Page 76 of Illusory

My head jerked back at that. “Supervision?” I snorted, finding it ironic coming from her. “I don’t need ‘proper supervision’. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve done just fine looking out for myself up until now.”

“Yes, well, that’s probably more arguable than you’d like to think.”

“Exactly.” Wait. Did she just…insult me?

“In any event,” she went on before I could catch up. “I’m going to be stepping out a little later and probably won’t be back for most of the night.”

“You’re going out? Where?” Not that I cared all that much, but it was weird.

“Can I trust that you’ll remain on task in my absence?” she asked, ignoring my question.

“What’s one more day added to seventeen years of absence anyway, right?”

“Was that really necessary?” she asked, looking more irritated than offended.

I shrugged, knowing that it wasn’t, but also not feeling all that bad about it either.

“Well, then. You should be more than fine seeing as you don’t need me at all,” she said emotionlessly as she smoothed out her shirt and then walked off, disappearing down the corridor without so much as a backwards glance.

Whatever helps you sleep at night, I inwardly grumbled and then made my way down the basement stairs.

* * *

Gabriel, Dominic, and Trace were already in the basement, waiting for me to join them by the time I made it downstairs. I was surprised to find Trace already out of his cell and chatting idly with Gabriel off to the side while Dominic busied himself moving chairs to the center of the room as though we were about to play a game with them.

It may just have been wishful thinking on my part, but I couldn’t help but feel like Trace had already made mountains of progress overnight.

I hung back at the entrance, watching the three of them.

“Angel,” greeted Dominic even though he hadn’t yet turned around to look at me. I smiled, because he always knew when I walked into a room, even before I made my presence known.

Trace, who apparently hadn’t refined his vampire senses quite as well as Dominic, had an entirely different reaction and instead took several wide-birthed steps backwards even though I really wasn’t anywhere near him yet.

“Easy,” said Gabriel as he threw his arms out between us as though he were refereeing a couple of Alpha werewolves about to fight to the death.

Not the reaction I was going for, from either of them.

“I can come back a little later if you want,” I said to Trace, hating that I made him so uncomfortable with just my nearness. “I don’t want to ruin all your progress.”

He stared back at me for a few beats, his hands balled up at his side as he tried to calm himself and regain his composure. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m alright. I just…need a second,” he stated, though he still wasn’t moving any closer to me even several seconds later.

“Okay.” I nodded, trying to appear understanding and neutral. You know, not too threatening, but not too weak and prey-like either. It was a delicate line. “Take your time.”

“Do you want another donor bag?” offered Gabriel quietly, but loud enough that I could hear him. I hadn’t been aware that Trace was still using donor blood on top of feeding from me. That made sense, though, seeing as how that method had helped Gabriel a lot when we were trying to form our bloodbond.

Not that I was trying to form a bloodbond with Trace. Obviously. I probably had enough bloodbonds to last me a lifetime at that point.

“We’re going to up the ante a little today,” informed Dominic as he crooked his finger at me and gestured for me to join him at the center of the large space. “I hope you had a balanced breakfast this morning, angel,” he added pointedly and already I didn’t like the sound of that.

Even though I was fairly sure his statement wasn’t going to bode well for me blood-wise, I refused to show any fear or discomfort on my face. Mostly for Trace’s benefit. I already knew he was having a hard enough time being close to me and acclimating to my blood without feeling immensely guilty about it, and I certainly didn’t want to add any ammo to his already loaded gun.

“Great,” I said, like he’d just offered me my dream job.It’ll be fine. Everything’s fine, I told myself over and over again until I almost believed it myself.

Besides, this was bloodsharing we were talking about. Not counter-torture techniques. Whatever they would take, no matter how much they’d bleed me out and break me, I knew without a doubt that they would put me back together again just as soon afterandthat I would enjoy every second of it.

Schooling my features, I crossed the room to Dominic, my stomach knotting under the intensity of his eyes as I came to a stop in front of him. It took an immense amount of effort not to swoon at the way he was watching me like he owned me, or the way he licked his bottom lip when I tucked my hair behind my ears and gazed back up at him.

Something about the way his eyes glazed over made me think he was remembering the way I tasted and that maybe he wanted to taste me for himself again.

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