“It was the magic. D’s and mine,” he explained, knowingly. “Bjørn has beennourishingyou while you slept, but he’s out today, and you need actual food.” He glanced toward the door. “Vanessa, we need you.”
Confusion briefly gripped me, he seemed to be calling for her, but he hadn’t even raised his voice.
The door opened sluggishly, and the Vampire girl peeked her head inside so impossibly slow that it was comical. “Yes?”
“Must you do that?” he sighed impatiently. “It’s like you are stuck in slow motion.”
“I don’t want to scare her again. D’s going to strangle me if her wolf gets startled because of me and hurts her. And although I wouldn’t exactly die, I like my neck just the way it is, thank you very much.”
The Dark Witch and I exchanged a glance, his lips twitching, but I actually felt bad for her. It wasn’t her fault I couldn’t shift or heal like a normal shifter, and she’d been sweet to me.
“I promise to remember how fast you are. Just don’t go extra crazy around me, you are still a Vampire, and I don’t know you.” It was true that I had no freaking clue what was happening here, but a wolf’s instincts never failed, and my wolf didn’t sense any danger from them. She seemed at ease in their presence…but even if I didn’t understand why, I couldn’t forget their true nature.
A small smile curved Vanessa’s lips, and she nodded. “I understand…” Pausing, her gaze went to Dante before returning to me. “It takes time to acceptthis.”
Once again, her words were much deeper than they appeared, and I wondered what exactly she meant by that.
“MiaBella, please help Natasha get familiar with the room, and show her where everything is. She needs to get ready so she can have dinner with us.”
“My pleasure,” the Vampire girl answered, smiling at me.
Placing a kiss on my cheek and giving me one last whiff of his inciting scent, Dante walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
“This way…” She gestured to the door on the right side of the bed, her other hand instinctively reaching for my arm.
“Don’t touch me,” I reminded, and she paused, looking at me like she was trying to decipher something.
“Right. Sorry.” Turning, she walked straight to the door, opened it, and disappeared on the other side.
“What is this?” I asked, slowly pulling the door after her.
“The bathroom, silly,” she answered as I stepped into it. “I thought you may want to refresh, maybe take a quick shower before dinner.”
“This room has a bathroom inside?” My eyes instantly grew wide.
The bathroom was nothing like the one we had in the village.
A polished white stone vanity extended the length of the wall on the left side and held two sinks that seemed carved into said stone. The finish was so shiny it might as well be a mirror. To the right was a shower that looked nothing like the ones I’d ever used. It was probably the size of four of the stalls of our communal bathroom combined, but instead of a wooden casing,and slab floors, pretty tile squares in a curious pattern adorned the walls and floor, looking as smooth and glossy as the vanity did. A door made of pure glass enclosed the space, while every fixture in sight appeared to be made of gold.
“This is the toilet closet,” the Vampire girl continued, pointing to a door next to the shower, then moving toward the one in the corner. “And this is the walk-in closet. You’ll find fresh clothes, underwear, and anything else you might need in there.”
“Does everyone use this bathroom? Are they coming in after I’m done?” I asked, wondering if D and Dante would be showering here too. Or her.
“Heavens, no!” She snorted. “We would kill each other if we all had to share it. Everyone has one; this one is just for you.”
“For me?” It was hard to mask the shock on my face, and her lips twitched.
“Don’t worry. All the rooms in Dante’s penthouse are masters, so we all have our own baths and walk-ins. He’s fancy…” She wiggled her brows, walking into the closet.
I wanted to follow but I took a moment to glance around me again, my gaze spilling out of the bathroom and into the lavish room. This was Dante’s home?
“What’s a penthouse?” I asked seeing Vanessa peek her head out of the closet.
“Um, well. Most buildings have like three to four apartments per floor, but a penthouse is a home on the highest level, that usually occupies the entire floor of the building. So, the entire floor is ours.”
“And you all live here?”
Warmth trickled into her expression at that moment. “Yeah. We are family… Are you coming?”
