Daisy.”
“Stop.” I wrinkled my nose. “I’d threaten to feed from you, but you’d enjoy it too much.”
“Uh huh.” He turned on the toe of his boot, which I took as an indication to follow him through the empty gymnasium.
“Do you sleep?” he asked, thankfully changing the subject.
“I can, but it doesn’t replenish my energy like it does for you.” My toes curled over the soles of the flip-flops, the sensation of shoes odd, but not completely unpleasant. “Only feeding does.”
“Right, which is not happening. I’m still not thrilled about you doing it with no warning on the balcony.”
My chest heaved with a sigh. I was tired, and not just because feeding from the congregation’s faith was barely enough to sustain my normal energy levels. I hadn’t even been here an hour and already had to constantly defend myself.
“You’ll see how they feel tomorrow,” I told him snippily. “And when you don’t notice a difference, I expect you to come to me with an apology. Doesn’t mean I’ll accept it, though.”
“An apology!” He barked out a laugh. It was sudden and bright, the pleasing sound echoing off the gym walls and ceiling before he led me out another door. “Good one, Daisy.”
“You know in all the years I’ve been alive, I’ve never actually head-butted someone with my horns. Seems like it might be fun to try.”
“I’m sure it would. But you’d certainly say goodbye to hot showers and clean clothes if you did.”
I bit my tongue, following him through the hallway. His demeanor was considerably more relaxed than before, apparently convinced that I wouldn’t run away or disappear in a plume of smoke. That, or he was confident I wouldn’t get far if I tried. His reflexes were like lightning, footsteps fast and efficient despite the broad spanse of his shoulders filling the hallway.
Even though I knew exactly how well he was built, intimately acquainted with the musculature from his thick arms to his even thicker thighs, watching him simply march down a hallway was a sight to behold. I was nowhere near full-strength, so I had to jog a couple paces behind him to keep up, my eyes fixated on his ass as he walked.
“You can stay in here for the time being.” He stopped abruptly in front of a door, making me crash forehead first into the brick wall that was his back.
So hungry…
Even just brief contact through clothing, a quick inhale of his smell, had me salivating for a taste. A real one that not even dream-feeding could satisfy.
“Deyva?” He looked at me with that pinched brow again. “You alright?”
“Yes! Yes, a room. Thank you.”
“Sure. It’s just an office with a futon, but it’ll have to do until we,” he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, “until we figure something out.”
“I understand.”
“You do know that I’m going to have to lock you in,” he said with an almost apologetic look. “Right?”
“Actually, I know that’s the last thing you need to do,” I said, pursing my lips. His stare hardened and I shrugged, slipping past him into the office. It was quaint, human, with little framed scripture verses and a painting of a white Jesus on the crucifix hanging prominently behind the desk. “But I understand it’s what will make you feel safest.”
“It’s my people I’m concerned for, not myself,” Kais said.
I wondered if it gave him a headache to grimace so much. To be so full of tension. “I am less interested in them than I am in you, Kais,” I said, lips quirking.
This would go much more smoothly if I could learn to stop flirting, I realized as he snarled.
“Kais, wait—” I started, but the door slammed shut before I could ask to see the others, Stavros and Zach. A moment later, the lock clicked.
All the ease and comfort I’d gained from feeding from Zach’s audience, from the shower, and from Kais’ care, snapped like a weak thread. My muscles coiled in my body and my chest ached as I held my breath. I didn’t like cages.
This isn’t really one, I reminded myself, swallowing hard and staring at the door. There were dozens of ways I might leave the room. The window Kais had failed to secure for starters. I would stay—locked, like an animal, like a toy—because that was what they needed me to do if they were going to trust me.
I was safe from Kimaris here, relatively speaking. And it would be a long time before Kimaris would admit to Belial that he’d