While I don’t press, I do wonder which of the guys it was and what they did. I don’t know them very well, at least not enough to figure it out. A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have wanted to, either. Now …well, I want to know them, and that scares the hell out of me. I don’t do this shit—get attached—and yet, here I am, perched on Blaise’s lap after making out with him and him making promises to me. Blaise, the dude I went toe-to-toe with for flirting with me because he called me sweetheart when first met.
“You called me Hadley,” I change the subject. “Twice, actually.”
“Did I?” He rubs his jawline, but his confusion is fake—I can tell. “My bad. I’ll be more careful from now on.”
“I wasn’t pointing it out to get you to stop.”
“Sure you weren’t.”
I move to shove him. “Dude—”
He catches my hand and jerks me toward his lips, giving me a quick kiss. “Stop pretending you don’t like me. I think we both know that’s not true.”
I glare at him, but I don’t feel that fire kick behind it like I used to.
“Now, come on, sweetheart,” he says as he rises to his feet. “Let’s go get you cleaned up, and then we can flirt some more if you want.”
“No flirting,” I say with annoyance. “But a shower does sound nice, especially after you told me I was lying in some weird creature’s blood for over a week.”
“Not a weird creature. Just a healer.” He walks forward with me secured to him. “And out of all the creatures’ blood you could’ve bathed in, trust me, that’s the least worse.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it,” I mutter, peering around the room.
It looks like a living room with a wide space and black columns lining the far back wall. The black and red checkerboard floor looks polished and clean, matching the burgundy sofa Blaise and I was just sitting on. When I tip my head upward, my lips part in wonderful shock.
An array of stars and constellations have been painted across the domed ceiling in various shades of deep blues and glimmering purples and silvers. A blood moon is the centerpiece of it all, and swirls of grey paint the night background.
“Jax painted it,” Blaise informs me when he notices what I’m staring at.
“He did?” I shake my head in awe. “Wow.”
Okay, so I may have wanted to see his artwork before, but now I really, really want to see it badly.
Which reminds me … “Where did Jax and Alex go?” I return my attention back to Blaise. “And when is Rhyland going to get here?”
“Miss them already?” he teases me with a smirk.
I pinch his nipple through his shirt, hard enough that he winces, his eyes darkening.
“Do that again,” he warns in a gravelly tone, “and I’ll pinch you back.”
For a stupid moment, I actually consider doing it, but then I pull my head out of my ass and say, “I don’t miss them. I just want to know where everyone went.”
He gives me a skeptical look but drops it. “Well, we’re not sure when Rhyland will be back. Soon, hopefully.”
“Where did he go?” I can vaguely remember overhearing something about this back when I was approaching the poker table. “I thought I heard you say he’s on some sort of mission.”
He wavers. “Kind of … He’s trying to find out more about what Elise told him.”
“Which is?”
“I’ll explain more once we get you cleaned up and fed.”
I have a feeling whatever he’s going to tell me will be bad. Why else would they want me fed first? So I won’t be grumpy?
“As for Jax and Blaise,” Blaise steers around my questioning, “they went to put up a shield around the house before the storm reaches us.”
“Like a magical shield?”
“Yeah, like a magical shield,” he replies, amused.
I disregard his amusement, too curious to care. “Is the storm really that bad that they have to do that? Because we flew right through it and we’re fine.”
“We flew through it for a reason,” he tells me as we reach the foot of a wide stairway that leads to the second floor. “Trust me; on land, it’s going to get bad.” He starts up the stairs. “Remember how we told you a flood ruined one of our houses? Well, the flood was from a storm. And the worst part isn’t even the flooding waters.”
“Oh.” Worry stirs through me. Just what exactly is about to happen? “What’s the worst part?”
He hesitates, and that sends a shiver down my spine. “Sometimes—not always—but sometimes, if the storm grows powerful enough, it creates these sort of … I guess you could call them monsters, but you can’t see them. Not really, anyway.”
“So, you’re saying this storm is going to create invisible monsters?” How the fuck is this my life now?
“It’s not for certain, but it does happen,” he answers me. “But if we lock up the house with enough charms and spells, we’ll be fine.”
That doesn’t bring me much comfort. “Why don’t we just leave this realm?”
“I wish we could,” he says as we reach the top of the stairway. “But it’s better if we stay here for now.”
“Why? Because I’m still healing?” Or is it because of something else?
He shakes his head, an ominous heaviness filling up the air. “No, because there’s more than just the storm monsters we need to worry about.”
“You mean darkness?”
He nods, but I get the impression he might be lying.
The question is: why?
Chapter 15
Hadley
After the whole monster talk, Blaise and I sink into silence as he guides me down a slender hallway lit up with pale light that keeps flickering across the midnight blue walls.
“The storm is messing with the electricity,” Blaise mumbles as he steers me past shut doors, tipping his head up slightly to look at a flickering light.
“It’s weird to hear you say that because it sounds so much like the human realm,” I tell him as he tangles his fingers through mine and pulls me right beside him.
“I should probably clarify that the electricity I’m referring to is generated by a magical lake that channels magic into the air,” he says.
“Magic, magic, magic,” I mock. “What happens if the magic suddenly goes out …” I trail off as the lights burn out completely and darkness smothers us.
“Shit,” Blaise curses, his grip on my hand tightening. “You okay, baby?”
“I’m fine.” I don’t even bother reaming into him for calling me baby.
I kind of hate the dark, but I keep that to myself.
He pulls me closer. “Hold on to me, okay? Let’s get you to your room, and then we can work on an alternative for light.”
“What? Are you like gonna use your magic wand or something?” I joke as I latch onto the back of his shirt.
“No, smartass,” he quips. “I’m gonna light a candle.”
That gets me to smile, but it hastily fades when I hear footsteps shuffling up from behind me. I’m about one second away from spinning around and throwing a punch when I detect Alex’s minty scent.