Page 25 of The Baby Hex
“I don’t know. Floor, couch, chair, bed. They’re all bum benches. You should tell me what’s up.”
“Hmmm.” He said and sat down on the floor next to me. “I’m sitting in a corridor with my mate – in name only. He’s been attacked once and nearly twice. My boss has put me on mating leave and I’m not sure how long that’s going to last.”
“Want me to kick his ass for you?” I asked.
“You smell so serious.”
“I am. For you, I am,” I said. “Past life and between life choices catching up with me and all that.”
I couldn’t believe he wasn’t going to tell me what was up with Preston. I had the urge to go sniff him myself and try to figure out what he thought was wrong with him.
“Are you one of those vampires who won’t feed on omegas, but you thought he was an alpha beforehand?” I asked.
“No, I knew Preston was an omega,” Pierce shook his head. “And I will feed on omegas. Not from you, though.”
“What?” Shock and envy trembled through my core.
“I won’t take blood from you any more than I’d take food off your table. No one’s sure if it’s a cultural thing or if it started out as a biological thing. For me, it’s just what it is. I want your blood in your blood vessels where it belongs. You’re not food.”
“But other people are?”
Pierce stared at the opposite wall so long that I thought I must’ve offended him.
“Is that what this is about?” he asked, and I winced.
Yep. I offended him. Me and my big, fat never shuts up mouth.
“You could be a crow or a wolf or elf, and things would still be what they are. My family is cursed.”
“Then undo it. You’re a witch or whatever the elven equivalent is. I’ve heard about what you do. If you think you’re cursed, undo it.”
“It’s not that simple,” I sighed.
“Why isn’t it, though? If it’s mind over matter, I’m patient, mate. I’m not going anywhere. If that means we just follow each other around forever and torment each other, so be it. Though, maybe that would play right into the curse. Speaking of, feel any need to destroy me?” he teased.
“Don’t be a dick,” I rolled my eyes.
“I’m serious. If you think it’s destiny by now we should be on a destructive path. I know I’m not going to eat you or let anyone harm a single hair on that beautiful head of yours. So, what about you? Daydreaming of driving a stake through my heart?”
I narrowed my eyes on him, but he was still staring at the opposite wall. For a long, irrational second I was envious of the wall. Why was he staring at it and not me?
“That’s what he wants you to feel,”my bird chimed into my thoughts.
“Is this a mind game?” I asked him.
“What? Trying to get to the bottom of what you’re thinking?”
“No, this whole staring at the wall thing.”
“Oh, that. Every time I look at you, you squirm and smell like you’re considering running off. So, if I have to make myself not look at you while we talk, I will.”
I frowned and swallowed down a sigh. He shouldn’t have to avoid looking at me. If Dad hadn’t shown up, I would’ve kept going and going and then what? Leave behind everything I built and escape into one of those elven communities where the magic won’t let you out for one hundred years? I didn’t want to go that long without seeing my family and friends. Didn’t want to go that long without working at my bar. Morvan was back and he and Rho were running his family’s restaurants again, but I wasn’t sure Mori and Preston would keep the bar going.
“No, I don’t want to stake you,” I finally said. “I’d kill anyone who tried.”
“So, we’re on the same page with that.”
“What if I give into all of this and it gets us killed?” I asked, scooting around him so that I leaned against the spot on the wall that he was staring at.
