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Gabriel walks back into the dining room and immediately sighs, clearly sensing the tension. “I just got a message from Lex. They're on their way back from Target with supplies.”
“Great,” I grind out, getting up from the table. If I don't walk away now, things are only going to escalate, and getting into a shouting match with the vampire I just sired is not how I’d like to spend my Friday afternoon.
15
Calla
After yesterday’s argument with Atlas, I’ve reserved myself to stay holed up in my bedroom except for the brief occasions I slip downstairs to grab a blood bag, timing it strategically to ensure I don’t run into him.
The cravings have been hard since I woke up this morning. They’re stronger than they’ve been, and I imagine it’s because my emotions are all over the place.
My muscles are itching for a run, but there doesn’t seem to be any workout equipment in this place, and the odds of being let out the front door without an escort are slim. And that really doesn’t help my mood.
The guys leave me alone for the most part. Gabriel pokes his head into my room at one point and brings me an iced caramel latte from my favorite café near campus, but he doesn’t push me to talk about anything. There’s nothing new to say at this point, anyway. They all know what happened the other night, why I’m pissed, and they can continue treating me like a caged animal if it means leaving me alone. I’ll get over my anger eventually—hell, there’s even a part of me that understands why Atlas responded the way he did—but I’m still going to simmer with it for now.
I find some ridiculously stupid cartoon marathon on TV and lie on my stomach in bed, watching it until I doze off sometime late in the afternoon.
When I blink my eyes open, my gums are throbbing and my throat feels like sandpaper. I groan, which doesn’t help the rawness, and curse when it hits me that I’m not alone in my bed.
“Hey, sleepy head,” Lex purrs, grinning at me with his head propped on a pillow.
“What the fuck, Lex,” I grumble around a yawn, sitting up. “What do you want?”
“Geez, you can put the fangs away,” he says in a teasing tone.
I poke one with my tongue and frown. I hadn’t even realized they were out. “Shit,” I whisper, mainly to myself, though he would have heard it.
“You’re hungry.” It’s not a question.
I thrust my fingers through my hair, pressing them into my scalp in an attempt to ease the pressure building there. It feels like the headaches I used to get with abrupt weather changes. “Were you watching me sleep like a weirdo?”
“And if I was?” he shoots me a wink. “Oh, relax. I was watching, uh, whatever the fuck that is.” He gestures toward the TV on the wall across from the bed.
“Right, and you couldn’t watch TV downstairs?”
Those silver eyes narrow slightly. “I don’t much like grumpy Calla. Any idea when she’s going to return the Calla we all love?”
I pause, my heart stuttering at that last word. I shove past it and say, “Maybe once you all stop doing shit that makes it feel like we’re moving backward. I may not be locked in a room, but I am most definitely a prisoner here. Again.”
Lex juts his lower lip out in a pout. “Only because you want to run away and do something that could potentially get you killed.”
I cross my arms, shifting to face him on the bed. “The same could be said for what Gabriel and Atlas are planning with the hunters,” I point out. “I don’t want to keep talking in circles, which is why I’ve kept to myself today. There’s no sense wasting my energy shouting at a brick wall, so I’m just going to hang out in here until I don’t feel like ripping Atlas’s head off, which I can’t do anyway thanks to the whole sire thing.”
He laughs softly. “You’re so well-adjusted for a newbie vampire. It keeps throwing me off.”
I arch a brow at him. “Uh, thanks? I think.”
Lex nods. “Yes, Calla, that is a compliment. Now, get up. You’re going to need to be a lot perkier for where we’re going.”
My brows knit. “What are you talking about? You’re crazy if you think Atlas is going to let me leave right now.”
His eyes shimmer with mischief. “Hmm, then it’s a good thing he isn’t here.” He slides off the bed and heads for the door. “Hurry up. We’re leaving in five.”
“Lex, wait. Where—”
“Five minutes,” he calls out, already walking down the hallway.
I groan, forcing myself out of bed. I’m not exactly in the mood for one of Lex’s field trips, but if it’ll get me out of this house, I suppose I shouldn’t complain.
