The Better to Eat You With: The Red Journals (9 page)

Serves him right
, I grumbled inwardly,
ignoring me.

Shifting into first, I
shot out of the parking space just as he burst from the stairwell. His fingers,
I was sure, skimming the back of the car.

Was that a tattoo?
Don’t get distracted!

Blazing up the ramp at a
speed probably not ideal, the car bounced and skidded onto the driveway. I
cringed at what the scraping noise could have been before shifting again and
blasting toward the gate in the distance, gravel rattling against the
undercarriage.

My heart was still
hammering, my breath sawing in and out of my mouth till my lungs burned, and my
hands clenched the wheel. I kept looking in the rear-view mirror, checking to
see if Felix was racing down the drive after me. I felt a brief pang of regret
about what I was doing, and doggedly reminded myself that, however much a guest
I was treated as, I had still been a prisoner. I couldn’t handle the confined
space, and I had tried to speak with them about it, and they had brushed me
off. What did they expect me to do? Sit around like a meek little kitten? I’m a
wolf!

They had this attempt
coming, and like hell was I going to make my re-acquisition easy for them. I’m
not an unreasonable person. All I wanted from any of them was an explanation
for why I had to stay locked up and hidden away like some dirty little
secret. Instead, I was treated like…like…an outsider.

Ouch.

Yes. It hurt. It surprised
me how much it hurt. My pounding heart squeezed in my chest at the thought
that, though I had been welcomed with open arms, I was held at arm’s length,
never fully embraced. But then, wasn’t that exactly what I had given them? A
distant acquaintance? I’d made no attempt to become anything warm with Porcia,
Osiris or Frost. Why should I have expected the same from them?

“I don’t need them.” I
told myself sternly, teeth clenched. “I only need me.”

Resolve renewed, I shoved
away all guilt at having gone back on my word with Felix and left the house.  As
the gates came ever closer, the flare of freedom was so close —my home, my bed,
and my clothes—that it burned hot and insistent. A smile was just spreading
over my face, my foot easing down on the throttle to go faster, when the car
jolted to a stop, throwing me hard against the steering wheel. It was wonder
the airbag didn’t blow up in my face!

A flash of furious
green-gold eyes and suddenly the whole vehicle lurched. I screamed as the car
flipped upside down, sending me tumbling hard onto my head, the sound of the
roaring engine carrying on running with no purchase for its tires.

What the royal fuck? He
just lifted the goddamned car!

Righting myself, I
clambered for the door handle, my hands trembling with the new rush of adrenaline
thrumming through me at the break-neck speed my heart was going. I shoved open
the door, which was
so-o-o
not easy with a suicide door, wedging it in
the ground. I toppled out of the car as it came to a gentle rest on the grass
lining the driveway, then popped to unsteady feet and took off running. A quick
glance over my shoulder showed me a glaring Felix hot on my tail.

It
was
a tattoo! Something to trace with my tongue?

Concentrate!

“Red!” I heard Felix shout
after me as I took off running. “Stop!”

Hell, no. Do I look a
couple sandwiches short of a picnic?

I ran faster, bursting
into the trees, reckless with my need to get away. I dodged trees, shrubs,
wildlife, hearing nothing but my heart beat, my panting breaths, and Felix
shouting after me. My mind screamed at me that if I just kept going, I’d get
away eventually.

But how long could I last?

I was already flagging,
and he was faster. My Vampire speed and wolf endurance couldn’t last long at that
velocity. But if I slowed down, Felix would catch me. Gritting my teeth, I
pumped my arms and legs harder, plowing through the pain starting to burn
through lungs to limbs.

“Red!”

WTF?

Slam!

I cried out, and was
bouncing right off it and onto my ass before I even registered what
it
was. When a hard-as-steel hand clamped around my upper-arm, yanking me back, I
finally looked up.

How the hell did he get
in front of me?
 

Bright green and gold eyes
blazing with ire glared down at me, heat radiating off a half-naked body.
 

Damn, he’s fast.

“What the hell do you
think you’re doing?” Felix snapped, both his hands on both my arms, giving me
an infuriated shake.

All I heard was the
throbbing of my blood in my ears as I stared into his harsh features, my own anger
rising, along with a hefty dose of unwanted liquid fire. I ignored the latter
and went with the former. Who the hell was he to demand answers from me when I
never got any in return? I was no more than a kept pet in that house, kept
ignorant of anything and everything, whether it concerned me or not. I felt my
face scrunch into a furious expression as gold began to sparkle in my vision.

“
Me?
” I screeched,
shoving him hard enough to make him stumble back. “What about
you
? I’ve
been stuck in that house for
 
three
days
 
and not a single one of
you will give me any answers!” I shoved him again, but this time he didn’t
move. My hands simply hit rock-hard flesh with a stark slap of skin on skin.
“How could you think I
 
wouldn’t
 
try to get out? Hmm? I’m not a fucking
house cat! I’m a fucking person!”
 

Is he barefoot?

“Dammit, Red.” He gripped
my wrists and jerked me forward, pinning my arms behind my back and effectively
pressing me flush to him.
 
Liquid
fire became molten lava.
Instantly,
the heat pouring off him seeped into me, warming me in places he had no
goddamned right to touch. “You need to stay here for your own protection.”

“Bullshit!” I snapped.
“Bullshit! I spent over three hundred years living with who and what I am with
no interference from anyone else!” I tugged at his grip on my arms, needing to
get away from him, needing to not be pressed up close to something I wanted to
ravage with my tongue. “I survived on my own with no one else to help me! Why
the hell would I need protecting now?”

