Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
“Cal. What are you doing here?” This time, it’s a whisper and a plea. I didn’t realize how on the very edge of fucking losing my careful hold on rationality I was until the rock started to crumble beneath me.
He sighs, running a jagged hand through his perfect brown hair. “I don’t know.” He paces from one square of carpet to the next and back again, chuckling ever so lightly.
“Was that…” I shake my head, trying to dislodge the shock and confusion of having him here in my room. Of having this up close and personal. “You making that tapping noise?”
“Yeah.” He runs a hand through his hair before letting out a deep sigh. “And, Romy, the fact is, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here. I shouldn’t be. I know that beyond a shadow of a doubt. But I needed to see you. Needed…to talk. After running into you in the hall tonight, I just had to come. I couldn’t leave things the way we did, leave you thinking I’m…one of these men.”
I nod, unsure of what to say. Rubbing my lips together and then licking to wet them because of my nerves, I watch as his eyes fall to the movement and snag.
My awareness ratchets up to an eleven as a pool of arousal fills in my abdomen. It’s ill-timed and at odds with my nerves, but it’s there. So much so, it feels unrelenting.
“Okay…” I force myself to focus. “So…what?” I hold out both hands. “What do you want to explain? Because the question I can’t seem to come up with an answer for is at odds with what you’re saying. If you’re not one of these men, what are you doing here, Cal?” I shake my head, willing myself to take my time to find the words I need to make sense. “I don’t just mean my room. But here. At this place with these…men. I mean…you’re a vampire?”
He nods, and I swallow.
“Like…you’ve always been? Even when we were kids?”
He nods again. “We’re born. Not created or turned or…whatever the fuck else fiction makes it out to be. It’s not allowed. At least, not legally. I’ve been what I am since my very first cry.”
“So, your brothers are—”
“Vampires too,” he confirms before clearing his throat.
“Are they here?”
“Sort of.” His smile is both sad and confusing. Quite frankly, it’s everything a smile shouldn’t be, and I hate the look of it on his handsome face. “It’s a long story.”
“Well, I don’t know how much time we have before I jump out the window and run away, but why don’t you start at the beginning, and we’ll take it from there? If I’m gone in the middle, you can finish telling it to the spot where I used to be.”
His smile turns soft as he moves to my bed and sits down at the foot of it, offering the spot under the covers to me with a gesture of his hand.
I want to stand in revolt, but a sudden bout of sheer exhaustion makes me take him up on the offer. I sit on the bed and inhale slightly when he places the cover over my legs with the gentleness of someone a quarter of his size. And because I’m completely unhinged, I find myself wishing he’d cover me with his body instead.
What on earth is wrong with me?
“Running isn’t a good idea, Romy. I wish it were, but I promise, they’d catch you.”
I sigh. “Yeah. I was afraid of that.”
“So…how’ve you been?”
The ironically simplistic question makes me laugh, and because he’s earned my compliance with his gentled approach, I make sure to do it quietly. “Well…not bad until a couple of days ago. Can’t say I’m thrilled with the current trajectory, but it’s hardly a surprise. My parents have been talking about the selection since I was a toddler.”
He nods. “If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t had the best week either. Lots of ups and downs and ultimatums I don’t really like.”
I worry my lip with my teeth, trying to make sense of the Cal I knew—the one who seems to be in front of me now—and the kind of Cal he would have to be to be a part of something like this and how they could possibly fit together to make one man. “Is that why you’re here? Because of an ultimatum?”
“It’s more complicated than that, but yes, sort of. It wasn’t the only option, but it was the best one.” He rubs a hand over his own knee, the rest of him frozen in deep thought. “I’m here because I’m seeking change. I’m here for my brothers and their mates, and I’m here… Well, I’m here for you.”
“For me?” My stomach tightens, and my back plasters to the headboard, knowing I’m cooked if he turns out to be dangerous. There’s no way I’d get out of this bed in time, but I guess I could say the same for any position I’d take in this room.