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“I don’t like her,” she pushed, tugging her arm from his.
Hollis’s chuckle surprised her. “She’s very capable.” His casual declaration made her temper flare.
“How nice for you.” Why was she reacting this way? The woman was weak, vulnerable, and unaware of their world. Hollis didn’t look at Kim the way he looked at her—he didn’t burn for her.
But perhaps Hollis wanted that. Someone who wasn’t her. If he did cure them, he could live a normal human life with someone capable and pretty, like Kim. “Perhaps I should go to the hotel while you finish your work here.” She wrapped her arms around her waist.
“Is that what you want?” he asked, sliding off the stool and standing before her. “All of these resources available to you and you’d rather sit at my place?
”
“Hotel. You live in a hotel.” She’d never heard of such a thing. A hotel was a luxury, not a lifestyle. “I don’t understand you at all.”
“It’s convenient for my hectic lifestyle.” His gaze was fixed on her. “You don’t want to stay?”
“I never wanted to come,” she reminded him, hearing the petulance in her voice and hating it. How could she explain how out of her element she felt? Vulnerability was a weakness she refused to entertain. “This world is not mine.”
He studied her. “You wanted to see the bone.”
She stared at him. “The bone? The bone. It’s here?”
He pulled a key-card from his pocket and led her to a door in the far wall of the lab. “Through here,” he said, inserting the key-card, then punching in the code to open the door. “All of my unconventional research is kept in the vault.”
“Unconventional?” she asked, following him through the door. She stopped inside, the hum of energy that greeted her unexpected.
“Things no one else has access to. I’ve been collecting items since we were changed,” he said, flipping on the muted overhead lighting. “Some of the artifacts are quite old.”
The ground seemed to sway under her feet. A low vibration began on the soles of her feet, shimmied up her legs, past her knees, and settled into her torso. She pressed herself against the wall at her back, fighting back the panic that sank deep into her stomach. Closing her eyes didn’t help as much as she’d like, but the room was no longer spinning. The sound was still there—a noise that made her head ache and her teeth chatter.
“Hollis?” Her voice shook.
Hollis’s hands gripped her upper arms. Warm. Steady. Keeping her upright when she would have easily slid to the floor. She stepped forward, sliding her arms around him and allowing his heat to warm her through.
“Talk to me,” he murmured against her temple.
“Noise. Dizzy.” She swallowed. “Too much.”
He opened the door and dragged her back out. “Sit,” he said, gently pushing her down into a large, leather office chair. “I’ll get you some water.”
She rested her head on the chairback and waited, breathing easier as the sensations slowly ebbed. Sweat dripped down her back, pearled on her upper lip, and made her palms clammy.
“Here,” he said, placing a tall glass in front of her.
She drank it all down, taking the wet paper towels he offered to cool her heated skin.
“What was that?” He pulled a chair close to hers, then sat, facing her.
What should she tell him?
“Whatever you tell me stays between us,” he said, taking her hand.
“Finn is your Alpha.” Her voice wobbled.
He smoothed the plastered strands of hair from her face. “He’s never used that against me, never demanded I tell him something. There’s no reason that would change now.” He leaned forward, tilting her face so he could examine her. “Your eyes are dilated. You’re pale. Accelerated heartbeat and respirations. You were like this before, in the clearing.”
“Not like this,” she argued. “I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
“You see things?” he asked, softly.
