Exasperated, I followed Scotty into the other room to find him sitting in my spot. “Can you move…please?” I asked as nicely as possible.
His gaze trailed around the room to the other sofa, the two wingback chairs, and even the other end of the couch he was on. “Uh, why?”
“That’s my spot,” I admitted stiffly, feeling a little dumb. I knew it shouldn’t matter, but it did. Everything in my life blew up in one night. I’d been transformed, and not for the better, andwho knew how long it would take me to create a new normal for myself.
However, that spot right there had become a place of safety. It had my pillow, and a silk throw blanket hung across the back for when I needed to feel the softness against my skin. And I was very much feeling like I might need that comfort right now.
Scotty stared at me for what felt like forever, but was probably only a minute, before he huffed and got up, moving to the wingback chair next to the one Lysandro had sunk into.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he said, “You’ve got some explaining to do. Sky’s worried sick about you.”
I knew better than to look at Lysandro for help, but I tried anyway. As expected, he quirked a brow in an I-told-you-so way.
I gulped, then rolled my eyes at myself internally. How long would it take me to quit doing these totally pointless human things? Although…my gaze slipped back to Lysandro, and I realized how totally normally human he seemed at all times. You know, outside of his eccentric sense of fashion, and the whole slicing his wrist open to drain his blood into a goblet for me to drink.
“Ego!” Scotty yelled, drawing my attention back to him, and, necessary or not, I gulped again.
He looked so yummy. I’d always thought he looked good, but…there was something different now. Something so enticing.
The swoosh of the blood through his veins.
The rhythmic thumping of his heart.
Craving his scent, I yanked the amulet from around my neck and just breathed.
As if from a far-off distance, I heard him ask Lysandro, “What is he doing?”
The other man sighed loudly, standing and blocking my view of Scotty with his body. He held out his hand. “Give me your chain. I need to fix it before I leave.”
Panic set in, and I scrambled over the back of my couch like a hunted animal. But it wasn’t me that I feared for, it was the confused man who’d invaded my house. The man who I’d crushed on as a mere mortal, but as this nightmare I couldn’t wake up from continued, I craved.
“Ego?” Scotty asked, for the first time not sounding angry, but concerned. “Are you okay?”
“You should leave, Scotty. It’s…it’s not safe for you here.”
He stood, taking a tentative step in my direction. “Are you sick? Is that why you’re hiding out here?” He glared past me at Lysandro. “What’s wrong with him? Why are you here instead of a doctor? What does he need?” He reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell phone. “I’m calling Sky.”
In the blink of an eye, I’d flung myself over the couch and gripped his wrist. “No!” I boomed.
All the color drained from Scotty’s face as he gaped at me fearfully. Between the way he was looking at me and my own response to the feel of the warm, enticing blood flowing under his delicate skin, I jumped back, hunkering back into my safe spot.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I muttered over and over, clutching my hair in my hands as I tried to curl in on myself.
With wide eyes fixed on me, he shoved his phone back into his pocket and held his hands up in surrender. “It’s okay, Ego. I won’t call. But…but you have to tell me what’s going on.”
Lysandro came up behind me, reached over my head to settle the amulet over my chest, and clasped the Byzantine chain at the back of my neck. “Here you go, Ego. This will help.”
With shame slithering through my core like a parasite, I focused on the pattern at the edge of the cushion. I didn’t know what had come over me. I didn’t know how I moved so fast, so instinctually. I’d always thought Scotty considering me nothingbut a prima donna was the worst thing in the world, but it wasn’t. Scaring him was.
“Lysandro, I need you to explain to me what the fuck is going on. And I need you to do it right now.”
“Have a seat, my friend.”
Scotty muttered something about doubting their friendship, but I heard him sink onto the chair, then Lysandro took the other one.
“Unfortunately, and I only say unfortunately because he didn’t ask for this, Ego has been turned.”
After counting twelve beats of heavy silence, Scotty asked, “Turned into what?”
