only thing going on with me. I heard it clear as day." He looked at me, his eyes narrowed. "Did you get knocked out, too?"

My eyes widened. "No. I said that in my mind. I didn't vocalize anything." Can you hear me now? I asked.

He nodded, his eyes wide. We can full-on talk now?

I guess. I shrugged. We'd been doing so since birth, but never this clearly.

"Finally. I was beginning to think you left me here with some kinda weird replica of you," Hollyn said to Thane as his eyes fluttered open.

A smile twitched on his lips. "They're not replicas. They're my brothers. We're triplets."

"Oh, my stars. That's a lot of hotness." She lifted her hands to her cheeks. "You should probably be illegal."

Thane laughed, a full belly laugh I haven't heard in years. He was the serious, no nonsense one of all of us. And this woman had him laughing with his entire body.

I didn't like her. She was going to screw up the careful life we led. The careful life we were forced to lead. She can't stay.

Thane turned, a scowl on his face. "She can stay as long as she wants."

My mouth dropped open. "Well, shit. You have it, too."