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The ceiling is so white. I stare at it. Not blinking. Barely breathing. Sleep calls to me, so strongly, but I can’t ever seem to find it. Not that it matters now. It’s morning. Time to get up.

Slipping into my clothes, I stretch my back, then pull the living room window open. I’ve been in Fall Haven for just under a week now, and I still haven’t gotten used to how green the grass is. How soft it feels under my bare feet.

Fall Haven. The name doesn’t sit right on my tongue. It isn’t a real place. Nothing about this is real.

I still haven’t been able to wrap my mind around why I’m here or how it’s even possible. Rhenn won’t talk about it with me. He won’t even acknowledge any of my crazy theories, like alien abduction or some weird alternate version of sleep paralysis, where instead of being frozen in fear, I’m walking around and delusional.

When I brought up what Ada had said about the Growler, he only rolled his eyes and left the room. I’ve found that any help from him is basically a lost cause.

This place though, his world, it’s beautiful, and eerily similar to my own. Aldure is what Earth could’ve been before we drowned it in smoke and concrete. Here, the air feels pure, untouched.

There is one big difference, however—aside from the whole fangs and pointy ears thing—and that’s the total lack of transportation. No cars, no buses, no bikes. To get somewhere, you walk. Or, if you belong to an order that allows it, you…shift.

It took a while, but I finally pried that one out of Rhenn, and it’s actually incredible. Orders, as he explained, are the distinct bloodlines; the genetic signature woven into every living thing. You’re born into it, stamped with it before you even take your first breath. It’s in your bones, your veins, your instincts. The very makeup of what you are. Alkens are the purest of the orders, mixed with nothing but a singular bloodline type, making them stronger, faster, and held with higher respect.

So, yeah, alien abduction still feels more likely to me.

My focus is stolen at the sound of a door shutting, and a shiver works its way down my spine. I know who it is. I know that he’s waiting for me.

My eyes climb over Rhenn. His dark hair falls messily over his forehead as he leans against the side of his house.

I can’t help but notice the way his shirt stretches across his chest, how the gray in his eyes seems to swallow the daylight, leaving something darker behind. Asshole or not, the man is an art piece. Something wrongfully sweet to let my gaze explore when he isn’t aware.

He belongs to the vampire bloodline. That’s his order. A monster who looks entirely…human.

With a sigh, I exit the guest house and meet Rhenn on his porch.

His focus trails over me as I climb the steps, assessing me with a look that could only be regarded as pure annoyance. We definitely got off on the wrong foot, and the air hasn’t cleansed itself of that yet.

“Why do you always fiddle with that?” Rhenn asks, opening the door to let me inside. It’s become our routine over the past few days. He lets me in, I eat, we don’t talk, I go back to the guest house.

I release my necklace, moving around him and into the kitchen. The counter always has a small display of different fruits set out for me to pick through every morning. Today, it’s bare.

“No breakfast?” I query, ignoring his question.

“About that, I think it’s time you start getting your own food. And my washer’s officially off limits more than once a week, so you need clothes too.”

“Perfect. Should I wear yours?” The grin I flash him is all sarcasm and ice.

“You ever wear my shit, your ass is sleeping on the streets.”

“Shoplifting then. The perfect ode to my youth.”

Footsteps sound as he enters the kitchen, pausing only when he’s standing beside me. “I’m aware you don’t have the means to purchase anything for yourself right now. That isn’t what I was suggesting.”

“We going shopping?” I quip, raising a brow. It’s met with a blank expression and tired eyes. The man is not amused by me.

“There is not now, nor will there ever be a ‘we’. You’re going to take yourself. I’ll cover the cost this once, since I’m already paying for everything anyway. And I’ll get the water running in the guest house.”

“Wait, really?” I perk up. I’m desperate for some more clothes. And to use my own shower would be a dream. “You mean it? I would actually really appreciate it. I’ll pay you back, whenever I get⁠—”

“You can pay me back now,” he interrupts, moving to invade my comfort zone.

I lean away. “What are you doing?”

“I’ve given you your space, let you adjust to being here. Things are going to change.” His fingers brush over the silver pendant hanging from my neck—my most prized possession. Rhenn reads the inscription, seeming to mull over its meaning in his head. I bring it into my hand, hiding it safely between the walls of my closed fist.

This is all I have. The only thing that keeps me going. Both in my world and in his.