Whenever they awoke in the afternoon, she'd ask him about it.
For now, she had Valerius and he brought her a strange sense of peace.
She shouldn't feel this way, not for a man her twin would never accept into her house. Part of her felt like she was a traitor to Amanda and Kyrian and the other part of her couldn't resist the tormented gleam in Valerius's eyes.
He was a calm anchor to her chaotic life and truthfully, she liked his dry sense of humor. His ability to take things in stride without blowing a gasket. It was rare in her world to meet such a man.
He's not a man.
No, he wasn't. She knew that, just as she knew there was no hope of any kind of future for a relationship. Dark-Hunters didn't have significant others of any sort. They could never be together. Never.
Once she and Valerius left this bed, they'd have to part company. He would just be another passing friend.
And yet she didn't want to let go of him.
"Stop," she whispered to herself. She needed her rest.
Closing her eyes, she forced herself to sleep. But her dreams were far from comforting. All morning long, they haunted her with vivid, horrific images of her sister and Kyrian. Of baby Marissa crying for someone to help her.
Most of all, they haunted her with the faces of her friends who had died and with scenes of Valerius being tortured. She could see him stretched out and hear mocking laughter as he struggled not to die.
She could feel his pain, his betrayal.
Hear his scream of vengeance as it echoed throughout time.
Tabitha came awake just after noon with her entire body shaking from her dreams. She'd only been sleeping a few hours, but she was so upset that she couldn't go back to sleep.
"Tabitha?"
She looked at Valerius, who squinted at her.
"Are you all right?" he asked hoarsely.
She kissed his bare shoulder and offered him a smile. "I can't sleep. You go ahead and rest."
"But-"
She placed her finger on his lips. "Sleep, baby. I'm fine. Really."
He nibbled her finger before he rolled over, gave her a tight hug, then returned to sleep.
Tabitha lay in the shelter of his arms with her thoughts racing. She honestly didn't want to get up. But after a few minutes, when she heard Marla and Debbie chatting somewhere downstairs about inventory, she finally decided to rise.
She quickly showered and dressed, taking care not to wake the delicious guy in her bed. As soon as she went downstairs, she called Otto and asked him to bring clothes over for Valerius.
"Why didn't he come home last night?" Otto asked.
"It was too close to dawn."
"Uh-huh," Otto said as if he didn't buy it. "I'll be over in about an hour with something for him."
"Otto," she said with a warning note in her voice. "It better be something he wants to wear and not some Nick-I-want-to-piss-off-Kyrian knockoff."
"You take all the fun out of this."
Tabitha shook her head as she hung up the phone. With nothing better to do, she headed into her store, where Debbie was ringing up a customer.
Otto came about an hour later and dropped off the clothes without so much as a grimace. But Tabitha noted that he was wearing a stylish black sweater and a pair of nice jeans instead of his regular wear. He probably looked like this whenever Valerius wasn't around.