Page 41 of Firedrake Betrayal
I walk over to the dining table, pull the chair back, and prepare to sit down. “It was nothing. I am?—”
Slap.
My right cheek stings.
“Hey!Rise and shine, sleeping beauty,” Patten calls out in a sing-song voice.
Another slap. This time my left cheek.
I wrench my eyelids open.
I’m not at the dining table.
I’m flat on my back on the couch with everyone gathered around me. Patten is crouched closest, hand raised, poised to slap me.
I grip his wrist when he lifts it an inch. “Do that again and I’ll launch you out the window.”
Patten flashes everyone a grin. “Told you a couple of slaps would return him to the same grouchy vamp as before.”
Jade moves closer, teeth worrying her lip. “Are you okay, Isaiah?”
“I’m fine.” I move to get up.
Shep places his hand on my shoulder, nudging me back on the couch, concerned. “No, you’re not. You fainted.”
Fainted?
I stare at him. “I do not faint.”
Dominik, standing near the window with his arms crossed, eyes me curiously. “I’ve seen a vampire as pale as you once before, and he hadn’t fed in days.”
I shake my head, denying it. “I have?—”
“No. I hate to admit it,” Patten interrupts, “but dragon guy is right. Ever since someone stole your cooler of blood, you haven’t fed.”
Dominik’s brow furrows. “Why would he need a cooler?” He waves his hand toward the window. “This town is small, but there are people in it. Why not feed on one of them?”
Patten stabs a finger at me. “See! Didn’t I tell you…” Patten’s voice trails off, and he lowers his finger at the moment he must realize he’s agreeing with Dominik for the second time.Dominik, who not onlykidnappedJade, but who he was seconds from strangling minutes before. Clearing his throat, Patten refocuses on me. “Why haven’t you been feeding?”
“Your concern is unnecessary.” I brush Shep’s hand from my shoulder and sit upright.
Everything goes black.
A sharp slap returns me to consciousness.
I’m flat on my back on the couch.
“You were saying…” Patten doesn’t even try to hide his smug smile.
Jade is twisting her fingers together, even more concerned than before.
“I haven’t been feeding,” I reluctantly admit.
“Why not?” Shep prompts.
“It’s a long story,” I say, looking at the hole in the wall. “And I don’t think this is the place to tell it. Whoever shot that might be out there planning something else.”
“Atticus?” Jade frowns at the window, clearly anxious. Though not anxious enough to want anything to do with Dominik, who, when he moves toward her, she turns away from him.
