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“Shit, Blue,” James says, bending and tilting his head. “Elijah has that look on his face you always have, but worse.”
“What the fuck,” I growl and twist my head toward my mate.
Chapter Nineteen
Saylor
“Elijah, take your mate and go to my office,” Jax says as Elijah stands and stares at me. “I have a bathroom. Clean the blood off. I have spare shirts in there also.” He faces his brothers. “Let’s get to work. Blue, get him the fuck out of here. Make sure he lives, but doesn’t get away. James, call one of the vampires. Baby girl, you are with me.”
Elijah snaps to attention, swiping my hand and pulling me quickly across the floor. I jog to keep up with his long legs. His anger surrounds us and I know I will have to answer some tough questions. I didn’t want to talk about it. I wanted to forget the small incident in my life as if it never happened. I got away safely so what was the point of bringing it up.
I almost trip halfway up the stairs and he slows down. My fingers are almost numb from the death grip he has on them. I don’t complain. He’s running on rage and adrenaline. The fact that he just learned I have been close enough to Grant to kiss, I’m sure is fucking with his head.
He storms into a large office, slamming the door behind us after we clear the doorway. I flinch but he doesn’t notice as he hustles us through another door to the bathroom.
He slams that door, too.
He releases my hand abruptly and turns to face me. His eyes are working furiously as he studies me.
“What did we say about honesty, Saylor?” He demands an answer.
Fuck, that makes me feel like shit, because he’s right. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“Let’s start with what happened.” He jerks off his ruined shirt. “What did the human say to you?” He balls up the shirt and throws it in the garbage.
“He asked if he could buy me a drink. I said no. He was insisting. Then he asked if I wanted to dance. Again, I said no. He didn’t listen.”
“He said nothing to lead you to believe he was involved with Grant?” He tugs a towel from the rack and starts the water in the sink.
I step forward and steal the towel. “No.” I push at his waist. I wait until he faces me and then wet the rag. “I was getting up to come find you when he tried to pull me to him. I have no idea what the plan was.”
“Alright, on to the next,” he says tightly. “What did he mean by taste you again? I was under the impression that you have never been close to Grant.”
I wipe off the blood from his neck, avoiding his eyes. I can’t bear the hurt in them. “I was seventeen. We had been in the same town for months, longer than any other. My mom had to work late. I decided to go to a park nearby. I had no reason to think anything bad would happen and I was sick of sitting in the car. I just wanted some time to be normal.” I rinse the rag and start on his chest. “There were a few people there but Ididn’t pay attention. I was sitting on a bench and I smelled him. At this point, I didn’t know what he looked like up close. But I recognized the scent.
“He was good-looking. I was startled by that—I didn’t run. I’m ashamed of that. He talked calmly. He can be charming when he wants to be. He asked where my mom was, which I refused to tell him. He said he’d been watching me for so long that he forgot how beautiful I was.” I can still see his blinding-white smile. “He asked me why we felt like we had to run. Why didn’t we want to join his pack? We would have family and friends. We would be taken care of for the rest of our lives. He knew what to say,” I said shamefully.
“Of course he did. He’s a predator.”
“I so wanted to believe it. For just a moment, I thought,what if my mom is wrong?It would be so easy to give up. I was so tired.” The blood soaked through his shirt, even his arms had splatters. “He kept the compliments coming. For a lost teenager who wished to have all of those things, be all those things, was tempting. That’s when he leaned in. His lips barely touched mine when I snapped out of it. But I stayed still, wanting him to think I was accepting. I slowly reached into my pocket while I moved towards him as if I was wanting more. I had a knife. My mom got it for me years before.
“I stabbed him. I stabbed him in the thigh and ran. I’m fast and I knew the suddenness of it and the wound would slow him.”
“You went to your mom?”
“I ran straight to the bar. She knew the minute she saw me. She grabbed her things and was beside me before I even stopped. We ran out the back door without a word and got in the car. I didn’t tell her what happened until we were safely away.”
“Kitty Cat,” he says tenderly, stopping my furious cleaning. “I think it’s all off.”
I come back to the present, focusing on his skin. “Sorry.”
“Thank you for telling me. He won’t get the chance to get close to you.” He tugs a shirt from the rack in the corner. “We need to talk to everyone. This needs to happen soon.”
“He’s close by,” I say, hating the tremble in my voice.
“Hey,” Elijah whispers. He stops buttoning the shirt to cup my face. “I hate that you had to go through that. You shouldn’t feel any shame. He knew what to say to pull that reaction from you. He played you. He’s going to pay for it.”
“Okay.” I nod, grasping his wrists.
