Page 8 of Halfblood Deceived

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She barely made it to her room before Micah.

He didn’t spare her a look and simply locked himself in the bathroom to shower, so he didn’t notice her fast breathing and shaking hands.

Aella clung to the possibility that he might not agree. Maybe he would ask her to run away to save her from potentially being killed by a vampire. Maybe he would appeal to the Order himself.

“You’re going to help us with a mission,” was the first thing Micah said when he left the bathroom, drying his brown hair with a towel as he crushed Aella’s hopes.

“What kind of mission?” Aella asked, pretending not to know.

She barely listened to him give her the minimum details, her blood rushing in her ears.

“And if I don’t want to?” Aella dared to ask when he was done talking.

“That’s not your choice to make, but mine,” he replied coldly. “I serve the Order and so do you.”

“And the Order is more important than me?” Aella asked.

Micah gripped her chin, forcing eye contact. The casual strength in his grip sent a spear of pain to her jaw and head. “Have you given me a reason to put you first?” he asked, brown eyes sliding to her soft but mostly flat stomach.

Tears burned in her eyes.

His gaze darkened as he leaned, caging her face with his large hands and plastering his mouth to hers. His breath was on her face when he pulled away, hot and uncomfortable. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Screamed a voice in Aella’s head.

“Maybe you should try to give me a reason right now,” Micah said in her ear.

Aella didn’t resist him, even as she wondered if it wasn’t wrong that Micah didn’t value her enough already to not use her as vampire bait.

And then she realized that she shouldn’t have to wonder at all.

CHAPTER 3

Aella stood in front of the ornate mirror in Bethany’s room, her gray eyes so wide they seemed too large for her face.

She was practically naked.

The black silk dress with thin straps that seemed painted on her skin barely covered half of her thighs. Beneath it, an uncomfortable strapless bra dug into her sides and made her breasts look like an offer to whoever was looking. The 4-inch stilettos she had barely managed to learn to walk in over the last few days made her stand ramrod straight.

The smoky makeup on her eyes, the crimson shade of her lipstick, and the many other powders Bethany had applied gave her face such a wildly different look.

But it wasn’t a bad look.

Conflict made Aella’s head spin. She wasn’t supposed to like it. She should be embarrassed to show so much skin.

Bethany tucked a strand of Aella’s barely-mahogany hair behind her ear and fussed with her ponytail. “That’s the best I can do for you.” Her blue eyes went down to Aella’s stomach. “Tuck that in as much as you can.”

Aella gulped, her spark of interest in her looks wilting like a dying flower.

Claudia, leaning against the further wall of the walk-in closet, gave a low whistle. “You look—”

“Like a prostitute,” said a deep voice, making Aella jolt and turn to find Micah standing at the threshold of the closet, jaw tight with quiet fury. “Which will suit our purposes, I guess.”

His words stung like a slap, but Aella was capable of holding back the tears.

She had cried enough to dehydrate herself the last few mornings.

“Time to move out,” Micah commanded, leaving and expecting Aella to follow.

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