Felix scratches his head and frowns with concentration. “I don’t trust his brothers as far as I can throw them, which since I’m a ghost, is exactly zero feet, but Sam is pretty on top of a lot of things. She’s been good at smoothing out any tension between the pack and Connor. A lot of them are still too scared to talk to Connor directly, so it’s a lot of Sam giving nightly reports. Other than banning challenges to the death, Connor hasn’t really rocked the boat much.”
“Smart since he’s only been at it for a little over a month,” Nolan muses, then shivers from the cold.
The first snow hit Twin Cedar Pass a couple days ago, which was pretty exciting since I’d never seen snow in person before, but I’ve been especially cold. One of the things Nolan bought me was a thick winter coat that goes down to my knees.
Before I can grill Felix for any more information, another elevator dings open. Felix does a salute goodbye, then poofs away, while Nolan and I get into the elevator. He hits the button for the top floor and then settles back against the railing. Having drove his parents’ Lexus here, he informed me when we arrived that it was better he parked far away from everyone else—less risk of the car getting scratched. I found that statement fairly amusing since it by no means adjusted his racecar style driving.
When the doors slide open on the correct floor, it looks like we’re walking into the setup for a bad horror movie. The only car on the entire floor is ours, and it’s parked under one of the few broken lights. Good news, the car isn’t scratched. Bad news, all the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end because I feel like someone’s watching us. This is, of course, ridiculous. Most of the floor is well lit and there’s literally no one here except for the two of us. Which makes this also a good opportunity to talk to Nolan and address why he’s so pale.
After depositing all of the bags into the trunk, I reach for Nolan’s sleeve and say, “We need to talk.”
“You do realize those are the most dreaded words in the English language,” he replies with a teasing smirk and caution in his eyes.
“It’s not bad, I promise,” I assure him, leaning against the car. “More like clearing the air of a few things.”
“And that statement is an oxymoron,” he counters, but moves closer to me anyway, his body heat helping with the cold. “Alright, love, what is it?”
“Things have been kind of off since Felix saw you feeding from me and got the wrong idea,” I begin, fiddling with the strings on my hoodie for something to do with my hands. “I want you to know that it’s okay. Despite Mei’s teasing, I know we’re just friends, and I get why that’s so important.”
“You do?” he drawls, the words coming out slow while he squints at me.
“Yes, girls throw themselves at you all the time and your ex is bat-shit insane,” I answer, which earns me a chuckle. I cup his face between my hands and offer up a soft smile, even though this speech breaks my heart. “I’m the only girl you can be yourself around without worrying I have some ulterior motive to try and get you into bed.”
“That’s because you’ve already done that,” he jokes, his smirk crooked.
“Har. Har. You know what I mean,” I scold, sticking out my tongue, then I do my best not to notice when he stares at my mouth. Clearing my throat, I continue, “My point is, our friendship is important and I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. You can trust me.”
He puts his hands over mine, the heat of his skin thawing my stiff fingers, and searches my eyes. “Callie, I do trust you.”
“Then trust me to respect your boundaries,” I insist, holding his gaze. “You have to feed to live. That’s not something you can get around, so stop starving yourself and let me help you. None of the guys will blame you, and if they do, I’ll kick their butts. I don’t know if you noticed, but I can be pretty intimidating.”
“I noticed,” he breathes, the partial smile still on his lips, but his eyes no longer meet mine. He leans into me, pulling my hands from his face, and whispers into my hair, “What if I don’t know what those boundaries are anymore? What if what I want to do is different than what I should do?”
Damn it, Nolan. You’re making this noble thing really difficult.
“We make the rules, right? I’ll follow your lead,” I murmur, my heart racing and my skin tingling with his nearness.
A rueful laugh escapes his lips. “I might lead us both off a cliff.”
“Then I guess I better learn to fly,” I counter, not sure exactly what that means, but it sounds good. “Nolan, when was the last time you fed?”
“About a week ago,” he confesses, his hands slipping around my waist. “Callie, my control isn’t as solid as it used to be. The… darker side of me lives closer to the surface. I mean it when I say I don’t know my boundaries right now. The more that part of me takes over, the less I care about anything other than what I want in the moment.”
“Okay,” I murmur on a trembling breath, tilting my head up to find his eyes. Hunger and seduction look back. “Then that’s the answer. When you feed from me, we’ll keep it private and whatever happens stays in that moment. Like I said, I’ll follow your lead, and when it’s over… that’s it. We act as we always do. As friends.”
“Love, you don’t know what you’re offering,” he groans, and my eyes nearly roll into the back of my head when he presses his hips hard against me.
Oh, I think I do.
“You need to feed,” I repeat, more than breathless. My hands slide up his chest and around his neck. “I won’t let you go any further than I’m comfortable with, and you know I’m badass enough to take you at your worst.”
“It’s not a question of being able to stop me,” he purrs, his lips beside my ear. “By that point, it’s more if will you have thedesireto stop me.”
Probably not.
“I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself,” I assert, trying to force a little more steel in my voice. “We’re alone, so now is as good a time as any.”
“Callie, I’m starving, but Icankeep it together long enough to get us home if you’re not completely sure,” he rasps, reaching in his pocket to hit the key fob to unlock the car.
