to it so you could see there isn’t one.” He pointed up at probably the twentieth little gargoyle head she’d seen mounted just below the…ceiling…
Tears burned her nose. “Those are cameras?” Without looking directly through the crack in the door, she noted the bathroom just behind him and was grateful for the handy exit. Hopefully, that door she was about to slam off its hinges had a lock on it. “Do you know how to read people at all, Lucian? Couldn’t you tell by my expression and body language that I was scared? Or were you too busy admiring your recently acquired T and A to give a shit? You’re not a nice person.” She threw a glare at Sorin, weirdly insulted on Lucian’s behalf when his meathead made a sound of agreement. That didn’t make sense when she was the one slinging the insult, but, whatever.
She brought her attention back to Lucian and was struck by how attractive he looked with a few days’ growth darkening his strong jaw. Explained the bristle burn she had on her inner thighs.
The random thought had her breath catching, and she shivered as she remembered the way his tongue had felt sliding up the center of her body.
“You’re fucking with my head,” she accused quietly, feeling as weak as any addict when faced with their drug of choice. She pointed a finger at him. “I don’t act like this. I don’t even talk like this anymore, but I’m stuck in defense mode and it’s making me revert. I could hate you for that.”
“For bringing out who you really are?”
She swallowed a gasp when he nailed it. She hated that scared, needy girl she’d been growing up, and that’s how she felt when standing before this cold-hearted tyrant. “I haven’t acted like such a silly girl since I was nine-years-old.” That was when she’d realized she had a choice to make; toughen the fuck up or continue to be wrecked every time life didn’t go the way she expected it to. “I’m not even afraid of bats, for Christ’s sake. One of my homes had one that slept above me because they’d shoved me in their attic.” She swallowed the growing lump in her throat and straightened her spine as she scrambled to find one of her masks. Gone went the profanity and in came a calmer tone. “You’re messing with my head,” she repeated before brushing past him.
“Yasmeen. Do not—”
“Leave me alone, Lucian. You’re good at that.” She shoved the door open the rest of the way and flicked on the bathroom light.
“That is where the—”
She took great satisfaction in turning and slamming the door in his beautiful face.
And was freaking out and clawing at it to open it in the next second when Mr. Bat swooped down and started banging off the walls. She got the wood out of her way and flew across the hall into her demented Romanian’s waiting arms. She plastered herself to his front after slapping at his solid chest a few times.
“Tell your b-brethren to leave me the f-fuck alone, you bastard.”
As his arms wrapped around her, his fingers gripping the back of her head to tuck her face into his neck, the secure hold gave her the strongest urge to cry like a big baby.
Remembering his warning from earlier, she didn’t shed a tear.
SEVEN
Lucian swept his distressed pet off her feet, half expecting her to protest. She was silent, and it was with a feeling similar to enjoyment that he walked with her down the hall.
“Would you mind bringing a tray up, Sorin? I do not think Yasmeen is in the mood for a formal meal.”
“I see that.”
When they reached the foyer, Sorin went straight, heading to the kitchen, and Lucian climbed the stairs.
“You do not weigh very much considering your height,” he commented.
No response came back to him.
“You will feel better after you have eaten and have had a good night’s sleep. It has been an eventful day for you.”
“I was unconscious the whole time you were bringing me here.” Her reluctantly offered words came out muffled, her breath heating his throat. “How can I be tired?”
“You were sedated, not sleeping for rest. I will feed you then tuck you in before I leave. I have no doubt you will sleep like a baby.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Explain to me what you meant about my cooks.” They’d reached the second level, and he merely strolled down the corridor, inhaling her scent deep into his lungs every