Page 8 of Shattered Illusion

That sounds easy enough, but I’m still lost as to what we need to go over first. Besides the answer to the one question I amdyingto know.

What the hell am I?

One would think he’d have told me by now, but it’s not a subject we’ve broached yet. Making me think it’s not something good. Though I haven’t asked yet either, more out of fear than anything else.

“All right, let’s do this. The faster I get to the academy, the sooner I can sleep for a week.”

His chuckle, as smooth as honey, precedes the driver’s side door of his car opening. Before I can clamber out of the vehicle, he stops me. “I need you to do me a favor before we go in there.” A pair of dark sunglasses appears in his hand, almost like he plucked them out of thin air. “I know you don’t understand yet, but I need you to wear these until we get to my office and put your hood up.”

Oookkkayyyyy. Cryptic much?

Or maybe he’s ashamed of my appearance and doesn’t want anyone to associate me with him.

Damn, doesn’t that make a girl feel like shit.

“I’ll explain why once we’re behind closed doors.” He must see all the horrible ideas I’m coming up with as to why because he continues before I can retort. “You may not believe it, but it’s for your own protection. Again, this is something you will learn once we get upstairs.”

“Fine,” I mutter, snatching the stupid glasses and putting them on. Before tossing my hood up, I pull my messy bun free, white locks tumbling down around my shoulders. Once the hood is up and over my head, I gather the rest of my hair and tuck it inside, concealing it as much as possible. “Well?” Yep. My answers are short once again because, at this point, I’m frustrated as fuck.

All I want are answers and a bed. Is that too much to ask for?

When I shift my gaze back to him, his lips are tipped up in a smirk that shouldn’t be sexy. Heat pools in my core, and I shift in my position, clenching my thighs for friction.

A groan that almost sounds like the growl of a predator who’s caught their prey rumbles through his lithe frame, sending a jolt of heat licking up my spine. A wicked fang peeks from between his plump lips, enticing me to close the distance between us. To know what it’s like to kiss a vampire.

He moves first, though, erasing the minuscule space between us, but that movement is enough to knock me out of the trance those sinful lips put me in. I scramble backward, right out the open car door, and land on my ass with a pitiful cry.

Axel stares down at me in wide-eyed shock, his hands hovering like he meant to catch me but couldn’t. “Shit, Bailey, are you okay?”

Smooth, Bailey. Really fucking smooth.

With as much grace as I can muster, I climb to my feet, brushing off the butt of my joggers, hoping like hell I didn’t ruin them. Not what I need today. Everything else is already ruined. I don’t need my favorite outfit to be on top of it all, too.

“Yep. We’re go—I’m good! I’m good. Let’s get this show on the road.” I clap my hands in a chop-chop motion, belatedly realizing that I’m ordering around a freaking predator. My hands quickly drop, and I shove them in my pockets, rocking on my heels.

It’s official. I’m going to fucking die.My self-preservation skills suck fucking balls.

Axel doesn’t commenton my slip, nor does he rip my heart from my chest for clapping at him like a freaking idiot as he fluidly exits his sports car, shutting the door quietly behind him. His palm is like an ice-cold brand on my lower back as he directs me toward the front door of the large building that holds his office.

Like all the buildings I saw on the way here, this one is a combination of glass and metal, but the glass itself looks to have some type of film over it, darkening the interior from the outside. I’m pretty sure I could look at the building across the street and see straight through to all the people inside, but whatever that film is obscures it.

A question I’ll reserve for another time.

The glass doors in front of us part down the middle, giving me my first glimpse of the inside. It has a very modern appeal, all smooth lines and mostly black and white, with a few touches of color here and there. Mostly…red. Like blood.

Heisa vampire, Bailey. Duh. Of course, he likes red.

Axel leads me straight to the bank of elevators, bypassing the receptionist’s desk that commands a good portion of the space. When the silver doors slide open after he presses the up arrow, his hand still on my lower back gently pushes me inside. The spot he’s been using to guide me this whole time has finally warmed under his cool touch, but when he removes it to press the floor button, I find myself missing the comforting weight. I almost want to ask him to put it back, but that would be weird. Even for me.

The elevator climbs floors with ease, leaving me flabbergasted that we started ascending. I take a moment—of which I’m grateful Axel isn’t trying to talk to me—to take a deep breath and mentally prepare myself for whatever we need to go over. I mean, it’s strange that I’m going to his office instead of straight to the academy.

So whatever he has to tell me must be of uber importance for him to need to bring me here first.

Let’s just hope the deep breath I just took is enough to prepare me for whatever I’m about to learn.

When we hit the twenty-sixth floor, a little bell dings in the silence of the elevator before the doors slide open, revealing a plush, almost posh office. The colors are nearly the same as downstairs, except red and black dominate the space, with pops of white here and there.

This. This definitely feels more vampire lair-ish than the rest of the building.

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