"It is."
"I'm listening."
I explained my plan while we ate—her quickly, and me, slowly. Rae's eyes brightened as the explanation went on.
"Fuck, that's good. I don't have that kind of sway, but I'll get Mia and Charity to make it happen."
I opened my mouth to thank her, but she disappeared. Literally.
I stared at the place she'd been for a long moment before refocusing on my food. Rae's was long gone, but mine wasn't.
My phone lit up beside me with an incoming video call, and I answered it immediately when I saw the name on the screen.
Grayson Darke
I was holding the phone up when the call connected, and I sucked in a breath when I saw the demon king on the other side of it. He was wearing a sling on his arm, and his veins were dark as they trailed out from what looked like two small stab wounds on his shoulder.
A vampire bite.
I noticed the ashen tone to his skin immediately, and saw red.
"Who the fuck bit you?" I nearly snarled the words, the world growing smaller and tighter and more uncomfortable around me.
I was suddenly aware of every single thing that touched me. My thighs, on the chair. The fabric of my clothes, on my body. My hair, growing toward my shoulders.
"Leon. The vampire king. I'm fine," Grayson said quickly, managing a grin that didn't meet his eyes.
"You can lie to and charm the Cabinet, but that shit doesn't work on me."
His grin faded.
A quiet breath escaped him. "Alright, I'm pretty wrecked. You know I don't do this, but Leon's started playing dirty. If I'm going to heal in time for the next fight today, I need to feed from you."
"I knew you didn't take enough last night."
"It's not because of that. I'm just fading. It's been too much fighting, for too long." Grayson shoved a hand through his hair, pushing the falling strands out of his eyes.
"Luckily for you, I'm exhausted. Some asshole demon kept me up half the night because he was too horny to stop fucking me."
His lips curved again. This time, the smile reached his eyes. "He sounds sexy."
"Oh, he is.Toosexy, honestly."
"There's no such thing."
"There is." I looked around the kitchen. "I'll have to hang up. Give me a few minutes?"
"Of course. Thanks, Mer."
I nodded before I hung up the phone. After sending a quick text to Rae so she wouldn't think I ditched her, I walked slowly to the guest room Darius kept for me. I would've preferred to be in my own home, but I was way too overstimulated to drive at the moment, so the guest one worked fine.
It didn't take me long to slip under the blankets.
Sleep didn't come immediately, but it arrived fast enough. As I went under, Grayson followed me in.
I watched the dream take shape a little slower than usual. We were back in Grayson's apartment, with him standing in front of me and me sitting on the couch. Everything was fuzzier than it usually was, which didn't seem like a good sign.
But things couldn’t be going well, considering the man had actuallyadmittedthat he needed help.
