Page 163

“She was upset, and I said something that made it worse. I think she’s still afraid of us, even if she doesn’t act like it.”

Riley’s loud yell and incoherent rambling came rapid-fire-fast through the tinny phone speaker, and rustling sounded on the line until Lukas’s voice became clearer.

“I took it off speakerphone. Riley is having a fit about proving we are safe. Seth’s trying to calm her down.”

“I don’t blame her.”

“Why?”

“Because our world isn’t like Charlotte’s. You went through this with Blaire, remember? You tried to drive her away from here because you were afraid for her yourself.”

“True,” Lukas conceded. “But things are different. We understand this situation now. I don’t think Charlotte’s afraid of us, but she has every right to be afraid of the rogues and a stalker. I mean, fuck, you were killed, man.” Lukas’s voice cracked on the last words.

The reminder of what happened threatened to trigger memories he didn’t want to experience. He closed his eyes and counted backward from ten until he exhaled heavily, focusing on the truths he knew: He was alive. Charlotte didn’t fear him. He didn’t represent his world, just like Charlotte didn’t represent the human world as a whole. There were bad people to fear in both.

“Listen, she’ll be out of the shower soon. I need to get off here.”

“Call us if you need.”

“Yeah. Tell Riley not to confront her, though. I don’t want to make things worse.”

“I got you.”

“Oh, I’m gonna run and grab a blood packet. Can you come down and hang out on this floor until I’m back? I don’t feel comfortable leaving her alone.”

“No problem. I’ll head down now.”

He stood. He suspected Charlotte might wait him out in the bathroom until he went to bed, so grabbing a packet now to give her space sounded like a good idea. If it made her comfortable to go to sleep without him around, he wouldn’t wait on her, but he wouldn’t leave her vulnerable—not more than she already was.

The problem with not being able to sleep meant finding himself experiencing a different form of torture than what awaited him in his nightmares.

Lying in the darkness, he tried to keep his attention off the girl lying in the other bed who stole his heart. It took all his willpower to fight the urge to go to her in her bed. The need to be close to her made his skin itch.

The ache radiating through his chest from missing her body heat and the feel of her smooth skin brushing against his when they slept together made the possibility of sleep a fleeting fantasy.

He wished he could crawl into her bed and feel her curl against his side.

He closed his eyes as visions of their nights in Athens together trickled into his mind. Sometimes she would unconsciously sling her leg over his and wrap her arm over his chest in a full body hug.

He even missed the nights where she seemed less relaxed, and he ended up with her foot jammed into his ribs or a set of toes in his face.

Sure, they were in the same room together, but the longing to be physically touching made it hard to breathe sometimes. It felt like desperation. Ever since they returned to Rosebrook Valley, the distance became painful. Now sharing the same room, the pain lessened, but it brought little comfort.

He tried to match his breathing to her soft, deep breaths. Tried to relax. He really tried. But the longer he watched her chest rise and fall with every deep breath she took, studied the way her legs looked bathed in moonlight from the window, and listened to every little sigh that pushed past her soft lips, the more his cock thickened.

He pressed the heel of his hand against the base of his erection to ease the ache.

Seeing her in his T-shirt did things to his lizard brain that he wouldn’t admit to anyone. She had plenty of her own clothes now, but every night she stole the T-shirt he’d worn for the day before going to bed. Except tonight. Tonight, his hamper stood open. She’d grabbed another one he wore recently, since she’d gone to bed before he changed.

He knew it was his scent. While it might not all be biology making her want to surround herself with his scent, he understood the need. They taught them all about it in the Korrena education classes growing up.

He wondered if she sought it for comfort or something more.

Either way, the action did nothing to quell the growing desire he felt.

When she rolled over, putting her back to him, hitching a leg over the blankets, he bit the inside of his cheek to hold back the groan at the sight of her sleep shorts riding up and exposing the bottom of her backside and the expanse of her thigh.

The position, with her leg forward, thighs slightly spread, teased him with a shadowed view of a place he knew all too well felt like heaven on earth.