All Souls' Night - Renee Rose Page 0,251

from a few tchotchkes, there is little else.

Between being in foster homes and this stalker, I can only guess her minimalistic décor points to frequent moves. Few roots keeping her in place, so she’s always prepared to leave. What a lonely existence. Although I never got the impression she was an island, I never put that into perspective with the reality she’s exposing me to. Her love and loyalty to Karina is larger than life, and it’s a part of what drew me to her, but now I know why. I wonder if there’s anyone else in her life.

I cross one foot over the other. “Weren’t you close to any of your foster families?”

She shakes her head while she grabs clothes from the closet and tosses them into a bag she picked up off the floor. “None of them. Some were as bad as my mother, while others ignored me completely. Those were the best ones. It’s better to be invisible than to… Anyway, I moved a lot, from one home to the other, until I was fourteen. That’s when I met Karina. We were placed in the same home and our friendship got us through all the crap. As soon as we turned eighteen, we moved out together. Enough about my pathetic life. What about you? I hope your childhood was better than mine.”

My throat constricts when I think back to my parents. The sadness battles with my anger over her treatment. “My mom died many years ago. Everyone in my family did.”

She pauses at the sink in the bathroom connected to her bedroom and looks at me. “That must have been awful. Were you a kid?”

I shake my head. I want to tell her I’m a vampire, but don’t. I can’t stomach the thought of her looking at me like I’m a monster. “No, I was grown and in the uh, military, when my father died. I learned about my mother and sister’s deaths when I was overseas.”

Her eyes fill with moisture and her brow creases. She clears her throat and turns away, hiding her expression. “I can’t begin to understand how that had to have been for you. It sounds like you were very close to them. There’s nothing I can say to make it better, but I wish I could rewind time and change things for you. No one deserves to go through so much loss.” She turns back and gives me a smile full of compassion and concern then proceeds to add her toiletries to the bag before moving past me and to the room that is down a short hallway.

“It was a long time ago.” I should tell her. She gets far more than I realized. She might understand that I was turned against my will. “I struggle with it from time to time but have a good life now.”

I follow Zoe to Karina’s room, which is very similar to Zoe’s—only pictures of the two girls, and very few trinkets.

Zoe grabs a duffle from the closet and starts adding clothes, shoes, and toiletries to it. She’s graceful as she moves around the space. “All right let’s go. We’ll head back to the club to drop off Karina’s things. She needs something other than Theo’s shirt. And then you can take me home and show me your playroom.” She winks and reaches for the bags.

I take them from her and follow her out of the apartment.

Zoe climbs into the front seat while I put the bags into the back. “I think he’d prefer to keep her in what she’s wearing.”

She tilts her head to the side. “Why would you say that?”

“There’s something primal about having your woman in one of your shirts and nothing else. It’s an undeniable sign to everyone else you belong to me.”

Zoe rolls her eyes with a snort and climbs into her seat. “Men assume they own women when that couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

I bite my tongue to keep from informing her that she is in fact mine. Patience is the only way I will win her heart. “True enough. Although, Karina didn’t seem too upset to go home with Theo.” I start the engine and make my way to the Club Toxic.

I escort Zoe into the club while she drops off Karina’s things, and I stand guard outside the room in the dungeon while they talk. I’m not letting this woman out of my sight with that maniac around. There’s a part of me that hopes he does