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My mind blanked, consumed by a hot, dark pleasure. I groaned, hips jerking, and followed her over the cliff.
After, I hung over Eden’s back, breathing in the scent of her and salty, sweaty sex until I came back to myself enough to lift her onto the bed.
I pulled the covers around her and she snuggled into them with a sleepy smile up at me. “G’night.”
“Good night.”
I couldn’t stay—I had things to do. But I stared down at her like my feet had grown roots, the raw craving barely satisfied.
It’s the blood-hunger. She’s not your mate.
Brien’s words last night snaked through my brain.
“I’m not so sure you can control it… It’s an instinct.”
But Brien didn’t really believe that, did he? Because he’d all but ordered me to look for a mate in the vampire world.
My stomach churned. I bent to kiss Eden again, this time a firm, almost angry press of the lips, and left.
21
Eden
Ghostlike fingers of fog wafted over the enclosed garden. Bored and antsy, I followed the curving flagstone path as far as it went, then turned and went back the other way.
It was the end of November and I’d been confined to this small section of the castle for more than three weeks, unless you counted my daily walks and that trip to Olivia’s. Rio was in Bluebeard’s Cove again, and Talon would just be waking up. It would be hours before he sent for me—the earliest he ever wanted me was eight or nine o’clock.
I heaved a breath and kept pacing. On my fourth or fifth lap, I took a fork that ended at one of the two outer walls. My steps slowed. I considered the grape vine trellised against the rough stone.
You could cut through the forest and be at Mom and Dad’s in fifteen minutes. If you make it quick, Talon will never even know you’re gone.
But even if I could get my six-month-pregnant body up a five-meter-high wall, I’d still have to drop to the ground on the other side. Not to mention the wolfdogs who patrolled the castle grounds. On the other hand, the dogs knew me. And I could probably bluff my way past their handler…
I shoved my hands in my pockets. It wasn’t worth it, and not just because of the wolfdogs.
Talon was beginning to trust me again—that phone he’d given me last week was proof.
And the other night, he’d opened up about his human family, even if it was only to tell me Esposito was a shitty dad. That might not seem like much, but it was the first crack I’d seen in that barrier of his.
And I wanted Talon’s trust—wanted past his walls—more than I wanted a few minutes of freedom.
A tiny sound lifted the hairs on the back of my neck. I turned to find Twilight watching me from a few meters away, her face luminous in the misty light.
“You wouldn’t get far,” she said—and smiled, her teeth gleaming whitely against her red lips.
Goosebumps popped up all over my body. For a panicked few seconds, I wished I’d brought that damned switchblade outside with me. But it was still in my sewing box, where it had been ever since Rio gave it to me three days ago, partly because I didn’t buy that I was in danger. Other than Nathan or Jasper and the maid who cleaned my suite once a week, I didn’t see anyone except Talon and Rio.
Plus, there was that trust thing. If I got caught with a switchblade, I could give up any hope of fixing things with Talon.
I lifted my chin. “A woman can dream, can’t she?” I was damned if I’d let her see my fear. Yeah, she could sense it, but she didn’t have to see it.
Twilight’s smile morphed into a grin. An appreciative, you’re-all-right grin. Unlike me, she wasn’t wearing a coat, just one of her funky, ultrafeminine outfits—short-sleeved pink sweater; tiny, pink-and-black checked skirt; chunky, lug sole loafers. A shiny brown braid fell forward over one shoulder.
“It’s a beautiful garden,” she said.
“It is.”
I relaxed marginally, still wondering why she was here, but happy to chat. Heck, who was I kidding? I was dying for some company, even if it was the woman I’d been a first-class bitch to.
