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My chest tightens. I have no idea who this woman is, so the idea of having anything to talk about doesn’t make much sense to me. But if a conversation with her is going to give me the answer to why I’m here—as much as I’m dreading finding out—I should just get it over with. “I—”
“Perhaps we can chat once you’ve had a chance to clean yourself up and have something to eat.”
As much as I desperately want and need both of those things, I cross my arms over my chest, trying to appear more confident than I feel in this scrap of black lace and silk in front of a stranger who is most likely over a century older than me and, you know, supernatural. “I think we should talk now.”
The vampire arches a perfectly shaped brow. “You can barely stand upright but you wish to refuse my offer in order to keep some semblance of control? Very well.” Selene walks across the room at an unhurried pace, her strides confident and graceful. She lowers herself into one of the red velvet wingback chairs in front of the fireplace, crossing one leg over the other and resting her hands in her lap. She stares at the flames crackling in front of her, and a small smile touches her rose-colored lips. “What is it you’d like to know, Calla?”
I stare at Selene for a few seconds, finding myself wondering why she lit the fireplace in this room she’s keeping me in. I find it hard to believe it’s for my comfort, considering she knocked me out cold when we met. Is she trying to trick me into trusting her? Hesitantly, I make my way to the chair across from her. Lowering myself into it, the silk glides easily along the velvet. I grip the armrests, too tight at first, before I remember I’m trying to appear less freaked out than I currently am. I force my fingers to relax as my eyes flick between Selene and the light emanating from the fireplace. “I have a lot of questions,” I start, dragging my gaze back to her. “How long have I been here?” I ask first.
She tips her head to the side. “A few days, give or take.”
“Three or four?” I press, my pulse kicking up.
Arching a brow, her tone is mocking when she asks, “That’s your main concern? What, do you have somewhere else to be, Calla?”
Um, yeah. Literally anywhere else.I want to say it, but I’m so out of my element here, I bite my tongue and keep my mouth shut.
Selene rolls her eyes. “Relax. There can’t be anything that important in your mundane life you could’ve missed in the last week. You’ve been fed and taken care of until I was ready to have this conversation with you. I even healed Dante’s little…” She points toward my neck, and I shudder at her confirmation that I’d been fed vampire blood.
A million follow up questions race around my head. I don’t remember anything from the last week that I’ve been here, which likely means she’s been glamouring me. Despite the swirling urge in my stomach to purge whatever food she’s forced me to eat, I need to know why I’m here. “You said…” My voice trails off as the memory from the night I was brought here threatens to replay in my head. I clear my throat and try again. “You said Dante wasn’t the reason I was brought here, so I’m left to wonder, to assume, the reason is you.”
Selene nods, tapping her fingers against her knee as she regards me thoughtfully. She offers a ghost of a smile that does nothing to ease the knots in my stomach. “Yes, well, I had to get a look at you for myself.”
Shaking my head, I ask, “Why? Why do you care about me at all?”
Her eyes take on a light of amusement. “Careis a strong word. Call it a mild fascination.”
I frown. “That still doesn’t answer my question.”
“Why,” she echoes, pursing her lips for a moment. “We have a mutual friend, you and I.”
A mutual friend.
My back stiffens against the chair, and I sit up straighter. The only possibility would be one of the guys.
Selene nods. “You’re putting it together,” she observes.
“I’m really not,” I disagree. “You know about the blood oath, that I can guess, but that doesn’t explain why you had me grabbed off the street.”
“Those boys of yours kept you locked up tight for a while,” she muses, glancing toward the flames. The light dances across her flawless complexion as she continues, “I’ll admit, I was a little surprised when Dante reached out and let me know you were with him. I truly didn’t think he’d manage to get to you, not with those vampires’ determination to keep you safe.”
“Safeis a strong word,” I echo her previous sentiment without thinking.
She laughs, a soft, melodic sound that floats through the air and makes my cheeks heat. “You’re alive, aren’t you?”
“I’m a prisoner—again,” I point out. “The secrets continue to pile up, and I’m left with more questions than answers.”
“Allow me to answer one then. You’re wondering which of those gorgeous vampires you’ve been bound to is tied to me.”
I nod, because I really can’t figure it out. I can’t see it being Atlas; in a way, the two seem too alike. Lex, I think, would be too eccentric, and Kade… well, maybe Kade. He’s been known to surprise me on occasion. Or Gabriel. I wholeheartedly believe he could be friends with anyone. Despite what brought us together, I have no doubt that Gabriel’s heart is good. He’s kind and compassionate, and fuck, Imisshim.
“Gabriel and I go way back,” Selene reveals, leaning against the back of the chair as she lifts a hand to her long white-blond hair, fingering one of the curls and smiling to herself as if she’s reliving a fond memory of the two of them.
It twists something in my gut, and I clench my jaw, wanting to look away. Instead, I ask, “How do you know Gabriel?”
Her eyes meet mine, and her next words make the blood in my veins turn to ice.
“I’m the one who turned him.”
