I bite my tongue, staring down at the vampire andallhis accusatory tone.
“Listen, I take it in small doses. I’ve had it maybe twice… three times. But at least I knew what it was I was taking.” I fire my gaze at each of them. “Not one of you knew what was in that serum. What if it hurt you? Paralysed you? Killed you?”
“We’re hard to kill, you’re not,” Kane says with a bitter edge, as though that statement should revoke all my concerns, and bring the focus back to me, like I’m the sole problem in this little blame game.
And, for some reason, his anger seems to bite that little bit harder.
I fling my gaze at him, burning. “You’re mad at me for knocking myself out so I could sleep?” My tendrils flare, spiking out. “Well, I’m just as—no—I’mmorepissed at you all for drinking that serum without knowing the risks. It could have been anything, but you just drank it, no questions asked, no hesitation—”
“Because you gave it to us.” Ezekial’s calm words still my rant. I stare at him, eyes narrowed, brows furrowed. “We’ll do anything you ask, anything you want.”
My scowl slowly melts.
“Give us poison, tell us to drink, and we will, Red.” Sai shrugs.
My lips part.
“I apologise for my tone, but the thought of you harming yourself it’s… unbearable.” Julien’s gentle, deep voice comes next, and with it, the remnants of my anger fade. “But if harming ourselves is necessary to be in your presence, if only for a moment, we will endure an eternity of suffering.”
My breath catches.
“We trust you.” Kane’s small, final sentence is a blade that both hurts and soothes.
Everything softens. The burning rage cools. And in this calm, I realise what their anger meant, how it was an instinctive reaction to me harming myself.
Because they care.
Which brings me to my next realisation.
I care about them too.
“I won’t take it again.” My hands clasp, unlock, re-clasp. “So, what’s your proposal?”
“To help you sleep, we need to be closer.” Ezekial begins, and when I open my mouth, ready to interject, he adds, “By staying in the apartment next door at night.”
“Oh.” My throat goes dry.
“You won’t even know we’re there, unless you need us.”
I swallow hard. “All of you?”
Ezekial’s mouth twitches as he readjusts his glasses. “I propose only one of us stays over, for a couple of nights...initially.” His eyes gleam a little then, and I bite my lip to stop the smile. “It may not be close enough, but it’s something we’d like to try. Would you allow that?”
Chapter 14: Ezekial
Accept the proposal. Please, for the love of all that is Light and Dark,accept. I’ve considered all other logical options, the ones that give Jasmine the most control, and this is the most reasonable.
Okay, reasonable may be a stretch, considering I’ve bought the building she’s staying in. But owning the penthouses wasn’t enough. I needed to vet every resident. I need her safe. I need control.
Jasmine doesn’t have to know, not yet anyway. My unit doesn’t need to know either, though I think my brother already does.
I handle all of our accounts. Sai doesn’t even know how much money we have, Julien has his own wealth and rarely dips into ours, but my brother sometimes takes note—especially when it’s a large sum. You know, a building-purchasing sum. But he hasn’t said anything.
So if she doesn’t accept, I’m out of logical ideas.
Kidnapping is still on the table.
I’m not sure it’ll help our buddingfriendship. Even if my darkness insists it would, whispering images of shadowed hallways, her body slung over our shoulder, soft gasps in the dark, taking her in so many—
