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Despite my need for comfort, I don’t ask him to join me. I doubt he would anyway. It doesn’t matter for much longer, because sleep claims me the moment my eyes slide shut. Still, even through the exhaustion, I can feel Weylen’s presence at my side, and that makes the seedling of hope bloom a little brighter.
It’s dark when I wake. The only light comes from the soft glow of the lamp on the nightstand next to me. Sitting up, I scan the room, searching for the familiar vampire.
I’m alone.
It’s not surprising, but something inside me twists with disappointment. Is Stockholm syndrome this quick to take hold? I let out a soft sigh, throwing my arm over my eyes as I think back on my lunch with Weylen. The memory of how hard he made me come makes my cheeks heat. My hand goes to the side of my neck where he bit me. Fed from me. Enjoyed me.
Then he carried me to bed and put me to sleep, barely uttering another word. It’s like a switch flipped off in his brain, and suddenly he was an asshole again.
Because we wanted you.
Those words rattle around in my brain like a pinball. The hope if felt earlier when he uttered them has begun to fade, and the emptiness trickles back in. He says they want me, yet he left a distance between us.
He doesn’t want you the same way you want him.
The rational part of my brain speaks sensibly. I’m projecting my wants onto them. I doubt they want me the same way I want them. They want to feed from me, that much is obvious, and from the way Weylen played my body like a fiddle, they want sex. But I want more from them.
Which is ridiculous, seeing as I’ve known them for less than forty-eight hours. Deprive someone of love and affection their entire life, and they’ll look for it wherever they can. Even in places where they have no reason to exist.
Like now.
These men stole me to use me, and here I am creating fantasies in my head about them falling in love with me. Stupid. With a frustrated sigh, I push the covers off and scoot up to a sitting position, my back against the headboard. I need to find a way out of here. One amazing orgasm isn’t enough to make me want to stay. I need a plan.
Easing out of bed, I somehow feel lighter than I did earlier. I expected pain or possibly even fatigue after Weylen took my blood, but there is nothing. My body feels rejuvenated and refreshed. As if it never happened. For a moment, I wonder if it did. Maybe I’m losing my mind, and I dreamed the whole thing. But when I run my fingers over the spot on my neck and feel the raised punctures where his fangs broke the skin, I know it was real.
I make my way to the bathroom, my bladder demanding relief. I take time to brush my teeth and freshen up, my eyes on the silvery scar glinting on my neck. It’s barely noticeable, even with the bright lights, but I know it’s there.
Feeling less than ideal in the clothes I wore for my nap, I make my way to the closet to change, grabbing a teal drawstring-waist button-front dress and throwing it on. It’s simple and comfortable, but just nice enough to wear to dinner in the off chance I haven’t missed it. I’m in the middle of throwing my old clothes in the hamper when I hear a buzzing sound from the back of the closet near my suitcase.
Curious, I edge closer, following the sound until I’m right on top of it.
The buzzing stops for a moment before picking up again. I tear open my suitcase and run my hands along the lining until I feel something hard beneath my fingers. What is this?
There’s a small tear in the lining, just big enough to fit my small hand. I reach in and grab the buzzing item, surprised when I pull out a small cell phone. How did this get in there? And why?
Then I see the number.
Pressing the green button, I put the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“It’s about time you found it,” my brother’s voice grumbles from the other end. “I’ve been calling for hours, trying to grab your attention.”
“It’s nice to hear from you too, Evan. No, I’m doing just great. Thanks for asking.”
“I don’t have time for your dramatics, Thalia. Listen to me,” my brother snaps from the other end of the line. There’s something off about his tone. It’s urgent and agitated, more so than when he told me he’d sold me to pay his debt. “I didn’t want them to take you. They gave me no choice.”
I snort at that. My brother almost looked gleeful when they took me away.
“It’s true,” he urges. “I need you to watch them for me. It’s the only way I can get you back. They’ve been after you for years. Father went to great lengths to keep you from them.”
Father?
“Why do they want me?” I ask incredulously.
“I don’t know yet,” he admits. “I’m trying to find out. But Thalia, everything Father did to you was to keep them away. He couldn’t show you any favor. They were obsessed with Mom, and that obsession transferred to you. They wanted her because Father had her.”
“You’re telling me that every single torturous moment you and Father put me through over the years was what? A mercy? So that I wouldn’t gain their attention? Don’t insult me, Evan. I’m not stupid.”
My brother sighs. “Think about it, Thalia. They knew everything about you before they even showed up at the door. Isn’t that a little suspicious? Father believed that they were after Mother’s inheritance. An inheritance she left to you.”
