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An unapologetic shrug. “I had to know.”
“Well, fuck you, too.”
His jaw set. “You know the syndicate takes full responsibility for any spawn born to a thrall.”
“Maybe I don’t want my baby”—I deliberately used the word baby, not spawn—“growing up in a syndicate.”
My dhampir baby—half-human, half-vampire. Talon wasn’t the only vampire who looked down on dhampirs. My kid wasn’t going to be raised as a second-class citizen. A child whose mother wasn’t even his father’s mate, but a disgraced thrall.
His frown deepened. “Is that why you ran?”
I dug my fingers into my thighs. “It’s part of the reason, yeah.”
But mostly because I was afraid that when you found out what I’d done, you’d take the baby from me.
I didn’t say it aloud, though. It was a weakness, one Talon might use against me like he’d used Rio.
He pursed his lips, considering me in that way he had of peeling back the bullshit to see straight into my soul.
I shifted, feeling itchy, exposed. “But I was always planning to leave. I was just marking time until my contract was up.”
It was a bitchy thing to say, and I knew it.
Still, I didn’t expect my jab to hit, but something flickered way back in his eyes. Something that looked like hurt.
But that couldn’t be right because I’d always known I had an expiration date. He hadn’t made me any promises, and he sure as hell hadn’t asked me to extend my contract. As soon as my time was up, he would’ve turned to another thrall…or three. He was a vampire, after all.
Even this past year, I might have been his favorite, but I’d known we weren’t exclusive. Actually, that wasn’t true. He’d called dibs on me, and he was high enough in the hierarchy that the rest of the syndicate had left me alone.
However, it hadn’t worked both ways. He hadn’t flaunted other women in front of me, but it was no secret. I knew…which was a special kind of torture.
His eyes hooded, hiding whatever I’d thought I’d seen. “Yeah, I know.”
I opened my mouth to say something—maybe even apologize—but he put his fingers on my lips. “I told you, we’ll talk tomorrow.”
He crouched at my feet to remove my boots. I stared down at him, confused and wanting.
Don’t read too much into it.
But it was such a gentlemanly, caring thing to do.
He stood up, my boots in his hand. As he set them next to the chair, Adrian knocked on the outer door to say the doctor had arrived.
“Stay here,” Talon told me, and let her in.
The two had a low-voiced conference in the hall, then Dr. Lopez appeared, a small, motherly woman who seemed unfazed at being called out at eleven p.m. to examine me. She won me over when the first thing she did was to shoo Talon from the bedroom.
He started to object until I frowned at him and mouthed, “Go.”
His lips lifted in an almost-smirk, like he found me amusing. But he left, saying, “Call me if you need anything.”
Dr. Lopez set a leather bag on the bed. “I’m Carla,” she told me with a warm smile. “And your name is Eden? May I call you that?”
“Yes.” I relaxed enough to smile back.
“So, I hear you’re pregnant, sweetie. How far along?”
“Five and a half months,” I told her. “I think. I…haven’t been to a doctor yet.”
