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Kaja held on to the doorframe. There was ground beneath her, but she could tell she was high. Very high.
“Kaja, you’re awake.”
She turned her head, and Dante stood at the edge of the railing. Balcony. This was a balcony.
Dante had turned toward her, his handsome face soft in the moonlight. The moon was so big. It was almost as though she could touch it.
“Come here, sweetheart,” Dante said, holding a hand out. “I want to show you something.”
She bit her bottom lip and forced herself to be brave. She stepped onto the balcony. It felt solid under her feet. She walked toward Dante. He was dressed in a suit, the tie loosened and jacket discarded. His hair was back to perfection, and Kaja missed the messiness of before. He looked unattainable again, like a man who had never fought with claws and fangs. But he was still so beautiful to her.
“Look at it, Kaj.” He pulled her to the railing when she placed her hand in his.
She felt her breath blow out of her body. It was stunning. Dante’s arms wrapped around her waist, anchoring her. “It’s so high. Should we be so high?”
He chuckled, his breath warm against her head. “It’s the only way to avoid the pollution, love. You can’t see it at night, but there’s a cloud of bad air that hangs over the surface. Instead of solving the problem, we just built higher. Don’t worry, you’ll never go to the surface in the city. We have walkways and hovercars to take you from building to building.”
“You never touch the ground?”
She felt him shrug behind her. “On vacation, perhaps. There are places that have been kept clean. The farther you get out of the cities, the more likely you are to be able to comfortably dirt walk. But this is our home. This city is called Dallas.”
Dallas. She tasted it on her tongue. Odd-sounding name. And no forests. The balcony had a few trees, but they were rooted in pots, not the earth. The whole world around her looked foreign and alien. Beautiful, but beautiful things could be deadly.
“I’ll show you everything tomorrow,” Dante murmured. He turned her around so she was facing him. “But for now, I don’t think we need to leave our rooms. Are you feeling better?”
She nodded and buried her face in his chest. She felt better here, surrounded by his scent. She felt safer.
“Excellent.” His hands reached down and hooked beneath her knees as he hauled her against his chest. “I have a few things I’ve wanted to do to you.”
She shivered in his arms. “You’re going to spank me?”
It was what he’d promised. She’d violated direct orders. She wasn’t afraid of Dante’s version of punishment.
He smiled down at her, but she didn’t catch that hint of fangs she loved. “Not tonight, sweetheart. I think I would be a bit of an ass if I spanked you when you’re still tired due to blood loss. No, I’m going to take care of you tonight. But don’t think for an instant I’ve forgotten what happened out there. You will answer for your disobedience. I’m actually having a room renovated for that very occasion.”
“There are more rooms?” This one seemed so large. Far too large for the two of them.
“Yes,” Dante replied as the door on the far end of the room swung open. “Susie and Colin are moving to the east wing. We’re taking over this whole wing of the penthouse. We have ten rooms all to ourselves over three floors. Of course, there are also common rooms.”
Well, of course.
“But I don’t want you to worry about any of it, Kaja.” Dante set her on her feet. She was in a plush room that seemed to be made from smooth stone. She recognized one fixture. A huge bathtub dominated the room, but Dante walked to a glass enclosure. He was unbuttoning his shirt as he stood next to it. “Shower. Thirty-five degrees Celsius.”
A waterfall poured from a fixture in the ceiling. Dante shucked the rest of his clothes. With each piece he tossed aside, he shed the civilized man she didn’t understand. Somehow he became something different without the trappings of his culture on his body. He turned to her, and her heart raced. There they were—the fangs she loved. She loved how savage they made him look, how strong and powerful. She loved the way they felt when he drank from her. Without thought, she allowed her neck to roll back.
He was on her before she could breathe, his hand tugging at her hair. “Don’t you dare, consort. Don’t you tempt me. I can see you want it, but there will be none of that.”
Even as he said the words, his head leaned down, and he ran his nose along her neck.
“I am fine.” Kaja felt strong.
He growled. “No, Kaja. I’m beginning to think I should spank you. I ate two meal pills so I wouldn’t feed from you. They taste like ass now. I only want you. You’re a fucking addiction. You’re also still recovering.”
She pressed her neck to his mouth. If he was addicted, then so was she. She never felt closer to him than she did when they were connected like that. “I am fine.”
He gently shoved her away. “Damn it, Kaja. You are pushing me. I’ve had a rough couple of days. I want to be gentle with you. Fuck that. I want to tear into you, but not tonight. You mind me.”
