The Truth in Pain | Book Two of the In Pain Trilogy

Misty Lain

"Jaz, what the hell. What the hell is going on?"

"It's ... complicated."

"So complicated you can't explain it to your best friend?"

The headache was coming back. She shook her head. "I'll tell you everything as soon as I wash up. I promise."

Ray didn't look satisfied with that. He opened his mouth to protest but Jasmine didn't give him a chance to. She made a mad dash out the closet and into the bathroom, sliding the door closed before he could get a word in.

She wanted to tell him everything. Gods knew she did. She just didn't know how to. How could she tell her best friend that she was actually a witch with rare powers that could drive the supernatural crazy? He would only think she had let her mind run away with her again. It would be too much to explain, too much energy to get him to believe. Hell, she could hardly believe it herself.

For now, she should see who they had waiting for her downstairs. She should be able to buy some time with that while she figured out what to tell Ray. And how to. Maybe she should let Wendy or Mason take care of it. Would they be willing to?

Jasmine shook the thought away as she stripped her clothes off. The heated bath melt all her worries away, easing her into a sense of comfort and security that she knew was fake, but enjoyed all the same. The soft bubbles popping against her skin soothed her weak muscles. It invigorated her. Jasmine came out the bath thirty minutes later feeling like she could take on the world.

Ray didn't say anything to her as she made her way to the closet. He only watched her, sitting on her bed, his phone in his hand. She didn't have to look at him to know his eyes were following her, and, even when she reentered the bedroom dressed in a pair of shorts and a rather casual top, he still hadn't broken eye contact.

Jasmine sighed. "Okay, fine. I'll tell you everything while we go downstairs."

Ray hopped out the bed, tucking his phone into his back pocket. "It's about damn time. Start with what happened in your dorm room."

Jasmine sighed again, closing the door behind her. She started down the hallway, her mind traveling back to that fated day Rich, Mason and Wendy showed up at her door. "I think I have to start before that," she said. "At Lexi's party when the lycans attacked me. Remember that?"

"Yeah," Ray said with a nod. "We agreed it was a vampire who helped you."

"Yeah, well, it wasn't. It was me."

"How?"

"It turns out I was born with magic. Pure magic, if you want to get technical. That night when they attacked me, one of them tore my necklace off my neck, which was actually a charm my mom made for me to mute my powers."

"Jaz, are you joking with me right now? Because I'm not amused. That's the worst joke I've ever heard. Period."

"I wish I was." She kept her face straight, to show just how serious she was. It was difficult, seeing that retelling what happened, reliving the moments, was harder than she expected. It took her back in time to the moment Felin jumped her, to the fear that had turned her tongue to cotton and that had muted her sense of control. She remembered how desperately she fought, and how heart wrenchingly she had cried over it that same night. As the tale went on, and Ray began falling deeper into silence, Jasmine wasn't even aware of where she was going anymore. It was like she was there again, seeing Rich and the others show up at her door, the blank look that fell over their faces when her mother's spell began to wear off.