“Three hundred?” Felix
snarled. “You led us to believe you were nothing but a sprog in the Immortal
World!”

“So that gives you the
right to confine me like some pampered tabby with nothing but tidbits of
information as treats for good behavior?” I yanked at his grip. “Fuck you,
Felix! You and your coven took away my decisions.”

“And you let us!”

“As if you had a right to!
Without even asking me! And without even giving me the courtesy of answering
some of my questions!” I rammed my knee up, but he shifted sideways and tumbled
me to my back. Easy as that.

Gah! Damn Vampires!

I was barely able to grunt
at the impact before my arms were pinned above my head and Felix was straddling
my hips—in nothing but sweat pants and a big-ass tribal tattoo that beckoned my
tongue like the biggest of chocolate fudge sundaes.

Down girl.

I glared up at him and
said, “Your obsession with pinning me down is unhealthy.”

A smirk, “But the view is
spectacular.” His gaze dipped to my breasts and my skin flushed
.

Dammit!
 

When all I did was glare
some more, Felix heaved a dramatic, put-out sigh and replied, “I’ll have you
know, pet, that not all females are treated thus by me. I’m actually one of
their favorites.”

Arrogant gutter shite!

“Ah,” I snorted. “I
forgot. I’m special.” Whether he took that to mean his treatment of me or that
he was not one of my favorites, I didn’t care.

He leaned down towards me,
his nose bare inches from mine. “Red. Why did you run?” His voice was so low,
so smooth, whispering over my skin like a caress that brought every membrane up
in gooseflesh.  Yet, his tone was hard, uncompromising. I hated it.

Tilting my chin up
defiantly, I replied, “What does it matter? I didn’t get away.” My eyes
narrowed. “How did you know I was in your room?”

“I smelled you.”
 

He what now?
“I’m sorry?”

“You’re forgiven.”

I scowled. “I didn’t think
Vampires’ sense of smell was that good.”

“It’s not,” he answered,
without elaboration.

“Then how did you smell
me? You were in the bloody shower!”
 

Jesus H Christ, his
hands are like vices! Want to be free…to touch him? Bad kitty.

“You have a very distinct
aroma, pet.” As if to emphasize his point, he dipped down and nuzzled my neck. Again.
I shivered despite myself. Then he murmured, his voice smoky-rich and drugging,
“Like
Trinitario cacao
and orange groves
in summer.
..”

His nose
and lips brushed my skin.
Soft,
intimate touches that had my nipples popping up with a determined
ly perky,
hallo-o-o
!
 

“Earthy
spice and citrus….”

I could
feel my pulse hammering in my throat, and my breath was coming faster. His lips
were so close, his body pressing down, the heat of him lapped at me in the most
divine of waves. I couldn’t think, could only imagine. All this sensation was
enthralling, and no matter how much I tried to remember, I simply could not
recall why I had ever wanted to get away from him.

“Felix?”
Barely a whisper, and yet all I could manage. My skin was smoldering,
liquefying, ravenous. I didn’t know what to do about it, so I just let myself
burn. It felt too good, too unnaturally, unwelcomingly, decadently good.

“Hmm?”
His breath swept my skin as his lips moved up to the sensitive spot below my
ear.

Well, it
was only sensitive when he was sniffing me, and I shivered anew, my body doing
a little ripple beneath him in response. My nipples brushed his bare chest, and
tiny zings of
 
holy-crap-do-that-again
 
whipped through me, making me arch up
for more.

“Let—”

Suddenly
he sat up, still and tense, a predator on the lookout. His head turned towards
the house a split-second later, and Osiris appeared almost instantly. I sagged
onto the ground, cheeks burning for a whole different reason and wishing to
hell the ground would just open up and swallow me already.

Well,
shit…is that my arousal scenting the air?
 
Sniff, sniff…
 
Yep.
Awkwa-a-ard.

 “Felix,”
Osiris said, his tone maddeningly calm as he arched a brow and pressed his
fingertips together, regarding us. “Why is the Maserati on its top on the
lawn?”

With his
hands still gripping my wrists to the ground, Felix replied calmly, “I had an
altercation.”

Wow. Anyone
would think Osiris had just asked him if he thought it would rain today.

Black
eyes turned to me next, and studied me like a bug, or prey.

“Red,
where were you planning to run to?” he asked. The calmness in his tone, and the
unfailing grip in Felix’s hands, doused all thoughts of half-naked men, and
fired up my previous ire at my own situation. Granted, I may have accepted that
I was no longer alone, but like hell was I accepting that I was nothing but a
freakin’ prisoner.

“Home!” I
snapped loudly, yanking on my arms. “To get my own clothes! And my own
toothbrush! And to check my goddamned emails!” Felix was frowning down at me. Osiris
was staring impassively. I snapped my teeth at both and bucked. “Some of us
 
do
 
actually have to work, and my
clients have expectations for what they pay me!” Unable to buck Felix off, I
leaned up as far as my neck and shoulders would allow and barked in his face,
“Just like the people who provide my electric, gas and water expect to be paid
on
time
!”

I flopped
back on the ground, breathing hard. The silence following that was profound,
and absolute. Both men had obviously expected my escape attempt to be something
nefarious. Neither had expected it to simply be because I was
 
going out of my goddamned mind.
 

“I’m a
nester, dammit! I need my things. I’m
bored
without my own stuff.”

Felix
released me. The instant my hands were free, I shoved him off, and was mildly
gratified when he stumbled back, surprised, and landed on his butt.

“Why
didn’t you just say so?” Osiris asked me calmly, and my mouth fell open. Literally,
the shock at his response left me making like a fish for several moments before
I finally popped to my feet with an indignant screech.