His smile was gone; he gave me a single hand wave, a clear signal to follow him. When he was near the base of their stairs, he even let out a low whistle, no doubt in reference to my stray dog comment.
“Lexen is not going to hurt you,” Marsil said. He had just stepped into the kitchen, his phone in his hand like he’d been on it. “He might not like this situation, but he’s honorable.”
Star nodded her head in rapid bobs. “Yes, the House of Darken is not one you need to fear.”
Sounded like some of the other houses weren’t so wonderful. Could one of them have taken my guardians?
8
Lexen was waiting for me at the top of the stairs, arms crossed over his chest, stretching the fitted long-sleeved shirt across his muscles. I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen an eighteen year old guy fill out a shirt like that, which only cemented the not-human thing for me. As soon as I was on the first floor, he started to walk along the long hall. We went past his sister’s room, and a billion others.
For real? No one needed this many rooms.
I kept waiting for him to stop at one of the doors, but we just continued on. And on. And on.
Like, seriously, this house didn’t seem to have an actual ending. Just when I was about to suggest a short rest, because long distance walking was not a favorite pastime of mine, we reached another set of stairs. I traipsed up, exhausted from my long day. School, then stalking, then kidnapping. It had been a lot. And I was hungry. Again.
“Always hungry” should be my new motto.
I’d been so caught up in my thoughts that it took me a few moments to register my new surroundings. The second floor was a single level, not as big as the floor below, but still huge. “This is your bedroom?” I breathed, trying to take it all in.
It was as if Lexen had his own apartment sitting on top of the house. He was watching me, no expression on his face. I moved around him to stare out the windows. Like the living room downstairs, Lexen’s windows stared out into the cliffs and crashing ocean beyond.I don’t belong here.Whatever Lexen was, there was no denying he was way out of my league. Beautiful, rich, and supernatural.
I pulled my gaze from the view to stare at the massive bed that dominated the room. It was piled high with a thick blanket and mounds of pillows. I knew immediately this was Lexen’s bed, and it looked so inviting, I almost ran right for it. I didn’t, though, because I wanted to stay alive, and I sensed pissing off Lexen too badly was not a way to stay topside.
I followed him as he strode to a door in the back corner of his room. “This is the spare room,” he said, opening it up. “You’ll stay in here.”
Inside there was a king-size bed and a small desk. That was all. It was an odd sort of space, but maybe he had friends or family that crashed in here on occasion. Or maybe he kidnapped people regularly? I was banking on the latter.
“I don’t sleep much. There’s no point trying to sneak out,” he said as he turned to leave, pretty much shutting the door in my face.
“Asshole,” I muttered.
Sucking in a deep breath, I tried to calm myself. This was going to be okay. I would stay here tonight, go to school tomorrow, and hopefully after that we would have some answers. How long could it possibly take for their council to follow up the leads? To figure out what was going on with the Finnegans?
It was worrying how casual this council seemed to be in regards to me knowing of their existence. I had expected to be killed on the spot, but with their current attitude I was wondering how big of a secret it could possibly be. I’d certainly never heard anything – except from the Finnegans – about mutants, or supernaturals, or advanced humans. So it definitely wasn’t general knowledge.
As I stepped into the small room, I hesitated. I needed to pee quite badly, and I was hungry. The old Emma would have probably sucked it up, dealt with the discomforts, but I was not that person any longer. This new person broke the rules – crossed the street when they shouldn’t. I was already deep in it, so what was one more thing.
Walking back to the door on my little room, I reached for the handle, surprised when it opened easily. I stepped out into the main bedroom again. Lexen was nowhere to be seen.
Crossing over toward his bed, I moved cautiously, as if he would leap out of the shadows at any moment. When I was standing beside the decadent bed, I noticed his shirt was draped across it, and in that same moment the faint sounds of running water registered with me.
Great.He was in the shower. Now we were going to have one of those cliché moments. He would be half naked and dripping wet. I would blabber and lose all conscious thought…
Not happening. Spinning as fast as I could, I was hightailing it back to my room when a deep voice cut across the area. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Turning back around, I bit back the groan that immediately sprang to my lips. He was wearing shorts. Just a pair of soft black shorts. The rest of his skin was bare, golden, ripped, bare, golden…
My breathing was doing funny things so I forced myself to focus. He was a supernatural. Not a human. We were a different species and I could not lust after him. It was weird, and wrong, and I … was so going to hell.
“I’m hungry. I have to pee. I need clothes to sleep in.” I rattled off my list like they were bullet points, half tempted to close my eyes at the same time. I didn’t, because I wasn’t keen to advertise his effect on me, but it was definitely tempting.
He crossed the room in a second, bringing with him the heat from his shower. Or at least that was what I was telling myself. “Use my bathroom. You’re not permitted to leave this room tonight. I won’t have my family put at risk.”
I stuck my tongue out at him. I hadn’t meant to, but somehow it slipped out.
He growled, getting in close to my face. “Don’t. Push. Me.”
