“You’re a horn dog,” she tried to peer around him so she could see the TV but he caught her face with a palm at the jaw and gave a little squeeze until her eyes met his. He locked them there. Kyla swallowed hard.
He opened his mouth and stopped, thoughtful for a second, then said, “It’s only been, what, a week and a half? But I’ve never felt like this. Nothing close to this. I think it’s love. I’ve fallen in love with you. Madly.”
The earth might as well have dropped out from underneath her. She grabbed his arms, steadying herself. Her eyes were wide with alarm. His eyes were on her and they were heated.
There was a loud and aggressive knock on the bedroom door. Tristan glanced in the direction of the door and then blew his hair up out of his eyes, “Fuck.” He got up and walked to the door.
Kyla’s heart was thudding wildly in her chest. The bed suddenly felt huge, like an island. He opened the door, stepped out into the hall, then shut it.
Love?
He was gone for what seemed like a long time. She found an unopened bottle of water, guzzled it back despite it being tepid, fingers trembling. She took a few deep breaths and then stepped out onto the balcony, inhaling the fresh air deeply. It felt and smelled like rain was coming. The sky was dark and she could see the clouds picking up pace. It felt foreboding to her. She heard a slam.
She spun around and saw him back in the bedroom. She rushed in.
“What’s wrong?”
He was clearly angry and his expression was almost menacing. He was pacing and looking around the room, his eyes half crazed. Thunder crackled and the rain came in sheets down the windows. It was very apt weather, considering his state of mind. A thunder clap almost sent her into his arms, much like Shaggy would jump into Scooby Doo’s arms.
“Tristan?”
The thunder hadn’t fazed him but he snapped out of his trance at the sound of his name and his face softened. He swallowed hard.
”Sit,” he said.
“Kay…”
“I already told you that the day after tomorrow this house will be full of vampires. Word has gotten around that I’ve taken on a pet and so now I’ll have to have you out for an appearance. It’ll look suspicious if I don’t to people, particularly people I’m now highly suspicious of.”
“Pet?” she stared incredulously at him.
“I was just interrupted for an urgent call from Claudio. He’s the top of that ladder I told you about. He needed to go over a few things with me but at the end of the conversation he told me he looks forward to meeting you.”
“Oh fuck.” Kyla was gripped by fear, “Pet?” She repeated, feeling insulted.
“Sorry.”
“Has someone else found out I’m not under your spell?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. It might not be a coincidence that the blood is missing and now suddenly there’s buzz about you and for buzz to get to Claudio...” He let out a deep breath and shook his head.
“Joe?”
“Not likely. Joe has no access to Claudio.”
Kyla felt sick. She flattened her hand against her chest and gulped.
“What’ll happen? What’ll he do?”
“Just set eyes on you. It didn’t sound like a big deal to him. He thinks it’s pragmatic to take on one or more pets and said he looks forward to seeing the woman that has finally caught my eye and I’m just concerned about who brought this to his attention. What the fuck?” Tristan jumped up and headed to the door, “I’ll be back.”
She felt sick inside. For a nanosecond she wanted to run. She wanted to run hard and run fast and get as far away from this place as she could. But she couldn’t. She wouldn’t. She wasn’t prepared to jeopardize the fact that they were still putting things together after she’d run, still figuring things out.
Everything was so new, so fresh, so butterfly-filled. She wouldn’t be able to bring herself to willingly hurt their connection by hurting him. Not after last time when she’d tried to run. She couldn’t bear to see pain in his eyes again, couldn’t risk ruining this thing between them. Couldn’t bear to never feel him again.
He loves me. He’ll protect me. She shuddered.
He loves me? Never in her life had she given anyone carte blanche trust like this. More signs he was as much a drug to her as she was to him. She’d learned, through circumstances that you had to take care of yourself. But here she was, surrendering power to him, hoping that he would be able to protect her. She still knew so little about him, so little about this bond they had.
What would it be like to be smack dab in the midst of a coven of vampires, evil vampires? Tristan had said they were ‘bad guys’. Under normal circumstances this would be scary enough but to have to fake some sort of trance? Is that what she’d have to do? She didn’t think she was capable and if she couldn’t pull it off what would the consequences be?