ALICE #2
I was on my feet before I decided to stand.
I'd gotten up so fast my chair tipped back and my hand automatically flew out to catch it before it hit the tile, my heart hammering.
I stood there for a moment, frozen, my fingers twisting in front of me.
But beneath the anxiety was something else.
A deep pull, low in my belly. A warmth spreading through my chest that had nothing to do with chamomile tea and everything to do with the memory of smooth skin under my fingertips, of hard muscle pressed against me, of the way his arms had tightened around me like if he just held on hard enough, nothing could take me away from him.
And the way he smelled. Gods. Cedar and ginseng with something dark and clean underneath that was just him, and even just the memory of it made my breath come faster and that warm, gentle pull in my belly turn into a fiery tug.
Making my feet move, I crept down the hall and stopped where the wall met the foyer.
Judy's silhouette filled the doorway. And beyond her, on the other side of the screen—
My stomach tightened.
Dae stood in the porch light, and he didn't look good.
The charming, teasing, always-performing Dae who made every woman in a room feel like the only one there was gone.
This Dae had shadows under his dark eyes and tension in every line of his body.
His black shirt was unbuttoned, and through the gap I could see the smooth tan of his skin, the ridges of muscle across his stomach, and I had to close my eyes for a second because the intense rush of heat that went through me was not appropriate for my aunt's foyer.
"Mrs. Moss." His voice was all wrong. It was too careful. Too controlled. Something was wrong. "I need to see Alice."
"It's past midnight."
"Yes, ma'am."
"My niece is recovering from a magical trauma."
"I know. I was there. That's why I'm here."
Judy's shoulders were a wall. "And how does a vampire who strips for his meals plan to help with that? Going to dance it out of her?"
The jab landed hard. I saw his jaw clench, saw heat flash behind his eyes for a quick second before he killed it.
The old Dae would've had a comeback. Something charming and borderline inappropriate that would make Judy roll her eyes instead of reaching for a stake.
But this time, he didn't joke. He raised his eyes and looked past my aunt.
Right at me.
His eyes found mine through the screen, and the impact of it went straight through me.
My heart tried to leap from the safety of my ribcage, like a hook set somewhere behind my sternum.
His gaze dropped. Tracked down my body and back up with a hunger he didn't bother hiding, and my skin flushed everywhere his eyes touched.
"Alice." My name in his mouth was low and rough and aching, and it undid me faster than any spell.
"She's not coming to the door," Judy said.
"I'm right here." I stepped out from behind the wall I was partially hidden behind.
Judy spun around, her blue eyes blazing with anger, and in that moment she wasn't my aunt. She wasn't anyone I knew at all.
"Alice Marie Moss, I told you to stay in the kitchen."
I crossed the foyer toward the door, and every step pushed me closer against Judy's wards. Not painful, exactly, but insistent, like hands on my shoulders pressing me back toward the center of the house. Toward safety. Toward containment. "You can't keep me here forever."
"I'm not trying to keep you forever. I'm trying to keep you safe."
I reached the door. Dae stood very straight and tall.
His hands hung at his sides, and his fingers curled into fists as he listened to us bickering.
He was holding himself in check. Keeping the vampire leashed.
But his eyes were a different story. They traveled over my face with such desperation that it made my pulse stutter and my breath catch.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey." His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "Are you—" He stopped. Swallowed. "Alex said you weren't—"
"I'm okay."
"You don't look okay."
"Neither do you."
A sound that was somewhere between humor and anguish escaped him.
"Mrs. Moss." He looked at Judy. "I know you just want to keep Alice safe, but I'm asking permission to enter your home."
"Then you understand when I say no."
"Aunt Judy," I pleaded.
"No." She turned to me, and her eyes were wet. "Not this time."
"I'm not choosing him over you."
"Then choose to stay inside this house."
Silence swallowed the foyer. The crickets outside. The hum of the wards. My own ragged breathing.
I stared at my aunt. This woman who had stood with me as I buried my mother, braided my hair, and taught me my first casting circle. This woman who I could now see was terrified. Not of vampires. But of being left alone.
And then I looked at Dae. The male who'd held me when I was falling apart, listened when I whispered my worst fear, and told me that power didn't make me dangerous.
The one who made me feel safe.
"I'm not choosing," I emphasized. "But I am walking out this door."
Judy flinched.
"I love you." My voice shook. "And I'll come back." I took her hand and her fingers crushed mine. "I promise."
A tear slid down Judy's cheek. She swiped it away hard, angry at herself for letting it fall.
"If he hurts you," she whispered, "I will end him. Alliance be damned."
"I know."
"I mean it."
"I know you do." I kissed her cheek, inhaling her familiar scent. Rosemary and lavender and old magic. "That's one of the reasons I love you."
Then I pushed the screen door open and stepped out.
It was like stepping through a waterfall. Everything sharpened when I reached the other side. The buzzing of the porch light, the distant wail of a saxophone from down the block, the whisper of the ancient oak draped in Spanish moss that swayed in the breeze…
And then there was nothing but Dae, waiting less than three feet away from me. His dark eyes burning with everything he wasn't saying.
I was outside Judy's wards. The magic that had been pressing against my skin since I came here was gone, and without it, I felt raw. Exposed. Like a nerve stripped of its sheath.
Missing that feeling of protection, I swayed toward him before I could stop myself. "You came," I breathed.
"I should've come sooner." His voice was rough. "I should've followed you that night. I picked up my phone a hundred times—"
"It's okay."
"—but I kept telling myself you needed space, that Judy would take care of you, that it wasn't my place—"
"Dae."
He stopped at the sharp sound of my voice. I reached up and pressed my palm flat against his bare chest and felt the slow, steady beat of his heart suddenly start to pound.
His hand came up and covered mine, pressing it hard against his skin to keep it there. His fingers were warm and strong as they gripped mine.
"I should've come," he said softly. "I'm sorry."