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A playful eyebrow lifted. “How about the first month is free?”

Eryn melted into him. “Beefed-up security, at the hospital? How… Never mind. Let’s finish arguing after my nap.”

She closed her eyes and sank into the pillow. Sleep sounded heavenly, but her blood raged as the fury built inside her. Promised that she would soon crave the cold, lifeless, and penetrating darkness.

But she was still human enough, and craved the vitality that Vann exuded.

“Eryn. Wait.” He rubbed his thumb softly along her jaw. “I need you to stay awake for another few minutes and tell me exactly what happened. What you saw.”

“I don’t remember.”

“Can I get you something to eat? Or some water?”

As she drifted in and out, she was pretty sure she mumbled a no.

“Get some sleep,” he said softly. “I need to make some calls, but I’ll be close by.”

He slid the phone off the nightstand and walked out of the room, his typical silent footsteps pounding against the icy silence in her brain.

She tried to stay awake long enough to hear what he was planning, but as she drifted off, she was pretty sure she heard the doorbell ring, a strange voice, and something about emergency interior decorating.

A fresh surge of cold rushed under her skin. Shivers convulsed through her.

Throughout the day, he came to check on her. Soothing words and a warm touch, then he was back on the phone.

A warm body sank into the bed next to her, a gentle hand palming her cheek, and she knew Lexi had come and sat with her. Even through the unrelenting grip of gritty sleep, she could feel the worry in Lexi’s gentle coo, and the furious tension she withheld.

Hazy daylight faded, the windows darkened, and the only light in the room cast in from the hall. Hunger rumbled, but she couldn’t stomach the idea of food.

Vann’s closet door rolled open. His jeans hit the floor, then bare feet padded across the room.

A few moments later, he slid between the sheets and rolled to face the ocean windows, the heat from his back against hers like a winter bonfire.

The cold penetrated deep into her bones, and she knew, if she was to succeed, she needed to hold on to whatever humanity was left inside her.

Blood pounded like frozen sludge through her veins.

His breathing slowed to sleep, and she turned to her side and burrowed against him.

Hunger rumbled louder as the skylight above started to glow. Eryn was still exhausted to the bone, but she couldn’t sleep another minute. Her body had melted, relaxed into a luxurious warmth.

Skin against skin, arms entwined. Breathing slow and steady and rustling her hair with each exhale, Vann held her close, his chest rising and falling under her palm. One hand splayed around her side and the other grasped her bare leg that was hooked over him.

The hollow deathliness in her chest had expanded, oxygen less necessary, and the cold had burrowed deeper under her skin.

His breath halted, his hand released her, and he groaned. “Fuck. Sorry.”

Eryn fluttered her eyes open. “Sorry,” she said, and peeled herself off him.

No more lead in her muscles, gravity less weighty than even a few days ago, she sat up without having to brace herself to stay up.

Vann flattened onto his back and rubbed his hands over his face. “Fuck,” he muttered again.

He’d worn sweatpants—a polite safety barrier, but maybe he’d realized how much she needed skin to skin contact, and he’d skipped the shirt.

Sleepy and snuggly, he exuded teddy bear vibes, but nothing about him was soft. The subtle movements as he shifted his hands into his hair showed off arms that told a much more detailed story about his occupation in “security” than his limited words on the subject.

He exhaled sharply and sat up, swinging the blankets off and shoving his feet to the floor. Sweatpants lazily clinging to narrow hips, he passed around the foot of the bed and toward his closet.