An Eye For An Eye

Vingt-Neuf

“Tasha doesn’t like me,” I said as I drank my tea.
“Tamika was right, she just misses Jack,” Deucalion said as he sat down on the sofa. I set the cup down on the coaster on the coffee table. “And she knows who your family is, I think the only one who doesn’t is Charles.” I hummed as I leaned back and rested my head on the back of the sofa. That meant Tamika knew who my family was and didn’t care. At least, she didn’t seem to.

Deuc motioned for me to sit next to him so I shuffled over on the sofa and I did so. What Tasha had said had stuck in my mind.
“You aren’t using me, are you?” I asked quietly. I sipped my tea and moved it along the coffee table so I could reach it better.
“No,” he said without a moment of hesitation. “No, Liza, I’m not.”
“You’re not just using me to annoy Gerard or anything?” I finished the rest of the tea before resting my head against his shoulder. “Because that’s what this started as, we both wanted to annoy him.”

Tasha probably knew him better than I did. All of his pack probably knew him better than I did. I had only known him for less than a month and they had all known him for years.
“Liza, I haven’t used you nor do I intend on using you to anger Gerard,” he said as his hand found mine. There was still a bitterness in the way he said Gerard. “I’ll admit I considered it, when I first met you and you offered for me to blind you. But I didn’t blind you and I didn’t use you. You interested me.”
“Interested you?”

“You weren’t like your father.”
I laughed a little, I wasn’t sure what to say at all. But I was never like him, Kate was. Chris seemed to be the only one to follow the code properly. “I know. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that actually.”
“I’m not too surprised at that,” he said. “You’re sweet, and beautiful.”
I smiled. “I don’t look like what you saw though, I’m ginger now, and my hair is shorter.”
“I have no doubt you’re still beautiful, my love.”

My heart just seemed to jump and he smiled.

“Are you listening to my heartbeat?” I asked him.
“Why would I be doing that?” he asked but he was smiling and I could just tell he had been listening.
“I don’t know,” I replied in a similar tone. He chuckled and I laughed along with him.
“When I’m with you,” he started, “I don’t feel like a man angry at the world for being blinded, I just feel... like a man. It’s difficult to get angry when I know you’re in the same room as me, and you don’t treat me differently.”

“Because I shouldn’t treat you differently,” I said. Not having sight didn’t mean they were less of a person, they just had to do some things differently. “You’re not suddenly incapable or less of a person.”
“As I’ve discovered, apparently it does,” he said. His smile had been replaced with a frown. I squeezed his hand.
“Not to me,” I said. Though it seemed a lot of people had treated him differently, including two of his own Betas who he ended up killing in self-defence. “Even though that doesn’t mean much, there’s a lot of stupid people in the world who’ll treat you badly or like an idiot but I couldn’t ever do that.”

Deucalion didn’t say anything and I was worried that I had said the wrong thing, though I wasn’t sure what.
“It means a lot, actually,” he said quietly and I smiled.
“And it’s okay to be angry, if you are still angry,” I told him. It was understandable after what had happened.
“I want to rip out his guts and slash his throat.”
I stared at him and slowly nodded. “Yeah, I think you’re angry.”
“So do I,” he said.

He lowered his head and sighed.
“I should have listened to Talia and Dr. Deaton,” he said. “They tried to warn me that I shouldn’t try to make peace with Gerard and I didn’t listen.”
“You didn’t know what was going to happen,” I said. Even the other hunters had gone there with the intent of making peace, it was just Gerard who hadn’t.
“They warned me he would probably try something and I didn’t listen.”

“You can’t blame yourself for that,” I said. I tried not to be harsh but it hurt listening to him blame himself for something out of his control. “He was the only one who knew. Kara’s dad didn’t know, neither did the other hunter. Please don’t blame yourself for that.”
“Liza…” He sighed and lifted my hand to his face. “I’m just angry, Tasha was right about that. As much as I try to hide it and as much as it goes away when I’m with you, it’s still there.”

I couldn’t blame him. I’d be angry too if I had gone through what he had gone through in the last month. Losing a pack member was supposed to be worse than losing family. And he had lost five.
“Deuc, it’s okay,” I said softly. “I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t be angry after going through what you have.”

“You’re so sweet, my love,” he murmured. Yet again, I was rendered utterly speechless and he knew as he chuckled.
“You’re doing that on purpose,” I grumbled. He could continue doing it on purpose too.
“Perhaps,” he said. “But I don’t hear any complaints.”
“No,” I said. Even though I was shaking my head, I was smiling. “No complaining from me.”
“Good.”

Closing my eyes, I pulled my feet up onto the chair and curled up next to him. I yawned, a lot had happened in the last 24 hours.
“Tired?” he asked.
“Maybe,” I mumbled. “Okay, yeah, I’m tired.”
“Go to bed then.”

Knowing that I probably should change into pajamas and get in bed, I reluctantly put my feet on the floor. I’d slept in Deuc’s bed with him last night, or more accurately, this morning. Did I go back to the guest room?
“Which bed?” I asked slowly, hoping the answer wasn’t obvious.
“Whichever you prefer,” he said. I let go of his hand to stand up and hummed as I thought.
“Can I sleep with you then?”
“Yes,” he said with a smirk. “Of course you can, my love.”

“I hate you.”
“No, you really don’t.”