Her instincts were off. Her body betrayed her logic. She glanced toward the ensuite. Take a shower, wake up, get to work.
“Okay.” She smacked her knees then rose from the bed. “Snap out of it.” She beelined for the bathroom, hoping a cold shower would get her thoughts back on the job and nothing more.
Aubrey ran her hands down her slick body, her thoughts drifting as the near scalding water cascaded over her, her muscles easing with each sluice.
This is heaven.
Nobody really took a cold shower did they? What a waste that would be. She sighed as she ducked her head under the stream, soaking her hair, the heat making her scalp tingle. She’d always found a hot shower to be the epitome of relaxation, had never really been much of a bath soaker, but given the limited availability of heated water at her family’s home, she’d always been restricted to something quick and lukewarm. To be able to douse herself like this was a much appreciated luxury and she planned on taking full advantage.
It’d been a long journey, not so much in the physical sense since the mansion wasn’t too far geographically from home, but psychologically, emotionally…yeah, uphill battle at times. It took a lot of mental exertion to suppress those feelings of being discarded. To suppress the jealousy that threatened to explode if her thoughts even grazed the knowledge that her sister was at that moment training with her Hunter. That her sister was discovering her newfound powers, whatever they were—Aubrey hadn’t bothered to ask—developing under the guidance of her destined mate. She didn’t want to hate her twin but each day that went by, she felt the separation more profoundly and the envy blanketed her so completely that it became harder and harder not to give into it. Why couldn’t she have been chosen too? Why wasn’t she just as worthy as her twin?
The last time she had spoken to Corra was the day before, right after Aubrey had gotten a call from Dave letting her know she’d landed the security job. She’d called to speak to her mom, just wanting to touch base before she left with the band, not entirely sure when they were flying overseas. She’d been on the phone for mere minutes when Corra had hijacked the call, acting as if nothing was wrong—happy, giddy almost, and desperate to convince Aubrey to come to the Order’s compound where she would “fit in.”
“Fit in, Corra? Yeah, right.” To be looked at with pity by the Hunters, surely by the other Huntresses, who all knew that she’d been training her whole life, that her parents had led her to believe that she’d be one of them one day. A chosen one. A wolf slayer. “No thanks.”
“This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. You’re my twin, my soul mate.”
Aubrey scoffed, “Not anymore.”
“You’re just sulking.” Corra teased, taking liberties with a relationship that had splintered. “Come to the Order so I can show you what I can do. Teach you a few new tricks. Come on, sis. You belong here.”
“I don’t belong there, not with you, not with the Order. I’m starting life anew, Corra. I’m putting all this Huntress bullshit behind me. Including you.”
The conversation hadn’t lasted much longer. Her sister had started to weep, not great wracking sobs but the heavy, almost silent kind of crying that really nailed you in the gut. Aubrey didn’t take any of it back, though. Not one word. It was cruel and she knew it, but that was what pain did to a person. It made them come out swinging at the easiest target. Okay, scratch that, it was what pain did to Aubrey: turned her into a total asshole.
Behind her closed lids, Aubrey’s eyes burned, tears threatening to slip past those guarded gates. It was better for both her and Corra if they stayed apart. Aubrey knew that even if her sister didn’t or wouldn’t accept it. Aubrey’s bitterness would only grow, and as much as she wanted to be happy for her sister, things were poisoned by this rejection. You couldn’t spend your whole life chasing your dream only to watch it come true for someone else and be unaffected. That kind of strength was for the real heroes. It turned out that cutting away a piece of your heart was the easy part; keeping yourself from bleeding to death was the real battle.
Aubrey turned her face into the stream of water, holding her breath and blasting herself until her lungs screamed and those bitter thoughts fled. Move on, move forward.
Taking a step back, she snatched a bottle of body wash from the side of the shower and poured out a generous dollop.
And then there was Jaylon.
Fuck.
It was like her brain was set to sabotage—just thinking his name made her body tingle. She wanted to run her tongue down the side of his neck, slide her fingers through all that silky hair, grip his firm ass as he pumped deep and hard and…