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The guy smirks, a subtle twist of his lips that would make the purest of angels desire sin. “You know who I am. You ran because you know exactly who we are.”
I grit my teeth when his fingers flex against my bare shoulders. It doesn’t hurt, but his proximity is making my knees shake. Though that could also be from sprinting down the stairs. “I ran because it’s the middle of the night and you broke into my apartment.”
Those silver eyes snare me without effort and sparkle. “Calla, Calla, Calla.”
I scowl when he tuts his tongue, and swallow the bile rising in my throat. “Stop saying my name.”
He grins. “Are you going to play nice if I step away now?”
“That depends,” I say, “if you consider me punching you in the face playing nice.”
He whistles softly. “You’re going to be quite the handful, aren’t you?”
That catches my attention, and I stiffen.
“Kade, that’s enough.” The voice comes from above, and my head turns in time to see another silver-eyed guy walking down the concrete stairs toward us. This one isn’t as muscular as the guy holding me against the wall—Kade apparently—and he has wavy copper hair with strands that appear pure gold in this light. It’s a mess of waves that I can’t stop staring at.
“Relax, Gabriel. She’s fine. Aren’t you, Calla?” He hooks my chin with his finger and turns my gaze back to him. The moment our eyes meet, a pleasant warmth floods through me, washing away the tension in my muscles.
I nod without a single thought. Of course, I’m fine. I can’t even remember what I could have possibly been upset about.
Kade smiles, and I find myself smiling back… until he blinks, severing the glamour.
I stare at him for several seconds, horrified by my complete loss of control, and then I lose my shit. Tension grips me again as my eyes narrow, and I curl my fingers against my palms. “You fucking pr—”
Gabriel pulls me away from him before I can start throwing fists. “All right, angel, let’s go.”
In the brief moment he lets go of my arm, I duck under his and run. My grip on the railing slips from the dampness of my palm, but I manage to grab it again before falling. I make it to the next landing and collide with Gabriel’s chest.
My head whips back toward the level above where he’d just been, and I shake my head as I struggle to catch my breath.
“Stop running,” he says in a voice so soft, so gentle, I pause. He isn’t glamouring me.
I take a step away, and I’m about to tell him where he can go when my back hits a solid wall of muscle. I turn to find Kade grinning at me, and my eyes burn with angry tears.
There’s no way out.
“Calla.” Gabriel’s smooth voice makes me look back at him.
I shake my head, cursing myself as one awful word leaks from my lips. “Please.”
“Oh, come on,” Kade says, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and holding me against his side. “Don’t start begging now. I much prefer your sharp tongue.”
My brows knit as anger crackles through me once more, and I grit my teeth. “Fuck you,” I seethe, shoving away from him.
Gabriel steps in, placing his hand at the small of my back, guiding me toward the hallway. The warmth of his hand surprises me, though I’m not sure why, and all of a sudden, it doesn’t matter. We’re moving out of the stairwell, back into the hallway to the elevator bank.
“See? That’s much better,” Kade says from behind us, and I inhale slowly to keep myself from launching at him again. Theoretically, I know it won’t get me anywhere, but that sure as hell doesn’t mean I’m restrained enough to ignore the urge.
We get into the elevator, and Gabriel presses the button to my floor as the door slides shut, then he leans against the wood-paneled wall. He rakes his fingers through those copper curls, and my eyes roam over him, taking in his formal appearance. Dark slacks and a starch white collared shirt make him look as if he came here from some sort of business meeting. Especially compared to the distressed jeans and the T-shirt that is barely containing Kade’s insane muscles. Gabriel looks to be a few years older than him, though both have at least a century on me. Despite that—and the reason they’re here—I can’t help but notice how attractive they are. Would I prefer to not have them in my life? Of course. Perhaps if we’d met in a bar instead of my apartment in the middle of the night, I might’ve let them buy me a drink. But that isn’t our circumstance.
I’d like to think I can chalk up my physical attraction toward them to their vampiric allure. All humans are drawn to it despite—for the majority of the population—being oblivious to the existence of vampires, so how could I possibly think I’d be immune?
I stare at the stubble along Kade’s defined jaw, watching as a muscle feathers along it. Despite his outward amusement to the situation, he’s tense too. And if that doesn’t put me on edge even more...What the hell does he have to be worried about?
Kade hums under his breath—a Pink Floyd song, I think—as the elevator ascends, and my jaw is clenched so hard my molars are throbbing by the time we step off on the fifteenth floor. When we reach my apartment, Kade opens the door and walks in as if he owns the place. I follow him inside with Gabriel behind me and faintly notice my book bag is hung on the hook next to my jacket. Someone has turned on the light above my kitchen island as well as the few lamps around my living room, blanketing the relatively small space in warm light.
The other two guys are still sitting on my couch. Waiting. They knew Kade and Gabriel would have no issues returning with me, and I hate that.
