“When I’ve been stabbed, I can usually tell a stunner from a regular dagger. It just feels different. Plus a lot of the men acted really surprised when they put it in me and I was still moving around. It didn’t take long for me to figure it out.”
“Are you telling me that you don’t succumb to the paralyzed state that a dagger infused with magic brings to a Mage?”
“Pretty much.”
I decided not to tell him about impalement wood not affecting me either. I didn’t know how much people in the house talked to each other, but if I was on my way out the door because of tonight’s stunt, then maybe I needed to keep a few things to myself.
He ran his fingers through his hair forward and then back, which I found to be a peculiar gesture.
“Dazzled?” I asked.
“Perplexed… would be a better word.”
I leaned forward, giving him a good look at my mismatched eyes. “Don’t you know who I am? I’m the Shadow. Legend has it that if a man loses his shadow, it means that I ate it, and I’m coming for the rest of him.”
When his eyes flicked down at the floor, I laughed.
“Made you look.”
His jaw set, and he straightened his legs. “You’re a peculiar woman. Next time go for the handsome man of the group, you hear? How often do you think that sweaty little troll got singled out by a beautiful woman? From the moment you batted your lashes at him, his fantasies were peppered with doubt and suspicion, so when you asked him to go to the car, it’s no wonder he pulled a Ted Bundy. Instinct always tells you to pick the weaker one, so you need to go for the leader… or the most handsome.”
“None of them were handsome, and I don’t think I could have drawn him away from that table.”
One eyebrow arched. “Good-looking men will always do foolish things for a woman.”
I grabbed the sink and pulled myself up.
Christian gathered me up in his arms, and everything spun for a moment. “Take me, for instance.”
He swiftly moved through the doorway and flung me onto the clean side of the mattress. After stripping the sheets out from beneath me, he tossed them in a pile in the corner.
“I didn’t tell him about Keystone,” I said. “But I can’t prove it since he’s dead. Do you think Viktor will believe me?”
He gripped the ends of a pillowcase and gave it a hard yank, forcing the pillow out. “Why are you really here?”
“I’m not here for the pool, I can tell you that much. It seemed like a way to make a few bucks so I could tuck it away for a rainy day, but once again, destiny screwed me over.”
“Ah. So it’s about the dollar signs.”
“How easy do you think it is for me to get a steady job? Think about it. I can’t get a job in the human world since I’m legally dead, and none of the Breed places will hire me since I have a sketchy background and no alias that’s been registered with the higher authority. I’m an illegal creation, and I can’t risk someone turning me over to the Mageri. I’ve worked a few odd jobs, but someone like you wouldn’t understand what it’s like to have everyone turn you away.”
Christian circled around the bed and lifted the mattress, causing me to roll over to the opposite end.
“This ismyside,” he said.
“You’re not going to sleep with me.”
He bounced onto the mattress and locked his fingers behind his head. “No, I’m going to sleep next to you.”
“Vampires don’t sleep.”
When Christian spoke, it sounded like he was musing aloud. “If Viktor brings you into this group, I’ll have no choice about it. We’ll be partners, and he doesn’t change his mind about such things.”
I crossed my feet at the ankles. “He might if one of us turns up dead.”
“Maybe I’m just a tangle of barbed wire to you, but you’re a jellyfish.”
“Are you saying I’m out of shape?”
