“I want to know more about you, Saya.”
Tightening my hand, my fingers intertwine with his. “You know me in here. Isn’t that enough?”
“No.” With his fingers laced with mine, he climbs over me, pinning my arms on either side of my head. “I want to know everything about you.” Jax bends down and kisses the edge of my mouth. “Your fears, your highs and lows, and every relationship you had before me. I want to know every piece of your life, and to share mine with you.”
“Well,” I say, squirming as he uses his knees to kick my legs out wider and settle onto my pelvis, “when we get out of here, I will tell you everything.”
“Is that right?” he purrs, rubbing his growing erection against my heat. “So, is therereallynothing I can do to tempt you into sharing a piece of yourself with me right now?”
“No.” My voice is firm. A shard of glass against a vein. He stops, his teasing faltering as he lifts his head and realises I am not playing around. “I wasn’t in a settlement, Jax. I didn’t know anything before this, and my last relationship wasn’t exactly a blooming flower. It had more rot than growth. It wasn’t us and what we have.”
“You mean he wasn’t this charming?” he says as he rolls off me and tugs my nightgown back into place.
“Funny,” I murmur.
Flashing a crooked smile, he draws me close and kisses me firmly. “I won’t rush you, babe. Just let me know when you’re ready.”
Babe. The more he uses it, the more I suspect things will get ugly if we don’t work out.
“What if I’m never ready?” I ask quietly.
“At the very least, write it down before you die.”
I shift uncomfortably. “And if you die before me?”
“I’m inclined to believe that was a threat.” He pauses and blinks slowly. “Well, since Mother left, there’s no afterlife—unless you’re an immortalbloodsuckerwho can’t fuck off. So, I’ll be a ghost and haunt your sexy arse until you tell me to stop.”
I swallow the unknowingly hurtful words and mutter, “How annoying.”
Jax flashes a grin, tangles his fingers in my hair, and pulls me in for another kiss. I give in, hoping it will help it all hurt a little less.
With his hands gripping my waist, Jax boosts me up through the vent. He had double-checked that I was heading back to my room, and I’d responded with a dismissive “yes” and not met his gaze. The guilt would’ve been written all over my face.
He closes and secures the vent while I creep back the way I came, but I skip past my room and head for the ground floor instead.
I shuffle through the airshafts, the cold metal pressing against my bare feet. Dropping to my hands and knees, I scramble down a series of inclines until I reach the ground-floor vent system.
The praised room is ahead, awash in orange light andinfused with the enchanting music that once lulled me to sleep.
As I reach the vent outside the praised room, I spot two Bleeders below. I glance uneasily at the light resting against my shoulder and freeze.Don’t fucking move.
“When do we clock off?” one of the Bleeders below asks.
The second looks towards the praised room. “An hour. I need to take Feeder zero-three-seven to the delivery room first.”
They soundhuman, which shouldn’t surprise me—because they are—but it’s a shock to hear how they speak to each other.
Friendly.
Familiar.
An unsettled feeling crawls along my spine.It’s far easier to believe those who choose to become Bleeders aren’t people at all.
“See you at the gate when I’m done with my surveillance,” the Bleeder says, heading towards the exit.
“See you then.”
When I’m sure they are both gone, I crawl in the same direction as one of the Bleeders. According to the evacuation diagram outside each room, the delivery room is to the left—down the corridor connected to the praised room and near the second entrance to the Feeding Ground.
