Chapter 16 #2
Rack sat at the island with a plate in front of him while Olivia leaned over her mug, sipping blood through a straw with an expression somewhere between fascination and delight.
“You can dip the sausage in it,” Rack told her, gesturing toward his plate. “Calix mixes blood with food constantly.”
Olivia wrinkled her nose at that, but she immediately tried it anyway.
Watching her reaction, Rack actually grinned. The sight hit me harder than expected.
They looked… right together. Easy. Comfortable. Like they’d already settled into each other’s orbit. Something sharp twisted beneath my ribs.
I can’t ruin that.
Rack’s phone buzzed against the counter. He glanced at the screen, his eyes furrowed as he pushed back from the stool.
“I need to take this.”
I flattened my back to the wall, and he walked the other way without stopping. His eyes flicked toward mine briefly, letting me know he’d noticed me standing there the entire time.
The corner of my mouth twitched automatically, some snarky comment already forming before Olivia’s voice ran out.
“Calix?” She appeared before me, tripping over her own feet before she caught herself and looked back over to me. “What are you doing?”
The question stopped me cold.
She stood there with her hands tucked behind her back, her head tilted slightly. My clothes swallowed her whole, the sleeves hanging past her hands while my sweats bunched around her ankles. Her dark braid rested over one shoulder, and those newly crimson eyes watched me with open curiosity.
Not fear. Not disgust. Relief loosened something tight in my chest.
“I was just…” I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. “Feeling a little peckish.”
My eyes drifted down to those rosy red lips, and my heart pumped harder. Don’t look at her. Moving my gaze over her shoulder, I desperately clung to the notion that I shouldn’t lean down and kiss her. Distance. That was what I needed.
Forcing my attention elsewhere, I practically teleported around her toward the fridge. I grabbed a blood bag and jabbed my fangs into the plastic as fast as I could, draining it all in one pull.
Olivia’s eyes widened.
“Oh shit! We can do that?”
Her whole face lit up instantly.
“That’s way easier than a mug and a straw!”
Before I could answer, she darted toward me, moving far too fast. In a second, she hit me full force straight in the chest.
I barely caught us in time, locking my arms around her waist and twisting sharply to keep her from crashing onto the floor.
The impact knocked the breath from her lungs. Her fingers immediately grabbed fistfuls of my shirt while she steadied herself against me and looked down at me from above.
Her scent wrapped around me, warm roses and sugar, something that was uniquely Olivia’s. My grip tightened before I could stop it.
Mine.
The thought slithered through my head, dark and possessive.
Take her. Keep her.
She fit there too perfectly.
Her fingers flexed against my chest, and she tipped her head up toward me, those red eyes blinking wide while her lips parted slightly in surprise. A soft little sigh slipped from her lips and brushed against my throat. Every muscle in my body reacted instantly.
For one terrifying second, I almost pushed up and kissed her anyway.
Goosebumps raced down my arms while heat slammed low into my stomach hard enough to make me grip her waist tighter for half a second too long.
My mind betrayed me immediately, picturing Olivia spread out across the kitchen island, my mouth on her skin, blood and pleasure mixing together while she writhed beneath me.
Fuck. Will she taste different now that she’s a vampire? The thought alone nearly unraveled me.
“I’m so sorry,” she rushed out breathlessly, her fingers still curled in my shirt. “I just wanted to see how the speed thing worked and—”
I shut my eyes briefly before I did something stupid.
“It’s fine,” I managed, though my voice came out rougher than intended. “You just need practice.”
Reluctantly, painfully, I let my hands slide from her waist and put her upright. I had to step back before my self-control completely snapped.
Distance. Need distance.
The second space opened between us, my eyes landed on her stomach and another image shoved its way into my head instead.
Olivia bleeding out on my bed. A hole in her stomach. The way her pulse had almost vanished beneath my hands.
The possessive hunger vanished beneath a wave of fury so sharp my jaw tightened.
“Who shot you?”
Her expression immediately shifted. The warmth faded from her face as she turned away from me, her arms wrapping around herself while she exhaled heavily through her nose.
“I don’t know.”
Bare feet padded softly across the tile while she paced a few restless steps, then turned back toward me again, frustration written all over her face.
“The last thing I remember is me packing up my stuff at the shop. I was planning on—” She paused, biting her lip as her eyes flicked up to mine. Leaning back against the counter, I made a show of settling in and waited for her.
