I manage to stand, pushing my back to the wall as panic rises. “How? What? This can’t be real,” I pant.
He moves from the bed in a blur until he’s standing right in front of me. My eyes somehow go even wider.
“Holy shit!” I squeak.
He lifts a hand. “Petal, you need to calm down?—”
“Don’t touch me!” I scream.
His hand freezes mid-air.
“Please don’t kill me,” I whimper.
He slowly lowers his hand. “I’m not going to kill you,” he says firmly.
“Oh God. This can’t be real,” I ramble as panic fully takes over my body. I can’t breathe. I look past Lucian and see the rest of them entering the room. “Oh God, you’re all going to drain my blood, aren’t you? Oh God. I can’t breathe,” I gasp, pressing my palm to my chest as I struggle to draw a full breath.
“You told her,” Silas seethes.
“No. She figured it out,” Lucian answers, stepping back.
I spin away from him, looking for a window,another door, any way out. I’m trapped. Trapped with vampires.
“Someone help me, please!” I scream.
“I think she’s taking the news well,” Cain mutters sarcastically.
“I’m going to die. I don’t want to die, not yet. There is so much I’ve not experienced,” I wheeze, still trying and failing to breathe properly. The room starts to spin. “I’ve never been on a plane, I’ve never owned a puppy, I’ve never tried drugs… Not that I want to, but it would’ve been nice to have the choice.”
I stagger along the wall, my hands trailing over the stone as I search for some hidden escape.
“What’s she doing now?” I hear Clutch ask.
“Think she’s looking for a secret door,” Echo answers.
“I haven’t climbed a mountain. I’ve never even tried that Dubai chocolate everyone keeps going on about,” I wail, hearing my heart pounding in my ears too loud and too fast.
I try to breathe slower, deeper, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to keep the air in my lungs.
The room tilts. I collapse to the floor as everything spins one last time. My vision tunnels, darkness creeping in from the edges.
They all crowd around me, looming shapes looking down.
This is it. Now they feast.
“I’ve never even had sex,” I gasp one last time.
And then—nothing.
“She has to die. It’s the law,” a deep voice argues.
“She is not dying,” Lucian counters. “She is here for a reason. I feel it.”
“The nun did say…” another voice adds.
My head feels like it’s underwater. Slowly, I blink my eyes open to find myself back in Lucian’s bed. They’re all standing around me, watching, waiting. My gaze drifts over them.
“Hex,” I breathe in surprise.
