Page 60

“Perhaps, but he respects the claim of vampire ownership. Adam is mine. Misha might test boundaries by speaking to him, but if he wanted to challenge me, he would do so directly rather than by attacking my humans. He would see the attack on Adam as somewhat akin to kicking a dog—the kind of thing any decent person steps in to prevent.”

The previously delicious eggs turn to ash in my mouth. With only a few sentences, Tristan’s made a few things crystal clear.

I’m his possession, and vampires see humans as a lesser species.

Chapter 29

You’d think with Steven being dead, Tristan’s edict from last night that I not leave the house would be lifted, but if anything, the fact that we don’t know who killed him or why means there are even more restrictions on me. Tristan rescinded his permission for my family to visit—not that I was going to meet them for the first time under his roof within earshot of people who think I grew up in the bosom of the family, but still. His reasoning is that even though Barales can of course be trusted, they’re human, and thus vulnerable to vampires. It might not be technically possible for a vampire to fully control a human’s mind, but the strongest can implant suggestions that theoretically could make a human do things they usually wouldn’t. It’s all very unproven and paranoid, but Tristan was on his way out the door when he barked out the order, so I didn’t have a chance to argue with him, and there’s no way in hell anyone else in this house was going to disobey him and let me sneak out. Besides, he left Pierce behind to guard me, and while teenage me was an expert in sneaking out of the house under my parents’ noses, I doubt a vampire would fail to notice me leaving.

I spend what’s left of the morning with Anna, practicing the hand-to-hand fighting skills she’s been trying to teach me. We go over exactly what happened last night, and although we both know there was no way I could actually have held Steven off, we do come up with a few options that might have helped to slow him down long enough for help to come. The biggest problem in a human vs. vampire situation is their speed. There are ways to combat strength and even use it against an aggressor, but it gets a whole fuck of a lot harder when the aggressor moves so much faster than you can.

Anna also has me practice screaming, which turns out to be more fun than I expected. Pierce bursts into the room so violently that the door crashes through the wall, plaster shards and dust flying everywhere. The confusion on his face when he sees that I’m fine and there’s nobody in the room except me and Anna makes me bite my lip hard to hold in my laugh.

“Oops,” Anna says. “I guess I should have warned you.” She meets my gaze, and I’m unable to keep from laughing any longer.

“What are you doing?” Pierce asks in as grumpy a tone as I’ve ever heard from him while I gasp with laughter and Anna giggles.

“Adam says he never even thought about screaming last night,” she explains. “I’m training him to make it a reflex—threat equals scream. If he’d screamed, Tristan could have gotten to him sooner.”

Pierce sighs. “This is going to be loud, isn’t it?”

After I finish tormenting Pierce and his hearing, I spend an hour getting under Clive’s feet, trying to make a viral fudge cake that came up in my feed. He offers three times to make it for me before finally banishing me from the kitchen. The cake was an abject failure, and I’m relieved not to have to clean up the mess I made.

But that leaves me with hours left in the day and nothing to do. All my stuff is at home—I didn’t bring much with me because I was supposed to be busy with social shit. The plan was for me to make my official arm candy debut and impress all these Sydney vampires with my Barale-ness while Tristan did his thing.

Sighing, I wander out onto my balcony, assuring myself that it doesn’t count as leaving the house (even though I’m pretty sure Tristan would disagree) and call Adrian. I texted him back this morning after getting Tristan’s permission to tell him that Steven’s death was “unsanctioned.” Which is a fancy way of saying Tristan didn’t kill him and he was the only one who had a right to.

Adrian doesn’t answer, but just as I’m considering if I should call Cat instead, he texts me.

Adrian:

Sorry, at meeting with H. T here too.

My brows shoot up. This is my chance to find out what’s going on.

Adam:

What are they talking about?

I wait ages for him to reply before tossing my phone onto the cushion beside me. This outdoor sofa is comfortable, and despite it being winter, it’s not truly cold out here. Sydney winters are so much better than Melbourne.

Sliding down so my head is against the cushioned sofa back, I stare out at the sky and finally let my thoughts take over. First and foremost among them is, what the fuck was I thinking last night?

I don’t think Tristan is going to sack me. If he was, he’d have said so this morning, wouldn’t he? Although he did have a lot on his mind, what with the murder people think he committed and the potential solving of the crimes we came up here to deal with. Still, one way to ensure my safety would have been to sack me, publicly announce it, and then send me back to Melbourne. Right now I’m a target because I’m Tristan’s. Geoffrey and Misha couldn’t give a crap about me otherwise.

So me still being here is good news for my continued employment. Which leads to the next point—is Tristan so used to having his feeders throw themselves at him that it’s not even worth noting? Obviously, feeding is a very intimate activity with a lot of room for lines to blur. I thought, based on what I’ve read online, that the degrees of intimacy between a vampire and their feeder stopped short of anything sexual or romantic. My chat with Adrian proved I was wrong about that. Could that be why I kissed Tristan? Was it the combination of him feeding from my neck, the adrenaline of the attack, and the discovery that humans and vampires do sometimes have sex?

I can’t deny that I’m attracted to him. He’s a good-looking man, and the fact that he’s so buttoned up and restrained makes me want to mess him up. The idea that I could make him lose control, could make him not care that his hair is untidy and his clothes are a forgotten heap on the floor… that’s fucking hot. The power imbalance is another factor. I’ve always liked dating guys who are older or in charge—or both. Professors at uni, work managers, my dad’s boss… it does it for me to know I can bring a powerful man to heel.

Of course, that powerful man has never actually had the power of life or death over me.

Not that it matters. Tristan made it pretty clear last night that he’s not interested in me that way. I could test boundaries a bit, flirt and see if I can change his mind—tempt him—but that might end with him changing his mind about keeping me employed.

Also… do I want to cross that line? To become sexually intimate with someone who already thinks of me as something he owns?

My phone chimes with a text, and I snatch it up, eager for the distraction. My brain wants answers to some tough questions, and I’m not prepared to give them. I’ve only been doing this whole feeder thing—have only known about the existence of vampires—for a month, for fuck’s sake. I’m allowed to take a bit more time before I make any more life-changing decisions.

Adrian: