I smoothed my foot over the comforter, liking its velvety feel. The bed wasn’t huge, but it seemed just right for two people. I’d wanted to get here, though not exactly like this.
I glanced up at Shade. The only light we had came through the open door, and his expression looked dark and almost dangerous in the dimness. He leaned over me, and I sat there as he pulled off my gloves, freeing one hand and then the other with a muttered curse. Straightening away from me, he threw the pair of gloves across the room like he was pretty pissed off.
“Onebag. You giveone—if you give at all. Who would take that much? Where the fuck did you go? Some black-market clinic?” He scrubbed a hand down his face, exhaling loudly. “Shit. You’re not selling your insides to pay for my repairs, are you?”
I went for levity, because he looked really upset. “This seems like a rich city. I’m sure I’ll get a good price for that kidney.”
His eyes flared. “That’s not funny.”
I shrugged. “Neither is needing a kidney.” They were really slow to grow in a petri dish.
His jaw visibly flexed. Forcing exaggerated evenness, he asked, “Can youpleaseexplain to me why you gave up so much blood?”
I chose to level with him. Mostly. What could it hurt? “There’s disease on Starway 8. I thought they might need blood. Sometimes, transfusions help. You know, out with the old, in with the new. It could be good.”
Shade didn’t look convinced. In fact, the way he looked at me made my stomach knot all up—and not in a good way this time.
“Let me get this straight. You drained yourself of blood to send it off to orphans? Just in case?”
I nodded.
“You’re a fucking lunatic, Tess.”
People kept saying that! I bristled. “I weigh every move I make, Shade. Don’t think that I don’t.” That also meant my decision to be here tonight, alone with him, and I was pretty sure he understood.
Unfortunately, I’d just demonstrated that I wasn’t up for even some good-natured sparring. He probably assumed I wasn’t up for anything else, either.
Shade’s hands moved to his hips. He took a deep breath and then ground out, “Stay here.”
Without waiting for an answer, he turned and walked out the door, leaving me alone in his darkened bedroom.
* * *
Fivebags of blood. Shade wanted to punch something.
Thank the Sky Mother typical bags were smaller than they used to be, or she’d be dead. Tess had still probably lost twenty percent of her overall blood volume, and that was way too much. Reaching dangerous levels.
What the hell had she been thinking? And then she’d come over to his place to duke it out on the mats? He’d thrown punches at her, for fuck’s sake.
While he was at it, what the hell washethinking? He still didn’t know if his aim tonight had been to ascertain how to best bring in Tess without hurting her, or to reassure himself that she knew how to fight off whatever hunter came for her first. And then the next hunter. And then the next. Everything was so fucked up.Hewas a fucking mess.
In a rage he couldn’t quite contain, Shade banged around his kitchen. Luckily, he’d held back. A lot. He hadn’t wanted to get rough with her. He’d just wanted to see what she could take.
“What’ve you eaten tonight?” he shouted toward the open door down the hallway.
A moment later, Tess’s answer floated back. “Water. Steak. Some nuts and green stuff.”
He made a face. Nuts? With steak and salad? At least she had her proteins covered.
He grabbed his bag of trigrain bread. Now he needed to get her blood sugar up.
While the bread toasted, he squeezed some orange juice, getting some aggression out on the ancient contraption he’d picked up a few years ago. He usually only brought out the prehistoric juicer in the mornings, but he thought Tess might like it. The end result tasted like sunshine in a glass.
He slammed the pump down hard, mashing the fuck out of the half-rounds of fruit he’d just cut. It felt good to pound on something, and fresh juice might give her some energy back.
The toast popped. He used three times as much butter as he would have wanted for himself, sprinkled a heavy layer of cinnamon sugar onto the bread, and then went back to the bedroom, carrying a tray with the toast and orange juice on it.
Tess was right where he’d left her, propped up like a nearly six-foot-tall, pale-as-fuck queen against his pillows. They were the same color as her hair. They looked like just plain brown at first, but then you saw the russet.
