Her eyes flick to mine.
“I’m unlocking the door.”
Her posture shifts almost imperceptibly. She’s suspicious at first, but then a few quiet moments later, her shoulders soften. “Why?” she asks.
“Because I don’t want to cage you,” I answer honestly. “I just want to keep you safe.”
The words hang between us.
“So…” She pauses, and she tilts her head to the side as she assesses my face. “You’re going to let me out of this room?”
“Yes.”
“I can go anywhere inside and outside?”
“There are boundaries,” I add calmly. “You stay within the cabin perimeter. You don’t cross the tree line. One of us is always outside with you.”
Her lips press into a thin line. “So, you’re not keeping me caged, but you’re not exactly giving me full freedom.”
I shrug. “I wish I could. But I don’t trust the people who would take advantage of that freedom.”
“And you’re not worried about me trying to escape?”
“You won’t.”
Her eyes flash at that. “You’re very confident.”
“Well, I have an unfair advantage when it comes to you,” I say quietly. “And I know you don’t want to stay locked in here.”
“Unfair advantage?” Her pulse jumps at my words, thrumming quickly at her neck. “What does that mean?”
Intention, Blair. I can read your intention. Hell, I am so fucking locked in on you I can tell when you’re awake or asleep or worrying yourself sick about shampoo. I can feel your emotions from miles away.
But I don’t tell her that. In fact, I don’t answer at all.
She stares at me, her pretty blue eyes trying to read my face.
I know she hates the confinement. She hates feeling powerless, but no matter how badly she wants to hate me, she can’t. Most of the time, when I’m not near, her intentions are mixed with her wondering where I am and what I’m doing.
“No matter what you’ve been raised to think about vampires,” I eventually say, “I’m not the type of vampire that wants to treat you like property, Blair. That never has and never will be my intention.”
Her expression falters just slightly.
“I won’t cage you,” I say again, slower this time. “But I won’t let you walk into danger either.”
Silence stretches as she studies me like she’s trying to figure out what the angle is and where the manipulation lies.
She won’t find either. My heart is bare with her.
Finally, she walks past me toward the open door. Her body is close enough that her shoulder brushes mine as she pauses in the doorway.
The contact sends a low current through me.
“If I’m not your prisoner,” she says without looking at me, “then why do you want to bother with keeping me here? Why do you even care what happens to me?”
“Because you’re not just something to me, Blair. You’re fucking everything,” I say the truth because it’s all I have. “And though I don’t own you, youaremine.”
Her breath stutters, and her eyes search mine for a long moment. She’s tempted to step back toward me; I can feel the need vibrating through her body.
