“You’re frozen half to death. You are notfine.”
I yank off her boots, and then her socks, rubbing a bit of warmth into her skin again, even if providing warmth isn’t a vampire’s ability. Our skin is cool to the touch—like that of a corpse—because, in many ways, that’s what we are: walking corpses.
Her fighting slowly ceases, and she lets me remove her bottoms, my fingers trailing skin that’s a light tan in colour—though blotchy from her escape.
I turn away to check the water and jam a tongue into a fang, which’s still half-extracted but hidden by my lips. Caring for her is my priority, not envisioning her body stripped of those scraps of red. Or picturing my mouth around her nipple, fangs jamming into her breasts. Or biting the inside of her thigh before licking upwards, so her blood mingles with the taste of her pussy.
I test the water, hoping it’s an ideal blend of heat and chill to warm her up without burning.
She watches me, emotions flickering across her face—fear, uncertainty, nervousness—but I ignore them all and lower her into the tub.
“How’d you find me…so quickly?”
She hisses as the warmth penetrates her skin, turning the muddled colours into one blend of pink. As the water risesaround her, her hissing softens into silent, clenched teeth, then finally a deep sigh that unknots my nerves—including ones that died with me two centuries ago.
Her teeth chattering slowly tapers off, and minutes pass where she does nothing but stares at the water. Eventually, her hands dip beneath her knees, and her toes wiggle. More time passes before her eyes slowly—agonizingly slowly, even for a mortal—drag from the flat water, over the tub’s siding, and to where I’m crouched beside her.
“How did you know where I was?” Her voice is back to normal; my little human will be fine after food and rest. “Not just tonight, but the accident, too. You’re telling me you were out in a snowstorm, without a car, found me, and managed to carry me here? You claim you won’t hurt me, but you’re terrifying. Yet, you keep saving me, too. It’s confusing and I don’t know what to believe. For some reason, you waited all day to get food, yet you were nowhere to be seen when I checked. You somehow tracked me, only to carry me back in mere seconds?”
She slides to the other side of the tub, pressing against it—as though it’ll save her from me.
For now, instead of answering her questions, I stand. “I’ll get you warmer clothes and a towel.”
“Lucian—”
“We’ll talk after your bath. For now…be warm. And safe. And alive.”
I shut the door, inhaling air that doesn’t smell as strongly as her strawberry-coated fear.
At my armoire, I pull out a plain tee and another hoodie, despite her suitcase resting in the middle of the room. Her clothing’s been locked inside a vehicle for a day, so nothing will be warm enough. Plus, they’re not mine.
After retrieving a towel as well, I open the bathroom door and toss everything inside for her to use at her conveniencebefore pacing away and trying to quell the heart that no longer beats into relaxing. Now that the fear for her safety has passed, my mind continues to relive what peeling off her clothes felt like.
My vision again coats with longing—and fuckingthirst—to dig my teeth into her thighs and drink everything she is now and will ever be to me.
When the water drains and wet feet slap against the cheap tile, I finish what I intended to earlier and carry her suitcase beside the bed for ease, rest her cell phone on the nightstand, and bring the stolen food into the kitchen.
A few minutes later, all effort to distract from the sight of her bare skin is rendered useless when she steps out of the bathroom wearing my hoodie. Her arms are crossed over her chest, probably for warmth, drawing my gaze to the place the clothing is pulled the tightest.
My clothing.
My cabin.
My human.
Allmine.
My fangs prod my lower lip, but rolling my lips together hides them for longer.
“You found my bags.”
“And your phone.” I gesture to the nightstand. “But there’s no service up here.”
Instead of the excitement I was hoping for, she slowly shakes her head as her expression remains flat. “There are so many things about you that don’t add up.”
Alec, as my ruler, ordered me to never reveal my identity to a human. He said mortals shouldn’t learn about the Otherworldly creatures living alongside them on Earth, or they’d react badly and try to hunt us down. He told me about the last time an Otherworldly creature was suspected to exist, which led tothe Salem Witch Trials that killed innocents instead of their intended targets.
But Sawyer isn’t any regular mortal. Not anymore.
