My teeth clamped together. “Wow, what?”
He shook his head. “I expected a thank you for saving your life.”
I scoffed. “Thank you for saving your future dinner,” I snapped. “Let’s not pretend this is more than that. From now on, I see you at mealtimes and you forget I exist otherwise.”
The hurt that crossed his face looked genuine, but he also didn’t deny my words. “Sage just said that because—”
“I don’t care,” I interrupted. “Look … I need to get back or this will be harder to explain later,” I told him. “Just drop me off at the nearest bus station or call me a cab.”
His eyebrows raised, but then he looked down at me with a flash of anger. “Fine. I’ll have Walsh drop you. It’s clear you only want to see me as needed. Goodbye, Aspen.”
Those two words,Goodbye, Aspentore into my heart way more than I thought they would.
It was better this way. Anger was good. I could handle anger. It was attraction, lust, and the other stuff with Luka that I couldn’t even begin to comprehend.
Walsh popped in about ten minutes later with keys in his hand. Sage stepped up next to him and faced me. “The van is all gassed up. We can take you to a hospital in Portland. Your cover story is that a human hotel employee found you bleeding out in the hallway and called an ambulance. You were treated at the hospital and released. You can call yourpeople from there to make the cover story seem legit.”
I could tell by the cadence of her voice that she was annoyed with me. Long gone was the nice girl from the elevator. Luka must have said something to her and he must have thought up the cover story, which was actually really good.
But we were in Magic City. It was somewhere in Idaho and over six hours’ drive to Portland. I was already feeling so exhausted, I just wanted to sleep. But if they dropped me off at the society in Spokane, Maz would want to know how I got there.
“Thank you,” I said.
She nodded curtly, and Walsh just pushed the wheelchair up to the bed as I slowly managed to get myself inside of it and slumped into the seat, wincing every few moments at the fresh waves of pain.
“Ready?” Walsh asked, his voice pretty devoid of emotion. He seemed like the strong and silent type.
I nodded, and Sage dropped a bottle of pills in my lap. “For the pain,” was all she said.
Great. These people were nice to me and helped save my life and I was being a total asshole.
Walsh pushed me out of the blasted-open door and I looked to the left, my eyes catching on a bunch of tradesmen sweeping up rubble or painting or repairing glass.
“The vampires did this? In the war?” I asked Sage. “Don’t you hate them?” I looked up at her.
She nodded. “But we don’t hatehim.” Her gaze went to Luka, who was down the hallway speaking in low tones to Sawyer and Demi as they all glared at me.
Fabulous. I’d just made enemies with the people who’d saved my life. Way to go, Aspen.
I was just too tired to care, and after hearing Sage talk about me as Luka’s meal plan, I wasn’t too worried about their feelings. It was my own I needed to protect.
Once we got in the van, I lay flat on the back seat, popped two pills, and fell into a deep sleep. I just needed to get out of here and back with my own people. I wasn’t used to nice supernaturals. It was throwing me off.
Why couldn’t things just be black and white, good and bad? Why did Luka Drake have to be gray?
* * *
“I thought you were dead!”Liv screamed into the phone the second I called her from the waiting room of Portland’s emergency room department.
“Me too. Come get me?” I just sat in a van for six hours to get here. I didn’t want to drive all the way back to Spokane, but it was the role I needed to play for the cover story. I’d tell Liv everything later, but if she was with Maz, I needed to—
“Aspen!” Maz’s voice came on the line, and I was relieved I hadn’t said anything about what had really happened. “We’ve been worried sick. They couldn’t find your body and Sterling said he lost sight of you.”
Fear spiked through me at the mention of Sterling. He’d seen Luka carry me out…
“Is he okay?” I dodged her question.
“He’s recovering but will be fine. Honey, how did you get out?”