She huffed, putting her hands on her hips. “Look, don’t get too pissed off at me, okay? I really don't want to start off on a bad foot with my maker.”
My eyes went up, and I took a moment to think about it before I said, “Fine. I won't get mad at you.”
Her eyes narrowed on me, and when I cocked my brow at her, she shook her head and continued.
“I was packing up because I was going to leave.”
My brows furrowed. “Like the shop?”
“No.” She shoved her hands into her hair, looking away from me as she said, “Leaving the city.”
I straightened so fast the counter dug into my spine. Something dark and territorial surged through me before I could stop it, and I distantly realized that I was towering over her. Leaving? Without telling me? Without letting me find her again?
Something on my face must’ve spooked her because she snapped, “You promised not to get mad!”
My nostrils flared, but I forced myself to lean back against the counter again instead of grabbing her, ensuring she stayed right where I could see her.
“Why?” The word came out tighter than intended. “Why were you leaving?”
She exploded after that, her hands flying everywhere while words poured out in a furious mess.
“Oh, I don’t know, Cal!” she barked sarcastically.
She dramatically spun away, then whirled back toward me again, her eyes alight with fire.
“Maybe because I had a psychotic fairy breathing down my neck twenty-four-seven, threatening everyone I care about unless I worked on his stupid car for free!”
My jaw clenched hard at the description of Manshu, but she steamrolled right over my reaction.
“And on top of that,” she continued, stabbing a finger toward my chest, “I slept with a vampire who conveniently forgot to mention he was Calix fucking Winstale!”
I opened my mouth, then closed it again, because she wasn’t wrong.
“He let me think he was just some normal vampire guy!”
Normal vampire guy. The phrase would’ve made me laugh if I wasn't already in such a crappy mood. Instead, I crossed my arms and watched her pace.
“It just…” Her voice cracked, but it was softer this time. The fight leaked out of her all at once as her shoulders slumped, hands dropping uselessly to her sides.
“It just felt like everything was spinning out of control.”
The anger entirely disappeared from her face then, leaving behind something exhausted and raw enough to make my chest ache.
Her voice came quieter after that. Smaller.
“And I thought…” She swallowed hard. “Maybe it’d be better for everyone if I just… disappeared.”
Something inside me snapped viciously at those words. Before I even realized it, I moved, standing directly in front of her again.
“No.”
The word came out sharp enough to make her blink.
My hands twitched at my sides with the urge to grab her face, to force her to look at me.
“You disappearing would not make anything better.”
Standing close to her again, seeing the exhaustion sitting beneath those crimson eyes, I realized something terrifying.
The thought of losing her now felt unbearable.
My fingers dug harder into my own arms, nails biting through the fabric while every violent instinct inside me roared to life.
Run if you want to, Olivia. I’ll still find you. I’ll tear this entire city apart looking for you.
The words sat hot on my tongue, but I swallowed them down and threw the conversation back at her instead.
“If you were that desperate, then why didn’t you tell me?” I shot back. “Why didn’t you use me?”
Her face twisted instantly. Disbelief flashed first, then offense, then outright irritation as her eyes rolled toward the ceiling.
“Use you?” she echoed sharply before letting out a short humorless laugh, stabbing a hand toward my chest. “You’re a fucking Syndicate boss. I was terrified to even look at you after I found out.”
The heat behind her words made me still.
“Did you forget I was human?” Her voice rose with every step she took toward me. “Not even contracted. Just some nobody human sitting at the very bottom, hoping I didn’t piss off the wrong supe and end up dead in an alley somewhere.”
Her eyes burned brighter the longer she spoke. Not fear anymore. Pride. Defiance. The kind that clawed its way out of surviving.
“I’ve been alone a long time,” she snapped. “Long enough to know exactly how this world really works.”
She planted herself directly in front of me then, her chin lifted stubbornly even though I towered over her.
“So yeah,” she continued fiercely, “I worked on Manshu’s stupid car because I thought it would keep people alive. My people.”
Her lip curled up in disgust. “Every second I was around him, I waited for something to go wrong. Waited for him to get bored. Waited for my friends to get punished because of me.”
The anger cracked briefly, just for a second, then she shoved it back down and squared herself again.
“But that was my problem,” she bit out. “Mine.”
Another finger pointed directly into my chest.