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“I’m busy, so unless you—”
“Watch your tone with me,” he growls. “Get back to Washington now. It is time to put the hunters in their place again. You need to eliminate the senators associated with them during the meeting Terence has scheduled for you tomorrow. We need to send a very strong message, and it needs to be done before the news coverage grows more widespread.”
I don’t bother telling him it’s too late for that. “I’m not going to do that,” I say in a tight voice. Every muscle in my body is tense, and I suddenly wish I hadn’t sent Calla away. As much as I don’t want her involved in this, I’m craving her presence deeper than ever at this moment.
“I am not asking, Atlas. This is your duty as a part of our—”
“Family?” I cut him off with a harsh laugh.
“Your mother and I have built an image among the vampires that is well-respected. We will not have you ruin it because of some ludicrous vision you may have.”
“Has it ever occurred to you,father, that you have absolutely no idea who I am or what I want?”
There is a stretch of heavy silence before Simon takes a deep breath. “You are an incredible disappointment. You are far too weak to be any son of mine. Forget about the meeting, Atlas. I will have this handled without your involvement.” He hangs up, not allowing me another word. It’s just as well, considering I have nothing left to say.
The ding of the elevator catches my attention, and I move across the room in a blur, opening the door to find Calla standing at the elevators. I stalk down the hallway toward her, and she briefly looks as if she’s considering making a break for it but thinks otherwise at the last second.
“What are you doing?” I demand.
“I… I got on the elevator, but then I felt this intense, dark pressure in my chest. I can’t explain it better than that, but it made it hard to breathe, so I got off to come back to you and heard you on the phone.”
I arch a brow at her. “So you decided to stand outside the door and eavesdrop on my conversation?” I should have sensed she was there, or even heard her, but I was so wrapped up in the conversation—if that’s what you can call it—with Simon that I didn’t realize I wasn’t alone.
Calla presses her lips together for a moment, holding my gaze. “I’m sorry.” She steps in and lifts her hand to my cheek. “The things Simon said to you…” Her voice is low as her eyes flick between mine, and she brushes her thumb along my skin. “They aren’t true.”
My heart rate increases and the pressure in my chest lessens slightly. I rest my hands against her hips and lean closer, inhaling slowly and finding a brief moment of peace in her floral scent. It’s warm and soft and whollyher.
“You are anything but weak, Atlas, and I’m sorry he has made you feel that way.” Her lips brush mine in a whisper of a kiss as her heart beats fast in her chest. “You deserve so much better than them.”
I close my eyes and pull her against me as she wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me fully. I allow myself to get lost in her, kissing her deeply and sweeping my tongue along her lips until they part for me, then push inside her mouth, grazing her tongue with mine.
Pulling back before things get too heated in the middle of the hallway, I rest my forehead against hers. “Thank you,” I murmur, opening my eyes to look into hers. What I see in their depths makes my chest fill with a different kind of pressure. One filled with warmth that makes my skin tingle and my pulse jump.
Her eyes widen and her cheeks flush hotly. “Damn it,” she says under her breath.
I tilt her chin up with my finger. “Don’t worry, I won’t make you say it out loud.”
“I…” She clamps her mouth shut, and I wait patiently before she finally says, “Okay. I won’t make you say it, either.”
Those three words don’t need to be spoken aloud, though. We both know it, both canfeelit between us.
We get on the elevator to go back to the room, and I stand near one wall while she stands near the opposite one. “Do you want to see your parents before we leave the city?” I ask. Now that I’m not rushing back to a meeting with the senators, we could stay longer, though I know all of us are anxious to get back to Washington.
Calla tips her head back against the wall and sighs. “I do, but I don’t think I’m ready for that.” She looks over at me. “I don’t want to scare them and I’m nervous about hurting them. I don’t think I will. I mean, I know you guys would step in before anything could happen, but that in itself freaks me out too much.”
I nod as we get close to our floor. “That’s understandable. We can come back whenever you’re ready. Or they can come to Washington. Whatever you want.”
“Thanks, Atlas.”
It’s safe to say I shock us both when I smile at her. It’s genuine and full, nothing like the faint grins and brief lip twitches I’ve shared with her in the past.
Something so small shouldn’t feel like a turning point, and yet…
13
Calla
We leave to drive back to Washington after we’ve all showered and had breakfast. The toasted ham and cheese sandwich I ordered tasted slightly better than dinner last night, but I did drink an entire blood bag beforehand. As much as I don’t want to admit it helped, it’s pretty hard to deny. If it’s going to allow me to eat food normally, I guess I shouldn’t bristle at it. Drinking blood is part of my life now, and the faster I can get to a place where that feels normal, the easier meals—and life in general, I suspect—will be for me.
