She shrugged. “Maybe, but in my head, I’m those things when faced with adversity.”
“I’m the one taking the blood, not you, cousin,” he pointed out.
“I’d rather be the taker than the takee,” she argued.
“There’s no such word.”
“It’s becoming a sensation,” she said.
“You’re stalling.”
She was. Absolutely, she was. “Your friends, the ones you’d like me to meet…” She trailed off, unsure how to be delicate about her concerns.
“Some of them are Carpathian, and some are not. No, you aren’t going to be used as food by any of them. If they tried, they know they would answer to me. I’m your cousin and only family. Not only are you protected by me, but my brothers and their women would protect you as well. The name De La Cruz carries a certain reputation. You will be perfectly safe.”
He kept saying that. She had always felt relatively safe in every jungle she’d gone to, worldwide, but for some unexplained reason, this place, although it felt like home, also seemed very dangerous to her.
“I think I’ll just say no to you taking my blood this time,” Sarika said in her politest voice.
She was fairly certain she would say no for the rest of her existence. The idea of him biting into her neck and then being able to read her from a distance was extremely disconcerting.
“It is rather imperative for your safety. Percy knows you’re here. He’ll do whatever he can to acquire you.”
“I thought you said this house was safe,” she pointed out, doing her best not to stick her chin in the air. She was definitely drawing the line at allowing him to take her blood. In reality, with no apparent walls and a door made of dangling vines, she couldn’t imagine how the house, as cool as it was, could possibly be safe.
“I will place protections—safeguards, Carpathians call them—around the house. There are some always in place so no one can enter when I am not here, but with you in residence, I’ll add to them. If you invite someone in or cross the line to go out, there will be little to protect you.”
“I have no reason to leave, although I’ll be hungry.”
He shrugged. “I will provide food. There is a small icebox filled and another lockbox with staples in it. Everything in the kitchen works.”
“How? How do you get electricity here?”
He lifted his eyebrow again. “Are you paying attention to anything I tell you about Carpathians? I can generate the electricity you need for the house. The same with providing fresh, pure water.”
She swore he moved, a blur only. She blinked rapidly, and he was sitting without moving across from her. His expression was exactly the same, but she knew he had done something horrible. She lifted her hand to her neck, searching for telling signs. She didn’t feel anything, but she was a little dizzy andverysuspicious.
“Did you just take my blood?” she demanded.
“Don’t ask questions you don’t really want answers to. I told you I wouldn’t lie to you.”
She didn’t hear a single note of remorse. Not one. There was nothing on his face, in his eyes or in his mind.
“Why would you do that when I expressly said no?”
“It was necessary.”
“I said no.”
“You were being unreasonable out of fear. I knew it wouldn’t harm you. What tipped you off?”
“I saw you move from your chair and then you were back in it.”
He nodded. “That’s good, Sarika. Few would have caught that, even shifters. You have excellent instincts. Those instincts will develop even more here in the forest. You also have tremendous gifts. I can feel power in you.”
He was so matter-of-fact, as if she should just ignore what he’d done because it somehow was for her own good. “Praising me isn’t going to negate what you did, Luiz.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t praise you to get out of trouble. I don’t mind your being upset with me when I know I’m right. Taking your blood is a necessity to keep you safe. And just so you know, I don’t say things I don’t mean.”
