Page 59 of Hell Storm

Liv gave a quick nod.

“Whether any of us likes it or not, until we find Cori, we’re kind of in this together.” She’d stated the obvious, but it still needed to be said.

“And, call me crazy,” Julian added, “but I think Corina would approve of that.”

I couldn’t have agreed with anything more.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Corina

It was late. Without a clock, I couldn’t say exactlyhowlate, but it’d been dark for hours.

Still, sleep evaded me, and not because I wasn’t exhausted.

Four days now, Levi and I had been held here against our will, without so much as an explanation as to why. We’d been fed, brought clean water for bathing daily, and given a couple changes of clothes, but hadn’t been given a single answer. I was pretty sure this was the reason I hadn’t gotten much sleep.

As I paced, I could feel Levi’s eyes on me from where he sat on the edge of the cot. Judging by his silence, I guessed he’d given up trying to convince me to lie down and rest. Or, his lack of conversation could have been because, for the last two days, he’d refused to eat.

A fact that, admittedly, made me kinda nervous.

Yes, I’d been bitten and would transition soon enough, but for now I was still quite human, still vulnerable. If he freaked out in this cell, got beside himself with thirst, I’d be his first target for sure.

Thinking of it, I put a bit more distance between us.

“Even if you refuse to sleep, you could at least lie down,” he spoke up, proving me wrong. I suppose hehadn’tgiven up yet.

“How about this; I’ll sleep when you eat. Otherwise, I think webothknow what could happen the second I close my eyes.”

The comment earned me a stare, and a curious smile from the handsome beast who’d foregone his shirt roughly an hour ago—by my estimate. I knew it had been about that long, because that was precisely the moment I tried to forget we were locked in this space together—unattended, nothing to keep us distracted from one another.

“Are you suggesting that, if you close your eyes, I’ll …maulyou to death?” The laugh that slipped out right after left me to believe he disagreed.

I sighed and continued to pace, doing my best to erase the vision of him from my thoughts—a hard body that had been well cared for and waxed to perfection. Not a speck of hair on his chest, or his stomach. I imagined my hands pressed to the smoothness of it all, and grumbled inwardly to suppress these persisting thoughts and feelings I couldn’t control around him

“I’m just saying, it’s not so far-fetched that a being that thrives on blood, and then proceeds todeprivehimself of it, might eventually get a little desperate.”

There was still laughter in his eyes when he rested his back against the cot, swinging his legs over the edge to lie flat.

“It’s a safety precaution,” he revealed with his eyes fixed on the ceiling. “My powers should have returned by now if it was just the dart. So, I’m pretty sure they’re lacing the blood they’ve been dosing me with to keep me docile. The sooner my abilities are back, the better our chances of getting out of here.”

I glanced at him again, at the dips and edges of his abs, perfectly outlined in moonlight that snuck in through the bars of the slender window above.

“You really think that’s it?”

He shrugged, keeping his gaze trained on the ceiling. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

Thoughtful, I let my weight fall against the wall behind me. The movement earned me Levi’s undivided attention and I wished that hadn’t been the case. Because, now, I was keenly aware of how he gawked at me, like he knew how easily he could coax me into doing bad things if he pressed hard enough.

“Come lie with me,” he crooned, the depth of his voice moving over my skin like those words had a life all their own.

It would do me no good to show him how he affected me.

“Yeah … no thanks,” I responded, pretending to be repulsed by the idea.

Unfortunately for me, he didn’t seem to buy the act. Proving me right when he stood, and all six-plus-feet of him crossed the room.

Not a single breath left my mouth. Instead, I peered up into his metallic eyes, and practically begged him to challenge me. Maybe that’s what it would take for me to give in to him.

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