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My stomach churns as panic creeps in, making my muscles feel heavy.
“The agreement becomes void upon your natural death,” Gabriel says. “We also have the option to terminate it.”
Which will never happen.The words are implied. So my life, whatever future I might have seen for myself, is effectively over.
“Don’t look so hopeless, angel,” Gabriel says, and I glance at him to find his eyes filled with… compassion? No, that must be a trick. He offers a faint smile before leaving me standing in the kitchen by myself. He disappears around the corner, and I hear faint footsteps climb the stairs to the second level I haven’t seen yet. I guess Gabriel has no desire to finish giving me a tour of the house.
I jump when Lex tosses the book onto the coffee table and gets up, coming into the kitchen. When he starts pulling food out of the fridge, I slide out of the way.
As Lex cooks breakfast, the house fills with the savory aroma of eggs and bacon, and despite my desire to flee this place, my stomach rumbles. Because I’m human and need food to survive—and I’m freaking starving.
Kade pulls a barstool over from the dining room and sits at one of the kitchen islands as he scrolls through his phone. I try to ignore it when I feel his eyes on me, but I can’t shake the memory of his touch.
I take a long drink of my coffee and walk to the fridge. I pull out a plastic container of strawberries and blueberries, turning to the sink to rinse them off.
Lex flips the sizzling bacon and glances in my direction. “Hungry?”
I nod, plopping a blueberry in my mouth. “So you guys eat human food then.”
Kade chuckles, setting his phone on the counter. “Yes, Calla. We eat like normal people. Well, most of us. Only born vampires don’t need human food to survive—just blood.”
“So turned vampires can survive on either?”
“We need both,” Lex chimes in, cracking an egg into a frying pan before scrambling it with the spatula in his hand.
“Are all of you turned then?”
Lex and Kade exchange a glance that I almost miss.
“What? Is that some sort of secret?”
Before either can answer, Atlas walks in from the back of the house. Apparently one of the windows is actually a door that I hadn’t noticed last night.
His hair is damp and the front of his light gray shirt is darkened with sweat. It dawns on me at that moment I didn’t work out this morning. It’s the first time in… I can’t even recall how long that I missed one. The thought makes me frown, and I take another sip of coffee.
Atlas stops at the counter and grabs a strawberry from the container in front of me. His gaze lands on me, holds for a moment, and then shifts to where Kade is scrolling through his phone again. His brow arches briefly as if heknowswhat we did at the hotel this morning, and my cheeks fill with heat. I try to cover my face by taking another sip of coffee, but the moment passes without comment, and relief pours through me as he leaves the kitchen.
I’m not sure what causes me to set my mug down and go after him up the staircase to the second level, but I do. Yeah, I’m hungry, but I need answers more than I need food right now.
I follow the brightly lit hallway, taking in the abstract art hung along the white walls until I find an open door near the end. Either Atlas didn’t hear me come after him, or he didn’t bother to wait for me to catch up.
My breath halts when I step into the last room at the end of the hall—the only door slightly open—and find Atlas completely naked. Every inch of his golden-toned body looks as if it’s been etched by gods, which is about as infuriating as it is attractive. I can’t help but let my gaze wander…
“Shit, sorry.” I whip around so I’m no longer looking at it—him. Instead, I try to focus on the room. The dark gray walls, blank of any art or other decor. The entire room actually is very plain. It suits him.
“Did you need something?” His voice is level, as if he’s unbothered by my barging into his room and him being on display.
“Uh, yeah. I mean not right now, while you’re… I just… I have questions.”
“Calla.” His voice is closer. “You don’t need to hide.”
I slowly turn around, forcing my gaze level with his. The heat from his body makes me want to retreat, but I keep still. “I—”
“Have questions. That you need to think very hard before you ask, because you may not be prepared for the answers.”
I cross my arms, glancing past him toward the giant four-poster bed in the corner of the room. It’s a mountain of black pillows and sheets that look silk from where I’m standing, and I can’t help but imagine what I might feel like to—no. I need to focus. I look back at Atlas. “I deserve to know what’s going on.”
“That’s not what I said.”
