“Does the urge to shove a sock down your throat count?” Alice asked in a saccharine sweet voice.
Willis held up his hands. “No need to get all cranky on me. I’m just doing my job, Alice.”
She glared at him. “Believe me, Willis, if I get the urge to bite someone, you will be the first to know. And it won’t be because I’ve told you about it.”
“Back off, Willis,” Cain growled. “Can’t you see you’re overwhelming her?”
The scientist bobbed his head. “Yes, yes, of course. My apologies.” But his gaze still followed Alice closely. She half expected him to pull out a notebook and start taking notes.
As the days passed, she and Cain developed a routine. Alice found it oddly comforting. All the routines she’d ever had before in her life had been by herself.
She stepped out of the steam filled bathroom in the set of pajamas he’d threatened to burn–butthead–and Cain motioned her over. He sat on the large, overstuffed couch in the quaint sitting area. “Let me check your wound.” His voice was softer than it was when they were out around other people.
“It’s fine,” Alice told him, though she knew he would still demand to see it.
Sure enough, his eyes narrowed. “Let me look at you.”
A shiver ran down her spine at his words. Though she knew what Cain meant, the words held an intimacy that made her realize how much she’d come to trust him.
She walked over to him and took a seat. Cain pushed her damp hair away from her neck, revealing the skin that she knew was probably still flushed from the heat of her shower.
“It’s nearly completely healed,” he murmured as his fingers ran over the flesh.
“I told you.” The words came out breathlessly because at the same moment, Cain pressed his lips to the skin where the healing bite mark was located.
She sucked in a breath and bit the inside of her cheek. Cain had become increasingly more affectionate, and Alice hadn’t done anything to discourage his advances. He’d become her safe place. But even with him, there was still an undercurrent of someothernessflowing through her veins, something not quite human. She hoped it, too, like the bite mark would fade in time. But that wasn’t the only weird thing. Alice’s sense of reality was also off kilter, sometimes she felt like she was losing gaps of time, like she was somehow going through the motions in a dream, instead of living her completely messed up life.
One afternoon Cain found her standing at the window in his room, looking out at the stark beauty of the desert landscape. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. It was no longer weird to have him touch her so casually. In fact, she’d come to crave his touch and found herself holding her breath when he was near, waiting with anticipation for the feel of his skin against hers. She leaned back into him, taking comfort in his closeness. Part of her felt like she was betraying Lizzy and Finn. She hadn’t even brought herself to check on them other than to ask the guards about them. Alice couldn’t shake the feeling she was siding with the enemy. Yet when Cain looked at her as if the sun rose and set in her eyes, she couldn’t see him as her enemy.I must convince him to let the couple go.And then everyone else he had captured.Surely, I can talk some sense into him.They’ve come so far in their relationship, she’d been more open with Cain than she had been with anyone in her life.
“You’ve been quiet today,” he murmured against her hair. “Talk to me. What’s on your mind?”
She considered brushing it off, saying she was fine. But if she couldn’t be honest with him, who could she be honest with?
“I need to ask you some tough questions, and I’m worried how you will react,” she said, holding her breath as she waited.
“You can ask me anything, Alice,” Cain told her. “Don’t ever be afraid. Please.”
She blew out the breath and then turned in his arms so she could look at him. “It’s about Lizzy and Finn.” She waited to see if he would respond, but he simply stared back at her, his features holding interest. “I want you to let them go. Please. Lizzy is practically still a kid. And Finn just found her, his true mate. Think of how you want to protect me.” She took his hand and placed his palm against her cheek. “Consider how he must feel, unable to do anything to keep Lizzy safe.” Her voice broke as emotions for the couple welled up inside of her. Alice knew they had been building, but not to this extent.
He continued to stare at her, his face giving nothing away. “There’s more,” he said softly. “Get it all off your chest, and then I will address everything. Hopefully, I can relieve you of your worries.”
“I’m scared,” she finally admitted softly, dropping her head. The tremble in her voice made her want to punch something. Her emotions were all over the place.
Cain placed a finger under her chin and tilted it up. “Scared of what?”
“Of becoming something I don’t want to be. Of losing who I am.” She hesitated. “Of caring for you, of losing you. I’m scared of what will happen to Lizzy and Finn and all the other dormants in this place. I’m just—” She shook her head. “I’m a mess. And I hate it. I hate feeling unsure. And…”
“And what?”
“And I don’t want to like you or care for you. You’re a man.”
“Thank you for reminding me,” he said dryly. “I’d almost forgotten.”
“I haven’t had the best luck with men, and I don’t mean in just a romantic sense. You’ve met my father. He’s a grade A ass,” she continued. “So, yeah, I’m worried that you’ll get bored and jump ship, and where will that leave me?” she didn’t give him time to answer, she was on a roll. “I’ll tell you.”
“By all means,” he said.
“It leaves me alone for however long I might live, which brings me to my next fear. If I’m a vampire, I will live for hundreds of years. I don’t want to start that life with a broken heart. And then there’s the whole blood sucking and sating some unquenchable hunger thing. That doesn’t sound appealingat all.
