As soon as the garage door opened, we rocketed forward. Everything around us was a blur, we zoomed through the streets and walkways between buildings and down a road that disappeared into the thick forest I’d watched the sun set behind the day before. We raced along the narrow road into the densest part of the trees, even without leaves on the branches overhead; the sun had a hard time shinning through the trees to reach the ground. Most of the light came from the one headlight on the bike. It was the freest that I had felt in much longer than I could remember. It was like flying through the wind between the trees. The trees opened up and we came to a halt in a massive meadow. “Here you go, walk, run, skip or turn cartwheels to your heart’s desire,” he waved at the open space. “Stand in the middl
We didn’t return to the garage or even the main house when we got back out of the woods. He raced around, and between buildings, sometimes on sidewalks until we got to what looked like a small hospital. Nathan was standing at the entrance waiting for us. “Take her back to the house,” he ordered, handing him the keys and pushing inside. Nathan took a step towards me, “No,” I moved to follow after Dmitri, “I’m coming with you.” If something had happened to Sophie, hell would have to freeze over before I just went back to sit in a room to wait. “Alexan…” Nathan tried to keep me from going inside but I cut him off. “Luna,” I corrected, pushing past him, “and I said I’m going with him.” When Dmitri didn’t stop to enforce the order, Nathan just stepped away with an annoyed look, letting me plow into the building to follow him. I almost had to jog to keep up as he raced through the different wings and down a dark staircase to
There was a soft knock before the door opened, but I stayed curled up in the chair, not caring who was there or what they wanted. Sophie rushed across the room and threw her arms around me, “Oh, Lexi,” she cooed, wrapping her arms tight around my shoulders. “Trevor is doing much better now and is he’s going to be ok. Please don’t fret.” I didn’t have the energy to push her away or even tell her why I was really upset. I just sat there, numbly letting her hug me and pat my back as she tried to sound reassuring. “Let’s get out of this stuffy little room,” she stood back and smiled down at me, something in the depths of her icy blue eyes pulling me out of the dark hole I’d been hiding in. “Dimi had to head out to an allied pack up last minute, so you’ll get to spend the next few days with me.” She sounded excited about the news. I couldn’t help but I wonder if this impromptu trip was his way of trying to keep his distance from me after what happened at the
Once we were dressed, we made our way down for my daily blood draw before getting breakfast. In the kitchen, Sophie stood in the pantry searching for a long time, asking me to look behind things on the shelves she couldn’t reach. After exhausting everywhere she could think to look she stomped her foot, “Ooooh, I’ll get him for this! He must’ve found my cereal and had it thrown out.” She pouted. I just tilted my head, “Dmitri won’t let you have cereal?” “It was special cereal,” she pouted, “it was sugar frosted with marshmallows. He thinks it makes me too hyper.” Looking around the pantry I saw plenty of basics, “Well,” I started gathering some of the canisters and bags off the shelves, handing some for her to help carry, “he’s not here, we could just have cookies for breakfast.” I grinned, piling all the ingredients out on the counter. She followed me and dumped her armload on the counter as well. “How
I could feel him watching me in the dark, even with my eyes closed. After a while it was just frustrating to know he was sitting there, so I chucked my pillow at him. There was a thud and I opened my eyes to see he’d caught the pillow and dropped it on the floor, leaning back in the chair, his eyes still watching me. “How does someone who looks so peaceful while they’re sleeping act so hostile when they wake up?” his deep voice made my heart flutter. “Whatever,” I grumbled; refusing to let him know he’d had any effect on me. I readjusted myself, propping my head on my arm now that I was pillow-less. When I looked back at the chair he was gone. Tired of feeling like I was going crazy, I tossed the co
“You didn’t sleep again?” Sophie whined, looking me over as she stumbled sleepily from the bedroom. I just shrugged, “Same dream again.” It was the third night in a row now that I’d had the same dream. It didn’t always start out the same way but the end was the same. I’d wake up in a panic, clutching my neck where I’d felt his teeth mark my skin as he claimed me as his. I couldn’t seem to get myself to go back to sleep again no matter how many times I checked and found nothing on my skin. Instead of laying there staring up at the ceiling until the sun came up, I’d started going down to the gym and running on the treadmill until I felt like my legs would give out from under me. “Are you ready to talk about it? It might help to let it out.” She’d been losing sleep too, worried because she hadn’t heard from her brother since he left 5 days ago. I couldn’t bring myself to tell that I was terrified by his haunting presence
With a deep breath, I squared my shoulders and walked into the office. I took the long way around his desk so that he couldn’t miss me. He barely looked up, “What are you doing?” his voice was gruff and unamused. Biting my tongue I finished walking around the desk, stopping beside his chair. Without a word I knelt down on the floor, sitting back on my heels, and pushed my hair back over my shoulders before placing my hands on my thighs. I still looked up at him, instead of down at the floor. “What are you doing?” he asked again, sounding tired this time. “The deal was I’d give you one day,” I felt stupid even as I said it but it was the only card I had to play that could possibly throw him off balance. I’d promised I’d take one night to explore the possibilities of what accepting the contract could mean. I’d never promised to do it without my own stipulations and agenda. He sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose like he had a headache. “I’ve a
I felt myself wobble as I knelt there; desperately fighting off the dizzying head spin I was in. With agonizing slowness, I pulled new air into my lungs, but it felt thick and heavy, “That’s not possible.” With an apologetic look, he shrugged, “I’d be inclined to agree with you, but here we are.” He pushed himself back up to his feet, flexing his hand as if trying to decide something. “It wouldn’t be the first thing that’s gone against everything I’ve known to be true for my entire life.” He offered me a hand to stand up. Ignoring the offered hand, I stood up on my own. He caught my shoulders, keeping me from falling over as another dizzy spell washed over me. “I’m fine,” I steadied myself and brushed his hands away. I needed more answers, but I couldn’t stay in this room anymore, the air was too thick, and I was not going to be alone with him in a room with a bed right now. That just left the sitting room. I walked past him, refusing to look at him, a