Page 5 of Barely Breathing

I step back but bump into the mirror. Now trapped, all I can do is glare up at him.

He reaches for my neck as if examining the quickened beat of my heart. The light scrape of his nail moves along my jaw. I know I have the amulet, but a thrill of fear still courses through me.

“Did you know the werewolves were coming for him?” I whisper.

“I thought you said it was over with him.” Costin withdraws his hand. I see the accusation in his gaze, as if he senses I still have feelings for Paul. I get the impression he knows more than he’ll tell me.

“It’s complicated.” Guilt fills me at the admission. I don’t expect him to understand. He’s been a vampire since the medieval period. He can’t remember what it’s like to be human.

I could say that things have changed. Paulremembers me now. It was easy to decide when I didn’t have a choice.

But Costin has been with me through some of the most challenging moments of my life. He’s always been there, lurking in my shadows, protecting me.

Fuck. I’mthatgirl—the indecisive one torn between two lovers. I don’t know if I’m pathetic or just a cliché.

When I look at Costin, I can see a life with him filled with danger and magic. He’s a master vampire who controls all vampiric North America. Supernaturals bow to him. It doesn’t hurt that he has the body of a god and more than a bit of a bad-boy ego. Being with him is like dangling over the side of a skyscraper, trying to catch my breath.

With Paul, I feel safe and normal. Paul’s affection is like being held close, wrapped in a thick blanket while being hand-fed carbs. I will always know where I stand with him. If he says he loves me, I’ll believe him, and I know he’d spend his life proving it—hismortallife.

“Costin, I owe Paul. He saved my life.” I think of Diana, the girl who’s already lost her mother. She can’t lose her father, too. “Paul’s only in this mess because of me. It’s my fault he’s in trouble. I’m the reason he came to Manhattan. He’s confused by hisreturning memories. I have to help him make sense of them.”

“You’re wasting time chasing something that will only bring you pain.” Costin’s eyes begin to swirl in an attempt to draw me in.

I lift my hand, turning away. “No. Don’t even try it.”

I look for my clothes and cell phone but don’t see them.

“Where are my things?” I ask. “I should call my brother. Anthony will be worried about me.”

“Anthony knows you’re safe. Rest. Stay here,” he whispers.

The hypnotic words carry a deep undercurrent that makes my knees weak. The walls seem to press in, and I find breathing difficult. The surrounding shadows darken until all I can focus on is him. His eyes lure me into his will like a siren’s call, and I feel my resolve waver. The worst part isn’t his supernatural power over me. It’s how much I want to give in to it, to let him wrap me in his arms and keep me safe from everything, including myself.

Stay here.

The words hang in the air like a command.

I force my feet to step aside and move toward the door. “I can’t. Anthony…”

The space between us is electric with mounting tension. Every step away from him feels like I’mfighting the earth’s gravitational pull. My body remembers too well how it feels to be held in those arms, to surrender to that otherworldly spell.

Yes, my brother might be worried, but that’s not why I need to call him. Anthony’s childhood friend Peter is a werewolf. He might know something that can help me.

“Stay,” he insists.

“Or what? You’ll make me?” I haven’t forgotten he mesmerized me for a week against my will. It pisses me off. Still, it’s hard to scream at a master vampire when every cell is hyperaware of his nearness. I’m in his home, surrounded by his power, and he can stop me if he wants. The thought of his control sends an inappropriate thrill through me that I desperately try to ignore.

What in the hell is wrong with me? I’m stronger than this.

I hurry from the bedroom into a wide hallway. More artifacts line the walls like his personal vampiric museum. The metallic smell of blood becomes stronger, and the temperature drops. Light from behind a cracked door catches my attention, and I see a young man resting in a chair, his arm hanging over the side as blood drips from a bite on his wrist down his fingertips.

A naked figure appears between us as a blonde vampire stares out from the cracked door. He looksfamiliar, and I realize in the erased timeline he’d been with Costin’s sister when they tried to kill me. He won’t remember it but seeing him causes me to shiver in fear. Now, he simply smiles at me before pushing the door closed.

“Tamara,” Costin insists.

I see my clothes folded on a small table by a door with my phone on top of the pile. It’s next to an elevator. I don’t stop as I grab them on my way past to push the call button.

His soft voice follows me as I step into the elevator. “You’ll regret this.”

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