I felt the panic creeping from my gut to the top of my head. What the hell had he been giving me?
“I can’t say I’d recommend it, as it’s not meant to be used long term. There haven’t been enough studies…”
“Let’s just keep her on it for a little while longer, hm? You can come back to check on her again in a few months, and if it’s caused any harm, we’ll stop.”
This doctor had examined me before by the sound of their conversation, but I didn’t recognize his voice, which could only mean I’d been put under. I was too light of a sleeper otherwise.
The pain in my abdomen pulsed again, and I couldn’t keep the small whine from sounding in my chest.
“She’s waking up, you need to leave.”
“Victor?” I called, scrambling out of bed and trying to catch him in whatever lies he would likely try to weave. But the front door closed before I could exit the bedroom. He stood in front of me, fully dressed, with a glass of Sanguis Vita in hand. “Good evening,” he said, handing me the drink.
“Who was here?” I asked, my voice trembling. I held onto the door jamb for support.
“Drink,” was his reply. He walked past me and opened the curtains, revealing the burgeoning night sky. “And that was no one for you to concern yourself with.”
Like he ever had anyone in here that didn’t concern me. I looked at the glass in my hand. How many years had I been drinking these, never questioning their contents?
“What’s in this?” I asked, afraid to take a sip. Had it tasted different recently?
His lips flattened, his eyebrows coming together. “Sage, I don’t have time for this. Just drink it.”
He walked past me, heading towards the nightstand on his side of the bed. He grabbed his watch and his phone, not bothering to look at me.
“What’sOvessra?”
Now I’d done it.
He quickly cut the distance between us, grabbing me by the hair on the back of my head to force me to look up at him.
“Why are you always questioning me?” he hissed.
Tears stung the corners of my eyes, and I blinked, feeling them begin to escape down my cheeks.
“Why are you always keeping secrets from me?” I whispered.
With a heavy sigh, he let go of me and took a step back, adjusting his tie. “I understand you must be bored. What else do you have to do while I’m gone but dissect my every word, every touch, every glance?”
Then he smirked, as though I was just some desperate, lovesick, empty-headed omega with no life outside her alpha.
I slammed the glass down on the dresser, not caring when the thick, viscous liquid splattered and spilled from the impact. “Because you set that system up!”
His eyes widened in anger, his jaw set tight. But I continued anyway. “You took away everything from me and then you punish me for relying on you. Tell me what you did to me!”
I could see his tongue moving along his teeth under his lips as he breathed in deeply, trying to keep himself from lashing out. “I think we need to come to some sort of understanding. I thought we had after…”
His eyes wandered down to the scars on my neck and arms, and I covered them as best I could, feeling self-conscious. I hated the constant reminders of Kain Ulfic’s attack, and that even with all of his power, he wouldn’t allow me a charm to glamour them away.
He took my hands and held them in his own. “I need you here. Safe. It’s the only thing that allows me to breathe easy when I’m working. I thought I could be enough to keep you happy, but I suppose you probably do need some sort of variety in your life.”
My heart fluttered as he brought my hands to his lips, then my wrists to his nose as he breathed me in deeply. I hated this man so much, and yet even the smallest, intimate acts could flipmy stomach and make me swoon. It wasn’t fair, because it made it so easy for him to manipulate me.
“Now that I think about it,” he continued, “we haven’t really gotten to know one another, have we?” His nose traveled along my arm until it found its way to the crook of my neck, where he remained, his teeth scraping the delicate skin and sending shivers down my spine.
Damn him, I couldn’t think like this.
“I… I don’t even know your favorite color,” I replied with a short breath, preparing myself for his bite.
