Page 48 of Bitten By the Basilisk

“And yet I do,” he averred, lifting his chin defiantly.

Frustration pinched her brow. The way she jutted her chin was precious as hell. “Wouldn’t you want me to point out your soulmate?”

He made a facial shrug. “Not unless they’re you.”

She nearly managed to hold it back, but he spied a hint of a smile before she glared at him. “You’re being ridiculous. Hopefully, you snap out of it before tonight.”

“Not a chance,” he purred, taking her lips in another kiss. He leisurely slanted his mouth over hers again and again, savoring her soft, surprised gasp and her small moan of pleasure, something clenching in his chest as she softened against him.

He lifted his head a moment later, slowly raised his eyelids. Alice was quietly panting, her cheeks and lips flushed, her eyes glazed with desire. He briefly fantasized about dragging her onto his lap and bouncing her on his cock, but he had far too much to do before tonight. Building up her anticipation also wouldn’t hurt.

“Shall I walk you to your door?”

Awareness slid back into her gaze. She blinked away her mental fog as she moved away from him. “Um…no. I’ll be fine.”

“Keep an eye on your phone, kitten. We’ll be together again soon.”

She nodded, lips pressed together as she got out of his car. He watched her ascend the steps to her mother’s apartment, her bag slung over one shoulder. Once she had the door unlocked and open, she glanced at his car and sent him a brief wave. Knowing she wouldn’t be able to see him through the tint on his windows, he flashed his high beams in acknowledgment.

Only when the door shut did he start his car to head back to the Nest, his mind already swirling with all the extra preparations he needed to make before tonight’s welcoming banquet.

Chapter Fourteen

Alice

After a quick breakfast, Alice sat down at her mom’s dining table, a cup of black tea steaming next to her laptop, and got to work on the catalog revisions. A couple of the changes were quick to implement, but most were unfortunately not.

As she swiped her fingertips over the track pad, sipped her tea, and double-checked each page before moving on to the next, she reassured herself that this would be the last change request for this project, the end of today being the client’s printing deadline.

Though Paul had the spine of a worm and caved to their clients’ every demand, the printer was a third-party company that wouldn’t bend over backward to ship out the client’s catalog on time if the files were late.

Unsurprisingly, Silas burst into her thoughts whenever she surfaced from her work. His story about revealing his shifted form to a normie—and being vehemently rejected—had her recalling their first conversation in the sand baths. How he had begged her not to run and presumed she was too scared to look at him.

She couldn’t have helped kissing him, despite knowing she shouldn’t, nor could she help wondering if he’d had another reason for remaining in his human form last night.

Before sending out the revised document, she scanned it for any mistakes and thankfully found none. Then she uploaded the file, checked that it synced correctly, wrote a quick email to Paul urging one last proofread, and made sure to include the correct link to the newest file before clicking send with fifteen minutes to spare.

She sighed as she sat back, glad it was done but still annoyed—at both the client for requesting more revisions than their contract allowed and at Paul for accommodating them.

As she carefully rolled her stiff neck, she wondered if she might have time to catch a quick catnap before lunch.

However, just as she was about to close her laptop, the front door opened and her mom walked in.

“I’m back,” Mom announced in Japanese. Her smile started out big and wide, but it quickly waned. The apartment’s kitchen, dining area, and entryway were all one big room, so Mom instantly spotted her open computer.

Alice replied with the typical Japanese greeting—“Welcome home!”—then switched to English. “So, how was rehearsal? Did Lucia use the new lines?”

Mom didn’t fall for it. “You’re working, aren’t you?”

“Just a last-minute revision before printing,” Alice said, shutting her laptop with a guilty smile.

Mom huffed, exasperated. “Do you not have any coworkers? I swear, I’m going to fly myself out to Chicago, track down your horrible manager, and conjure up Freddy Krueger in his bedroom.”

Alice laughed through a wince as she stood up from the table. “Paul sucks, but…I don’t know if he deserves that.”

“Well, he deserves some sort of comeuppance.” Mom had taken off her flats and approached Alice for a hug, her arms out. “I’m guessing you didn’t actually catch up on sleep, did you?”

Alice sighed. “No.” They squeezed each other tight. Mom’s perfume was light, floral, and comfortingly familiar.