The more I listened during the late hours of the night, the more I heardsuspiciouscommotions outside.
“We need to make sure you can be around a human without being thrown into blood-lust first.”
I shrugged, swiping the locks of hair out of my face. “Give me a human, and I’ll lick them without falling into blood-lust.”
“Only you would say something like that.” Kai’s lips quirked up as we walked toward the library. “Please, don’t lick the human.”
A giggle burst out of me.
I was on an adrenaline high from the run this morning. I ran around the manorsixteentimes instead of fifteen, and vampire speed was insane. The bitter air sliced across the skin of my face and pushed my hair back behind me. It was the most alive I’d felt...ever.
The shower I’d taken after the run was rejuvenating in a way I’d never experienced.
I still hadn’t caught a glimpse of a pixie, but I’d heard little footsteps in the middle of the night and caught a whiff of cucumbers and coconut every now and then.
“Where are you getting the”—I gestured with quotation marks—“human?”
“Thaddeus just went to the store and compelled some bloke to come with him. He’ll wipe their memory once we release them.”
I gasped. “No way! Thaddeus can do mind control shit?”
He laughed. “Yeah, sort of. He can compel humans to perceive reality differently. It’s more like an intense suggestion they usually go along with.”
“Usually?”
“There are rumors that some humans found a way not to listen in the twelfth century.”
“Cool.”
“Thaddeus brought the human already, so focus on something other than blood when you see them, okay?” He planted his hand on my shoulder, sending a tingling comfort through me.
I nodded. “I’ll rock this. I won’t eventryto eat him.”
Kai chuckled, pushing open the giant wooden doors to the library, and my heart plummeted.
Thaddeus was lounging across the sofa with his arms tucked under his head, and a familiar scent struck a nerve.
A guy with shaggy brown hair and a slender frame sat in a chair across from him. He’d haunted me in my fucking dreams for months until I healed from the trauma he’d inflicted.
Travis’s stupid brown eyes widened as they landed on me, and anger flared somewhere deep inside.
“Lilith?” He sprang up off the chair to his feet as he gaped at me.
My fangs dropped, slicing my lip open with a sting as a low, sinister growl tore from my throat.
Kai’s arm snaked around my waist and pulled me against his chest. His scent wrapped around me, protecting me without even knowing it.
My fangs tucked away, and I took a deep breath to catch my bearings.
“Is that you?” Travis’s slimy voice slid across my skin, making disgust curl in my stomach. “Why’re you hanging around these men? Don’t you know everyone has been looking for you?”
Kai stiffened. “You know him?”
“Iloathehim.”
“Come on, you don’t loathe me. We were happy together at one point.” His voice took on that fucking defensive tone I heard so many times before.
My nostrils flared as I took another harsh breath. The sound of his steady heartbeat echoed throughout the room.
