Page 28 of Fated to Her

“I have also told all unmated males to steer clear of the top floors, given she is still in heat. Are you still going to be changing her? What’s going on with that? Because the pheromones she is putting out will send my men mad after a while,” she says, looking at Eli, who growls.

“Just asking, brother. Just need to prepare my warriors. Most are unmated,” she says, opening her door.

Pheromones? Calum’s blue eyes go to mine in the rearview mirror.

Eli doesn’t answer and instead hops out, and I’m quick to follow. Calum and Cyrus take the bags from the car while Eli grasps my hand, heading toward the elevator. Emery slides a card into the slot on the panel. The elevator doors open, and we step inside. The elevator has a keypad. Emery punches in a code before the elevator climbs through the levels, heading toward the top floor and then stopping and opening into the penthouse overlooking the city.

The penthouse is huge and looks more like something you would see on the cover of one of those home magazines. Over half the place is glass windows overlooking the city. Huge open areas for the kitchen, dining, and living room, and a balcony off the living room. It also has three bedrooms. Emery, however, doesn’t stay long.

• • •

For three days now, I have refused to leave the apartment. Nowhere feels safe except here. Eli and Cyrus try to coax me into leaving the place, yet I can’t bring myself to do it, not knowing where Sam is. I just keep waiting for him to jump out of the shadows. I feel safer in this bubble I’m living in, safe in the confines of the penthouse, knowing there is only one way in.

The only good thing since coming here is my heat has died down; it hasn’t left, but here I am still breathing, despite them thinking I should be dead. That thought doesn’t sit well with Cyrus; he wants to change me. He said it should be completely gone by now. His paranoia is becoming worse than my paranoia of Sam.

Cyrus is worse at night. Even though he can still hear me breathing, he sometimes jostles me awake to make sure I’m alive. I shake my head at the thought and the exhaustion that comes with being woken every few hours.

I have just woken, and I toss my leg over Cyrus. It is hot in here even with the air conditioning going and blinds closed, or maybe it is just this incessant heat that refuses to leave. A hand runs up my thigh, pulling my leg higher and away from his erection.

Goosebumps rise on my skin at his touch, tilting my head on his hard chest, my eyes coming in contact with Cyrus’s blood-red ones. I’m startled at the sight as he peers back at me. His fangs protrude from his upper lip. His arm behind my back pulls me closer to him as his lips press to mine.

“Go back to sleep, Addie,” he whispers.

“Where is Eli?” I ask, worried about his sudden bloodlust.

I can feel it, urging him to feed as he fights his instincts to do so on me. Realizing that is what has woken me and recognizing it for what it is has me wide awake as I lift my head to look for Eli.

“Helping Emery with something. I’m fine,” Cyrus says, pulling my head back down on his chest.

“You can feed on me,” I tell him, propping my arms on his chest and staring down at him, his face so close we are nose to nose. He brushes his nose on mine.

“I can wait till Eli gets back. Just go back to sleep, Addie. It’s late or early, whichever way you want to put it.”

“Then why are you awake?” I ask him.

He grabs my knee, pressing it down on his crotch. “Your heat woke me.” He rolls on his side and presses his face to my neck. His fangs graze my ear as he inhales my scent.

“Go back to sleep.”

“I can’t, knowing you want to feed on me,” I tell him, and he moves, lying on his back with a sigh.

“I would never attack you,” he mutters.

“I didn’t say you would, but I can feel your urges. I think that’s what woke me,” I tell him, and his head whips toward me.

“You can feel it?”

“Well, yeah, we have a bond,” I tell him.

“Yes, we do. You should be able to feel my needs but not my actual urge to feed on you in particular, Addie.”

“So, you do want to feed on me,” I chuckle.

“Just go to sleep,” he says, tugging me against him.

“Why? Don’t you want to feed on me?” I ask him.

“Because you have been in heat, and my urges to change you are strong enough without me accidentally killing you. While I feed on you, you have our blood in your system, Addie. I drain you, you change.”