Page 13 of Possessive

She finally slid into a chair and tucked her feet up beside her. She wrapped her arms around herself in a classic, protective pose.

"You're looking better already," I said.

"It's good to be clean." She tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear.

I usually preferred longer hair on women, but it suited her better that way than tangled and matted.

"How did you end up with Kurt Lasalle?" I didn't believe in beating around the bush. I had questions and I wanted answers to them.

"My father gave me to him to settle a debt," she said softly. Did she always speak like that, or was she holding back because she was scared?

"What debt?" I asked.

She shook her head slightly. "I don't know. Just that there was a debt. I guess it didn't help, since my father was killed shortly after that."

"How did you know that?" I asked.

"Kurt told me." A frown furrowed her brow. "He told me when each of my parents and siblings were killed."

I ignored the strangled sound Damon made, and placed my whiskey glass on the table beside me. I leaned towards Mina, my elbows on my thighs.

"He told you your siblings were dead?"

She blinked a couple of times, those long lashes brushing her cheeks. "He said I didn't deserve to know, but he told me anyway."

I sat back. "He told the truth about your parents. Your father had mine killed, so I had them killed. But your siblings are very much alive." I watched as my words slowly sunk in.

She recoiled slightly, but then sat forward again. "Dane, Rose and Asher?"

"All alive," Damon said.

Mina turned towards him. She didn't look like she was sure she should believe a word we'd said.

"Dane teaches history at Brutham Academy," I said. "Rose is down in Melbourne doing whatever Rose does." She was good at solving problems, like disposing of unwanted corpses.

"Asher is…" I sighed. "A drummer in a band with my brother, Zeke." I hadn't given up on the idea of my brother quitting the band to come back to join the family business. One way or another, I'd convince him to stop wasting his time singing rock songs to sold out arenas all over the world.

Mina looked back and forth between us, her pretty mouth slightly open, plush lips quivering.

"It's true." Damon pulled out his phone and tapped on the screen for a minute or two before passing it over to her.

She took it from his hand and looked at the photo on the screen. Her blonde haired brother stood beside my younger brother, with the rest of the band.

"It says this photo was posted three days ago," she said. "He's really alive." She stared at the photo for the longest time, not moving, barely breathing.

"We can contact them if you like," I offered.

"No." She surprised me with her quick response. "I don't want any of them to see me like this. Not yet. They'd… I can't." She pushed the phone back toward Damon.

"You don't have to," I told her. "You can hide out here for as long as you need to."

Had those words come out of my mouth? Judging by the raised eyebrow, Damon was surprised to hear it as much as I was. We never took in strays. But now she was here, I couldn't bring myself to let her leave. Didn't want her to.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I don't know what to think."

"About what?" Damon asked.

She looked down in the direction of her knees, then back up again slowly. "I thought the reason they didn't come for me was because they were dead. But they weren't. Why would they leave me there? Why would they let him do the things he did to me if they were alive to stop it?" She closed her eyelids over her shining eyes and bit her lip.