21. VANYA

“Why did you think that Obsidian forced me?”

Devrim’s fork froze halfway to his mouth as his eyes shot up to mine, then Ezra’s, and finally back to mine. He lowered his fork and placed it back on his plate. Crossing his arms, Devrim leaned back and sighed. “Vanya—”

“I get that you can’t tell me anything because I’m not part of your pride.” I sucked in a breath and blew it out. “I have a right to know why you would accuse him of that.”

Devrim licked his lips and uncrossed his arms. “Eat your food, rosebud,” he said softly. “We will talk about this when you’re done.”

Warmth flooded me as his endearment rolled through me. It was almost like when Ezra called me sugarplum and Obsidian called me sweets.

My eyes dropped to the plate in front of me. One of the pride members had delivered the food Surrey had cooked half an hour ago, but like they had said, her food was tasteless.

Pushing my plate away, I crossed my arms and looked back up at him. “I’m done.”

“You barely ate,” Ezra said, frowning down at my half full plate.

“It tastes like nothing. There’s not even any salt in it.”

His frown deepened. “That’s how food’s supposed to taste.”

“No, it’s not.” A thought hit. “Wait, you’ve never had spiced food before?”

“What?”

“I’ll cook you something,” I told them as I stood. “Can we go into town to get some—?”

“No,” Devrim growled. “You’re not setting a foot in town.”

“But I—”

“No, Vanya,” he interrupted with a snarl. “No.”

I glared at him, but his attention had already dropped back to his plate. Frustration had me spinning around and pacing back and forth. With my nails digging into my palms, I spun to face them again.

“I never expected to be a prisoner. I can’t go outside the house; you won’t take me into town. What’s next? Are you going to put a lock on my bedroom door?”

“It can be arranged,” Obsidian said when he suddenly appeared.

I glared at him. “That’s not funny.”

He ignored me and walked over to the sink where he washed his hands and then turned to face us. “Looks like you’re getting your wish, after all,” he told me before he looked at Devrim. “Reeves wants to see her at the station tomorrow.”

“Why?” Ezra questioned. “He couldn’t have changed his mind about—”

“He can’t,” Devrim cut him off. “He made it clear that it wasn’t possible when we signed his contract.”

“Then why?” Ezra directed the question toward Obsidian who just shrugged.

“I’ll make a list of the things we need—”

My words were cut off when Obsidian gripped the back of my neck and spun me around to face him. The gasp that fell from my lips was swallowed by him when his lips came crashing down on mine.

There was absolutely nothing gentle about his kiss. It was the exact opposite of the kiss Ezra and I had at the waterfall. The man ravaged my mouth until I could think of nothing else but him. A moan escaped when his lips forced mine to part, and another quickly followed when his raspy tongue brushed mine.  

But it ended too soon.

He broke the kiss and spun around.

“We’re leaving at eight,” he rasped.

And then he was gone, like he had never been there in the first place.

Only the tingling of my lips remained. Reaching up, I pressed trembling fingers against my lips. I froze when I realized that both Ezra and Devrim were staring at me, open-mouthed.

Colour flooded my cheeks.

Devrim’s mouth slammed shut. He pursed his lips and lowered his eyes to his plate. However, they shot up again when Ezra spoke.

“You didn’t react like that when we kissed.”

“You kissed?” Devrim gasped. “When?”

My eyes darted over to Ezra, but it was clear that he wasn’t planning on answering.

I sighed and walked over to the chair I had vacated earlier. Any second now, my shaky legs were going to give way beneath me.

Our eyes instantly locked when I looked back up at him.

“T-this morning at the waterfall,” I told him. “Are you mad at me?”

Devrim gave me a small smile. “I’m a bit pissed that they had already gotten the opportunity to taste your lips.”

My smile widened even as my cheeks continued to heat up. An idea hit, one I was a bit afraid of voicing, but the look in Devrim’s eyes gave me some courage.

I placed my elbows on the counter and leaned forward.

“I can rectify that,” I said softly.

His eyes darted over my face and then lowered to linger on my lips. Devrim’s eyes darkened, but he did the exact opposite of what I expected him to do.

Devrim stood and carried his empty plate to the sink. Turning, he closed the space between us and cupped my cheek.

“I’d love nothing more than to kiss you,” he whispered, “but not tonight. I think that we need to talk about a few things before we take that step.”

His lips brushed my forehead for a moment before he stepped out of reach.

Had he just kindly rejected me?

Devrim grabbed my plate and walked over to the fridge, but he changed direction before he reached it. I watched as he walked over to the front door. He disappeared into the darkness and then reappeared with an empty plate.

My brows dipped into a frown.

His eyes locked with mine as he entered the kitchen again. “Some of the wild animals will eat it if they’re hungry.”

“Oh.” I swallowed. “Do you feed them a lot?”

Ezra chuckled. “Only sometimes. It’s also another reason you shouldn’t be wandering around. We live among animals that are deadlier than us. They could mistake you for prey and attack.”

“They don’t attack you?”

“No, they know that we are like them.”

Devrim placed a hand on the small of my back. “Why don’t you go make that list? Ezra and I will clean up.”