“I will never hurt you. You have nothing to fear with me,” he says, the rumble of his deep voice vibrating through his chest.
I relax a little. Not fully. Not yet.
“Sleep. I will answer any more questions you have tomorrow.”
Sleep. Is he insane?
Maybe if I had more of that whiskey.
I blink, my muscles loosening against my will. My eyelids start to feel heavy, and my head becomes a little woozy.
“Goddamn it, you drugged me again, didn’t you?” I whisper.
“Just something to help you sleep,” he replies.
I try to force my eyes to stay open, but it’s futile.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
LUCIAN
“How much ofthat stuff did you give her?” I ask, staring down at Evelynn, still fast asleep in bed nine hours later.
Hex shrugs. “Enough. I wasn’t expecting her to drink so much of the whiskey. I thought she would take a sip, not glug half the bottle.”
“She’s fine, just in a deep sleep, is all.” Clutch shrugs beside me.
“So, when are you going to turn her, or kill her?” Silas asks sharply beside me.
My gaze snaps to his. Every muscle in my body locks tight at the thought of causing her harm. Even turning her is excruciatingly painful.
“I’m not,” I state firmly. I feel the eyes of all of them searing me, waiting for an explanation. “Not here,” I breathe. Turning on my heel, I head to court, standing at the head of the table, waiting for all of them to take their seats.
“The laws, Lucian,” Silas seethes beside me.
“I’m well aware of the fucking laws!” I growl, my temper rising. My fists grip the wood on the back of my chair so tight, I feel it begin to splinter beneath me. I pause, trying to calm my anger, this ball of raging emotions that is currently swarming me.
“Do not ask me to kill her. Do not ask me to change her,” I start. “Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know, but the thought of harming her in any way brings me physical pain. In my chest, like I have a beating human heart,” I confess. “From the moment I saw her, I felt this pull, and I shut it down. I tried to shut it down. Until I came back and saw her near death. I swear I’ve never felt rage like that. I wanted to rip your heads from your bodies,” I confess.
“The nun,” Silas states coldly. “She was protected for you. Maybe you are the only one who can protect her?” he suggests. “It’s why you feel different towards her?” Silas suggests.
“It’s not a bad suggestion,” Cain nods in agreement.
I look to Hex and Viktor. “Anything?” I ask, hoping they’ve found an answer to Anathema, to all of it.
Viktor shakes his head. “The book the nun gave me has pages of markings and words written in gibberish.”
“Old tongue?” Cain suggests.
“No, it’s something else. I just need to figure it out,” Viktor sighs with exasperation.
We continue to think of possibilities and try to plan, but it’s impossible to plan for the unknown. Hours pass, and my patience with this matter fades.
“I need to feed,” I cut in. “I need to hunt, or I will lose my fucking mind,” I snarl.
“I need to feed, too. I will join you,” Cain states, standing.
We leave immediately. I don’t give any orders while I’m gone, knowing they won’t harm her. Running through the forest that surrounds the compound, Cain laughs.
